Features to look for in employee time tracking apps for enhanced productivity

Be it a small business with a handful of employees or a large corporation with hundreds of employees, time tracking plays a vital role in gauging employee productivity and availability. From the perspective of an employer or a business owner, keeping track of time provides a transparent method to fairly compensate employees.

Tracking employee time has evolved from simply writing data on a piece of paper to managing time using digital spreadsheets. The amount of manual work involved in both these methods can lead to many errors. According to Harvard Business Review, the US economy loses 50 million hours a year due to errors in timesheets. The money lost on such unrecorded work accounts for a whopping $7.4 billion a day!

The need for an easier way to manage time with minimal human intervention led to the creation of time tracking software to manage employee productivity and work hours. Businesses are better equipped to monitor clocked hours accurately and prevent misuse of time in the workplace by implementing this software.

What is a time tracking software?

Time tracking software helps you analyze and understand your workforce's performance based on the hours clocked in. Unlike spreadsheets or the use of pen and paper, this software automatically tracks the hours employees spend in the workplace. This reduces human intervention and greatly improves the accuracy of the tracked working hours.

Apart from calculating total working hours, time tracking apps can be used to track and analyze time spent on individual projects and tasks. Reports can be generated using the clocked hours and used to improve employee performance. This can help companies make data-driven decisions and optimize productivity.

Need for a time tracking software

Simplify administrative work
Time tracking is one of the many administrative tasks carried out on a daily basis. This task usually takes a couple of hours of data entry and tireless checking for errors. Repetitive tasks like this can be accomplished by time tracking software in just a few minutes.

Work-life balance
Some employees get carried away with tasks or projects and lose track of time. They may forget to take breaks and take more than the approved overtime. Going to the other end of the spectrum, some employees are not as committed and might not be clocking in the required number of hours. Time tracking software helps quickly identify these issues and get them resolved.

Improve estimates and billing
Businesses can clearly understand the time and money each project takes with precise tracking of clocked hours. This can help them put out accurate quotes to potential clients and start negotiations the right way. There may be instances the cost and hours to complete the project are more than the initial estimates. With every clocked hour tracked through the time tracking app, your company can get the pay it deserves.

Save time spent creating reports
Manually drafting reports using the timesheet data can be a time-consuming process. Going through multiple employee schedules and tracked hours to gain insights can be an error-prone ordeal. If a client wants quick insights into an ongoing project and the team's productivity levels, time tracking software can help you gain access to reports on all this data in just a few minutes.

Time tracking across any device
Companies with employees working remotely or working at a client location need to track time regardless of where the employees are checking in from. Using time tracking apps with mobile compatibility can help ensure time is monitored regardless of the work location.

Features to look for in time tracking apps

When it comes to time tracking software, companies are looking for a tool that can satisfy a number of their needs. Here are some of the basic functionalities that businesses look for:

Time tracking
Tracking time is the main purpose of this software and it needs to perform this action seamlessly. The total employee hours should be tracked here. It is helpful if the time spent on each project or task is also calculated. This manages the problem of time theft, and it provides a clear picture of how the clocked hours are spent and the amount of time spent on each task.

Timesheet calculation
Timesheets are generated to quantify employee work in terms of billable hours. Having this data along with the cost and time spent on every completed project can help to generate accurate estimates for any upcoming projects.

Location-based tracking
The tool should have geo-fencing capabilities to verify if employees are checking in from the desired location. This feature is important for companies who work from a client location. GPS location tracking provides accuracy when it comes to where employees are checking in from. This keeps businesses informed and ensures customers get the service at the right time.

Break management
There should be options to manage employee breaks, including different types of breaks with options to customize the nature of the breaks (paid or unpaid).

Attendance management
Managing employee attendance can be challenging, especially if it is a large organization. By tracking attendance, work shifts can be easily assigned to available staff to ensure no one is overworked or underworked and everyone is on the same page.

Report generation
Analytics and reporting capabilities can greatly help employers ensure shifts are fairly assigned to their staff. Business owners or shift administrators can get a complete picture of employee progress and the time consumed for each task or project.

You can generate reports for different periods, be it daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Using a time tracking software capable of providing such insights can improve the way teams function.

Integrations
The option to integrate with external tools makes work so much easier. When it comes to time tracking software, businesses mainly look for integrations with payroll software. This automates the exchange of information like clocked hours and time off. Unifying time tracking, project management, and payroll processing in one place makes it easier to compensate employees on time.

Mobile app
A mobile application that monitors time is important for any time tracking software. This can help ensure employees clock in or clock out from their work location, when they are on the move, or when they are at a client location.

With businesses now running 24/7 and workforces distributed across the world, real-time updates have become a necessity. Mobile apps give employees an option to update their status on the go.

User-friendly interface
In a world that is now very much reliant on the use of apps to get things done, there are so many app options out there for each of your needs. The same applies to time tracking apps. There is a need for a differentiator, and this is where the user experience of the app comes into play. Be it a desktop or a mobile app, a user-friendly interface helps employees effortlessly view and update information. The user should be able to instantly understand how to navigate the app and what they can do with it.

Security
Time tracking apps are used to manage records of clocked hours and time spent on tasks. This data is used to process payroll for employees for their services. These apps are also used to create reports with actionable insights using this information. Companies often analyze and optimize the way they work to enhance the performance of the company.

With the confidential nature of information in such apps, security becomes vital. Businesses want the industry's best security systems in place to ensure their employee data is safe and secure.

In this day and age, time tracking software has become a necessity for businesses of all sizes. There are many expectations and demands from such software. It is important to take a closer look at all the products out there and figure out what is the best option for your business. Comprehensive time tracking solutions like Zoho Shifts can help solve all your needs and optimize your business for success. The data from such applications can be used to better manage the productivity and profitability of your business. Start using a time tracking software and take the first step towards becoming a data-driven business!