Facts about Employee Time Tracking

6 Facts about Employee Time Tracking

Despite the mixed feelings on time tracking, having the right time management software can be beneficial to both workers and business. Below are several time management statistics and six Facts about Employee Time Tracking to help shed some light on the process and its potential value for organizations of all shapes and sizes.

Time Management Defined

First, what does time management refer to? Essentially, it is the use of a system to log and monitor a person’s activities. Many organizations utilize these systems to track employee hours and how they are using their time on the clock. However, it can also refer to tracking personal time through a private app as well as organization-wide project time tracking, which can be much more complex.

1. Time Tracking May Improve Time Management Skills

First on the list of Facts about Employee Time Tracking is that using even a simple software to track time can help hone a person’s time management capabilities. Such self-development gives an advantage to both individuals and companies. For instance, one in eight surveyed people reported they never feel under control at work. However, when armed with effective time management, it’s possible to gain control over the demands of the day through organization and improved productivity.

2. Employee timekeeping Identifies Areas of Improvement

Did you know the average employee is only productive for two hours and 23 minutes each day? That means a lot of time is being spent on non-work-related tasks such as browsing social media and making personal calls. Although it may appear to take up time to log the employee’s activities, it works to reveal timeframes or tasks where work is not being executed appropriately.

3. Workers in the U.S. Spend 2.5+ Hours on Emails Daily

Drafting and replying to emails is an essential part of many jobs. That being said, a lot of time is devoted to the task and at times, unjustifiably so. The right time management software could expose such waste and steps can then be taken to reduce squandered time.

4. Employee Timekeeping Errors Lead to 50 Million Lost Hours in the U.S.

5. Time of Day Impacts Productivity Levels

According to a 2021 report, productivity rates drop down significantly, all the way to 45%, between the hours of noon and 3 p.m. Freelancers also see a dip, with activity rates falling to 43% between 3-6 p.m.

6. Time Theft Is a Challenge for 75% of Businesses

Time theft can be a serious problem for any size of business. One study even found it causes U.S. employers to lose $11 billion annually. Fortunately, time tracking has been shown to reduce lapses in productivity up to 80% by combating the various form of time theft, such as buddy punching, finishing early and using work time to engage in personal activities.

Don’t Let Valuable Time Slip Away

These industry Facts about Employee Time Tracking and statistics only scratch the surface of the potential benefits time management has in store. If you want to see just how effective time management could be for your business, consider upgrading to Hour Timesheet’s innovative time tracking software. Our easy-to-use platform eliminates hours of tedious manual data entry and streamlines your business’s ability to track employee and contractor hours in real time.

Reach out to us today to learn more!

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The Benefits of Time Tracking Software

Effective time tracking software management can make a world of difference within a team or an organization. When each team member is on top of things, operations not only run smoother, but overall productivity may see a significant boost.

What Is Time Tracking Software

Available for mobile, desktop or both, time tracking software is a means to track the time, resources and manpower spent on each task or as a collective. An individual, such as a freelancer, may utilize it to keep track of personal efficiency, or it could be employed by an organization to better monitor employee performance.

Depending on the software, a time tracking platform may feature an innovative app, reliable tracking for billable hours and even advanced analytics and reporting. Having these conveniences at hand could help streamline various processes while also ensuring essential tasks are getting done on time.

How else might it be beneficial?

Provides greater organization and prioritization

One of the top advantages of time tracking software is that it could greatly diminish the time it takes to organize a whole list of tasks and put them in order of priority. This is especially true in terms of optimizing daily work and meeting important deadlines. Having a reliable tool to schedule tasks based on importance or even profitability could be very valuable when prioritizing which assignments to finish first and for cutting project costs.

Enhances workflow

Similarly, time tracking software can help a business see the big picture and, therefore, adjust the workflow accordingly. For instance, when provided with an overview of how employees are spending their time, the status of important projects, etc., management could more efficiently rearrange or assign tasks, update coinciding processes and plan for future projects. As a result, employees can focus more on efficiently fulfilling their responsibilities.

Offers effortless integration

Another major advantage and convenience is that most time tracking services can be effortlessly integrated with existing software. In fact, adding this handy tool to your current business or project management software is typically done quickly and with minimal interruption.

Such software can easily connect to payroll processes as well. By integrating data from the time tracking software with the payroll system, a company could gain a more in-depth assessment of its finances and reevaluate costs as needed.

Improves operations through data

Data is an invaluable resource in our modern world. With time tracking software, an organization can amass information surrounding the performance of the team as well as individual members. The data gained may also offer precious insight for future planning. Whether it’s used to refine budgetary expenses or strengthen the team’s collaboration, time tracking data can be a very powerful weapon to have in a business’s arsenal.

Finding the right software timekeeping software for your requirements

If time tracking sounds like a good fit, consider the professional services available through Hour Timesheet. Our time tracking software features an easy-to-use time tracking app designed to monitor employee and contractor hours in real time. It also tracks leave time, location and third-party approvals as well as billable and non-billable hours.

