For generations, employees marched into workplaces and punched time clocks. Managers saw who was present and knew which employees were productive and on task. Today, time and attendance challenges are more complicated. Productivity is difficult to observe. So is clocking in and out at work. On top of it all, employees change tasks multiple times a day.
Forty-nine percent of American employees say they’re inaccurately tracking their time, costing companies $11 billion annually.
It can be challenging for leaders to solve time and attendance issues they can’t see, and the increasing need to embrace remote and hybrid work arrangements has compounded this challenge. Nearly six in ten workers who have the option to work remotely do so. That leads to questions about time theft and how to account for employee time.
When working remotely, 64% of employees take care of personal tasks during the day.
Technology can help improve time and attendance accuracy when employers cannot observe all of their employees working. We’ve compiled seven signs that indicate your time and attendance tracker isn’t as accurate as it could be.
Signs You Have Time and Attendance Challenges
1. Your employees don’t have easily accessible methods for clocking in and out
Systems that allow employees to clock in, clock out, and edit time cards retroactively make for faster, more accurate tracking. They also eliminate the need to consult a manager to make changes, saving time and money. Typically, managers correct 80% of their employees’ submitted timesheets.
2. You lack visibility into schedules
When you have records of past schedules and a view of employees’ availability, you can forecast and schedule workers better in the future. You can also prepare schedules ahead of time for a better employee experience (EX). Stable scheduling is critical in industries such as retail, food service, and hospitality, where 75% of employees say they want a more regular schedule with fewer shift changes.
3. You still rely on manual tasks
Manual time and attendance processes are error-prone, and mistakes can impact compliance with labor laws. The stakes are high, with the top ten wage and hour class action violations annually totaling around $450 million. An automated system for tracking hours reduces errors.
4. You're struggling to approve time cards quickly
Managers who perform multiple steps to approve hours or correct errors have a cumbersome task, requiring an average of six minutes per time card. Empowering employees with tools to check timecards and automating approval save managers’ time. Confirming that time cards are accurate from a dashboard that provides a high-level view of the entire team’s tracked time further improves accuracy.
5. Your reporting is inefficient
Executives need access to rich data that helps forecast costs, budget, and scheduling. For example, they need to know if their senior managers spend the typical 23 hours per week in meetings and the average 16 days per year searching for documents. When executives have an overview of expenses, they know labor costs and can match income to expenses.
6. Your time and attendance systems aren’t integrated with payroll
Every year, businesses that use manual timecards throw payroll figures off by as much as 8%. And a third of companies have some kind of payroll error to rectify. Integrated systems lower errors by collecting data digitally and flagging exceptions, so paychecks comply with labor and tax laws.
7. Your employees don't have control over their schedules
Almost 70% of employers expect hourly employees to be available for work anytime. But workers’ obligations sometimes take precedence. Lack of control and ever-changing schedules leads to higher absenteeism. Managers can eliminate many attendance issues by giving employees access to self-service tools, so workers can schedule ahead and trade shifts.
Tech Solutions Improve Efficiency
Time and attendance systems offer support to make manual processes more efficient. There’s options to allow workers to keep track of their time independently, and for managers to set up automatically send for approvals.
Managers benefit, too. They’ll be able to approve entries for groups, projects, and individuals. They won’t need to transcribe data for other systems or micro-manage time clock issues. Finally, executives find their efficiency improved, too. With real-time reporting using integrated time and attendance software, they’ll make better, faster resource planning decisions.
The global time tracking market should increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.67% by 2026. That’s because these systems are integral to improving time and attendance at work. They automate processes that free managers to address more challenging business problems. They also empower employees to control their schedules and enjoy a better overall experience. Executives find the data to power their future growth. It all leads to better tracking and attendance that propels success.
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