Time sheets have been used in businesses who pay their workers based on hourly wages for centuries and more. Over time, the practice was criticized as a control tool or abandoned because of the effort it cost. With modern technology, the time wasted on creating time sheets is significantly reduced, and many processes can be automated.
Using these tools, businesses these days can instead profit from the many benefits time tracking provides. How does this supposedly restricting method help out employees as well as employers, and how can we easily implement it into our business?
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Time Tracking with Digital Software Solutions
Much of our life is digitized in the 21st century. This applies to our private life as much as our jobs. Developers like the German based Papershift have started creating intuitive, flexible, and largely automated tools that make use of the technological developments of the past few decades to:
- Simplify our lives, and
- Optimize our businesses.
With mobile time tracking, for example, you can use software like theirs to cut the time and effort wasted on menial tasks and improve the results at the same time. Since the software is cloud based and dedicated to this task, any relevant staff member can access it from anywhere in the world, and does not have to visit entire seminars to learn how to use the simple user interface.
This makes the technology easy to:
- Introduce to your workforce,
- Add to the workflow, and
- Adapt to modern job models, like remote work and home office.
The resulting time sheets are automatically archived and can be used to create official documents for authorities.
The time tracking is available as an app or desktop application, and can be accessed both over a fixed terminal in the office or via single person access over the employee workstations or smartphones. Here, the staff members can sign in and out.
The settings for the software’s features can be tuned to the company’s specific needs. For example, the employer can allow the employers to sign in via button press or have them use their signatures or individual codes.
An additional bonus: If you use other Papershift staff management software, like shift planning or payroll tools, the data collected in the time sheets can be shared with these programs to optimize and automate processes.
Time Tracking: Restriction vs Protection
In many companies, employees are hesitant to accept time tracking methods. Often, they feel like their bosses use the information to criticize their performance or apply additional pressure. No matter the reason, most staff members expect time tracking to result in negative effects rather than benefits. However, this judgement fails to include the many benefits fair time tracking can have for their work life as much as the business’s success:
Time Sheets as Protective Measures
If you look at international governments and labour laws, they see time tracking as a helpful tool to protect employees first, instead of a method that will help business owners exert control. The European Court of Justice has recently passed a law that will make time tracking mandatory for many businesses in the EU. Their reasoning: the high numbers of exploited workers across the globe.
While most nations have labour laws that regulate the maximum hours and minimum breaks their citizens receive at work and between shifts, without a mandatory control tool many businesses still break these laws and overwork their staff members. By putting the burden of proof of their labour law compliance on employers, the court hopes to reduce these illegal practices and increase its citizens’ mental and physical health.
If a national government has accepted and implemented the European Court of Justice ruling, the affected business owners must choose and implement a suitable time tracking system until a set deadline passes. Software like the one from Papershift is one of the fitting solutions.
Time Sheets for Transparency
Using a time tracking software will protect employees from exploitation. Additionally, it can help relieve tension at the workplace. Staff members can be sure any of their performances are tracked equally and without prejudice.
When used in combination with shift planning and payroll management, the time sheet data can help divide hours fairly and create accurate pay cheques.
Time Sheets for Time Management
Many first-time home office workers find it difficult to plan their day and be productive by themselves when they are used to the strict office structure. Those who have no problem starting their workday often have problems with keeping it from bleeding into their private lives at the end of their shift.
Time tracking tools can help them keep an eye on their performance and create clearer breaks at the end of the workday, when they have a visual reference of the hours they have spent working.
Conclusion
Modern tech solutions for businesses help optimize processes and have many benefits for both employers and employees. Time tracking helps business owners keep an eye on worked hours and labour laws. They can use time sheets to avoid overtime, divide shifts fairly, and calculate fair pay.
For staff members, transparent time tracking can be an important protection from exploitation, and a reassurance of fair and equal treatment. Especially remote workers can also benefit from the structure time tracking methods can provide them with outside the office.
