4. December 2023

What is the best way for organisations to track time?

worker working while tracking time

How is your organisation currently tracking employee time? Tracking time manually is a time-consuming and error-prone process, but the same is true if you are tracking it via spreadsheets or with cumbersome workarounds. 

In this article, we want to take you through the common concerns of tracking time in a variety of ways. And, what you should really consider if you want to track the time of your employees in the best way possible.

Why you shouldn't track time with manual timesheets 

Did you know that many organisations still rely on manual methods like punch cards and paper timesheets to track time? While it might be plainly obvious that these aren’t the most modern solutions, many companies remain reliant on them. 

Especially as workforces have evolved, embracing hybrid forms of work or remote work in general, manually tracking time has become more and more complicated – with more potential for human error and inaccuracies. 

Even when employees are careful, there remains a high margin of error. Inaccurate timesheets can have massive ripple effects on payroll, invoicing, project tracking and management and many other issues.

Best practice: If your company is still reliant on clocking in and out of an office space, you may want to consider how a software can connect with a preexisting time clock terminal (to help ease adoption with your workforce). 

Why you shouldn’t track time with spreadsheets 

Spreadsheets are a powerful tool. And being able to access them online is easy for employees to engage with – but are they fit for purpose when it comes to tracking time accurately and easily? That is far less clear. 

It is easy to make mistakes with spreadsheets, and it is even more difficult to generate reports from your data. Additionally, spreadsheets are not an inherently collaborative tool, so it can be difficult to use at scale. 

If you are relying on a collection of spreadsheets to track time across your workforce, you are likely spending more time on administrative tasks than necessary. It can take valuable time away from more value-adding projects for your employees. 

Best practice: Spreadsheets are helpful, but not for tracking time. Organisations should consider evolving out of the need, especially when they grow, for a more specialised solution that helps employees track time easily and securely. 

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Benefits of an all-in-one HR solution for tracking time 

An all-in-one HR solution, like Personio, offers a host of key benefits that can make time tracking that much easier for your teams: 

  • Reduced errors: An all-in-one solution automates many of the manual tasks associated with time tracking, such as calculating overtime and generating timesheets. This helps to reduce the risk of human error.

  • Improved accuracy: Designed to be accurate and reliable, an all-in-one solution can also connect with your payroll preparation to deliver accurate results when you run payroll. 

  • Increased visibility: Teams can gain access to real-time visibility into employee time tracking. This allows managers to identify potential problems early on, and to make necessary adjustments to schedules and workloads.

  • Deeper insights: Generating comprehensive reports that can help managers to identify trends and patterns in employee time tracking data. This information can be used to improve productivity, reduce costs and make better business decisions.

Is an all-in-one solution the right fit? 

There are organisations who may be hesitant to invest in an all-in-one HR solution to meet their time tracking needs. The fact is that a solution like Personio’s is designed to evolve with your team’s needs. 

That means helping you track time today, onboard new employees tomorrow, meet your hiring goals next quarter and prepare your HR team for executive meetings with reports next month. It is not only introducing a solution, but a new way of work. 

Efficient and compliant time tracking with Personio 

centralised time tracking HR software
Whether hours are recorded on desktop, app or via an integration, all data is consolidated in Personio, enabling faster reporting and data-driven decisions.

Personio's easy-to-use time tracking seamlessly integrates HR data and working hours to greater efficiency and compliance across your organisation. Take a look today at how it can help your team. 

See Personio's time tracking in action

Time Tracking Calendar