Whether you are an employee or a student, one of the most important habits is to manage time effectively. Without managing time, you will miss your deadlines, have a poor work-life balance, and even compromise your mental and physical health.
Similarly, organizations and employers also need to manage their time to ensure that they are undertaking their responsibilities promptly, such as paying the employees on time.
Time clock software is a tool that helps organizations track the hours of their employees electronically. You can track your employees’ performance, work on employee attendance, manage deadlines, and optimize the team’s workflow.
You need an employee’s clock or time clock software if there’s inefficiency in your team and the workforce. It can also help you manage time and tasks progress, especially if you have remote workers or field employees.
Want to know more about time clock software? Keep reading to understand why your team needs a time clock software.
What is a time clock software?
A time clock software is an application that electronically tracks hours that your employees spend doing different tasks. You can use it as a freelancer or manager to manage your time on projects and tasks.
👉 Check Time Tracking Software for Freelancers!
The time clock software works for all kinds of teams and industries, including accounting, IT teams, law firms, the food and beverage industry, and creative agencies. You can also integrate the software with any third-party tool for customer service, to-do lists, project management, accounting, and other tasks.
In short, time clock software helps businesses manage their time instead of manually filling spreadsheets and compiling reports from multiple sheets. As an automated tool, it can manage your time electronically without requiring you to spend a lot of time monitoring the workflow.
How does a time clock app work?
The time clock app allows employers to schedule tasks, assign duties to their teams, and send timely reminders. It does more than just enabling the employees to clock their times in and out. Instead, when someone doesn’t complete the work on time or is absent, the employer can get reminders or notifications about it.
The time clock app is accessible by the entire organization. You can get timely mobile alerts if the employees arrive at the wrong job site via built-in GPS tracking and location services. You can also integrate some time clock applications with task management applications. So, for instance, if your client wants to know if the task is completed or not, your employee can send pictures of the site or product and communicate with them using the time clock platform.
Employees can also set their availability on the application, so if an employee is not available at the workstation, the other teammates can be aware of it. You can also track hours that your employees have spent on various work-related activities with the help of the time clock platform.
When do you need time tracking software?
1. When task management for your large team becomes inefficient
When you have a large team, assigning them tasks daily and keeping track of the deadlines can be difficult. In such cases, time tracking software can be your best friend, sending daily reminders to you and your team.
Therefore, if you feel that you are unable to manage your time efficiently, you need time tracking software to deal with the discrepancies in the team.
2. To automate employee hours tracking and analytics
It might prove challenging to keep track of your employees’ hours when they come in and go out of the office and complete their tasks on time. A time clock software can keep track of everything while documenting everything.
You can then utilize this information during appraisals and end-of-the-month rewards. The time clock software can further help with HR analytics by showing the number of hours worked by your employee, any outstanding vacation balances, overtime worked, early birds, etc.
3. When you need real-time data
Sometimes you need to make urgent decisions, especially if you have to coordinate with a client. Instead of messaging your team and waiting for their response, you can view the data from the application and see their work’s progress.
Real-time data is essential to ensure the workflow is optimum and you know exactly what’s happening in the organization at a given time.
4. For project optimization
Every manager wants to make the best out of resources and time on every given project. Task tracking software can help you easily identify how much time is required for a task, who is the best employee for the work, and what you can do differently in order to make the workflow more efficient.
5. To track remote working hours
If some of your employees also work from home, occasionally, or regularly, it can be difficult to track employee hours. But with the time clock software, you can make the process efficient.
You can delegate tasks, identify when the employees have checked in, and compare their overall performance.
What are the features of a good time clock software?
Various features make some time clock software better than the others available in the market. Below are some features that you should take into consideration before choosing your software:
1. Advanced features
Many time clock solutions come with basic features such as overtime calculations, PTO tracking, and punch options. But these are not enough to manage your workforce effectively. A good time clock solution has advanced features such as facial recognition, geofencing, and IP address locking to enhance your business operations.
👉Check also our list of the best PTO tracking software
When searching for a time clock software, you should ask what your business needs. Put together a list of all the features that can help enhance your business operations. With your list of must-have features, you will have a good head start and know exactly what you want from the software.
For instance, if you have realized that many employees have started to participate in buddy punching (in which an employee punches time for another colleague), you should look for software with biometric facilities.
2. Reporting & Analysis
A good time clock software also has different reporting options that you need to take into account. Every employee requires an accurate time card that can showcase how they spend their time during job costing.
As an employer, you have to keep track of the workflow to make appropriate decisions. A good time clock software provides reporting and analysis regularly whenever required.
It is useful to keep track of your employees and get essential data at the end of the month to make decisions accordingly, especially decisions related to rewards, recognitions, and appraisals.
A time clock software should provide comprehensive options such as job costing, payroll reporting, and attendance. The reports should also be customizable and have various exporting options to aid the process.
👉 Find out more about Employee Attendance Tracking Apps
3. User-friendly interface
Some applications are challenging to use and understand. However, a good time clock software is the one that can be used by anyone regardless of how technologically savvy the person is.
