Disorganized Employers Breathe Sigh of Relief on Overturned Overtime Ruling

RESTON, VA--(Marketwired - Nov 23, 2016) -   Finance isn't the only reason some employers are calling a new ruling by a federal judge a victory. The ruling blocks the proposed overtime rules that were due to take effect on December 1^st. A recent survey of American workers conducted by YouGov and commissioned by Canvas, the leading mobile platform that automates how work is done, found employers -- across the board -- were asleep at the wheel and hadn't adequately prepared for the pending rules change. In fact, only 17 percent of workers surveyed confirmed employers had fully informed them of the pending rules, while 54 percent were completely oblivious.

Beyond assessing workers' awareness, the survey also sought to uncover employee attitudes toward time and record keeping, such as accuracy and employee confidence in new electronic record keeping vs. paper records. As a result, forty-nine percent of workers reported their employers still used paper to track time. And of the 49 percent surveyed, more than half (52 percent) weren't convinced their employer was capable of tracking time accurately using paper-based reporting. This was further compounded by the fact that twenty-two percent said more than half of their employer's business processes still involved paper in some way. Only 13 percent reported they worked in a paper-free workplace.

"While employers no longer need to scramble to comply with the now defunct overtime pay regulation, this week's injunction puts a spotlight on how non-digital processes continue to dominate the workplace and undermine workers," said James Quigley, Canvas co-founder and CEO. "The results further reinforce the painful inadequacy of outdated manual processes -- especially those relying on opaque methods like paper bookkeeping -- when compared to the ease of digitizing and automating workflows. And it's not just about money. Lack of employee trust can be devastating to company morale."

Tracking hours worked electronically isn't just good for trees; it's good for employee confidence, too. Fifty-nine percent of workers said they would trust a digital system to keep accurate track of hours - this jumped to sixty-eight percent among millennials. Forty-eight percent also said the ability to use a smartphone to input and access payroll data would make them more confident that hours were being accurately tracked. Percentage of respondents by profession who say they trust a digital system to keep accurate track of hours:

• Financial - 89 percent
• Computer Software/Internet - 81 percent
• Machinery/Equipment - 80 percent
• Food/Beverage/Restaurant - 67 percent
• Consulting - 67 percent
• Education - 65 percent
• Transportation - 59 percent
• Retail - 59 percent
• Healthcare/Medical - 55 percent
• Construction/Contracting - 51 percent

"We created Canvas to make collecting, sharing and learning from workplace data easier, more transparent and fully accurate. Every day we combat the widespread outdated manual process and expensive paperwork that hold business back. Be it for digital timesheets, invoices, work orders, or surveys/inspections, Canvas is the one-stop shop that businesses of every size and sector are turning to so they can automate how their work is done," added Quigley.

U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant's injunction, filed on November 23rd, effectively killed the first attempt since 2004 to change the rules for those eligible for overtime pay. The new rules would have raised the maximum pay non-exempt workers can receive and automatically be required to receive time and a half after working more than eight hours in one day or 40 hours per workweek. The new threshold would have been $913 per week or $47,476 per year, up from $455 or $23,660. Nearly four million Americans had been predicted to benefit from the rule change either through being given enough of a raise to put them over $47,476 a year in pay or through increased overtime itself.

The survey was conducted by YouGov on October 20-21, 2016 from a random sample of 1,224 working U.S. adults.

To learn more about how Canvas can help automate your workday, please visit: www.gocanvas.com.

About Canvas
Canvas is a mobile platform that makes it simple for business to automate how work is done, replacing outdated processes and expensive paperwork. The Canvas App works on smartphones and tablets, helping companies to easily collect information, share it instantly with others and gain real-time insight of their business operations. Canvas can be easily customized by any type of business to empower their workforce, unleashing the value in data across the organization to help them connect better with colleagues and engage more effectively with customers.

Canvas is trusted by thousands of firms throughout 70 countries, automating millions of workplace activities, making it one of the fastest growing mobile platforms in the world.

To learn more, visit www.gocanvas.com