Almost everyone in the world of business knows about the advantages of effective time management. Proper time management enables proper planning for a company’s decision-makers and managers. Managers can get a clear understanding of how their employees spend their time, being able to make the necessary changes to the workflow, increasing efficiency. Therefore, effective time management is crucial for growth.
Fortunately, businesses can benefit from technology. There is a lot of time tracking software that enables companies to monitor their employees’ performance on an everyday basis. Such apps can record the time your employees spend working on their tasks. Therefore, managers can identify circumstances and counterproductive work habits that can damage their employees’ productivity.
While managers might be aware of how employees spend their time when in the office, the situation gets more difficult with remote employees. Effective time tracking of remote employees is especially important during the pandemic because too many business processes are handled remotely so the management must have a clear view of the employees’ activity. Here are some of the key benefits of time tracking.
1. Better productivity
Sometimes, employees get stuck because some issues prevent them from completing a task. Resolving complex issues may take a lot of time, and when employees are unable to resolve these issues successfully, they may simply waste their time. Some tasks might be difficult to complete without proper coordination and effective communication between different members of the remote team.
Thanks to records of employees’ activity and analysis, you can better understand why such issues happen and assign tasks more efficiently. Time tracking also enables you to make sure that every employee will stay focused. When your employees know that they are being monitored, they pay more attention to time management. You can also determine what unnecessary activities take your employees’ time.
2. Effective project management
Assigning tasks to employees and managing multiple projects at once can be very difficult, and the success of project management directly depends on the proper allocation of sources, as well as effective time management. While many project management apps enable you to assign tasks and manage deadlines, they don’t help monitor employees’ progress in detail. Time tracking apps enable you to see how close a particular employee is to finishing their part in the project. Besides, time tracking helps managers make the necessary changes on the go.
Professional time tracking software can provide you with detailed reports so that you can see how much work your employees have done within a specific timeframe. Therefore, you can set realistic deadlines and make sure that the whole workflow is aligned with the project goals.
3. Improved collaboration
When a remote employee completes a task, other members of the team can know that this employee is available. Quite often, remote teams are located in different time zones, and proper time management can provide opportunities for collaboration. Different time zones may have very short overlaps so it can be difficult to ensure effective collaboration between different teams. Thanks to effective time tracking, teams can find more opportunities for conversations.
Some time tracking apps can serve as centralized portals for employees so that everyone can immediately check out who is available at each particular moment, with no need to send messages or emails. Thanks to real-time monitoring, there’s no need to check whether or not an employee’s status on a project management platform is accurate.
4. Detailed insights in real-time
No matter how big your business is and what it focuses on, time records should be accurate. The manual login process cannot provide accurate and detailed data, and time tracking software enables you to address this issue. Time tracking programs allow you to get details on your employees’ working time in real-time. Thanks to accurate time records, managers can determine the most profitable processes and prioritize them, making the necessary changes to the deadlines.
Many companies also have employees who work on an hourly basis. In this case, having reliable time tracking software is absolutely necessary because, without it, you won’t be able to evaluate how much time remote employees actually spend working on your tasks. Working time records can also help create monthly invoices.
5. Reviewing employee performance
Thanks to time tracking, you can accurately measure employee performance. You can not only measure your remote team’s overall output but also evaluate each particular employee’s contribution. Therefore, you can assign tasks based on different employee’s capabilities and know whether or not your employees are able to complete the project within the necessary timeframe. You can also analyze the work patterns of your remote employees and develop an appropriate workflow.
Assigning tasks to the right employees enables managers to maximize efficiency. In addition, time tracking programs can help get detailed insights into the team’s productivity and skills, knowing everything about the capabilities and habits of each particular employee. This feature of time tracking is also useful for the employees because they can evaluate their contribution to the project objectively and determine what issues they should work on.
6. Reducing administrative costs
No matter whether you’re working with remote or in-house teams, paying for excessive administrative time can make you lose a lot of money. When dealing with remote teams, such excess costs can make you lose some of the financial benefits of having a remote team.
Thanks to modern time tracking apps, your managers can handle tasks for a larger workforce. Managers can get reports in real-time and import the data from these reports directly into a payroll system. Such an approach is very cost-effective. Your managers can get accurate information while the software performs all the difficult work.
Wrapping Up
Employee time tracking is necessary if you want to keep your remote teams’ productivity high. Thanks to time tracking software, you can get valuable insights into your employees’ workflow and habits. Time tracking enables managers and decision-makers to set goals based on accurate data and assign tasks to the right employees. Time tracking software allows you to monitor different aspects of your employees’ performance in real-time. Accurate and detailed insights into your remote teams’ work patterns can help you boost overall efficiency and make sure that all projects are completed on time.