It can become complicated to work with a time clock software that has a cluttered or confusing interface. You will end up spending excessive time training your employees. And there will be high chances of errors. Therefore, you should select software that is easy to navigate and use.
In this way, you will speed up the entire workflow and train your employees to use the system quickly.
You should further ensure that the solution is easy to install as well. Many applications now come with a web-based page that you can access from any place and device with an internet connection.
This accessibility is also imperative to ensure that you can access important data and keep track of the workflow if you are not in the office. It also works well if you have remote employees or field workers.
4. App Integration
It’s ideal to have everything on one platform so that you can manage business operations accordingly. Therefore, the employee tracking application you choose should have the feature to be integrated with your other project management applications.
For instance, it is important to identify if the tracking software works well with payroll applications such as Quickbooks. In this way, you can process payrolls very quickly and efficiently. You can check how smooth the process of integration is by looking for free trials.
👉 Check the list of TimeCamp integrations
5. Customer Support
No product or service can run effectively without good customer service. It can be difficult to understand how things work, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience using technology. Sometimes, the software’s manual isn’t helpful. In such cases, good customer service comes to the rescue.
Many time tracking apps offer various support channels to their customers, such as phone numbers, email addresses, and live chat. You can view these channels and decide which channel is most important for your business.
You should also research to determine if the company has good customer support. You can do this by checking out the customer reviews. You can also apply for the free trial of the software if available and then evaluate how the customer service responds to you.
If the team responds to you promptly, is knowledgeable about the product, and makes sure your experience is positive, then the company has invested in its customer service. That’s the company you should work with.
Benefits of time clock software
The time clock software is known for improving the efficiency and productivity of the payroll process. It also makes it easier to generate invoices and payroll.
Here are some key benefits of the time clock software:
1. Improves workplace productivity
When the team members know where they are spending their time and how much they have progressed on a given task, they can be more productive. They can identify which tasks are taking more time and how they can save more time.
Tracking time also ensures a work-life balance, so those spending extra hours in front of the laptop can be reminded to take a break and rest. Accordingly, the time clock software gives the employees and employers better insight into the work processes.
2. Billing becomes easier
Many applications come with a built-in invoicing feature through which you don’t have to incorporate another tool with your software or spend extra time generating a manual invoice.
You can automatically bill your clients and send them the invoice in one app with time tracking and attendance software.
👉 Check also our list of best time and billing software
3. Improves accountability
A key benefit of the tracking software is that you can monitor the progress of your employees. Monitoring improves accountability in the workforce.
For example, you can identify when your employee took a break during the virtual shift and when they submitted the work. Accordingly, the software gives the employers an oversight of what’s happening within the organization and ensures the employees are held accountable.
4. View analytics and reports
An employee time tracking solution comes with features to generate reports from the collected data. You can use the reports generated by the application to identify how much time was spent in completing a particular project and if the next hour is available to have a video conference.
Using the app’s analytics and reports, you can also view your employees’ performance progress and identify both their weaknesses and strengths.
The hour tracking software also provides visual calendars and reports that can verify the working hours if there seem to be some discrepancies.
👉 Check also our article about time reporting system
5. Identify top performers
HR managers and top-line employers can have good oversight of who performed well in a particular week or month. They can analyze the performance and capacities of each employee and appreciate them for their work.
6. Keeping track of the budget
A great way to identify where your project budget is going is through time tracking records. When employees provide details about their tasks and progress, you can compare the time resources invest against the returns. The data will show you your most profitable clients.
Many time clock software come with extra features that calculate the budget for you depending on the values provided by the employees.
Tips to get the most from your time tracking software
Having a time clock software is not enough. You need to make the best out of it. Here’s what you can do:
1. Project your time
If you use the time tracking mobile app for personal tracking, you need to be smart about setting deadlines in the work calendar. Always keep extra time in your hand to make up for any distractions or excess time consumption.
You should also ensure your tasks are arranged accordingly. So if there is a task that requires a lot of mental strength, you schedule breaks for relaxing to ease your mind.
You can also block off certain hours from the calendar for strategizing. You can use this time to track your progress, evaluate your performance, and determine the best way forward.
2. Keep the notifications open
Turn on your app’s notifications to get alerts every time a client views their invoice. You don’t need to wonder.
3. Don’t make time tracking complicated
Your employees can get very frustrated if time tracking is complicated. A complicated process also increases the chances of errors and lack of cooperation. Therefore, you should ensure that time tracking is as simple as possible by using the right time clock solution.
Incorporating time clock software in your business operations instead of relying on timesheets is one step towards productivity. However, even the software you use should be easy to use and install. In this way, even those who are not good with technology can easily keep track of the time.
This is important because time tracking by nature is very interruptive. Both the employees and employers need to be vigilant in reporting and managing their time. Therefore, easy-to-use software is what the company needs.
👉 Check out best reporting tools!
If the software is complicated and requires many steps before you can do anything, your employees and you will also get frustrated. It will also add to the time being spent on extra tasks. Therefore, make sure you choose software that can be easily incorporated into your employees’ daily work.
