What Managers and Business Owners Get Wrong About Employee Time Tracking

Published on October 26, 2023
5 min read

What Managers and Business Owners Get Wrong About Employee Time Tracking

Currently, 72% of companies worldwide have already embraced hybrid and remote work models. As this number continues to grow, the demand for employee time tracking and monitoring methods is predicted to further increase as well.

In fact, three out of four employers and managers utilize monitoring tools to oversee their teams. According to the same survey, 46% track active work hours and log the times of their employees.

Evidently, the majority of companies now employ the use of employee monitoring tools, particularly time tracking. This advancement gives more reason to dive deeper into the implementation of time monitoring across different businesses. Doing so will allow us to determine what managers and business owners get wrong about employee time tracking, and how they can approach it better.

how to motivate employees to track time free download

Using Time Tracking Tools as Surveillance

There are online time trackers that only log how much time is spent on each project or task through the simple click of a start/stop button. On the other hand, there are more intrusive software that provide subscribers with screenshots, real-time screen recordings, and access to contact information and files.

A typical employee may be comfortable with a basic time tracking app. It gives companies access to monitor where employees spend their work hours. Simply, it collects relevant data that may be used for operations management. Meanwhile, it offers employees a convenient, easy-to-use tool that they can utilize to track personal productivity.

The issue arises when time tracking tools are used as surveillance mechanisms– a tactic practiced by thousands of companies worldwide.

Research proves that 59% of business owners and managers don’t trust their teams to work without online supervision. This distrust leads to the introduction of surveillance programs in pursuit of maintaining high productivity levels by keeping track of what their employees are doing. What these businesses don’t realize, however, are the drastic consequences of applying intrusive time tracking and monitoring systems.

54% of employees would go as far as quitting their job if their company implements anything close to a surveillance system, while 25% are willing to absorb a pay cut just so they can work without any invasive monitoring tools.

Essentially, using such programs will only do more harm than good. It all boils down to the level of trust you– as a business owner or manager– have for your teams. As a form of strategy, consider cultivating a culture of honesty, respect, and trust among your teams, paired with fundamental time tracking and productivity tools that will support the way each of your employees work.

Implementing the Wrong Time Tracking Method

There are a wide variety of time tracking software available right now, and each of these apps offer different features that may or may not be compatible with the way your business operates.

For example, you own a construction company that has people working on various project sites. Deployed in those locations are engineers, architects, administrative staff, and workers– all of whom play different roles, with varying schedules and daily responsibilities. In this case, you can’t implement a time tracking system that can be accessed solely on desktop computers. Otherwise, at least 80% of your on-site team members will find it difficult to comply. Such situations trigger disengagement and ultimately, resistance towards time tracking in general.

This is why you need to ensure that your time tracking method aligns with your day-to-day activities, employees’ needs, and company goals. Choose one that will support the way you work rather than an app that will require your entire organization to recalibrate how you operate.

With the right time tracking software, you will be able to boost productivity, increase efficiency, and as a result, accelerate profitability.

Time Tracking is Easy, Just Use “Common Sense”

Countless business owners and managers fall for this all too common misconception. Yes, time tracking can be easy but even with the most comprehensive software on the market, your process will fail without proper implementation guidelines.

This means that you need to develop crystal clear standards and measures for everyone in the organization to comply with. Relying on each individual’s own way of tracking will simply lead to a heap of jumbled and inaccurate data, essentially voiding all information. It defeats the purpose of why you lobbied for a time tracking system in the first place– knowing where time and resources were spent, which projects drive revenues, and which ones need more attention. On the side of employees, failing to establish guidelines will make them frustrated, causing further retaliation.

Some of the questions your time tracking guidelines should address are:

  • How to navigate the software/timesheet you’re implementing (TIP: a live demo can do the trick)
  • Which types of tasks/projects should be tracked and how to categorize them?
  • How to label the tasks – Is there a specific format you’d like them to follow?
  • How to track administrative and documentation activities such as email correspondences and other internal paperwork?
  • If you have on-site or mobile employees, how will they track time spent in transit or project sites?

