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Many people are sceptical about the effectiveness of time tracking. There are several facts in this post that will offer you a better understanding of time tracking.
Time monitoring is commonly used by businesses and organisations to keep track of how their employees spend their time. There are two different kinds of time tracking. Personal time tracking and project time tracking are the two types of time tracking.
Personal time tracking entails recording what you do with your time on your smartphone utilising simple apps. Rescue Time is a popular app that many people use for this purpose. On the other hand, project time monitoring frequently entails a lot more. This sort of time monitoring records the activities of a large number of people. It is used by organisations and project managers to keep track of project timelines. It is mostly used in situations where project and resource management are actively combined.
The concept of time monitoring has sparked numerous debates. Some believe it is pointless, while others believe it is the key to increased efficiency in any firm. Let’s start with some of the reasons why individuals believe time tracking is unnecessary.
Why do some people believe that time tracking is unnecessary?
They think it is counter-productive
People in organisations are usually required to enter how they spend their time into a system. Many employees believe that this is ineffective, and that rather than saving time, it wastes it. For starters, they believe they should use the time to log their regular work activities. Second, they believe that tracking their activities will cause them to get even more distracted from their task. People are likely to carry tier phones to fill their activities, and then they move on to social media or mobile .
It requires compartmentalization
For ease of use, logged-in activities are frequently separated into groups. You’d have a group for emailing, typing, recording, and other activities. It is dependent on the type of organisation and the nature of the employees’ employment. Sometimes, a single employee will be doing something that falls into more than one category. In such cases, an employee may be unsure about which category to register the activity under. The time tracking procedure may become muddled and frustrating as a result of this.
It’s a pretext to fire me!
Many employees believe that time tracking is simply another technique for their superiors to find fault and unnecessarily fire people. Companies can utilise the data gathered from time tracking to assess personnel and even set remuneration. As a result, workers become fearful, and many try to sabotage the process.
It stifles movement.
Many people believe that keeping track of time restricts their ability to be flexible, imaginative, and creative. They feel that logging all of your activities into a system messes with your mind and prevents you from performing at your best. Furthermore, it may be argued that humans function best when they are not told what to do at specific times.
It’s fuelled by a desire to be more productive.
Many individuals believe that today’s society is obsessed with productivity, to the point where people want to appear busy even when they aren’t. This alleged preoccupation is thought to be the driving force behind time tracking. They also say that the time they spend logging in activities should be spent doing the actual jobs. People would be productive rather than pretending to be productive if this happened.
The advantages of time tracking
While many of the issues listed above are valid, time monitoring remains an essential component of teamwork and productivity. Here are a few advantages of time tracking.
Employee transparency is important.
Employees frequently fail to fulfill deadlines due to a lack of focus and a thousand irrelevant side projects. These pointless activities build-up, leaving project managers and superiors perplexed as to why tasks aren’t being completed on time.
It’s quite easy to lose focus, and everyone does it from time to time. Even the tiniest distractions can cause you to lose focus on your work. It could be a coworker from the next cubicle bringing up a topic about which you are passionate. Employees are more likely to focus on their task and be upfront about how they use their time if they have a time monitoring system that holds them accountable. Slack and breaks are usually included in most time tracking systems.
Assist with operational effectiveness
Operational efficiency is a measure that shows the profitable output when operational costs and input are taken into account. Profit is only one aspect of operational efficiency. It is a measure of how much is produced while also considering how much is spent on resources. One of these resources is time.
The simplest way to track the time spent on tasks is to useTime tracking software. You can use a time tracker to figure out how productive your company is. In addition to other resources, the time spent can assist you in estimating operational efficiency to near-perfect accuracy. Knowing your operating efficiency, on the other hand, permits you to make essential modifications.
Resources
People in an organisation sometimes waste time doing unnecessary tasks. Some tasks are pointless and of minor consequence. Companies and organisations can use time tracking to keep track of these duties and take action.
Some tasks, in particular, necessitate extra resources to complete; otherwise, they will take too long. For example, rather than letting employees to drive themselves or take the bus or train, a simple sales visit may be more productive if the company supplied transportation for them. Another example is investing in software that assists staff in saving time and directing newly acquired resources to more productive areas.