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Guide to Online Employee Time Clocks

Having a remote workforce is the new “normal” in today’s environment which creates new challenges in workforce management. Enter Hour Timesheet Mobile, it provides a secure, reliable, and accurate way to allow employees and contractors an easy way to clock in and out as well as document time away from “their desk”.

Who Needs Hour Timesheet Mobile Time Clock?

Any organization with mobile and remote employees who no longer have access to a physical time clock.

Organizations who have workers that travel as part of their job.

Organizations looking to track job cost at the web clock interface.

Simplify Punching In and Out and Streamline Your Payroll Work-Flow Processes

Our online employee time clock includes various features allowing management to streamline the employee’s timecard data.

1. Clock-in/Clock-out

2. Add Project Hours

3. Add Leave Hours

4. Add Timesheet Notes

5. Access to Leave Balance Data

HTS can help your organization with the 5 C’s.

COMPLIANCE. The online employee time clock makes tracking breaks and overtime easy. That helps you stay compliant with state, federal, and municipal regulations.

COMMUNICATION Keep abreast of what is going on even when you are not there in person. The online employee time clock will provide alerts when employees fail to show up for shifts or when they’re approaching overtime.

COST. Track job cost and have access to real-time reports to help you evaluate your overhead cost associated with absence time and overtime.

CALCULATIONS Our online employee time clock does the busy work of calculating time cards for you. The includes regular and overtime hours worked, paid time off hours, and more. Our app will save you valuable time by computing your timecards automatically. Your timesheets will start to reflect your payroll expenses.

CONNECTIONS Hour Timesheets offers various reporting formats for payroll, including Excel and CSV export, PDF, or more simply a paper copy. Our time clock system can easily integrate with various well-known payroll providers, including QuickBooks , Gusto and ADP.

Online Employee Time Clock

If you’re tired of having to wade through the mountains of timecards and reports regularly, then now’s the time to join the 21^st century with Hour Timesheet’s Online Employee Time Clock. Our easy-to-use application offers a multitude of features and is highly customizable. Your employees do not require training to use the application, and there is no hardware required either. It really could not get any easier.

Time Is Money And Every Minute Counts

Contact Hour Timesheet today to learn more about our app.

DCAA Compliance Explained

The term ‘DCAA compliance’ when referring to your timekeeping procedures is often just thrown around. If you don’t understand what that means or how to verify that you are DCAA compliant, Hour Timesheet can help.

Simply put, DCAA stands for Defense Contract Audit Agency. This is the federal government agency responsible for conducting DCAA audits of the Department of Defense (DoD) contracts. As imagined, the DoD is very strict about its rules and regulations surrounding DCAA compliance and timekeeping. The DoD will award government contracts to businesses that use web-based timekeeping if they meet all requirements.

1. The company must document all timekeeping procedures in a policy or procedure handbook.

The employee handbook must address all critical elements of an adequate timekeeping system. Companies must provide all employees with an up-to-date policy or procedure handbook regarding time entry procedures.

2. Every employee must record all of his/her time daily.

Attempting to track time worked in advance or days after the fact is not acceptable. Hour Timesheet comes equipped with reminders and alerts to ensure employee time is entered daily. This means that no matter the size of the company, Hour Timesheet is equipped for every employee to track time. This DCAA timekeeping feature is especially useful for any companies participating in SBIR and STTR programs. They may be smaller businesses, but they must ensure they remain DCAA compliant to qualify for their funding.

3. All employees must record 100% of the time worked.

Whether working on a government contract or commercial work, all time worked must be accounted for. With the Hour Timesheet mobile app the employees and 1099’s can add time from anywhere, whether they’re working from home or the office.

4. Employees must record all indirect time not identifiable to a given project to proper indirect cost accounts (Overhead, G&A, B&P, R&D, etc.)

One example of an indirect cost is overhead. This usually includes the indirect costs involved in support operations or direct production. These costs are directly related to a project or projects. However, they cannot be allocated to one specific contract. This is because they overlap across many different projects.

5. Employees must record all PTO, vacation, sick, holiday, and other leave time to the proper leave accounts.

Hour Timesheet allows for leave tracking any kind

6. The system administrator(s) should initiate all job codes that appear in the timekeeping system.

Charge codes must be provided to employees authorized to work on a given project.

7. All timesheet entries must be recorded by the employee.

An employee must record their time based on work completed. They should track all time entries, irrespective of whether the time is billable or non-billable. This must happen daily.

8. Employees must charge to the appropriate project

Whenever the employee completes work or tasks, they must charge it accurately and directly to that project. Hour Timesheet can be setup to restrict which codes an employee can charge their time; therefore, an employee cannot charge to a project they have not been assigned.

