Singapore start-up StaffAny, which offers workforce management tech solutions, has developed and launched a new mobile app, called CICO Global (Clock-in, Clock-out). As many regional economies are slowly emerging from lockdowns, businesses are carefully reopening. The app helps regional businesses and their employees reopen in an efficient and safe manner by leveraging digital solutions to encourage businesses to easily employ safety measures, such as contact tracing, safe distancing and staggered employee hours. CICO Global is ideal for businesses that require the recording of staff attendance (in particular, part-timers or hourly workers), such as F&B outlets, convenience shops, and retailers like supermarkets.

To help the Asia Pacific business community fight against COVID-19, StaffAny is waiving CICO’s download fees for regional businesses until the end of 2020^[1]. CICO is also in line with Singapore’s recently announced Fortitude Budget as it helps businesses use digital solutions to reopen in a safe manner and encourages workers to comply with post-Circuit Breaker measures.

“We first developed CICO as the ‘lite’ version of our original StaffAny solution and launched it in Singapore to help businesses here reopen, providing employers with a peace of mind that their staff was complying with our local Circuit Breaker measures. We were greatly heartened by the number of sign-ups – hundreds in just a short period of time. We wanted to find a way to extend CICO and help the regional community to continue operations smoothly and safely, as we know many companies – especially SMEs – have been badly hit by COVID-19,” said Janson Seah, co-founder, StaffAny.

CICO Global is a workforce management mobile application that employees and their managers can use in the following ways:

• Automated timesheets – Employees use CICO Global to verify when they enter and leave the business. After downloading CICO Global on their mobile phones, employees use the app to scan a QR code based at the work premise. CICO Global verifies the individual, time of arrival and departure, as well as the geo-location of their mobile. CICO Global then automatically tabulates the number of hours registered at work, including overtime. This removes the need for manual clock-ins (which can be easily mis-recorded) or outdated punch-cards. The contactless system also reduces the chances of any virus transmission. When employees clock in, they can also make a health declaration to confirm they have not travelled abroad recently or been in contact with a COVID-19 patient^[2].
• Dashboard for visibility – Managers no longer need to visit each outlet to verify staff have clocked in for work. Using the CICO Global dashboard, they can easily verify attendance and clock-in/out times. By tracking staff properly, managers can ensure staggered hours and that employees are not being cross-deployed to different outlets.
• Notifications – When assigned staff does not clock-in, CICO Global notifies the manager so that necessary action can be taken. Notifications are also provided to employees to remind them of an upcoming shift. This helps prevent lateness and no-shows.
• Record keeping – All records are within the app and can be easily exported. This eliminates time-consuming paperwork for multiple records, such as health declaration, temperature taking, or clock-in/out times.

“Clocking in for work was previously quite tedious – multiple clock-ins, signing many health declaration forms, and all the messy paperwork that comes with it. A couple of times, an employee would accidentally miss out on something and my team would need to constantly check. Now with CICO, things are simpler, faster, and neater. I have more time to focus on managing operations, in particular, sorting out deliveries and our new take-away initiative,” said Walden Ting, Operations Manager Brotzeit, a German bar and restaurant in Singapore.

See Annex A for details on some of CICO’s pioneering users.

Setting up CICO Global is simple, instant, and does not require any hardware. Businesses simply log on to CICO Global (https://www.staffany.com/cicoglobal) and sign up. Regional businesses that sign up by 31 July can access CICO for free till the end of this year (with StaffAny waiving the regular fee of S$39 per month). After signing up, businesses can start instantly by adding/importing their employees’ details in bulk. Employees will then receive an invitation from their employer via SMS to download the StaffAny CICO app and they would be able to clock in immediately. Businesses that continue using the app will pay the regular fee after the end of this year.

“As economies ease their lockdowns and businesses resume, we want to minimise chances of a surge in the number of cases of COVID-19. Because of this, it makes sense that some measures stay in place, including safe distancing, staggered working hours, no cross-deployment of staff, and contact tracing. This is why StaffAny will keep providing CICO Global for free to regional businesses until the end of the year. Hopefully, this will help everyone to stay safe and efficient at the workplace, as regional economies start to open up for business again,” explained Janson Seah.