8 Reasons Why Organizations Now Prefer Time Tracking Software

Technology has revolutionized the landscape of the modern workplace. Managers today have an array of business tools that promote efficiency, time-saving and cost-cutting at hand. One such novel technology is that of time tracking. Time – as we know it – is one of the most essential resources which needs to be harnessed to its maximum potential! Time lost can never be regained. This makes one understand the crucial need to measure, assess and maintain a record of the time spent by workers at their workplace.

A time tracking software allows users to record time spent on allotted tasks in their organization. The software is now used in a number of industries, including freelancers, hourly workers and also professionals who charge their customers by the hour, such as attorneys and consultants. Cloud time tracking systems keep count of the real-time movement of employees in the organization and help to maximize productivity by reducing redundant time-wasting activities. Time tracking software can help employees to better gauge their time spent on various projects while giving managers greater visibility into the employee’s work day. It is also a great way to measure time spent by remote workers at their jobs, with many modern time tracking applications implementing screen capture technology, which can take a snapshot of a worker’s computer screen at specified intervals, and even measure screen idle time.

Time tracking accrues a number of benefits for organizations. Let’s have a look at some of the major reasons that organizations all over the globe have adopted time-tracking software as a transformational tool in their businesses.

Identifies Non-Essential Activities

Employees perform a multitude of tasks on an average day. These include tasks which are instrumental in contributing to organizational goals and also include mundane time-consuming tasks which are of little importance. A time tracking software can help managers identify time killer and keep a worker accountable for every minute spent at the workplace, thereby improving efficiency by unprecedented levels. Allowing employees to access their time records will ensure that they are aware of how their time is being utilized and will also motivate them to resist distractions at their workstations. Tracking time can help employees formulate daily routines which aim at minimizing time wastage. Employees can gain a clear picture of the time spent on various activities of a particular project, which enables them to streamline or re-prioritize processes to complete a task in the least possible time. This ultimately helps them fight procrastination at the workplace, and utilize the available time in the most optimal manner. A client of SoftwareSuggest, CallHippo on implementing time tracking software for its employees found out that 7% of the total employees were spending more than 30% of their total time on other activities apart from work.  Great work done by hr department ;).

Prevents Time Theft

Time theft at the workplace is a serious threat which can result to a sizeable monetary and psychological loss for the employer. Time theft can include everything right from taking a longer lunch break, to wasting time in the coffee room and punching in for other employees who report late for work. Employees often mark extra attendance and also exaggerate the time spent for critical work activities. The practice of marking attendance for colleagues not present at the organization is known as buddy punching, and the American Payroll Organization estimates that over 75% organizations lose money from this practice. A time tracking software can help managers and supervisors keep an updated time record of their and workers, thereby preventing them from malingering around at the workplace. Time tracking is particularly helpful for organizations whose employees work from remote locations, it promotes a culture of high transparency and accountability through employee monitoring. Hence, a time and attendance software is an innovative tool which can largely diminish losses due to the malicious practice of time theft, thus enhancing punctuality and reducing absenteeism. Time tracking software help in increasing chair time of employees. CallHippo exemplifies the effectiveness of time tracking as it was able to increase average chair time of its employees by 9%.

Efficient Payroll Management

A time tracking software can bring about a transformational change for the human resource department of an organization by dramatically reducing the time spent on manual calculation of compensation. The entire administrative burden of time recording, tracking and processing can be completed by time tracking business applications. The compensation system of an organization is completely integrated and streamlined to ensure that workers receive accurate and fair pay for the exact amount of work effort put in the task allotted to them. Data is captured on spreadsheets and these serve as a permanent record for administrative purposes. The system of time tracking eliminates manual time entries and redundant processes, thus saving managers valuable time to attend to other important business goals. Cloud based HR software also largely reduces paperwork and minimizes bookkeeping errors, thus simplifying work processes for optimal effectiveness. Real-time data analytics help to make smarter, quicker and more accurate workforce management decisions.

