Although often neglected or mismanaged, accurately tracking employee time and attendance is a crucial part of any business, irrespective of its size.
While some companies choose to try and save money by not investing in time and attendance tracking, the reality is that in doing so, they are likely costing their company more in lost hours and productivity. It’s worth noting that without accurate time and attendance tracking, companies can find themselves in legal waters they would rather not have to negotiate, too. Discrepancies in pay due to inaccurate tracking can quickly lead to problems should an employee decide to take legal action against you. Of course, not only should you be paying employees for the hours they’re spent working for you, but you should be making sure their insurance and other benefits are properly paid as well, and this is inherently difficult without knowing precisely how many hours they’ve worked, and when they were absent.
Now that we’ve established the importance of accurately tracking employee time and attendance, here are 5 interesting ways in which doing so can actually help your business to grow:
- It can boost productivity and boost profits
With a high percentage of employees having admitted to cheating their employee out of time worked, you can easily see how this could have a negative impact on a businesses profits over time. Accurate time and attendance tracking enables you to ensure that all of your employees are putting in a full day’s work, and when you implement such a system, they will be much more motivated to show up on time, and as a result, be more productive; boosting profits.
- It can prevent human error
An automated time and attendance tracking system is a lot more reliable, and eliminates human error and the many problems that can cause, entirely. In terms of running a business, even the smallest of clerical errors can present problems from a financial perspective, but can be avoided when proper systems are put in place.
Some companies choose to install software to manage time and attendance, while others rely on outsourced payroll providers to set up and manage a tracking system for them. The latter can be a lot less painless and should a problem arise at any time, they will fix it efficiently.
- It can help you stay in line with the law
Without employees who are paid accurately and on time, a business leaves itself open to all manner of legal reprisals, and this certainly isn’t good for a company’s reputation.
- It can give clients transparency
When you’re able to accurately monitor an employees time spent working, you’re then able to provide clients with absolute transparency in terms of how much time has been spent on a particular project, for example, and give them a fee they simply can’t question.
- It can help free up your time
With business owners able to rely on an accurate time and attendance tracking system (especially when put in place by an outsourced payroll provider, who will take care of many other aspects of the business, too, such as HR), they’re left with much more free time to focus on other aspects of the business that may have been lacking their attention.
Time and attendance tracking is about so much more than simply making sure employees turn up for work on time, don’t clock off too early, and don’t take unauthorised leaves of absence; with careful attendance and time monitoring, you can help boost your businesses productivity and profits, making it something absolutely worth investing in.