Timekeeping Benefits: How to Keep Your Payroll Accurate

Accurate payroll management

Timekeeping is the main basis for computing employee salary and deductions. Good timekeeping logs show all employees’ work time down to the last second. Accurate timekeeping leads to accurate timekeeping data and payroll. Both employees and employers highly value accurate payroll. It helps businesses avoid legal issues and promotes a good relationship with employees.

Time record transparency

Transparency always offers a sense of security and satisfaction to both employees and employers. With time-keeping, employees can quickly check if they are being credited for the actual number of working hours rendered and file complaints if they are not. On the other hand, employers can always counter-check the records in any instance of time-log disputes.

Better time discipline

A fair share of employees have some issues with time management and productivity. It starts with being late for a minute or two, then becomes 10 minutes, and soon goes on to 20 or even 30 minutes, especially when time logs are not being strictly monitored.

Without good timekeeping, some employees tend to procrastinate and perform poorly, spending more and more time on unproductive activities. This may be a simple or shallow issue at first glance, but this may well grow to be abuse toward the business, cashing in on hours spent not working or doing something unproductive.

Good timekeeping decreases this percentage relevantly. Monitoring motivates employees to focus on the task and perform better. As illustrated by the Hawthorne Effect, employees tend to work harder and improve productivity when being observed or evaluated.

Better work schedule management

Timekeeping-based observations are also the best basis for work schedule management. Timekeeping makes collating data on previous projects and work assignments much more manageable.

It is also easier to plan future project schedules and anticipate possible work duration based on collected data, allowing for better time management. Timekeeping helps identify unproductive or drawn-out processes, allowing management to optimize or eliminate them.

Easier overtime filing

With good timekeeping comes better time record transparency. When there is transparency, employers and employees alike can effortlessly see the number of work hours rendered by the employees. This makes it more convenient for employees when filing for overtime work hours and allows employers to check and approve the release of overtime pay quickly.

Easier report generation

Easy and quick report generation is another benefit of timekeeping. Timekeeping enables HR or business managers to produce desired reports involving time tracking on workers’ clock time and project durations. Reports can reflect the most productive hours for employees, which employees work fast on which task, which types of projects take the longest and the shortest time to finish, and whether there are certain drops in the productivity of an individual employee.

Better employee experience

Indisputable records showing employee work hours are one of the benefits of having good timekeeping. They help employees check whether they are being appropriately compensated for hours worked. Timekeeping also provides relevant reports. These reports may reflect sudden or controversial drops in the productivity of individual workers with no previous issues. This allows HR managers or staff to investigate these issues further, intervene or offer help if necessary, and take care of employees better. All of these, in turn, contribute to better employee satisfaction and experience.

There is a number of ways that timekeeping can be done to track and monitor employee work hours.

Paper timesheets/Time cards

This is the classic method of timekeeping where employees or a time checker does manual data entry for the clock-in and clock-out times of employees on timesheets or time cards. Time cards and time sheets are usually formatted for a month’s use. This is a very affordable and accessible method of timekeeping. There is no need for special training for employees or staff to use it. This is best used for a small number of users.

Spreadsheets

The use of spreadsheets is another example of the methods of timekeeping. Spreadsheets are electronic documents with built-in columns and necessary computation formulas.

One example of a spreadsheet is Microsoft Excel. Employee payroll data are entered into the spreadsheet, removing the need for time sheets or cards.

Spreadsheets are cheap and easy to set up and use. Spreadsheets can also help in calculating employee hours worked daily or summation of total work time for a certain period, like monthly or bimonthly.

Custom-built timekeeping software

Another example of a timekeeping method is having a timekeeping software specially built for your company. This software is in charge of monitoring, tracking, recording, and calculating all timekeeping-involved data for the company.

It fits right in with all other business processes and answers all timekeeping needs and issues. Data is viewable to all who have access privileges. The timekeeping software is developed for and owned by the company. It is well-suited for use with a large number of employees.

Commercial timekeeping solutions

Employing the services of a commercial timekeeping software solution is yet another example of the methods of timekeeping. Commercial timekeeping solutions are like custom-built software, but the target in mind during development is the usage of many different businesses, from small businesses to large enterprises. As such, it offers more flexibility as the business grows and as the needs change.

Advantages of timekeeping solutions

Commercial timekeeping software solutions are built to accommodate businesses from small to large enterprises, so they are flexible enough to make room for any changes brought by business growth. They are easy to set up, and staff training can be completed in a matter of weeks.

Commercial timekeeping software solutions are also more affordable than custom-built ones. Many vendors provide a free trial and some even offer the system for free for a small number of users, then charge only when the number of users exceeds the limits of the free use.

The majority of vendor-supplied solutions and timekeeping apps are mobile-compatible and allow employees to have accounts that they can use to clock in and out. And they usually have good support services, because the whole company is ready to respond to issues the timekeeping system they provided might encounter, without any added payments.

Drawbacks of using commercial timekeeping solutions

There is only one drawback of using a commercial timekeeping solution: change may seem overwhelming, mainly if used to the traditional way of timekeeping data.

No matter which method of timekeeping you choose, there will always be at least one drawback. It is up to business owners to weigh out the pros and cons.

Timesheets or time cards

Timesheets and time cards are tedious and difficult to process on a day-to-day basis. If these are not processed daily, it will be even more tiresome and time-consuming, especially if the number of employees is more than small. The bulk of this workload may need extra hands and be prone to errors.

Mistakes may also occur during the manual filling out of the timesheet or time card, which may be accidental or intentional. Timesheets and time cards are also prone to damage, loss, or misplacement. The data lost during such incidents may cause a financial loss to both employers and employees.

Timesheet or time card bulk is hard to move from person to person who needs to scrutinize, approve, and sign the papers so employees can get paid. These paper documents may also get damaged or lost during such transports.

Spreadsheets

Using spreadsheets is an upgrade from time sheets and time cards, but it is far from the best fit. Spreadsheets are not meant to be used as timekeeping solutions or employee data storage. They can perform calculations, but the necessary formula must be used each time to ensure accurate timekeeping data. Errors are often found during data entry and in formulas used. One mistake in the formula can cause multiple errors.

Although spreadsheets are shareable, the collation of data is still time-consuming. There is also a problem with data security. All data in the spreadsheet will be viewed by whomever it is shared with, regardless if some columns should only be viewed by certain personnel.

Custom-built timekeeping software

Custom-built timekeeping software systems offer great benefits, such as automatic timekeeping, for businesses and are a great asset. However, they do have significant drawbacks.

The development of the time-tracking software may last for several months and cost a heavy penny from the get-go. It depends on the contract, but most developers ask for payment for each update and development done on the system. The money spent from conception to deployment may equal an arm and a leg.

Custom-built timekeeping software systems may outlive their compliance as laws and regulations evolve. They may also have compromised security if the developers used certain free bits of code with vulnerabilities in security. If the contract with the developers does not include maintenance, or if problems occur outside the duration of the agreement, the system might be compromised and rendered unusable.

Steps to implement include:

• Assessing company needs based on employee count, budget, and required features.
• Researching and selecting cost-effective, user-friendly software.
• Installing and configuring the chosen software for compatibility and customization.
• Providing thorough employee training on system usage and company policies.
• Conducting comprehensive testing and seamless integration with other software.
• Rolling out the system to all employees and ensuring compliance.
• Monitoring system performance continuously and addressing issues promptly.
• Performing regular maintenance to ensure smooth operation and gathering employee feedback for further improvements.