Every business strives to enhance the productivity of its workforce to maintain profitability. It calls for tools that allow an organization to keep track and account for the employee’s time. Timesheets app will enable businesses to know how and where the employees are spending their time.
Choosing an employee time tracking software can be a daunting task. First, you need to perform a thorough assessment of your business operation to determine the exact needs. It is crucial for your business process, employee activity, and determination of billable hours.
Some of the essential things to consider are:
What Devices Your Employees Use? Where Do They Work?
Device compatibility is an essential factor in choosing the right timesheets app. The app should work on mobile devices, laptops, computers and also accessible through Internet browsers. Such functionality ensures every employee can clock-in and clock-out with ease.
If you have remote employees, make sure the time tracking app is compatible with the devices they use.
What Is Your Organization’s Workflow?
The timesheets app should work with the organization’s workflow. Every company has custom policies related to work breaks, overtime, time off, and rounding. The time tracking app should allow you to customize the app workflows to meet the organization’s needs.
It will ensure you do not have to make separate entries for these policies, and the final calculations are perfect for payroll computing.
What Kind of Clock-in and Clock-Out Type do You Need?
The ease of use and security are two interrelated elements in a time tracking app. The software should offer enhanced security to prevent any unauthorized access while making the log-in process easy.
The use of face recognition technology is useful in a time tracking app. It makes things simple for employees. They don’t need to remember complex passwords to clock-in or clock-out. All they need to do is open the app on their devices, and the app will scan their face to grant them access to clock-in or clock-out. A single swipe on the screen or a click should be enough to clock-in or clock-out.
What Kind of Reporting Features Do You Need?
The time tracking app needs to have real-time reporting features that will allow project managers to know any employee’s availability and performance in real-time. The app should be able to generate reports for clients and export them in PDF or Sheet format.
Do You Need Location-Based Tracking?
If you have remote employees or have a team working on the field, you will need a time tracking app with location-based tracking. It will show you how much time your employee has spent on a particular location. The location-based monitoring is also useful to keep a tab on remote employees.
It will help you know whether they are present at work or not. The location-based tracking can tell you time spent in-between locations as well.
Do You Want the App to Be Part of Your Billing/Invoicing or Payroll System?
If you want the app to be part of your payroll system, you need to look for payroll reporting features. It will ensure the app keeps track of the time spent by employees for the entire month and helps you calculate the salary/wages as per the hourly rates.
The payroll reporting features will remove the need for manual entry of billable hours in your payroll system. The app must support integration with your organization’s billing and payroll system for maximum flexibility.
Do You Need Centralized Administration for Apps?
A centralized administration feature gives the management/HR/project manager clarity about workforce efficiency. An app with an administrator dashboard will help the project manager get valuable insights into the workforce’s performance.
It will allow the project manager to identify any bottlenecks in the processes which are causing delays. The administrator dashboard gives the project manager a holistic view of every employee’s performance in the organization. The insights can help the project manager identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees in different work areas.
Based on the findings, the project manager can plan employees’ training to overcome their weaknesses and enhance their productivity.
What Kind of Customer Support Do You Need?
No software is perfect and technical difficulties can surface at any time. Your organization will be required to switch to ancient time tracking systems wasting your investment in the absence of dedicated support. Make sure the app developer offers round the clock support to deal with any unforeseen eventualities.
To sum up, when deciding on the timesheets app, you need to consider your expectations and needs carefully. The typical workflow will determine the must-have and good-to-have features no matter which time tracking app you select to make sure it is easy to use.
