How Employee Time Tracking Software Could Help Your Business Save Money

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Digital Transformation Strategy (145-slide PowerPoint presentation). Digital Transformation is being embraced by organizations across most industries, as the role of technology shifts from being a business enabler to a business driver. This has only been accelerated by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Thus, to remain competitive and outcompete in today's fast paced, [read more]

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Time-tracking can add multiple benefits for your business. Still, companies are often against utilizing time-tracking software for fear that it will slow down creativity or make employees feel they’re being micromanaged. When done right, time-tracking will be anything but. In fact, there’s evidence that suggests time-tracking software can improve your company in multiple ways.

Limiting Clocking into Specific Times or Locations

Being able to keep your staff accountable is a significant part of clocking in. For example, some employees may punch in outside of work, while others will ask a coworker to do it for them. With employee time tracking software, like Buddy Punch, you can ensure that the right person is clocking in at the desired location by utilizing tools like GPS tracking, IP location, and webcam photo ID.

Accountability Leads to On-Time Employees and Payroll

Employees that can’t beat the system will spend more of their time using their wit and ingenuity in ways that get them to work faster. With less manual entry, payroll doesn’t need to track down employees to see if they were actually at work at that moment. The payroll process becomes more streamlined, which limits check withholding or adjusting on next week’s checks.

Allows Employers to Evaluate Workflow

A specific task may take longer than expected, which wouldn’t usually be an issue unless that time can be spent better elsewhere. Without time-tracking software, you’ll have to take your employee’s word on how they delegated their time, which will make it difficult to see and improve on problem areas. Monitoring workflow with software can help your team become efficient.

Productivity and Efficiency Increases

Without a sense of urgency, it can be difficult for some employees to stay on task. This doesn’t mean your workforce is necessarily lazy, but it does mean they aren’t aware of how to schedule their time. If an employee must hand in a time-sheet, they may see it as a personal challenge to complete a task faster or engage with their teammates and keep them accountable.

Quotes and Estimates Become More Accurate

After a few weeks of using time tracking software, you should be able to accurately predict how long a task will take and why. Without that knowledge, you may under-bill a client and start hemorrhaging money from your business. Additionally, it will be easier to explain to clients what was happening during a specific process and why a task took longer than expected.

Analytics Become Accessible and Viewable

Most time tracking software is able to take the metrics that were performed on multiple tasks and change them into visual data you can use to improve on a team’s time management. You’ll also be able to see who is better at performing specific tasks. For example, if one real-estate agent can stage a house faster on her own, then put them in charge of that job.

Understand the Important/Highest Selling Products or Services

Analytics will provide a snapshot of what products or services are selling consistently and what isn’t. With the time-tracking component, you can understand what processes take less time but lead to more profit or which services become net-negative after factoring in labor. In addition, you can see if it’s possible to make the task faster or scrap it entirely if higher productivity is unlikely.

Know Who to Reward and Who to Coach

Employees shouldn’t be separated into good or bad unless there is a consistent issue with time management that sees little change after coaching. Most of your team members want to perform well on the job; they just need some advice on how to improve their metrics. For that reason, it’s important to reward employees who do a great job and help those that struggle.

Someone who is consistently performing well may deserve a promotion or other monetary gains. If other employees see this, they will feel incentivized to challenge themselves to meet time tracking metrics or other goals specific to the company or line of work.

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