Two Timesheet Features That’ll Make Your Employees Fill Them Without Resenting it
Let’s face it: nobody enjoys filling out timesheets. Getting skeptical users to adopt a time tracking software and use it diligently is an uphill task. There are several reasons why employees hate tracking their time. They feel it takes time away from more important tasks. They don’t have access to real-time tracking, so they struggle to remember how they allocated their hours. Or maybe they’re concerned they spent too much (or too little) time on certain projects. Inaccurate timesheet submission costs companies money in terms of inaccurate billing and costing, and managers chasing after late timesheets costs more time.
Inaccuracies in payroll due to missing time data can cause unintentional lapses in compliance and leave you open to possible litigation. If you are billing your clients based on time data, it delays your ability to send out error-free invoices.
How do you address your employees’ reticence to fill out timesheets and develop a process that is easy, streamlined and error-free? Here are two timesheet features from Replicon that can help:
Automated Reminders
To forget is human. When your employees are working on multiple tasks and projects they can easily miss timesheet targets. This is where reminders and alerts come in. Replicon lets you enable messages that automatically notify users when their timesheet is due, or approvers when an item is awaiting their approval. You choose the timing and frequency of these notifications. A typical reminder email tells your employees which time period needs to be filled out and when it is due. It also contains a clickable link to take employees directly to their timesheet.
Notifications can be sent by email, or as push notifications to those using Replicon Mobile. With the mobile app, employees can record details of time they worked from anywhere, while details are still fresh in their minds, thus improving accuracy. Mobile app improves time entry compliance as well because it’s more convenient to complete timesheets or punch in and out.
In-Depth Reporting
We also provide reporting functions which allow you to identify workers who consistently have difficulty completing their timesheets and turning them in. That way, you can offer additional assistance to those who need it. Use one-on-one counseling to help these employees understand how Replicon’s timesheets works and why adopting it will help keep your company running smoothly.
Right Tools Encourage Employees to Fill in Timesheets
Real-time notifications and in-depth reporting are two of the other powerful features that makes timesheets entries easy and automatic. Our user-intuitive interface makes it seamless for users to record their time entries. Since global businesses need to comply with local labor laws, Replicon gives organizations the ability to configure timesheets to meet your unique business requirements and collect custom information such as activities, shifts, locations.
For field and remote workers, GPS enabled timesheets in the mobile app track location details associated with time entries to accurately apply business policies. Geofencing capabilities alerts employees when they arrive at the site and continuously monitors them during the shift.
3 FAQs on Employee Timesheets
At Replicon, we’ve solved every use case there is around time. In our 25 years of experience, we’ve solved several unique use cases related to time tracking. During our interactions with our customers, we come across a few common concerns. Here are the top three questions we’d like to answer for you.
How Long Do You Have to Keep Employee Timesheets?
Employers are required to keep detailed records of all approved timesheets for three years or more depending on the location of their business and corresponding labor compliance rules. Collecting time records from traditional timesheet tools and spreadsheets is cumbersome and time consuming – which can have judicial repurussion.
With Replicon, organizations can save all the timesheets in the cloud. Meaning, the data can be accessed from anywhere and at any time. Any changes made to time entries are recorded in the timesheet’s audit trail which includes details such as who made the change, when it was made, and the reason for the change. This information can be used to provide proof during audits and investigations. Audit trail reports provide the change history for multiple timesheets at once, which makes data collection very simple.
How to Prevent Time Theft?
On average, an employee steals approximately 4.5 hours per week from their employer. When calculated for an entire year, this totals to six full work weeks which translates to hundreds of billions of dollars lost for a business. Buddy punching, one of the most common forms of time theft, causes more than 75 percent of companies to lose money.
Replicon enables automated time-tracking with facial recognition and photo audit capability built-in to eliminate buddy punching. Every time an employee punches in or out, an audit trail of locations and images is retained, allowing you to confirm no buddy-punching is occurring. For field workers, you can even assign a place (e.g. work site), which is defined by virtual geofences, and validate that workers are where you expect them to be using a map view.
Can I correct my timesheet after I’ve submitted it?
Yes, designated users can modify timesheets after submission to reflect the correct hours that were worked. When a timesheet is edited, the owner will receive a notification and as to who made the change and when.
Time Tracking Software Designed for Your Workforce
Replicon’s cloud timesheets enhance your project time tracking for metrics like billing and costing. Modern businesses that need granular visibility into operations and productivity of remote employees are turning to the new agile time tracking. With real-time, accurate time data, business leaders can now manage remote employees, ensure business continuity and adapt to all the changes that come their way.