Background information
Like everyone else, you have telecommuting issues. You may be using Timmi Absences right now, and you've heard about Timmi Office, Lucca's new solution for managing telecommuting and office attendance. Not sure which tool you should manage telecommuting in? This article will help you make the right choice.
The differences
Philosophy
Timmi Absences is the historical solution for managing leave and absences. Telework management in Timmi Absences started as a detour, because the needs for workflow and schedule visualization are similar to the needs for time off. Employees typically only enter telecommuting days.
Timmi Office was specifically designed to meet the challenges of new work organizations, which are based on regular use of telecommuting, or more generally, remote work. Employees enter their work location for each day (office, telework, travel), and not only the days of telework. The tool is particularly suitable for companies with offices in several locations.
Simplicity and flexibility
Entering telework in Timmi Absences is similar to entering a special leave. It is suitable for an occasional entry (once a month), but becomes laborious as soon as you want to enter once or several times a week. Moreover, since telework is entered in the same way as absences, there can be conflicts, one has to be deleted in order to enter the other, which is not always possible without the manager's approval. It is also not possible to modify the telework on the same day (same constraint as for vacations).
Timmi Office allows for an ultra-fast entry of the place of work, either per day (or half day), or for a whole week thanks to the typical week that employees can register. This is necessary because employees do not only enter their telework, but also the place of work for all days worked. This speed of entry is the fundamental difference between the two tools, which allows for a much higher employee usage rate, and therefore better reliability. Absences entered in Timmi Absences automatically override telecommuting or office attendance. It is possible to change the work location on the same day (this is very common!).
Telework rules and application of the charter
Timmi Absences allows you to define a limit of telework days per week, month or year, but this limit must be the same for all employees of the same regulation (usually of the same collective agreement).
Timmi Office allows you to define limits per week, month or year, on specific populations (establishment, CSP, department), or individually, which gives much more finesse in the setting.
Approval
Timmi Absences allows you to use the approval workflow for absences (at 1 or more levels) for telework, or to have no approval. However, it is not possible to configure a specific workflow (with different approvers) for telework. Each telework request generates an email notification to the approver.
Timmi Office offers by default a free input, and when there are telework rules, the requests exceeding the rule are submitted to the manager for approval. It will soon be possible to have all telework requests approved, whether they are within or beyond the limits. When multiple telework requests are made in a row, then only one notification is sent to the manager.
Capacity and Flex Office
Timmi Absences does not allow you to manage office capacity.
Timmi Office allows to indicate the capacity of the offices, and thus to display to the users the number of occupied and available places. When a site is full, the employee sees it. They can overbook themselves, with full knowledge of the situation. Administrators can follow the sites in overbooking according to the days.
Export
Timmi Absences allows you to export telework to the payroll, thanks to the export module. No file reprocessing is required.
Timmi Office allows for the moment a standard CSV export that cannot be customized. Reworking is necessary to import it into payroll.
Price
Telework management in Timmi Absences is included in the price of the Timmi Absences subscription.
Timmi Office is an additional solution, available in a free version and a paid version. See the list of features.