How To Choose The Right Timesheet Software For Your Business

Tracking employee hours is crucial for monitoring labor costs, revealing company statistics, and understanding how much time is being spent on each project. To make the most of tracking these hours, a good timesheet will make all the difference.

In this article, we discuss the importance of timesheets and how they influence your company’s task management, organization, and more.

The Importance Of Timesheets

Different timesheets offer varying levels of success, but each one will aim to achieve a few basic results at the very least. Let’s take a look at some of the results of an ideal timesheet.

Controlled Labor Costs

Timesheets are a valuable asset to companies beyond just tracking an employee’s time. When used properly, timesheets help companies better meet deadlines and avoid exceeding budgets.

The cost of labor accounts for a worker’s pay and payroll-related expenses, like taxes and benefits. So, correctly keeping track of employee hours prevents any imprecise increases in labor costs and can save hundreds to thousands of dollars per pay period.

Accurate Payrolls

The most obvious task of timesheets is to track employee labor so everyone is paid correctly. Some companies might use a manual time clock where employees can clock in and out, while others utilize digital software to expedite the process.

Along with tracking hours and allowing for a consistent, uninterrupted workflow, timesheets are used for several important reasons, including:

• Monitoring overtime
• Paid time off
• Extended leaves
• Accruals
• Keeping accurate records

By using timesheet software, companies can avoid any major errors during the payroll process and use time more efficiently.

Employee Management

When employee timesheet data is analyzed, it reveals a lot of beneficial information for you to determine how time is being spent. This information can answer questions like:

• Who is completing which tasks?
• How much time is being spent on certain projects?
• Should time be shifted to other areas?
• Should certain employees be shifted to other projects?
• How should hours be scheduled this time next year?

Timesheets, when reviewed regularly, can help managers plan hours accordingly for each year so time and money are not wasted.

Types Of Timesheets

Not every timesheet provides the same results. Paper timesheets typically offer little more than the bare essentials, while more technologically advanced systems, like Inch, innovate the process and efficiently utilize your resources.

Let’s review the most common timesheets and how each one impacts your company’s operations.

Paper Timesheets

Physical paper timesheets are what several generations of workers grew used to: a timecard and a clock machine or, even simpler, a sheet of paper to manually fill hours in.

While many still see this as a tried-and-true way of tracking hours, there are some downfalls associated with paper timesheets. These include:

• Wasted time
• Manual errors
• Financial losses
• Lost timesheets
• Accidental or intentional changing of hours

It is still common for companies to use paper timesheets, but larger companies tend to avoid this method because of the potential errors that come with it. In fact, some studies show that employers have to manually correct errors made on approximately 80% of paper timesheets.

Spreadsheet-Based Timesheets

For small businesses, spreadsheet-based timesheets, like Excel, are still popular choices for tracking hours. This method can be an effective step up from manual timesheets, but the larger the business, the more susceptible these programs are to errors.

One of the biggest concerns for spreadsheets is that they heavily rely on total employee accuracy. Because the immediate punch-in-punch-out process of clock machines is eliminated, it can be easy for employees to forget specific hours they worked or not enter them at all.

Since every employee will need editing access to enter their hours, this also presents the issue of accidentally deleting sections from the sheet. Human error is all too common of a problem that can end up costing a company thousands of dollars.

Software-Based Timesheets

If you’re looking for an efficient, cost-saving method to track employee hours, then consider investing in a good task management system with built-in timesheet software. Many of these options will even provide other beneficial features to promote productivity.

This software lets employees electronically clock their hours, automates a large portion of payroll, and can be separated into two widely available choices:

• Baseline apps for minimal time tracking
• Task management software for complete organization and company efficiency

Timesheet apps and software are a simple solution to eliminate human error. However, there is a lot of functionality missing when compared to task management software.

Good task management software will help your business by streamlining tasks, allowing for easy communication, and simplifying the payroll process. There are many programs to choose from, which means there are several things to consider when looking for the best option.

