Today technology has changed the way to work in companies, and there is a need to be more productive being ahead of the competition. Therefore, companies need a tool to cut the production cost of the project and churn more profit.
Using the best timesheet software is one such solution at the hands of the companies to deal with challenging situations as the companies figured out the biggest problem in any project execution or production is time. We can say time is money. From ancient times, time tracking is the simplest way to measure work and calculate payments.
There are three primary purposes mainly to calculate work hours: one is to create billable invoices and get paid from clients. The second is to check whether the execution of a project should not cost more than the money it brings in. The third and the principal reason is the time theft by employees, which is quickly adding up to the cost to run a project. The companies are using various methods even before technology grew to such online timesheet software.
Traditional ways of time tracking
What we see today timesheet software has an extensive history of such evolution to solve the problems of companies’ time tracking and keep a check on logbooks of profit.
Manual Journal entry
It is one of the oldest methods of keeping entries of employees working daily, and in modern times also some companies are using this practice.
Punching System
Today we use electronic devices where we punch cards to track employee attendance such as RFID punch cards, which are still in use in many workplaces. The drawback of this technology is that employees can cheat by punching.
Biometric employee attendance
This system was first used in Olympic Village Atlanta and came into existence in 1966 for security. The benefit of a biometric system is that employees cannot cheat as everybody has a unique finger or handprint.
Paper timesheet
Today we see timesheet software, which has its original roots in the paper timesheet version used in earlier days. The paper timesheets are more hectic than automatic timesheet software. Here employees have to maintain the time data, and if they are not working in the time, they have to come up with reasons.
Benefits of Time Tracking
The timesheets management helps gather essential data and insights regarding business purposes. It also helps in calculating the productivity dynamics of the team. It helps in tracking the personal performance of each employee. Some benefits of maintaining timesheet data can be:
✔️ It provides clarity and transparency. Through this, we can reveal the results of a particular time.
✔️ Time tracking data is traceable, and support reports. This way, it helps in the justification of time and expenses.
✔️ Following time tracking data, our future estimations regarding the deadlines and results of the particular task becomes feasible.
✔️ The time tracking data is useful in planning future workloads because it helps in preventing unexpected time leaks, issues regarding over-staffing, and understanding problems.
✔️ Through time tracking data, we can maintain accurate billing and payroll data in all.
As time tracking data gives the full picture of our time, expense, performance, and gaps in the workday- it helps in the analysis of ongoing trends and analysis work dynamics. Apart from this, the entire information helps in answering the questions about how to increase productivity and efficiency. It also helps in understanding the loopholes in strategy regarding the operation of a business.
There are also effects of time tracking on individual performance, which we can measure:
✔️ It will help you in making aware of quitting distractions, such as time spent on using social media.
✔️ Timesheet data is a valuable source of information to understand productivity, performance, and work output.
✔️ It helps in keeping track of progress. Tracking of work time is an excellent way to increase productivity. It is also crucial for freelance individuals who set targets daily about work throughout the day.
There are also few demerits of time tracking data such as it requires too much effort. It is time-consuming and slows the team. Another drawback is people sometimes forget to fill the timesheet.
Also Read,
How Timeboxing Works And Why It Makes You More Productive?
Time tracking Methods
These methods depend on choice according to the field, purpose, and common practice. One must keep in mind is that multipurpose tools such as Microsoft excel differ as compared to time tracking software. The methods in use for time tracking are:
Swipe card System
These are perfect for absence or late attendance. It is easy to use and implement, but it has limits; it does not have their task record, and the time consumed to complete a task.
Clock in/Clock out System
It can be a solution in the case of a field worker. It is a sophisticated system- works by dialing a toll-free number or mobile apps. It also has some pros and cons. The merit is that it is a simple way to track attendance of office employees and field workers; the drawback here is that it doesn’t keep a record of total time spent. As a result, there can be a possibility of building a clock in which an employee can punch in for a coworker.
Geolocation or Geofencing System
Employers do it by installing the system on employee mobile phones. Then the system performs a punch in when an employee arrives at the workplace. The merit of using this system is that there can be no buddy clock in- but the demerit is that employees can feel micromanaged. When they install this app, there can be possibilities of legal issues regarding location tracking.
Background tracking system
We base this system on desktop monitoring, and the target audience is office workers. The system automatically captures the time spent on the task. It runs in the background. There are some pros and cons to this method. Some advantages are that it gives detailed information on the employee’s activity and detects unwanted activities. The disadvantage of this method can be that some employees may feel uncomfortable because the elder brother’s effect is at the worst here.
Making a selection of time tracking software for the team
There are various methods and criteria to make a selection of time tracking software for the team, which will have to see before deciding.
Selection of method
There is a wide variety of software designed for time tracking, time management, and to monitor attendance. We divide the time tracking system into three groups:
✔️ Punch in/out methods such as swipe cards, clock in/out, and geofencing systems. These are not specifically time trackers, but more than attendance trackers. These systems have a record of employee check-in and out. We mostly use them for organizing shift work, managing client service teams where attendance monitoring and preventing tendencies are essential.
✔️ Background capturing methods are automatic systems that record all users’ activity on the computer, such as taking screenshots and sending them to managers. It is a crucial tool to increase efficiency and reduce time-wasting activities. Its misuse can cause severe privacy issues for the employees.
✔️ The manual tracking method is not electronic as it uses manual entry of time spent on specific tasks. It includes advanced features such as billing, live tracking, and work management.
BTW, Here’s
How Can You Reduce Employee Time Theft?
Based on technical details
There are various types of time tracking software based on technical details and implementation designs:
✔️ SaaS is a software as a service model time tracking system that uses the cloud to store its data. The remote employees have the facility across the system from anywhere with the help of the internet.
✔️ An On-premise system is a system where we store data on the company’s premises over internal servers, and employees have access through computers.
✔️ They design standalone apps to install directly on employee computers and store all data on the system only.
✔️ They provide browser extension over browser and storage of data in the browser installation folder.
EmpMonitor: the best timesheet software
According to research, EmpMonitor is one of the best timesheet software for remote teams. It has various features to cater to the need of employee monitoring and timesheet software. The EmpMonitor tracks the activity of an employee on a real-time basis, giving accurate data for analysis. It includes all the features of time management, user management, attendance management, and screenshots facility. Thus it is an effective way to save time and money while increasing productivity.
Also Read,
The Most Common Time Tracking Statistics
7 Workplace Monitoring Laws Of Different Countries: Legal Restrictions & Best Practices
How To Make Remote Work Effective And Secure?
Conclusion
Employee timesheet software is necessarily an important part of any company growth as it adds value to the quality of work and productivity. It also helps in the reduction of cost of doing the projects by effective time management. Time adapts this technology, which helps in measuring the accurate work hours to be paid, reducing the extra expenses incurred.