Control and estimation of the budget
Tracking time in the office allows you to effortlessly regulate and forecast your budget. Time tracking provides information into the number of resources used and the amount of time spent on daily tasks, such as manufacturing. As a result, it provides insight into budget control, allocation, and estimation.
Reduces the amount of work that employees have to do.
With time tracking, you can see how much work each person is putting in. Many employees become burnt out as a result of their intense attention on their profession. You can use time tracking to determine when you should lower your employees’ workload. You may use the best time tracker to figure out when you should hire new people. Because of the workload that some positions and departments have in comparison to others, they may require additional staff.
Time Management
Time monitoring is beneficial to both individuals and organisations in terms of time management. This is more effective for individuals. Installing a simple time monitoring app on your phone or tablet helps you to keep track of where and how you spend your time. It identifies the areas where you need to make changes in order to boost your productivity and self-development.
It aids in cost-cutting.
According to a Harvard Business Review analysis on timesheet filling, the US economy loses nearly $7.4 billion in productivity per day because workers don’t know how to record their hours. You may save money by keeping track of your time. Many of these methods have already been mentioned in some of the benefits listed above.
Pricing and billing your clients should be improved.
This is easier to determine if you know how long it takes to create something. The amount of time and money you put into making a product or providing a service is a factor in establishing your price. The market is still influenced by demand forces. As a result, you don’t want to charge exorbitant costs and drive your clients away to other providers. You don’t want to sell at a loss, either.
Time tracking provides you a better idea of how much you can charge for your products and services – pricing that are acceptable to both you and your customers.
Automatic time tracking as a solution to manual time tracking’s issues
There are time monitoring software systems that allow businesses to track time without requiring employees to log in to the tasks they perform. These programmes usually keep track of what everyone is doing on their computer. However, this could be construed as a breach of privacy. It’s also possible that actions that aren’t done on the computer aren’t accounted for.
Automatic time monitoring is fantastic, but it may not be appropriate for sectors where the majority of work is completed offline. It’s also not very good at categorising activities.
Making time tracking more appealing to your workers
Employees are critical to every company’s success. Richard Branson, the Virgin Group’s founder, once declared, “Clients are not prioritised.Yes, time monitoring is beneficial, but if your employees are opposed to it, forcing it down their throats is not a good idea. Here are some suggestions for making time tracking work while soothing irritated employees.
Explain to them the benefits of time monitoring!
Explaining the benefits of time monitoring to your staff may be a good way to appease them and help them get used to it. People want to know why they are being inconvenienced. You may demonstrate how time monitoring benefits both the organisation and the employees!
All your employees desire from time to time is to be taken along. Tell them about the things you’re doing that have an impact on their way of life and why you’re doing them. Employees cannot always be carried along, understandably, because some types of information are not intended for everyone’s ears. Nonetheless, working with your staff on a close, transparent level as often as possible is recommended.
Make sure they only use one platform to track their actions.
The first issue that your employees face is having to track their time. Time monitoring serves a variety of functions. However, you just need one location to obtain the information. So, whatever you do, make sure users only have to enter their actions into one system.
Some businesses have many timesheets and require their employees to complete them all. Poor organisation and ineffective time tracking software are generally to blame. It adds to the difficulty of an already arduous procedure. One basic timesheet suffices.
Put all of your time-reporting tasks in one spot.
Time monitoring for projects frequently entails much more than simply documenting hours on a timesheet. Time tracking software is frequently associated with project management, resource management, and compensation. Your employees should have access to their projects, as well as the ability to request time off, track time off, register overtime, and more. All of these could be part of the time monitoring process, depending on the industry.
Your employees would realise the benefits of time tracking right away if you used a system that encouraged teamwork. Using the best time monitoring software can help you do this.
Clockly is a time tracking app that allows you to track your time in any way you like.
All of the features listed above are included in Clockly by 500apps. You can organise your projects, assign tasks and subtasks to them, follow a precise sprint schedule, clearly define roles and duties, budget your projects based on the performance of prior projects, and monitor real-time business data. When Clockly is connected to your CRM platform, it can assist you to maintain project architecture and budget planning in this way.
Sign up for Clockly by 500apps – an effective time monitoring program for $14.99 per user – and get 30+ apps’ features for free.
