What are the benefits of using employee timesheet software?
Employee timesheets are nothing new – they have been standard practice in the workplace for years. Depending on the organisation and the industry, however, they may be used in very different ways and for different purposes. If done manually however, through paper or spreadsheets, employee timesheets can become an admin-heavy process, so this blog looks at the benefits of using employee timesheet software instead.
Tracking time in the workplace
Time tracking in the workplace offers a number of advantages for many organisations. For example, for shift workers, using timesheets and tracking hours worked helps to ensure overtime is accurately logged, and that regular breaks are taken. In other cases, tracking the progress of a project using timesheets can be helpful to calculating billable time and monitoring productivity levels.
Timesheets are also useful in ensuring that employees are working their contracted hours, and provides employers with the ability to see if someone is working excessively long hours, or not enough. If an employee routinely works long hours, there may be an underlying issue which can be addressed with support from their people manager and HR, such as a heavy workload.
Logging the total number of hours worked through employee timesheets is also helpful in ensuring compliance with local labour laws, such as the EU Working Time Directive.
Challenges of using manual timesheets
Creating employee timesheets using manual methods, such as paper or spreadsheets, present a number of challenges.
The most obvious problem with it is the admin drain it brings with it. Filling in manual timesheets takes time – time which could be spent on other, more important tasks.
Manual timesheets are also prone to human error – leading to inaccurate data which might mean that important information, such as overtime or holidays, are missed. Without any automation in place, it becomes very easy to make a mistake, or employees may find themselves filling in their timesheets late, and struggling to remember exactly what hours they have worked.
The collection and storage of manual employee timesheets also poses an issue. If employees have various timesheets saved on their desktop or mobile phone, it may be very difficult for their manager to locate, view and manage the data. Senior members and leaders of the team will also struggle to find that information quickly and easily, preventing them from being able to see exactly who is working, when and for how long in an efficient way.
What are the benefits of using employee timesheet software?
Using employee timesheet software instead of manual methods gives organisations that opportunity to automate what is typically a labourious and lengthy task.
Employee timesheet software, accessible either via desktop or a mobile app, reduces the chances that employees will forget to fill in their working hours. It makes it much easier to simply log on, select their hours worked, and check off one more quick task for the day.
An online employee timesheet system also allows organisations to view their employees’ working hours quickly and easily. No more searching through shared folders to try and locate the latest timesheets from every team member – all the data is available to view and manage in one central source of truth.
Employee timesheet software also dramatically reduces the likelihood that timesheets will be filled out incorrectly, by standardising the information that can be inputted in the first place. That means everyone’s timesheets will look the same, without any inconsistencies or anomalies included.
Timesheet software like edays also enables organisations to report on working hours. Reports can be generated on a weekly or monthly basis, providing an accurate picture of hours worked, productivity and project progress within an organisation. That’s much harder to do if you’re reviewing individual paper forms or spreadsheets and trying to collate the information manually.
How to use employee timesheet software
Setting up employee timesheet software is straightforward. With our time tracking software, your organisation can be up and running in a matter of weeks. With an easy user experience and handy mobile app, employees can keep up to date with their timesheets and reduce the amount of time they were spending previously on manual processes.
And, with automatically generated QR codes, clocking in and out from work just takes a few seconds, and ensures a higher level of accuracy in recording start and end times.
