1 Challenge
- “I believe my employees could be a lot more productive. But I’m not sure how to measure their current productivity or what actions to take for improvement.”
2 Questions
- “Should I use time-tracking software?”
- “Is it likely to cause more harm than good?”
3 Ideas
- It Increases Transparency
- It is a Great Motivation Tool
- It Creates Accountability and Improves Results
“Time is money.”
–Old proverb
Whoever said these words was probably not referring to companies losing money with time. However, this old cliché definitely applies to them. Organisations do lose money when they lose time.
Every minute that your employees waste on unproductive tasks affects your revenues and ultimately, impacts profits. This is the most compelling reason why thousands of companies all over the world track their employees’ time using time-tracker software.
Should you use this software in your company?
The short answer is yes, you should.
The long answer is: Time-tracker software can enhance the productivity of your workforce. But if you’re not yet convinced of its value, we give you three more reasons that definitely will.
Reason #1: It Increases Transparency
When employees use time-tracking software, you know exactly who is working on what, and for how long. You can also identify any unproductive tasks that can be streamlined, automated, outsourced or even eliminated. Employees also get a better idea of how they work, and can identify if there’s something they can do better (or not at all!). All of this increases overall visibility and transparency in the organisation.
Time-tracking applications are also great for employee appraisals. Since you have clear data about employees, activities and time spent, you can understand which employees are meeting their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and who is falling behind. So instead of purely qualitative or judgement-based appraisals – which employees dislike, and also tend to raise unpleasant questions about fairness and impartial decisions – you and your employees can discuss the numbers, and draft a plan for improvement. More importantly, you and they will be on the same page so you can identify and agree on improvement areas together.
Reason #2: It is a Great Motivation Tool
With time-tracking software, your workforce can clearly see objective metrics and understand exactly where they’re doing well. They also get a specific target (or targets) to focus on. They can work steadily towards achieving this target, and periodically review their progress. You can even review it with them, and reward them for meeting specific milestones.
Thus, a time-tracking software is not just a tool to find gaps or identify desirable objectives. It’s also a great way to motivate employees, and keep them engaged with their work (and with the organisation).
Reason #3: It Creates Accountability and Improves Results
Too many organisations – and this includes leaders and managers – are guilty of passing the buck when things go wrong. After all, it’s easier to blame someone else for a mistake, rather than take accountability for it ourselves. But this kind of behaviour causes innumerable problems for the organisation. First, since no one takes responsibility, it takes longer to resolve any issues. It also creates a culture of “each person for themselves” which affects the company’s overall productivity. Over the long term, such a culture has a negative impact on the firm’s performance, profitability and competitiveness. Finally, the company is always in a fire-fighting mode, wasting precious resources on resolving short-term issues, rather than focusing on long-term plans.
Time-tracking software can bring greater accountability within the organisation. It ensures that every person knows what they’re supposed to be doing, when, and why. It also enables managers to review time performance, and find the slackers, time-wasters and slowpokes. Documented evidence is also available to take any necessary action – whether it’s training, punishment, replacement, or anything else.
Conclusion
Time is indeed money. Are you wasting time or earning money?
A time-tracking software has incredible potential to boost the productivity and efficiency in your organisation. It provides key data points and analytics capabilities that enable you to review your team’s performance, find gaps, and take quick action to close them.
Just make sure that you communicate its usefulness to your people, so they see it as a tool that works for them, rather than against them.
What did you think about this short article? Do you agree that time-tracking is useful? Share your thoughts!