Time is money, and lost time is never found again. Those words, attributed to Ben Franklin, ring as loudly today as they did back in 1748.

Seeing that time can’t be reserved for tomorrow, it’s crucial we treat it like the scarce resource it truly is. Thus, if time is the greatest asset we have, why aren’t we doing everything in our power to capitalize on every second? 

Because, let’s face it, your employees are most likely not as productive as they could or should be. On average, employees only spend approximately 2.5 hours per day on productive tasks. Per Market Research Future, the U.S. economy loses 50 million hours, or $7.4 billion, in productivity per day because of unrecorded work activities. 

The solution to such inefficiencies lies in tracking how your team is spending its time and using that information to operate more efficiently, and statistics back this statement up. Companies that incorporate employee time tracking demonstrate a massive increase in accountability and productivity. Accordingly, 34% of employees who use time tracking software report higher productivity levels compared to those who do not. 

Definition of Time Tracking

Time tracking, by definition, is a systematic process for recording and analyzing how time is spent on various tasks, projects, or activities. In the professional realm, time tracking incorporates more than just clocking in and out; it’s about understanding employees’ actions during work hours. This method is essential for businesses across various sectors, be it landscaping, digital agencies, software development, or construction. 

Time tracking serves multiple purposes:

• Record Work Hours: Perhaps most importantly, time tracking software exists to help managers keep track of how time’s spent in the workplace. This is crucial for creating client invoices and paying hourly staff for the time they’ve devoted to the company. 
• Productive Project Management: By tracking employees’ time on specific tasks, managers gain valuable insights into how workers are allocating their time while at work. By integrating this information into a workforce management plan, administrators can create effective plans and execute them much more efficiently.
• Cost Control and Analysis: For salaried employees, time tracking helps managers analyze project costs and estimate future job expenses.
• Comprehensive Data Management: As a company continues to add employees, managing time, and the resulting data, becomes more complex. Implementing the proper time tracking tool can help your human resources team interpret tax laws, payroll, overtime, and other time-centric variables, making operations more efficient, accurate, and worthwhile. 

Why Time Tracking Is Important for Businesses

Time tracking offers numerous benefits for business operations. In this section, we’ll dig deeper into several of these attributes. 

Transparency: Time tracking promotes openness within teams and organizations. By recording the time spent on tasks and projects, employees and managers gain visibility into where their time is allocated. Transparency fosters trust among team members and ensures awareness of contributions and workloads.  

Accountability: Tracking employees’ time holds them accountable. When employees know their time is being monitored, they tend to stay focused and work more productively. 

Accuracy: If your company is tasked with billing clients, it’s crucially important to ensure every invoice is accurate. Time tracking allows companies to record and retain employee punches, ensuring billing is completed correctly and fairly. This accuracy enhances client satisfaction and helps maintain positive relationships by avoiding disputes over billing. 

Operational Efficiency: In a society where everything is measured and analyzed, time tracking provides a vehicle to collect any and all time-related information. After this information is collected, managers can use it to identify roadblocks, streamline processes, and appropriately allocate resources, leading to improved operational efficiency and greater productivity. 

Time Tracking’s Impact on a Small Business

Time tracking serves as a gateway to valuable information regarding a business’s project management, productivity, and financial stability. The data collected can be further refined, providing key insights into how your company is utilizing resources, how projects are progressing, how productive your employees are, etc. 

With detailed time tracking, companies can accurately estimate the time necessary to complete various tasks and projects, improving planning and resource allocation. For example, OnTheClock’s job costing and reporting feature provides a clear, accessible option for recording employees' work on various projects, ensuring customers are billed fairly. Whether you're in the construction business or a freelancer, you’ll be able to accurately track your jobs and projects accordingly.

Managers can monitor individual and team productivity by creating a ratio between time spent on a job and the end results. The resulting data can be used to identify high performers or teams and those who may need additional support or training. This also allows supervisors to allocate resources accordingly, dispatching high performers to high-priority tasks. Creating a plan in advance allows companies to operate as efficiently as possible, providing superior service at every stop. 

Tracking time also allows managers to differentiate billable hours from non-billable hours. This is a surefire, automated way to ensure your invoices are accurate and that clients are billed correctly. 

Companies that fail to use time tracking may find it difficult to determine how employees are spending their time at work, leading to hidden inefficiencies. Without accurate monitoring, it may be difficult to identify workflow patterns, evaluate employee performance, or address issues promptly. Additional issues may include inaccurate billing, inefficient resource allocation, compliance risks, and poor project planning.

Implementing Time Tracking into Your Business 

Time tracking seems like a formidable option for all small businesses. So, why aren’t more companies using tools such as these? They must be difficult to integrate, right?

No. They’re absolutely not. At least OnTheClock isn’t.

OnTheClock can be downloaded in seconds and added instantaneously. From there, you simply sign up for a free 30-day trial, assign administrators and managers, input employees, and begin tracking time. 

Settings can be configured from day one – or at any time, allowing administrators to customize numerous options, including work hours, overtime rules, break policies, PTO accrual, etc., to best fit each business’s unique needs. 

OnTheClock offers numerous ways for employers and employees to manage time, including a mobile app, web interface, biometric reader, kiosk station, etc. Choose the option that works best for you and set it up accordingly. 

Once everything is set up, a brief meeting introducing the software may be helpful. At this time, share why you’re implementing time tracking and how it stands to benefit everyone in the organization. If you have any questions or concerns, reference this comprehensive guide. 

The final step to a successful implementation is employee training. Make sure you coach employees how to punch in and out, introducing them to each of the software's layers. Put them to the test with a test run, and carefully evaluate timecards over the first month to ensure everything is running optimally.  

That’s all there is to it. Implementation is easy, simple, and concise – just like the software itself. 

Conclusion 

Adding a robust time tracking system, such as OnTheClock, allows businesses to capitalize on their most valuable resource — time. By ensuring transparency, accountability, billing accuracy, and operational efficiency, digital time tracking transforms how companies manage their projects and the staff behind them. It empowers managers to make informed decisions, improves productivity, and enhances overall business performance.

As modern workplaces continue to integrate advanced technology, embracing the proper tools that maximize efficiency is key. OnTheClock provides a seamless, easy-to-use solution that helps businesses track work hours and attendance accurately and effectively. By doing so, companies can ensure they’re not only showing up but also making every moment count, living up to the wisdom of Ben Franklin.

Start your journey toward better time management with OnTheClock today, free for 30 days. For more information, visit www.ontheclock.com.