Better Task Management

Time tracking is a great way for managers to keep a check on the time taken for individual tasks of different work projects. Every project has a number of interlinked tasks that have to be performed daily, weekly or even monthly for successful completion. Most organizations have a limited number of employees working simultaneously on a multitude of projects, which is why it becomes imperative for managers to schedule their work tasks accurately. Time tracking can help to prioritize projects accurately on basis of their expected time deadlines, consequently allowing team members to handle their duties more efficiently. Project planning and scheduling can be better handled through effective time tracking of workers. Recording of time on actual work activities enables managers to compare the results with initial time estimates. This will ensure better timeline clarity and future work estimates can be more accurately estimated. With better task management, smooth and effective execution of task is observed. CallHippo was able to reduce the average time for a particular activity by 6%. It also observed that the task closure rate increased by 3%.

Reduced Expenses

Organizations are constantly looking for ways to reduce additional costs and improve their bottom line profits. Whether a company has one employee or hundreds, if they are wasting time it translates to a huge monetary loss for the organization! Time tracking programs help managers trim costs by nipping inefficiencies and time wastage problems in the bud. Once an organization starts tracking time, they are able to visualize its biggest time wastes and sinks. These time slacking activities can then be managed to minimize employee downtime, thus leading to lesser expenses for the company. When employees and their managers pay more attention to time spent on daily tasks, this data can be utilized to streamline work processes and improve efficiency at the individual level, leading to higher profits for the company. With time tracking software not only the pennies of the employer but also the seconds of employees are accounted for. This reduces expenses literary and also indirectly.

Better Work Clarity and Focus

Time tracking software is a huge asset for organizations, and helps them align strategic goals to accurate completion timelines. Managers get a bird’s eye view of the task at hand and clarify work goals to employees according to accurate time estimates. Employees keep a record of time spent on work activities and are able to better focus and concentrate on essential tasks. If they are running behind schedule in any particular project, time tracking propels them to rearrange tasks to meet their end goals effectively. Historical data on concrete time spent will allow managers to greatly improve their ability to estimate tasks and projects, thus gaining credibility with prospective customers. Time tracking is also a great way for teams to manage and assess their project timeline. With a cloud-based time tracking system the entire team is able to quickly and accurately enter time, no matter where they are or what they’re doing. Time tracking software helps in reviewing team performances too, identifying time lags and wastage in individual team member performances.

Accurate Client Billing

A lot of companies bill client in terms of time, rather than cost per project. Time tracking technology proves to be a vital resource to such businesses, as it can help to provide an accurate detailing so that the right amount of money can be charged from clients. This prevents over-charging clients – which may force them to look for more economical vendors and also from under charging them – which will translate into massive losses for the company. Time tracking software also helps by keeping precise records on exactly how long each type of task takes, thus a manager will be able to provide a near exact quote to a client, reducing decision uncertainty. Thus, time tracking applications can greatly help businesses develop long lasting relationships with clients by ensuring they are billed for the exact amount of actual time taken for project completion.

Transparent employer and employee culture

Having a time tracking software allows employees to keep a tab on the number of vacation days, sick days, etc. left. Once setup for system users the information is accessible to all the employees. This step provides a sense authority to the employees about their days-off which earlier had to be cleared from HR. With prior and proper knowledge of their leaves, unplanned absences are greatly reduced. This helps in better planning of personal and professional schedules, which leads to improvement in productivity.

Time tracking software acts as a comprehensive solution for businesses to overcome a host of problems such as employee time theft, time over reporting, inefficient task flow and incorrect billing. With various new technological products such as online and cloud based time tracking software, companies can keep project and operational costs to a minimum, while managing employees’ time effortlessly in a cost-effective manner. Successful time – keeping is all about recording, evaluating and assessing time records of employees, in order to harness the maximum of this precious resource. It’s high time to get ahead in the race and utilize versatile time tracking software to surge ahead in the competitive business battleground!

Author’s Name: Chirantan Mungara

Author’s Email Address: Chirantan@softwaresuggest.com

Author’s Bio : Chirantan Mungara helps Companies avoid and solve technical digital marketing

disasters. Chirantan has spent the prior 6 years deeply involved with digital marketing & product development  focused on large, technically complex sites such as softwaresuggest.