Manual timekeeping can create a range of issues for small businesses, whether it’s delayed receipt of timecards, inaccurate payments to employees, deliberate (or unintended) time theft, or mismanaged overtime. A manual or paper-based approach can also cause HR personnel to spend needless time on redundant tasks while key processes like talent acquisition, onboarding, and workforce management are given less attention.
Using a digital timekeeping solution can help your business reduce costs and time spent while improving accuracy, scheduling, performance management, employee satisfaction and compliance. From automating redundant tasks to offering useful historical data that can improve productivity and keep your workforce on the same page, we’ll explore how a digital timekeeping system can help your business grow.
Lowers Costs and Reduces Time Spent
One of the major downsides of manual timekeeping is that employee time entry and scheduling data is not accessible and viewable in real time or in a single consolidated platform. A cloud-based digital timekeeping solution allows your employees to clock in and out on the go – an important feature for any mobile workforce or for businesses that operate at a range of locations or sites. Using a single digital platform also improves communication about shifts and projects, and allows for easy monitoring and management of overtime, PTO requests, and more.
With a digital platform, your staff are no longer burdened with consolidating paper timecards or gathering data from multiple digital sources on a weekly basis or at the end of a pay period. Instead, they can access the digital system and should any discrepancies or issues arise, all timekeeping data is stored in a single, verifiable source. Quick access to consolidate timekeeping data dramatically expedites processing time and lowers timekeeping costs so your employees can shift focus towards more pressing concerns for your business.
Improves Accuracy and Minimizes Human Error
Whether your business currently uses paper-based timekeeping methods or houses employee timekeeping information in multiple digital spaces, a decentralized manual approach can lead to inaccurate timecards, human error in transferring information, delays in reporting to payroll, and eventually late or inaccurate payments that impact employee retention and company reputation.
When you use a digital timekeeping system, errors are much more quickly identified and the redundant tasks common to manual timekeeping are automated. Some timekeeping platforms even offer built-in alerts that can notify a manager about overtime thresholds, a missed time punch, or likely mistakes in data-entry. This digital approach is more convenient for employees who can clock in from anywhere at the start and end of their work day while – from the HR perspective – digital timekeeping software can easily integrate with payroll and other HR services.
Adds Convenience and Aligns with Your Industry or Workflow
There are a range of time clock systems that you can use to align with the day-to-day operations of your business. Many employers choose a cloud-based web portal and/or mobile app, which allows employees to clock in and out from a mobile device or any company workstation. This eliminates the need for timekeeping stations or the manual completion of timecards – an especially tedious and error-prone approach for certain industries like construction or for businesses with remote employees or regular on-site jobs.
Improves Absence Management, Scheduling, and Leverage Historical Data
A digital timekeeping system also offers comprehensive data and reporting options, providing insights on trends with late or absent employees. For instance, digital timekeeping software allows you to generate long-term reports that identify employees who are regularly on time and high-performing, as well as those who regularly clock in late or have used excessive overtime hours. When these issues are identified and addressed, you not only save the business money, but also improve workforce management and can either readdress or enforce necessary company policies.
By using a digital timekeeping platform, you can also improve shift switching and scheduling, capitalizing on the platform’s ability to identify eligible employees who can cover a shift for a particular employee based on their availability, training, overtime status, and other factors.
Ensures Legal Compliance
Even small businesses are subject to penalties or lawsuits as a result of excessive hours worked, inaccurate overtime management, insufficient meal periods, or failure to retain weekly records of employees’ hours worked (an FLSA requirement). With a digital timekeeping platform, the risk of noncompliance is majorly mitigated. Recordkeeping is automated and the monitoring of employee hours, overtime, break periods, and other applicable labor law requirements, is a relative breeze.
Improves Employee Retention, Satisfaction, and Health
Employees can become easily dissatisfied with a manual timekeeping system that detracts from their focus on core job responsibilities. Filling out forms by hand or using an unintuitive system is frustrating enough, but when that timekeeping system also creates conflicts regarding available PTO, logged hours, or overtime thresholds, it can be enough for an employee to begin looking elsewhere for employment. A digital timekeeping system allows your employees to focus on daily productivity and with confidence that timekeeping is being handled responsibly, and accurately reflects the work they do and the fringe benefits they’ve earned.
A digital timekeeping system also keeps your employees safe and healthy by using built-in tools to prevent excessive work hours, ensure sufficient breaks between shifts, monitor off duty periods, and align with restricted schedule requirements mandated by local, county, or state laws. With a digital timekeeping system, compliance and employee well-being are addressed simultaneously to ensure that all applicable regulations are followed while employees enjoy a more optimized work-life balance.
Switch to a Digital Timekeeping Solution with Cello HR
Integrating and automating timekeeping, scheduling, and payroll processes can boost employee productivity and engagement while providing real-time insight into labor data to help control costs and reduce compliance risk. That’s why Cello HR offers a single unified platform to support and integrate all of your HR processes, including digital timekeeping software that is mobile-friendly and offers 24/7 access to you and your employees.
Ready to shift your focus to core business tasks while boosting employee productivity? Contact us today to learn more about our digital timekeeping solution.