Productivity is a key performance indicator for any business. One way to help analyze and improve productivity across your organization is through time tracking. Whether you manage a team of a few or a few hundred, here are several time-tracking best practices you can follow to help your organization succeed.
Educate your employees about time tracking
First things first, you need to explain to your employees why time tracking is important. Schedule a meeting with your team and discuss that time tracking can:
- Gain insight into employee productivity, engagement, and the overall return on investment for each project — This information can help you make better business decisions and prioritize employees’ schedules and daily activities more effectively.
- Help with billing and invoicing — Accurate time tracking allows more informed decisions on how you should price and run projects.
- Encourage employee accountability — Employees will likely be more mindful of their time management when they can see how they spend each hour. As a result, this can contribute to more efficient work habits.
Be transparent and set expectations
Setting expectations and laying down the ground rules upfront is essential, so there won’t be any surprises down the road. Here are some examples of what you can discuss with your employees about time tracking:
- Let your employees know how you plan to use the time-tracking data
- Provide information about overtime pay
- Go over how long breaks should be
- Explain how to correct entries if they make an error
- Establish disciplinary actions for inaccurate employee timesheets
- Discuss what type of personal business is allowed on the job
Consider automating your time-tracking system
Generally, there are two types of time-tracking systems — manual and automated. With manual tracking, employees manually enter the time they worked or use a timer as they work on a task. On the other hand, automated time tracking utilizes a downloaded app that runs in the background, logging what websites or applications an employee uses. While both systems have their uses, manual time tracking can be less accurate than automatic time tracking because employees have more room for error — e.g., forgetting to log their time.
That’s why you should consider automated time tracking. It makes accurate time tracking easier for employees, helps streamline HR and office management recordkeeping, and eliminates the need for timesheet rounding.
Choose a person or team responsible for reviews and audits
When it comes to reviewing and auditing employee timesheets, it’s best to assign this responsibility to a specific person or team to help ensure productivity and improve time-tracking efficiency. They’ll make sure all employees follow the same process, offer guidance, and constantly improve the time-tracking system. Additionally, they can address emerging issues, collaborate with other departments to solve problems, and act as a conduit between employees and higher management.
Leverage the data
If you’re not going to use the data that employee time-tracking software provides, then what’s the point in having it? Be sure to use the data collected in your time-tracking software to help you gain insights and make more informed decisions regarding your business. By analyzing time time-tracking data, you can
- Build more accurate estimates for new projects
- Discover which projects and tasks are most profitable
- Determine when productivity increases and decreases during the day
- Predict how much labor you may need to accomplish a task or project
- Save money by identifying areas where you’re over-resourced
It’s also good to periodically share this information with your employees during an all-hands meeting. This way, your employees will see the value in time tracking and gather useful information on how the business spends its time and resources. Plus, the more data you have, the more quickly and accurately you can answer questions about time, labor, and costs.
Utilize features in your time-tracking software
While time-tracking software varies from service to service, the one your business chooses should provide several easy-to-use features that allow your organization to run more efficiently and get more from employee timesheets. Here are some common time-tracking software features that may help your business thrive:
- Cross-platform accessibility — The ability to track, edit, and approve timesheets on desktops, smartphones, and tablets makes it more convenient and accessible for employees.
- Payroll integration — Connecting your time-tracking software with your payroll solutions can help your organization comply with payroll laws and regulations.
- Customizable reports — These reports allow you to gain valuable insights to forecast job costs, plan for payroll, and increase profitability.
- GPS and geofencing — This feature allows you to manage your team by setting up a geofence that reminds your employees to clock in or out whenever they enter or leave a job site.
- Simple scheduling — This feature should allow you to create schedules by shift, job, or task. Then, you can easily edit, publish, and share them with your employees.
- Alerts and notifications — Setting up recurring alerts or notifications for timesheet approval deadlines, schedule changes, and overtime announcements can help keep your employees on top of their jobs.
If you’re a small business owner, time tracking can be valuable for your organization. It can provide many benefits, such as bringing transparency into work processes, boosting employee accountability, improving productivity, and streamlining billing and invoicing, among others. And with time tracking software, you can make time tracking easier for your employees and increase efficiency and time savings.