What are employees thinking, when they hear that they have to track their times?
Negative associations that mostly occur in connection with the topic of time tracking. Employees usually associate time recording as something bad, because time recording at first seemed restrictive to their work. But what does tracking your times actually mean? And what possibilities does the modern recording of work offer in terms of time management, productivity and protection for the employee?
We address these and other questions in this blog post:
- What is time tracking?
- What is meant by modern time tracking?
- What are the benefits of time tracking for employees and the company?
- How do I communicate the positive aspects of time tracking to my employees ?
- How you can optimize your company with timeghost?
What is time tracking?
What is time tracking?
With time tracking, employees track their working hours, indicating which tasks they have worked on, for how long, and assign each task to a project. In addition, the company has the ability to display employee payroll through time recording.
Managers also have the opportunity to see how employees use their time and what tasks they devote themselves to during work. This allows project managers or executives to make adjustments and optimizations more easily during the project, which in turn benefits the productivity.
However, these are just uber-topics that project time tracking enables. Over the course of this blog post, we’ll go deeper into the functionality of this software and show you the versatile benefits that time recording offers to businesses.
What is meant by modern time tracking?
What is meant by modern time tracking?
Under modern time tracking, the main thing to note is the change in attitude towards documenting working hours. The goal of managers is no longer to constantly monitor employees. It is rather about optimizing processes within the projects, distributing responsibilities and tasks correctly and adjusting them already during the project. By documenting working hours accurately, project managers and executives can react immediately to changes. Tracking times today is no longer a control, but a great way to optimize productivity through better time management, more effective task distribution and quick adjustments.
What are the benefits of time tracking for employees and the company?
What are the benefits of time tracking for employees and the company?
- Protection of employees
- Transparent presentation of work to the company and customers
- Quick reaction and adjustment in case of changes
- Personal responsibility of employees
Protecting employees
With the Corona pandemic as an accelerant, flexibility on the part of employees is seen as a very precious commodity. More and more employers are guaranteeing their employees the choice between home office and office. In addition, employees are freer to choose when they work. There are more opportunities for employees, but this also creates new challenges.
In the home office, work and private life move closer together. Since the geographical separation between work and private life is no longer guaranteed in the home office, it is even more important to continue maintaining the work-life balance. At this point, recording working hours is a great way in home office solve this problem in documenting and recording how long you worked on which task from which project. This not only gives the employees an overview of their work, but also allows the employee to see in black and white how long he or she has been working, to better finish work, and to devote time to his or her personal life.
The clear separation between the two areas of life is a very important factor, especially for the psyche. The employee has the opportunity to switch off from work, relax, devote himself to other things and recharge his batteries for the next working day thanks to the clear separation provided by time recording.
Transparent presentation of work to the company and customers
Another advantage of time tracking is the transparency that results from documenting the various working hours. You get insights into the different tasks of the employees and their duration. As a result, you are constantly kept up to date on the processes in your company and can even make adjustments if necessary.
By recording the working hours, you also get an overall view of the processes that are currently taking place in your company.
At the same time, the clear display of work for employees is also a good way to keep a constant eye on work performance and increase productivity if necessary.
Another factor is the transparency that is provided to customers. You are currently working on several projects for different companies in your company and through time tracking, you can constantly inform the companies about the current budget numbers by sending them reports. Hourly rates can be assigned to the employees involved in the various projects, which, in conjunction with the hours worked, can be used to create meaningful and time-accurate reports. This allows customers to see the process while the project is still underway.
Fast reaction and adjustment in case of changes
For you as a manager or project manager, in addition to the overview, it is of course also important to quickly adapt to changes in order to ensure or improve productivity in the projects. Due to the fact that each employee already enters the tasks parallel to their work, managers can follow “live” what is currently being worked on.
If, for example, you notice that the tasks in a project have been distributed incorrectly and should be adjusted, then you can easily see through your time recording system where there are still capacities/buffers and which tasks can possibly be outsourced. Similar possibilities arise with customers:
For example, if a customer wants something different in a project, the project manager can quickly distribute responsibilities and address the customer’s needs while the project is still underway.
Personal responsibility of employees
Each employee contributes individually to his working time and has a greater awareness of the effective use of his working time. He knows that he has to enter the times and automatically pays more attention to the quality of his work. Users pay more attention to recognizing patterns and trends in their work and optimizing it accordingly.
It is also helpful in the team to reflect, make improvements and readjust. By recording each employee’s work hours, questions can be answered such as:
- Did I contribute to getting closer to the project goal by completing my tasks?
- Was it worthwhile for the task to put in the corresponding time?
- Where can improvements still be made?
These questions serve to reflect on what you have already done and leave room for adjustments and improvements during the project. You can make the changes quickly according to your insight. The dynamics of the project and the tasks are not lost at all, instead they are encouraged.
How do I communicate the positive aspects of time tracking to my employees ?
How do I communicate the positive aspects of time tracking to my employees ?
Communicating the benefits of time recording to your employees is a major challenge for many managers. Most of the