Employee Time Tracking – Keeping An Eye On The Work Hourglass

The world has been moving towards a more mobile-centric society in recent years. With this technology change, we have also changed how we work. You can now complete tasks from anywhere at any time with your tablet or cell phone. This means that time management is even more crucial than before. To keep track of employee time and ensure everyone is working efficiently, it’s essential to find an effective employee time tracking system that works for your business needs and budget. This blog post will give you a complete guide to employee time tracking.

What Is Employee Time Tracking?

Time tracking is the process of recording how much time employees spend on specific tasks. The information obtained can improve workflow, measure productivity, and determine whether workers work efficiently.

How to Encourage Employees for Time Tracking

There are several strategies that companies can use to encourage their employees to time track. They should provide them with the proper tools and training needed to measure time worked on projects accurately. Here is how to motivate employees to log in their hours:

Explain Why Time Tracking Is Important

Talk to your employees about the importance of time tracking. This may require some education and training sessions, but it is well worth the effort to make sure everyone understands why accurate measurements are essential for your company.
Encourage employees to give feedback on time-tracking tools and processes so that you can continue to improve them. This will help create a positive environment in the workplace where people feel comfortable talking about their concerns and suggesting improvements they would like to see made.

Set Goals for Team Members

Make sure everyone knows what is expected of them concerning time tracking. If you have employees working on the same project, consider making them compete to see who can track their hours most accurately and effectively.

Offer Rewards for Accurate Tracking

If you have a team motivated by rewards, then incentivizing accurate measurements may help speed up your company’s productivity. For example, you can reward employees when they reach a certain accuracy level. One way to reward employees is by offering them distinctive custom-engraved rewards. This gesture not only celebrates their success but also helps to incentivize them to stay on track and strive for even higher reachable goals.

Train Employees on Time Tracking Software

Ensuring your employees are trained to use the tracking software is vital for accurate measurements. This will ensure everyone has access to and uses this information accordingly.

How to Track Employee Time?

When it comes to employee time tracking, you can do this in several ways. The most popular method is a web-based system employees log into from their computers or mobile devices. This allows them to quickly see how much time they have spent on different projects at any given moment throughout the day. Other options include:

Timesheets

A timesheet should have all the days of the week to achieve the standard requirements. This makes it easy to see what an employee has done at any point during their workday

Spreadsheets

You can also choose to use spreadsheets for time tracking. Spreadsheets allow you to input the date and project and how many hours employees worked that day. This will help employees keep track of their work and ensure they only get paid for the hours they have completed at work.

Punch Clock

Some companies choose to use a punch clock system for time tracking. Punch clocks can be manual or electronic, allowing employees to “punch in” the hours they worked that day at their workstation. This information is then stored so managers have easy access whenever needed.

Time Tracking App

If you are looking for an increase in productivity, then using an app is generally the best option. These apps allow employees to track their hours from anywhere on any device easily. This saves them time and makes it easy for managers to access this information whenever necessary.

Benefits of Employee Tracking Time

Tracking time can help your business in several ways. It will allow you to:

Increase Productivity

Accurate measurements of employee hours spent working on projects and tasks ensure that everyone is equally compensated for their efforts. Without proper tracking, there’s no way to tell if employees are being paid fairly. Inaccurate measurements may also lead to employees doing more work than is required, which can drain productivity.

Decrease Costs

Employee time tracking allows you to see what projects and tasks are costing your business the most money to avoid wasting resources. The information will show where there’s room for improvement in your business model and help you cut costs in certain areas.

Decrease Expenses

Paying employees for the number of hours they work helps ensure that your expenses stay low. You will always know what projects and tasks cost more than others, so you don’t pay out money needlessly. This information can help you scale back on some projects and tasks and hire the appropriate number of employees for your business.

Increase Transparency

Tracking time also allows you to increase transparency with your employees. They will now know exactly how much work they are doing, what projects are being worked on throughout the day, and how this affects their paycheck. Ultimately, it can help them better manage their schedules and workloads to stay productive while working for you.

Choosing Your Time Tracking Tool – Things to Consider

You should consider several factors when choosing the best time-tracking tool for your company.

Multi-device Support

Do you want your employees to track their time anywhere, or would you prefer they only do it at work? If your employees need to access this information as soon as possible and there’s no way for them to get online when working remotely. Ensure the tool you choose has multi-device support. This will allow them to input data on the go and submit it once they are back at work.

Backup/Recovery Options

When choosing a time tracking tool, you should also consider what happens if your employees accidentally delete their data or lose access to it for some reason. Make sure that there is an easy backup option so you can restore all of this information in minutes and that it doesn’t take up too much of your employees’ time.

Ease of Use

Time tracking tools make it easy for employees to enter their hours while working, they also record how much time is spent on each project and task. Other apps only keep track of the total number of hours worked in a day without providing any additional information about what was done during that workday. Ensure your tool provides accurate reports so that managers have the information they need to manage their employees properly.

Reporting Tools

You should also consider what reporting tools are available with your chosen time tracking tool and how easy it is for you or your employees to access these reports. Some apps will send a weekly email summarizing all the data entered, while others will allow you to access this information on an hourly basis.

Take Control Over Time Tracking

Once you decide on the best time tracking tool for your business, start using it as soon as possible. You will now be able to accurately track and review all of your employees’ hours worked, projects completed, and tasks finished throughout each day. Without this information, managers can’t make informed decisions about how they should schedule their team’s workloads, and employees can’t make business decisions about managing their own time.

NB! Find out how to introduce time tracking to your team here.