High-performing businesses are found across all industries and come in a range of sizes. When your small business is growing and thriving, it’s important to take advantage of all efficiencies to keep the momentum going. Explore the eight must-have time tracking tools for your business and why each is so essential.
1. Tracking functionality
Of course, your time tracking solution must be able to, well, track employee time. That’s a no-brainer, right? But here’s what you may not realize: Using a spreadsheet or other manual tracking methods isn’t very efficient. Employees may waste hours every pay period on creating and updating these sheets, which isn’t a good use of their time.
Additionally, time theft is on the rise, and it’s much easier to commit when tracking hours manually. It’s pretty simple to add a couple hours here and there without getting caught, but this can translate to thousands of dollars coming out of your bottom line.
Your time tracking solution must include tracking functionality, and it should be as automated as possible to maximize its benefit.
2. Analytics
The next must-have for high-performing businesses is access to analytics. You need to be able to analyze the time data from employees, including their hours worked and project or department assignments (if applicable). Using analytics helps to measure employee performance and identify areas that could be improved. Your company’s hiring efforts may also be tied to the time and attendance data, as you can use the information to determine where an extra employee could be useful.
3. Reporting capabilities
Along with analytics, a good time and attendance system needs to have reporting capabilities. It’s certainly useful to have insights into time data, but you may need to share it with others on the team to collaborate and make informed decisions. Examples of reports available in many time tracking solutions include:
- Task or project-focused reports
- Summary of work
- Activity reports
- Hours worked by employee
- Departmental tracking
4. Web-based punching
Web-based punching makes it easier for employees to clock in and out from their computers upon arrival. You may find that offering this option boosts employee morale, as it puts more power in their hands to manage their own time data. Since many employees have access to a computer or shared terminal, it’s easy to punch in and out on a web time clock when needed.
5. Mobile app
In today’s world, it’s vital to offer mobile access to an employee time clock. You may have employees who work remotely or tackle projects at different job sites. Even those who do come to a physical location to perform their duties may appreciate the ability to clock in from their own device.
Worried about time theft? You can establish parameters that restrict where employees can be when punching in or out via a mobile app. Geofencing is a highly useful tool that allows you to set a physical boundary in which an employee can record their time.
6. Employee self-service
Similar to web-based punching, employee self-service functionality empowers employees to manage their own time and attendance data. Companies correct an average of 15 errors per pay period, which translates to hundreds of dollars per employee in wasted time. Many of these errors relate to incorrect or missing punches, incorrect PTO or vacation time, and deductions.
But if employees have access to their own data and can see issues, such as missed punches or other inaccuracies, they can work with their managers to resolve them before payroll processing rolls around again. This ensures more accuracy in employee pay, fewer costly mistakes, and more satisfied team members.
7. Payroll integration
The purpose behind employee time tracking is twofold:
- To ensure employees are working at their scheduled times and performing their duties, and
- To pay members of your workforce based on the time worked.
The second purpose mentioned is especially vital for hourly employees, but inaccurate time data doesn’t help. In fact, you could wind up paying an employee too much or too little by simply making a minor typo in a manual process.
Payroll accuracy is essential for every business, regardless of size. Your time and attendance data should integrate into a payroll platform to ensure correct paychecks. A lack of integration means more manual processes, which further increase the risk of mistakes.
8. Other integrations
Along with payroll integration, the data from your time tracking system should also flow into other tools your business uses to maintain compliance and serve its employees. For example, if benefits eligibility is tied to the number of hours worked, the data should integrate with your benefits platform. Integrations can simplify the day-to-day tasks performed by HR and payroll professionals while reducing errors.
Explore the functionality of WorkforceHub, a leading time and attendance solution built for small businesses. It functions with various types of time clocks, including web time clocks, physical clocks with features that prevent buddy punching and other forms of time theft, and mobile punching cababilities. You can easily get up and running on the system and gain access to these features, including integrations with many of the most popular HR and payroll platforms.
