Time & Attendance Hacks: 10 Steps to a More Efficient Workforce
The benefits of time and attendance software far outstrip timesheets – it can provide real-world value across multiple areas of your business. Setting your team up for success by implementing time and attendance software – and, more importantly, teaching them how to use it correctly – provides cost benefits across the board, from less admin time to a more engaged workforce.
So, how do you integrate time and attendance software into your business? In this blog, we’ll show you 10 tips to achieve the best outcomes from your new software.
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Step 1: Identify your business goals
Define the benefits you want to achieve with your time and attendance software. What does success look like for your organisation? Some common goals include:
- Reducing labour costs
- Improving compliance
- Boosting efficiency
- Cracking down on time-wasting
Step 2: Evaluate your current processes
Assess how you currently track employee time and attendance and identify any inefficiencies or areas for improvement.
- Are there any administrative redundancies or double handling of data?
- Can you view your employee time and attendance in real-time?
- How much ownership do your employees have over their own time logging?
- What are your current annual and personal leave processes?
Step 3: Set up rules and policies
Establish clear rules and policies around attendance, time off and overtime to ensure accurate tracking and compliance. Ensure you have the following policies in place:
- Time recording policy
- Leave policy
- Overtime policy
- Attendance policy
Not only should you set clear policies and rules, you also need to make sure they’re easily accessible to your team. Educate all team members on your company’s policies and ensure they have signed off on any policy changes.
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Step 4: Choose the right software
Select a time and attendance software solution that meets your business needs and is scalable for future growth. Some things to look for in time and attendance software include:
- Cloud based software – Opt for a cloud-based solution for lower costs, easy scalability and accessibility for your entire organisation.
- User-friendly interface – Smoothing the way for your team to log their time and attendance data will ensure greater take up and team engagement.
- Mobile app – Between remote workers, off-site jobs and meetings your team will need access to both desktop and mobile versions of your time logging software.
Step 5: Train your staff
Implementing time and attendance software is a great first step. Now, your team needs to know how to use it. Make sure your staff are properly trained on how to use the software and take advantage of its features.
- Set up training modules for them to complete to ensure all team members are trained.
- Make sure all training is documented.
- Provide training updates whenever software updates occur.
Step 6: Implement mobile access
Allowing employees to access their time and attendance records from their mobile devices increases flexibility and efficiency, allowing team members to log time in whatever way suits them best.
Almost 60% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices and, with the ever-increasing rate of hybrid and remote workers, it’s crucial to ensure your team can access their time and attendance software from wherever they are.
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Step 7: Implement labour cost forecasting
The key to good planning is data, and there’s a tonne of valuable data to be gleaned from your time and attendance software: it’s your most powerful tool in monitoring productivity and making informed decisions.
By leveraging real-time reporting, you can monitor attendance and productivity while assessing the average amount of time needed to complete a certain task or project. Data-driven labour cost forecasting can help your organisation save on costs and improve efficiency. Leverage real-time reporting to monitor attendance and productivity, allowing for quick and informed decision-making and labour cost forecasting.
Step 8: Automate timekeeping
Gone are the days of manual timesheets. Automated timekeeping can not only free up more time for your employees to focus on their work: it also means more freed-up time for your payroll staff, less time spent filling out attendance data and fewer human errors to contend with. No more trawling through physical timesheets or manual spreadsheets for errors!
Step 9: Monitor compliance
Time and attendance software can automatically monitor compliance with labour laws and regulations, minimising the risk of legal penalties. It can track everything from the number of hours a person has worked to whether or not their contract obligations are being met.
Step 10: Continuously review and optimise
Continuously review and optimise your time and attendance processes to ensure maximum efficiency and cost savings. Time logging and attendance can often go by the wayside, and it can be tempting to use the same old processes if they work well enough. It’s crucial to stay up to date with advances in HR technology and make sure your time and attendance software is a value-adding process for your company.
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Complete Steps 1-10 With OneAdvanced Time & Attendance Software
Our intelligent Time and Attendance Software can take your organisation from spreadsheets and timers to fully integrated and automated time logging. Free up more time for your team, see fewer human errors and achieve a better bottom line.