Choosing The Best Timesheet Software

An ideal software should be able to transform any device into a time clock for quick and easy time tracking, but there are other factors to consider depending on your type of business, number of employees, and other business requirements.

Here, we’ll take a look at which features you should consider when looking for timesheet software.

Organization

Staying organized is a necessity, and it is something that your timesheet software should excel at. Without proper organization, things quickly begin to fall apart, and we see similar errors to physical-or spreadsheet-based timesheets.

Not every option has a proven record of maintaining error-free, high-volume data. If you’re looking to stay as organized as possible, then look for software with features such as:

• Real-time schedule updates to send to employees
• Messages kept in an easy-to-access secure location
• The ability to create recurring tasks
• Accessible statistics and the ability to export timesheets
• Automatic scheduling reminders sent to employees
• GPS tracking capabilities

For example, if your company has a mix of employees working in the office, working from home, and working at multiple project-based locations, then it takes a lot of time and organization to track who is working on which project within your distributed workforce.

Features such as geofencing ensure employees are at the right location when clocking in and out, and some apps even account for hours automatically based on location.

Task Management

With the right software, you should have all the tools you need to check an employee’s time spent on a project and the quality of each task. This improves employee management and makes sure everyone is operating successfully.

It also becomes easier to determine necessary considerations, like whether employees need a task refresher or might be better suited for a new project altogether.

Strategic task management backed by the proper software will even assist during the budgeting process by automating yearly forecasts to best predict costs, revenue, and scheduling needs.

Seamless Interface

The software you choose can have the most ideal features imaginable, but without intuitive user accessibility, all of the bells and whistles mean nothing.

A good system is compatible on any device, allows employees to instantly clock in and out of their tasks right from their phones, and does all of this effortlessly. A user should not have to be extraordinarily tech-savvy to understand the software.

Along with quick processing and ease of use on different devices, what makes an app seamless?

• Straightforward and comprehensive onboarding
• Intuitive and easy-to-navigate design
• Up to date and in sync across every connected device
• Reminders and notifications for tasks
• Conveniently located FAQ or help contact

Here at Inch, we’ve designed a simple solution that fits the needs of every worker. Retail, telecommunication, maintenance, cleaning, and every industry beyond can benefit from the ease of use offered by Inch.

Getting started is as easy as joining an existing workspace or creating a new one, then making an account. The rest is a smooth user experience from start to finish.

Beyond Clocking Hours

Organization, task management capabilities, and accessibility are just a few of the most important components of quality timesheet software. Other things to consider when searching for the ideal platform are:

• Access to reports such as activity and timelines
• Proof of completion to verify the quality of an employee’s work
• Timeline views for additional insights that can help team management
• Integrated maps for employees to optimize routes

These additional features benefit any industry of any size and save countless hours and increase profits. Even if each option is not an immediate necessity, they offer the opportunity for businesses to expand without having to overcomplicate the process.

Time Tracking Made Easy

With so many options available for timesheet software, researching the best choices means finding effortless time tracking while avoiding human error and unnecessary stress.

Most timesheet software can be integrated into a project management system to achieve a somewhat-complete experience, but this leads to too many apps that are linked together by weak connections.

Avoid the integration mess by choosing an app designed to accomplish everything at once.

Apps like Inch are business-oriented and provide users with multiple tools to streamline every aspect of scheduling, time tracking, and more. With free access to all the right tools for scheduling employees and managing communication, Inch makes it easy.

Inch omits the need for several software integrations. Opting for a powerful task-management platform and time tracking tool lets you keep everything organized and in one place to help you focus on other projects.

When employees download Inch on their devices, they gain access to streamlined communication and simplified workflow without user or location limitations. These features include:

• Shared task lists and project clarification
• Voice-assisted reminders
• Geofencing for location-based clocking in and out
• Checking off tasks as they are completed
• Communication between all coworkers in one easy-to-access location

Whether your employees are clocking out after a productive day of work or need to organize their communication by different teams, tasks, and locations, Inch is employee management for every worker.

For optimized organization and options that fit your industry’s needs, visit TryInch.com today and try Inch for free.