It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted and, in some cases, disrupted the typical “office” environment. Remote has become the new normal, and many businesses, big and small, have done whatever they can to flatten the curve. Many of these businesses sink or swim based on foot traffic, and a great number of them never envisioned a remote workforce. As more brick-and-mortar shops are forced to go the ecommerce route, the need to track company and employee productivity has become a focal point.

To do this, a great number of companies turn to new methods of tracking employee time on the clock, with time tracking software being a favorite. In this article, we’ll explain the basics behind time tracking software, along with a list of reasons as to why it matters for businesses worldwide.

1. It boosts employee productivity

The biggest and most obvious advantage of time tracking software (and employee monitoring in general) is that increases overall productivity within the workforce. While employees should ideally be self-motivated and disciplined enough to focus on all their required tasks throughout the day, any reasonable employer understands that this isn’t always the case. Breaks are taken here and there, distractions happen on the fly, and while small, these non-productive moments add up over time. Spread them across an office of 10, 20, or 100 employees, and you get the general idea.

Likewise, just about every employer can relate to having those “special” employees who just can’t seem to meet their targets. While these employees might swear that they’ve given their all to whatever tasks they were assigned, the truth is that many employers are left in the dark regarding their employees’ daily activities. In this same situation, time tracking software proves itself a viable solution, as every employee’s activity is tracked in tandem, giving managers and supervisors a bird’s eye view of productivity concerns before they become a bigger issue.

2. It identifies areas for improvement/extra training.

This naturally brings us to the next area at which time tracking excels, in that it highlights areas in which certain employees or departments could improve. Let’s say you have two salesmen, and one of them consistently meets their targets while the other seems to lag behind, despite having access to the same training and opportunities. As an added frustration, both salesmen work out in the field, meaning their time spent isn’t as calculated as it might be if they were cold-calling from an office, or making floor sales in a typical retail store.

Knowing this, the employer of those salesmen decides to implement time tracking software that’s mobile-friendly and frontloaded with a number of common features such as clock in/clock out, activity analysis, alerts, etc. After so many weeks, the company begins to see a pattern in the salesman who’s not meeting targets, noting that he tends to take more breaks than his counterpart, works slower, and spends too little time on each customer. The company is faced with two choices – either they can fire the salesman for someone more task-oriented, or they can offer assistance and/or work to improve his output. No matter their decision, their use of time tracking software directly helps them establish the problem, granting key insights into areas where this salesman could improve.

3. It helps to showcase where resources could be reallocated.

Like with any data, data on employees (like the aforementioned salesman) can be analyzed for the proper allocation or reallocation of resources as necessary. While extra training might be the crux of the issue with a salesman failing to meet their goals, the truth is that resources can fluctuate, and business strategies can change just as quickly.

By documenting the needs of the business upfront, companies can save time doing so on the backend, especially if they ever need to go back and re-assess strategies or the allocation of resources going forward.

4. It keeps client billing transparent.

Another key benefit to time tracking software is the reduction of stress and difficulty of client invoicing. Invoices are time-consuming process on their own, so using software to record and optimize billable hours has immediate, tangible benefits. To paint a picture, if you have two teams of employees working on a single client’s project, with one team deciding that they’ll split the workload 60/40, things might get confusing if major revisions need to be made at the last minute.

Thanks to time tracking software, all billable hours are recorded accurately, transparently, and efficiently, regardless of last-minute hang-ups. Your client is given a clear picture of exactly what needed to be done, and the results speak for themselves. Furthermore, neither you nor your teams have to take up unnecessary time disputing invoices, or migrating their data to different tools, saving even more time and money in the process.

5. It helps to foster objective, actionable feedback

Every employer knows that employee work patterns are as varied as the employees themselves. While some employees might thrive when given a set of instructions and a due date, others might do their best work when moderately or intensely micromanaged. Because time tracking software is designed to highlight these differences, that data can also be used to provide honest, actionable feedback from employer to employee and vice versa.

People are the key to a healthy, successful business, and happy employees tend to produce the best results. Employee burnout is very real, and in the current climate, it’s never been more important for businesses to keep their employees actively engaged. As more businesses adapt to remote workforces, open communication is a key component to building and sustaining company morale. Time tracking software provides this benefit automatically, making it a solid tool for opening that dialog.

Wrapping It Up

When it comes down to it, the versatility of time tracking software is what truly stands out. Built-in features like flexible user-level permissions, along with the ability to review, edit, and approve submitted timecards and calculate PTO are fantastic, but they only scratch the surface of what the software can do for a business. As outlined within this article, time tracking software goes a long way towards changing how a business operates, letting employers leverage insights however they see fit.

Should you find yourself curious to see what it could do for your business, we recommend starting with ArcTime by Archarina, an intuitive, online tool to help your business track and manage employee time, activity, and productivity. Learn more by visiting archarina.io, or requesting a free demo.