If you’re a small business owner or have to deal with payroll, you likely have encountered a common problem that many companies have to deal with: trying to keep track of a growing workforce. Tracking time for a few employees is easy enough, but as your business continues to grow, so do time tracking issues, especially if you’re not using automated employee time clock software.

Payroll tracking issues are amplified when using a manual time tracking process such as a punch card, which is outdated and is no longer the preferred time tracking system. Approximately 40% of small businesses still process their payroll manually, which leads to valuable time, resources, and energy lost.

The good news is that automated employee time clock software, which can be integrated with most payroll systems, can provide an enormous return on your investment, improve payroll processing, and can help to ensure that employee work hours are tracked down to the second.

Improves Time Tracking Accuracy

For many decades, employees had to track time manually, meaning they’d write down their work hours with little to no oversight. While most workers never intentionally steal time, inaccurate timesheet management occurred due to this manual process. It’s hard for workers to precisely remember what hours they worked, so they guestimate, leading to inflated labor costs due to exaggerated time tracking.

Time theft is a real issue that frequently occurs with manual time tracking. One common form of time theft is called buddy punching, where one employee will write down hours for a coworker who isn’t actually at work. Companies across the world lose thousands of dollars each year due to time theft.

The good news is that automated employee time clock software reduces the chances of time tracking errors significantly and time theft. A cloud-based time clock comes equipped with advanced safety features such as facial recognition, which require an employee to use their unique facial features to punch in or out.

Increases Time Tracking Efficiency

As mentioned, with outdated team time tracking methods, employees waste a lot of time manually filling out timesheets. The added responsibility of having to remember their work hours and accurately track them can cause them to waste several hours each month. The tracking time’s burden grows considerably if you have a complicated time tracking process or have to track time under multiple clients or jobs each day.

Additionally, HR employees have to devote several hours each month to gather employee work information, calculate their hours, including overtime and finalize the hours for payroll processing. HR employees often have to rush this process to ensure that their employees are paid on time. However, rushing can lead to significant clerical errors.

Using automated employee time clock software, you don’t have to worry about timesheet inaccuracy or tracking down an employee to get their work hours. Payroll processors can pull reports by employee, department, or even by the job. These reports will show employees’ total work hours, both regular and overtime, and time off information. Since these calculations are done automatically based on rules that have been set up, you will have peace of mind they are accurate.

Reduces Employee Management Costs

When using a manual time tracking process, you must invest in punch cards, timesheets, hardware, and other products that impact your labor costs and, ultimately, your bottom line. A typical employee uses several hundred pounds of paper each year, a colossal waste and utterly avoidable by digitizing employee management processes.

With modern employee time clock software, businesses can significantly reduce the amount of paper and other products required to achieve an effective time tracking process.  Not only will your business benefit financially, but promoting a green workplace can bring in a loyal customer base that is focused on sustainability.

Ensures Legal Compliance

Perhaps one of the most significant disadvantages of using a manual time tracking process is the margin for error, leading to legal issues. The IRS has found that approximately 33% of employers have made payroll errors. This kind of mistake doesn’t just hinder your payroll process and upset your employees, but failing to pay workers the correct amount can lead to an audit and even large fines.

Using automated employee timesheet software, you can practically eliminate these issues by creating a digital record precisely when your employee worked. Having these records on hand is useful in an audit where timesheets need to be reviewed for accuracy.

The differences between manual and automated employee time clock software should be apparent at this point. It allows you to improve your time tracking process by ensuring employee work hours are accurate down to the minute. You can integrate directly with your payroll provider to reduce the chances of clerical errors, which in turn means more accurate paychecks and happier employees. Not to mention that you can significantly reduce your labor costs by implementing an online timecard system. So what are you waiting for? Invest today!