The best time clock software
1. Clockify
Clockify is a cloud-based application by which you can track your employees’ performance and manage employee scheduling. It is an online timer, allowing the staff members to time in and out of work.
The data is collected on the timesheet, which can be extracted by generating reports, bills, and payrolls.
The tool is available on all device services. There are two types of plans involved: Free plan that offers unlimited users and features such as chat support, report, project tracking, and integrations.
Alternatively, you can opt for the paid plan that starts from $9.99 per month. It also offers the free plan, but in addition, you can get branded reports, time audits, manage employee schedules, timesheet reminders, and lock timesheets.
Here are some Capterra reviews from the users of Clockify:
“It’s been super helpful to keep myself focused and devote the time that I should each week to each project.”
“Overall, it’s pretty good, and I’m sure that with tweaks in the future, it will be great.”
“It was free and really easy to sign up. I Love that you can use it on the go with the app as well, which has been great during this past year with the pandemic going on.”
Overall Star Rating: 4.6
👉 Check also the best free Clockify alternatives!
2. TimeCamp
TimeCamp is a well-known time tracking mobile app because of its valuable intuitive features. The app makes it easy to track employee work hours in just a few clicks. Instead of going through manual headaches, you can use this application to access information about all your projects on one platform.
Some basic features of this application include reporting, attendance tracking, unlimited user, 100+ app integrations such as Slack and Trello.
You can also bill clients on hourly work and turn the timesheet data into invoices to be sent to the customers after adjusting the tax rates.
The company is also known for its payroll processing features besides employee scheduling features. TimeCamp has good customer service, which is always up and running to help the customers who might not understand how to use the application.
You can also opt for a free trial if you are not sure about the application. In this way, you can evaluate if the application is in line with the needs of your organization without paying a single penny and then make the decision.
Using this application, you can track overtime and standard work hours as per the labor laws, ensure effective absence management and expense management, and control labor costs. Unlimited employees can use this application to track time.
Pricing
Here is a glimpse of the packages:
|
Free ($0) |
Basic ($6.30) |
Pro ($9) |
Enterprise |
|
·Unlimited Users ·Unlimited Projects & tasks ·Project templates ·Bulk edit ·Desktop & Mobile app ·One integration ·Tags ·PDF export |
·Everything in Free ·Time rounding ·Custom report ·Hide time from users ·Management roles ·Team productivity tracking · XLS reports export ·Unlimited integrations ·Billable time & budgeting |
· Everything in Basic · Custom user roles · Billing rates · Invoicing · Timesheet approvals |
·Everything in Pro ·Personalized training ·Private cloud implementation ·Selfhosted server |
Here are some Capterra reviews for Timecamp:
“Excellent for keeping me focused on completing a project and then to help me review my week.”
“A simple-to-use yet powerful time tracking solution.”
“I love TimeCamp because it allows me to track time worked and the profitability of specific projects. This helps with our efficiency and lets us see where to add and reduce resources.
User Rating: 4.7
3. Buddy Punch
Buddy Punch makes it super easy for companies to manage their schedules from any place in the world. It is a preferable solution for remote workers or mobile teams who don’t have a stable location all the time.
Buddy Punch is entirely web-based so that you can access it from anywhere across the world. It is also very versatile, fitting various industries at the same time.
It comes with all the essential features like any other time tracking software, such as automatic photos, QR codes, facial recognition, GPS restriction, and PIN configurations.
The price of this application depends upon the number of users registered from your team: Here is how it looks like for a company having 1 – 4 employees:
- Time and attendance: $25.99 per month
- Time, attendance, and scheduling: $5.99 per month
- Enterprise: More than $45.99 per month (including open API access and SSO)
Here are some reviews for Buddy Punch:
“I love how easy it is to access help on any aspect of using the software. You can do their chat, and they respond almost immediately.”
“My staff loves that the software works seamlessly, and I love the easy payroll reporting process.”
User Reviews: 4.8
Conclusion
A time tracking app can make any task ten times easier. Whether you are running an organization or work as a freelancer, a time tracking solution is essential to manage your tasks and timeline effectively, especially if you have various tasks to look after.
Time clock software keeps track of all the deadlines, tasks, and employees’ performance electronically. You can also generate reports and payrolls to speed up the HR processes.
A time tracking app is particularly important if your organization experiences inefficiencies in its operations. For instance, it can be challenging to keep track of the field workers and remote employees. Simple excel sheets are also not effective when you have to manage a lot of data together.
Therefore, it is important to use an automated application to manage your time effectively and keep track of all the business operations.
Choose your app
To make the most from the time tracking or project management software, make sure you use an application that meets your business needs. There are various time tracking software in the market. Instead of opting for just the basic plan, search for employee scheduling applications that come with advanced features, so you can make your business operations more effective.
👉 Check also weekly schedule templates!
For instance, some attendance tracking applications come with customized reporting and biometric features.
Are you still confused about what software you should download?
Try Time Camp, one of the best time clock software, and you will be able to manage time most effectively. With advanced features, an easy-to-use interface, and a friendly customer support team, TimeCamp can make your job fun and easy.