The Effectiveness of Automated Employee Time Tracking
In today's ever-changing world dynamic, having a sure thing is invaluable. And while nothing in life or business is ever guaranteed, there's one thing that we will always need — people. One of the most prominent entrepreneurs in recent history, Marcus Lemonis, says that there are 3 keys to running a successful business: People, Process, and Product. Your company's success is ultimately determined by the strength and synergy of the team members you hire. Calculating their time worked is one of the most critical functions a business has. Payroll itself can be a pretty daunting task, but what about tracking multiple people's labor contributions across different time zones and even different continents? Without the proper processes in place, it can be a nightmare.
Does this scenario sound familiar? It's time to calculate the billable hours for your company's latest project before sending out the final invoice. Getting this sent on time is crucial as well as time-sensitive because we need to keep a steady stream of revenue coming into the business. You open up your current time-tracking solution — a random assortment of data haphazardly strewn together by different employees in varying formats — and you're thinking to yourself, "Wow. This is a lot. There has to be a better way to manage all of their hours."
If this or any version of this sounds familiar to you, you're not alone. According to eLearning Industry, organizations that manually input and print timesheets spend 16 days a year searching for paperwork. That's 384 hours! And with 88% of the workforce procrastinating at least one hour a day, depending on your total number of employees, you can almost see the money flying out of the window.
Is there a better way? Most definitely — it's called automation. Once you've set up a system that can handle most or all of the time-sucking activities from managing and processing your employees' work times, you'll instantly free up many hours a week that can then be utilized for important business decisions while also saving tons of cash in the process.
What is Time Tracking Automation?
Time tracking automation is a process in which a company centralizes all time-keeping duties and implements a system where employee time tracking is greatly simplified and in some cases, automatically calculated, usually through software.
This is especially important as remote work becomes more prevalent by the day. Remote workforces are the future, for better or worse, and that comes with its own sets of challenges beyond normal on-premises employees.
Can Automation Improve Employee Efficiency?
From software development teams to in-field contractors, having an accurate count of the total number of hours worked is critical. If you don't have a way to easily and accurately collect hours of work, every system in your business will become affected. Your HR department can't have an accurate employee participation metric, your payroll team won't be able to process an accurate payroll and your billable hours earned will crumble.
There's an old adage that really hits home when we think of the inability to accurately track productive hours: "When the cat's away, the mice will play."
As business owners, we want — no, we NEED — employees to be consistently dependable and productive. While not having this level of commitment from all employees can be troublesome for your company's bottom line, it ultimately hurts the progress of other team members who are making the effort to deliver a high performance. It also directly affects company financials as your team is likely taking longer than needed to complete tasks and risking potential profit.
The New York Post conducted a fascinating study in which 600 workers and senior office managers were surveyed about wasted office productivity. This study found that, on average, employees were wasting up to eight hours per week on non-work-related activities, usually cell phone-related.
Judging an employee's work, especially when remote, becomes the ultimate litmus test of efficiency. And if your team members know that their productive time is being tracked, they'll be a lot less likely to slack off.
Automating employee time tracking can be a daunting task, especially if your company has recently begun more remote work. As with most things in life, the best way to overcome these obstacles is to adapt to them by implementing new processes. There's never been a better time to get started simplifying day-to-day time tracking. Once you have the right system in place, your employees will become more productive. And with more productivity comes better efficiency, quicker project turnaround times and a greater uptick in potential revenue.
If you're ready to start automating employee time tracking, we can schedule a free demo of our powerful time tracking solutions with you today.
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