Most Companies Enjoy the Benefits of Software-Based Employee Time Tracking
By tracking employee working hours, you can make your business more transparent, increase accountability in employees, get a better understanding of your billion and operational efficiency, and see where resource demand is the highest. But time tracking isn’t without its challenges. Employees accidentally steal time, such as forgetting to take breaks and lunches. They might attempt to punch the numbers at times to get paid more. Data entry can lead to errors if it’s done manually. This translates into a significant use of resources and lost productivity. If you’re managing a fluid or remote work environment, time tracking shouldn’t be done manually, as it will lead to frustrated and unhappy employees.
If you’re like everyone else, you’ve long relied on manual time tracking. Employees clock in or clock out, meaning that they’re responsible for recording and reporting how many hours they’ve worked and when. Using pen and paper or spreadsheets is a common approach in business, and the benefits are obvious. Besides the fact that there’s no learning curve, you don’t need a device of any piece of technology. Maybe not, but this method is prone to error, as highlighted earlier. The best course of action is to get rid of clocking with paper time cards and timesheets. With digital time tracking, you know what every employee is doing.
Depending On Your Professional Needs, You Can Use Timesheet Software
Get rid of your manual system for better employee time tracking and automate your record keeping. Stop leaking revenue and bill clients more accurately with online timesheets. This is a cloud-based method of tracking employee activity times. Employees submit their timesheets, but managers are the ones who approve or reject the timesheets. If you have hourly employees, overtime can be an issue. Reduced sleep from prolonged overtime can negatively affect employee health and work attendance. Leveraging the features and functions of an innovative solution will simplify employee management and ensure that deadlines are met.
What Aspects Should You Take into Account When Investing in A Time Tracking Solution?
Time tracking is a discovery tool that lets you uncover insights into productivity and work patterns. Put simply, it helps you address the gaps that limit employee performance. Good employee timesheet software is flexible, which means that it works for all kinds of employees (full-timers, freelancers, part-time workers, interns, etc.). What is more, it should be accessible from a laptop, tablet, or phone; your employees should be able to mark attendance from a distance easily. At any rate, you shouldn’t rush into buying an online timesheet tool.
Aside from tracking time, here are some features you can’t do without:
- Real-time monitoring. It’s necessary to keep track of distributed teams and their productivity, and online timesheets help address this concern. Real-time monitoring makes it possible for you to understand what employees are working on at any given moment.
- Billing and invoicing. Time is more valuable than money. If you’re in the professional service industry, you have to pay attention to time consumption. With an excellent online timesheet tool, you can reduce unproductive time, optimize billable hourly rates, and generate invoices. Plus, you’ll know how much money goes into each project.
- Comprehensive reporting. Find a system that meets your very demanding requirements. See how many hours an employee or your team spend on a given task. This will help you spot flaws in the current working process and offer insight for improvement.
- Ease of use. Ease of use is an essential part of the user experience. Online timesheets should allow the recording of working hours by the simple push of a button. People shouldn’t even notice it’s there. They press “Start” at the beginning of the workday and “Stop” at the end of the work schedule.
Carefully think about the features you need before signing up. Ideally, the software should integrate with the solutions you already have. For instance, you can couple time tracking with payroll and accounting. Information is updated automatically, so it reduces the workload on the HR staff. You’ll have enormous success using a solution such as Timesheet Portal online software, which helps you manage projects and contracts in real-time.
The Importance of Employee Time Tracking Training
Make sure that the people in your company understand how online timesheets work and what’s expected of them. If someone is used to tracking time by pen and paper or spreadsheet, they’ll find it challenging to make the switch to online timesheets. That’s where training comes in. Let people know how the system works and give them enough time to read the instructions. Provide information about how long breaks should be and show employees how to correct entries if they’ve made an error. Online timesheet providers make available a wide range of training tools and materials. In some instances, they offer dedicated, in-person training.
Teach Your Employees Prioritization Techniques
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to prioritize work when everything is important. This is precisely why you should make it clear what needs to be done. In other words, help people understand what tasks they should place emphasis on. In this respect, it would be helpful if you used a program to assign tasks to team members and highlight the level of priority for each task. Some people might need more time to get the work done. Pushing back a deadline will reflect poorly on your company, so schedule one-on-one time with those employees to offer guidance and support.
If employees are struggling with time management, you should model practical skills. Leading by example is one way to see results in your staff members. Show helpful time management skills yourself and set a standard of excellence. What is more, find a manager who exhibits a high level of professionalism and try to implement their tricks into your workday. No matter how quickly you can finish a task, it’s going to take longer than you think. The point is that, as a leader, you have the opportunity to guide people towards success. While it requires an investment of your time, it’s completely worthwhile.
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