In the past, employee time tracking was typically a labor-intensive process that relied heavily on employees reporting their own hours. However, with rapid technological advancements, this method of time collection has become outdated. In this article, we’ll discuss the drawbacks of self-reporting, and we’ll highlight the business benefits of automated time and attendance tracking.
Drawbacks of self-reporting
Self-reporting is an inefficient and ineffective method of time collection because it’s all too easy for employees to overestimate the amount of time they dedicate to their assignments. In fact, many employees regularly knowingly exaggerate the amount of time they actually perform any work during their shifts. This means that, in reality, you’re paying employees more than they’re working — and that leads to lower productivity and higher expenses. Consequently, you get a much lower ROI than you would if all employees were focused on their work during all the hours that you paid them or, alternatively, if you didn’t pay them for hours they didn’t work but instead invested the money in other labor.
Advantages of automated employee time tracking
To maximize your profits, automated employee time tracking streamlines the time collection process and ensures that employees are paid exactly what they earn. Here are the most important benefits of time and attendance technology:
- Employees cannot overstate their hours. Their hours are automatically tracked, so practices like
“buddy punching,” where a colleague clocks in or out for someone else, aren’t possible. - Payroll processing is easier, faster and more accurate. Because the system automatically registers all the attendance data and combines it with salary data, there’s far less manual work needed when it comes to payroll processing.
- It’s easier to manage paid-time-off (PTO). Employees can request paid time off, and their supervisor can review it and either approve or reject the request via the time tracking platform.
- It’s easier to manage employee leave. Because the platform provides you with an overview of employee attendance and PTO, you can quickly see whether or not it’s a good time for an employee to go on leave — and whether you can have someone else fill in for them.
- You can set up consistent, fair rules that comply with federal and state regulations. All you have to do is determine in which geographical locations your workforce is located, and the platform will automatically implement the relevant break, leave and paid time off regulations.
- Employees can see their specific information. The platform also allows employees to review their own attendance information, including timesheets, PTO requests, sick leave and so on.
- Ramp up efficiency in the workplace. Because the platform provides employees with a single pane of glass from which to manage their attendance, they don’t need to waste time punching in and out or filling out PTO request forms with HR. As a result, they have more time for their actual jobs.
- It reduces the administrative burden. With time tracking, payroll processing, PTO and leave requests all automated, your managers need far less time for these tasks, which allows them to focus on higher value work.
Increase productivity with automated time collection
With automated time collection, your workplace becomes more streamlined, your employees are driven to perform better, and you can achieve a better ROI. That helps boost your profits so you can advance your business to the next level.