9. Employees may not work on indirect tasks and record time as direct costs

An indirect task is work that is not explicitly tied to a project. To remain DCAA, compliant employees must never charge the time it takes to complete these tasks to any project. This would violate DCAA compliance and regulations

10. The employee is required to initiate all correction timesheet entries.

The employee must record all corrected timesheet data that includes a detailed audit trail. An audit trail is critical to remaining DCAA compliant.

The employee’s supervisor must approve every correction time entry in a detailed report, in the event of a DCAA audit.

In the unusual circumstances where the employee cannot make the changes to timesheets, then the HTS administrator may make such changes with the employee’s consent. The DCAA may analyze each entry on an employee’s timesheet. Thanks to your detailed audit trail, the DCAA will see who edited a time card after it was submitted. They will also be able to see when the changes were made, and why. Hour Timesheet creates an un-editable audit log that proper documentation. This activity log will include all of all the additions, deletions, approvals, and modifications made to your employees’ timesheets.

11. The employee’s supervisor must approve all employee timesheet data.

Each timesheet requires two signatures, in order to comply with DCAA compliance regulations. Hour Timesheet allows for online signatures at both the employee and manager levels.

12. All employees should be provided documented timekeeping training.

The company’s employee handbook or new-hire orientation program typically includes this training. Either way the employee should become familiar with the company’s timekeeping policy before they begin working.

13. In order to be DCAA compliant, the company must retain timesheet data for at least two years.

That means the company must be keep their files in a secure and easily accessible location. Should the DCAA require you to produce copies of your timesheets, they should be available. Hour Timesheet keeps the timesheets indefinitely for all employees, current, and past.

14. The company must conduct audit or floor checks randomly throughout the year to monitor employee timekeeping compliance.

Unfortunately, DCAA timekeeping compliance is one of the primary reasons government contractors fail an audit. Hour Timesheet can help. We have the employee and contractor time tracking experience to ensure total compliance. Sign up for Hour Timesheet today and work with an experienced implementation rep to review your account for total compliance. All for FREE.

Non-Profit Time Keeping

At first glance, Non-Profit Time Keeping software tool looks like a simple and straightforward timekeeping application perfect for the non-profit industry. However, if you take a closer look, you’ll notice this online timekeeper can do considerably more, including improve efficiency, increase employee morale, and save your organization money. The following is a closer look.

Improved Efficiency

Hour Timesheet’s online timekeeper will increase your non-profit’s internal efficiency. Our app offers features timekeeping tools that itemize a task and indicate how long it took an employee to perform a particular task the last time. This can provide you with a much better idea of the time it will require to complete each step, allowing you to produce a more accurate schedule going forward.

It is these same time tracking features that will allow you to evenly distribute tasks for a larger project between staff within your non-profit. This is to ensure that no employee within your organization is overwhelmed by too heavy a workload while others do not have any work.

Increased Employee Morale

Online time tracking software can tremendously increase employee participation and morale at work in several different ways. With electronic timekeeping, employees don’t have to concern themselves about whether or not they’re in line with the organization’s goals or stress about which tasks to focus on. The more organized a workplace is, the happier a place it is to work.

With the records of all your employees’ daily tasks through your online timekeeping software, it becomes much easier to recognize and celebrate all of their accomplishments. The more employees feel appreciated, the more likely they are to stay with your organization, thereby boosting your non-profit’s employee retention and saving you both time and money.

Online timekeeping also provides an opportunity for employees to provide feedback from larger projects right down to daily tasks. Some of your team members might feel frustrated if they don’t feel they’ve been given enough time for a specific job. This is their forum to express their frustrations, so make sure to listen.

Cost-Effectiveness

Nowhere is the statement ‘time is money’ more evident than when using timekeeping software, such as Hour Timesheet. Yes, you have to make money to spend money, but often to save money, you have to eliminate or reduce spending. That’s where time tracking spending can help by showing you how to reduce overhead costs. Staffing makes up the most substantial portion of most non-profit organizations’ budgets. Online timesheet apps can help save money by reducing the time spent manually entering timesheet information, as well as creating task lists and creating schedules.

Timekeeping apps can also help predict staffing overages or shortages for your organization. If you’re understaffed, your employees will have too much work, and certain responsibilities will fall through the cracks. On the other hand, if you’re overstaffed, employee time is not being used efficiently, and you’re wasting valuable money.

Without accurate timekeeping, there is very little chance of remaining within a budget. They go hand in hand. Timesheets give you an honest reflection of the time required to complete a project. In turn, this gives you an accurate estimate of the total cost of any project, program, or endeavor you take on.

Non-Profit Time Keeping

Similar to all businesses, your non-profit organization will change as it grows through its lifespan. As you manage and adapt to its changing needs, you’ll notice that it will be increasingly hard to handle all of the operations on your own. That’s where Hour Timesheet can help. Together we can provide you with a solid foundation from which you can successfully build your organization.