Whether you’re a sole proprietor or the leader of a team of 50, time tracking is important for keeping track of hours to ensure that workers are compensated accurately. Without it, there is a lot of potential for losing vital data, which can make audits difficult, lower team morale, and have other negative knock-on effects for your team as a whole.
Luckily, some time-tracking benefits can improve the running of your business in the construction trade today. Check out ClockShark's 14 top benefits of time tracking.
The top benefits of time-tracking software
1. Improved accuracy
The old ways of paper time-tracking worked but took a lot of time and were prone to human mistakes. Time-tracking apps take away these errors and anomalies that manual processes cause while removing time theft and buddy punching. Did you know that 43% of workers admitted to time theft?
2. Reduced administrative overhead
Automation is a big deal nowadays, and it’s no mystery why. It prevents you from having to perform repetitive tasks like data entry, report generation, and payroll processing. Time tracking is another manual task you can remove with ease.
When you automate your time-tracking process, you have more time to focus on what matters most: growing your business.
3. Simplified payroll processing
Forget the days of paper timesheets and manual data entry! Time-tracking apps have revolutionized payroll by turning tedious tasks into automated magic.
With a simple timer tap, your employees can forget scribbling on paper; the app captures their hours spent on each project in real time. This translates to automatically generated timesheets that seamlessly integrate with your accounting software, ensuring accurate and speedy payroll processing.
No more errors, no more delays—just happy workers receiving their paychecks on time.
4. Reduced labor costs
Forget the leaky bucket of labor costs in construction! Time-tracking apps are like a magic spackle, plugging those holes and saving you precious dollars. Instead of relying on guesswork and paper timesheets, these apps capture workers' hours like a laser, ensuring accurate pay and eliminating the risk of overbilling.
5. Better compliance
Federal law requires your records to state when an employee begins and ends their shift, and ‘off-the-clock’ work is illegal. You can use time-tracking software to stick to these rules and keep a healthy and true record of your team’s hours. This includes working hours, breaks, and overtime.
Automated time tracking can also be a game-changer for businesses working with government contracts and seeking DCAA compliance. One misstep—an inaccurate entry or a forgotten timestamp—can trigger costly audits and jeopardize future contracts. With time-tracking software, you can ditch error-prone timesheets and capture every minute, every project, and every click, leaving auditors happy and penalties out of the picture.
6. Accurate billing
In construction, accurate billing can be a struggle. Time-tracking software eliminates headaches by taking the guesswork out of it. Forget the paper timesheets and blurry handwriting! Workers clock in and out on projects and tasks, giving you precise records of exactly how much time is spent. This translates to clear invoices for clients and no more billing disputes.
7. Improved project budgeting
Time-tracking software acts like a financial X-ray for construction projects. It shines a light on exactly where time, and therefore money, is being spent. This leads to a big boost in budgeting accuracy. No more guessing about labor costs or hidden inefficiencies. You get real data to make informed decisions about where to allocate resources and how to avoid budget overruns.
8. Streamlined project reporting
Time-tracking apps give project managers helpful insights into how your team spends their billable hours. This can allow you to make detailed reports on each project's progress and how working hours are allotted.
9. Increased productivity
Imagine having a real-time X-ray of your construction site. Time-tracking software with GPS capabilities lets you see exactly where your workforce is spending their hours, project by project, task by task. This transparency helps you identify areas where they're most productive and where they might be getting bogged down. With this laser focus, you can direct their energy to the tasks that truly matter, maximizing output and minimizing wasted time.
10. Boost accountability
With detailed time stamps and activity tracking features, you can more easily see any shortcomings or mismatches in your workforce. This can breed a culture of honesty amongst workers, as well as accurate billing for work performed.
11. Reduced paperwork and document clutter
With time-tracking software, there is no longer any need for paper timesheets. Now, data is stored securely in the cloud and is easy to reach for audits and general record-keeping without the physical clutter taking up space unnecessarily.
12. Reduced risks of disputes
Accurate tracking of hours makes it so that work is documented and everything is transparent.
This minimizes the risk of disputes with clients, outsider contractors, and the workforce. This is because hard evidence is not disputable, whereas vague “he said, she said, they said” stuff increases the risk of such disagreements.
13. Fair compensation
“Fair day’s work for fair day’s pay” applies more than ever when tracking hours with software and apps. Every hour worked is accounted for, and there is less chance of losing time. This means everyone can rest assured they get paid accurately and on time, which can boost morale and overall job satisfaction.
14. Better data-driven decision-making
Manual data entry can often lead to errors, but time-tracking software takes this risk away by being accurate. This means fewer payroll system discrepancies, accurate labor cost data, project timelines, and how resources are used. This enables a better assessment of future costs, which will improve decision-making.
Who is time-tracking software for?
Time tracking is crucial for all companies in all industries, but it’s particularly useful for companies that have field crews or multiple locations. If you have employees who travel, time tracking increases the accuracy of your travel costs.
Here are a few examples where time-tracking software is particularly useful.
Construction trades
Running a construction site is like juggling a bunch of bouncy balls, each with a different task and a different crew. Keeping track of who's doing what, where they are, and when they'll be done feels like a never-ending puzzle.
One of the key benefits of time-tracking software is no more chasing down messy timesheets or figuring out who was doing what. This software tells you everything, making payroll a breeze and reporting a snap.
Learn more about time tracking for construction trades
Landscaping and lawn care
Landscaping and lawn care businesses often have large teams that are split into different units to do jobs independently and often work separate shifts. This makes it very beneficial to have a coordinated time-tracking system that accounts for all elements of shift work.
Learn more about time tracking for landscaping
Cleaning
Janitorial and cleaning companies have employees in the field going from job to job. Time tracking software helps you keep track of where your crews are and how long the job took them to do. They can also share photos of completed work, so you have a record of the job being done.
Learn more about time tracking for cleaning companies
Healthcare
Healthcare professionals must take quality care of each of their patients. Time tracking for healthcare workers helps you stay on top of how long your employees spent with their patients and what kind of care was provided. Since all data from ClockShark is encrypted, it aligns with HIPPA rules and regulations as well.
Learn more about time tracking for healthcare providers
Time Tracking with ClockShark
ClockShark is tailored to the construction and field service industries’ unique needs. You can begin tracking time in minutes and start saving money immediately.
ClockShark is super easy to use.
So much so that even the less tech-savvy team members will find clocking in and out simple. It uses a number of time-tracking options, making it work well for a number of industries and companies.
With 100% accurate timesheets comes accurate job costing, so you know—in real-time—how much you’re really spending on each job. Your employees will be more accountable because they know their time is being tracked.
Paper timesheets are a thing of the past, and automated time tracking is what many of today’s successful companies are using to stay competitive and profitable.
