What Is Productivity And How To Measure It With Time Tracking

Productivity is traditionally measured by the ratio between inputs and outputs that advises efficiency.

In a digital world there are many distractions and the work day can go off on an unwanted tangent. The modern world uses time tracking software to check the input you are placing in your workday and what outcomes you have been able to come up with.

Time management software is particularly helpful for people who work from home, do freelancing jobs or for those who work remotely. It allows you to work constructively so that you can track your work day and find out where it is that you have been slacking. The software keeps a track of computer activities and makes a presentation with charts. It allows you to see where you can improve productivity.

For employers time tracking is an important aspect of their business. Keeping an eye on slack employees, especially those who work overseas or are employed on a freelance basis has become the norm.

Once installed the time tracker works in the background and records how much time has been spent on websites and on the type of software that has been used.

While some consider this to be ‘spying’ others are glad it is there as they would like to spend office time on office work instead of on Facebook or replying to personal mail.

Most time tracking software can give you a useful measure of productivity in an eight-hour day. If you would like to measure the output of all your employees you can install the software on all the computers.

The total output will be presented to you as a chart along with the input figure over a number of hours. Every hour might not be equally productive but taking a measure of the average productivity will give you a fair idea about how well your employees are working and where they can improve.

It is also a good way to keep track of the daily habits of employees.

Today it is very difficult to distinguish between laziness and productivity as both entail looking at the computer screen. Time tracking without the right software can therefore be difficult. However, the correct software allows you to designate which apps can be termed as productive apps and which apps will be termed as unproductive. So if you spend too much time on social media and games and less on word or coding software the time tracker will place that on the chart. You can improve your work habits and manage your time better after installing the software.

Monitoring your own productivity or that of employees is a good way to keep focus and not get side-tracked into doing work that could not give you desired outputs. Time tracker allows you to keep track of how much time each job or project is taking so that you can bill a client fairly. When used over a few months you will be able to see if productivity is improving, is stagnant or deteriorating.