Before you fully roll out time tracking to your organization, make sure you are prepared with a clear set of guidelines to make implementation a positive experience for everyone.

how to motivate employees to track time free download

Selective Implementation of Time Tracking

In some organizations, only specific levels of staff are required to track time. This may be acceptable for c-suite and senior management executives of large enterprises. However, for startups and small companies in which employees have more transparency over internal affairs, it’s ideal that everyone should abide by the systems in place.

Leading by example isn’t exactly a new concept, and it bears a lot of weight, particularly in launching a new process. Employees will be more inclined and motivated to cooperate when they see that their supervisors are doing the same. Likewise, this promotes fairness, integrity, and trust throughout the organization. As a result, your staff won’t feel threatened or anxious over the thought of privacy intrusion or misuse of data.

To address this, try sharing with your employees relevant time tracking advice, some best practices you’ve recently discovered, and specific examples on how you are personally leveraging the app’s features. Doing so gives a strong message that you truly believe in the benefits of the new system being implemented, and so should everyone else in the organization.

Using Time Tracking Data to Take Advantage of Employees

At this point, you already know that select time tracking software generates significant amounts of data which can be used to oversee teams. From simply gaining insights on their employees’ active work hours to more in-depth records of their inbound and outbound emails, collected information can be used by management however they wish to. This is why 59% of employees feel that time tracking and monitoring tools are a violation of their trust, and are additional causes of stress.

It doesn’t have to be explicitly utilizing employee tracking systems for surveillance to obtain the distrust of your teams. The same storyline can also play out for companies that only track how much time each person spends on specific tasks. Through such data, supervisors will have a clearer picture of who the most efficient employees are. These people are often loaded with more tasks and larger projects because of their stellar performance, without necessarily being compensated for their productivity. In these situations, excellent employees are being taken advantage of.

Such cases lead to demotivation and burnout among your top performers while others may hesitate in exceeding expectations for fear of experiencing the same treatment. This creates an even larger manpower problem in the long run.

During the implementation briefing for your time tracking processes, include details on data security and usage to reassure your teams of your intent. Likewise, enforce stringent measures across managers and supervisors to guarantee that no employee will be taken advantage of.

how to motivate employees to track time free download

Conclusion

Most managers and business owners get a few things wrong about time tracking, all rooting from the belief that it’s an effortless and menial process. However, for the implementation to become a seamless process that reaps significant benefits for the company, you will need to:

  • Foster a culture of trust and communicate why time tracking needs to be executed
  • Use the right tools that will support your industry and nature of work
  • Set clear guidelines and make it easy for everyone to understand
  • Implement time tracking fairly across the organization
  • Ensure that nobody takes advantage of the data collected

For your time tracking efforts to work, every member of the organization should be onboard. It starts with utilizing a tool that’s non-intrusive and easy to use yet generates all the necessary data needed to help achieve your business goals.

Productively is a time tracker app that lets you elevate work efficiency with advanced time tracking, real-time reports, and powerful analytics. We believe that if you can manage your hours, you can handle everything else.

With a streamlined dashboard that lets you access time tracked by days, weeks, months, or even by client and project, you will be able to make more informed decisions based on accurate data. Its seamless invoicing feature allows you to automatically generate account statements for a more organized billing and receivables system. Altogether, it provides a comprehensive view of your teams’ efficiency, hours worked, billables, and profit.

Bolster productivity, reduce unnecessary costs, and improve the way you do business with the app that empowers you to visualize your untapped capacity.

Book a live demo to learn more about how Productively can work for your business.

Social Media

Like our content? Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest updates, tools, and resources.

Start leveraging powerful time tracking data to boost productivity and improve the way you do business.

All that and more through a time tracking app that will empower you
to understand your business better and identify problem areas.