Why You Think You Shouldn’t Track Employee Hours
People implement time tracking software in every business sector. It’s a very common practice for many organizations to track employee hours. It’s a natural part of having a business to be able to monitor and control time. After all, it’s one of the most valuable assets of every organization. Yet while using this software brings many benefits, you have to make sure that implementing it is the right thing to do.
Time tracking is great but there may appear problems related to it. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind when considering time tracking software implementation is the type of company you have or work in, its business model, and the reason for which you want to track employee hours. And the very first problem starts with wrong assumptions.
A large number of people think that they shouldn’t use time tracking. Often it’s a wrong belief. So how about you, should you track employee hours? Get the right idea on the concept of tracking time with our short compendium on why you think you shouldn’t track employee hours. See when you actually should and shouldn’t do it.
1. Project Management vs Time Tracking
Employers don’t realize the importance of specifying what kind of software they need. And the two that are frequently confused is project management software and time tracking software.
What type of a tool do you need? Do you want to use it solely for the purpose of tracking work hours and attendance of your employees? Or do you need more extensive features necessary in project management with time tracking as an addition?
Time tracking apps are usually different from project management software. The latter are made to manage complex projects and their features vary from tools used to monitor employees’ working time.
Task management is one of the elements of project management but for some people, that’s enough. So it’s worth to take a minute and consider whether you really need project management software with extensive features. Sometimes it’s really difficult to decide. Try out several tools that will enable you to keep everything in one place.
How about HeySpace, task management software with extensive features such as one-to-one and group chat, workspaces, kanban-like board for managing tasks and projects, and many more.
At TimeCamp we needed such a tool to be able to quickly and easily communicate, collaborate, and manage tasks in one place. And we’re working on integrating it with TimeCamp, our innovative time tracking software, so follow us to make sure you’re up to date with the latest news!
Sign up for HeySpace to keep all your projects and team members in one place!
2. Surveillance
Tracking employee hours is not about spying on them. It’s one of the most common and untrue theories about time tracking. Of course, your employer might intend to do so, if he’s evil, but not the provider of the software. The main purpose behind creating such software is to enhance your work and make you more productive, not to follow you on every step, even when you take a break to make a coffee.
Deciding to track employee hours should be backed up by the willingness to achieve more, both as an organization and as a team. It’s about engaging employees in their work. Studies say that “25% of corporate Internet traffic is considered to be unrelated to work.”
And time tracking is supposed to eliminate it and boost productivity. Studies also say that “companies with engaged employees make 2.5 times the revenue.” So use the software to be among these companies.
3. Indicators
What are your indicators of success? Sometimes being productive doesn’t mean that you have to use every second of working time to the maximum. Time is only one variable. It’s important but it is only one component. It allows, above all, to budget projects and determine the costs of labor input. That’s why so many companies decides to use time tracking software. Sometimes people have to track the actual time against the estimates because it helps to keep the budget under control.
👉 See how to calculate the exact cost of an employee.
But for more creative minds or people whose work doesn’t convert into hours but results, time tracking may not be helpful. It also applies to some of the business indicators which cannot be measured by hours worked.
4. Time tracking implementation process
When implementing time tracking software, many companies face serious problems. And what follows is the conviction that it’s the fault of the software. And that often drives to giving up the practice of tracking employee hours. This results in poor software adoption.
It’s easy to solve the issues with time tracking implementation process with the right strategy. Take a look at the most common problems organizations encounter. If you see yours on this list, perhaps that’s the reason why you think you shouldn’t track employee hours:
- Not explaining why it is important to track time
- Not agreeing on the clear structure of projects and tasks
- Everyone can add new tasks and projects – it creates a mess
- You didn’t clearly tell that this is an obligation
- Employees don’t see clear benefits – people have never seen how valuable the timesheet reports are
- There is no single person responsible for the implementation to succeed
- Nobody checks how people are filling out their timesheets – every single week with approvals
- People are not sharing best practices of how to track time
- The organization doesn’t have a clear image of what a perfect timesheet looks like
How Do You Think?
Before you decide to implement or reject implementation of time tracking software, think carefully about your motives. What do you want to achieve by tracking employee hours? What is your vision of time tracking vs what is the reality? How will the software help you and your employees?
It’s best to consult with your employees, co-workers, or even with the customer support of time tracking software. They will help you choose the best option and solve all your problems an doubts.
Yeah, no. Nice try. This is still surveillance.
And in the end surveillance is still just that — surveillance. It’s micromanagement.
The harsh reality is 99% of the companies, agencies, and employers out there who use time tracking software use it as a means to squeeze out as much as they can out of someone often causing burnout.
You can blab all you want about how guns don’t kill people, people kill people, but in the end stats show that guns are still the cause because they ENABLE the action very easily. What else are they used for?
It’s the same thing with time trackers so no, don’t even try to push this agenda. You’re only speaking to business owners and not the people it actually affects which is us – the employees.