7 Top Pitfalls Of Employee Time Keeping Applications And Tips To Avoid Them

Time Keeping Applications Pitfalls And Their Solutions
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Summary: The best way to boost ROI is to know how to choose and use time keeping applications. This article highlights 7 common errors to avoid.

What Are The Top Employee Time Keeping Applications Pitfalls?

How do you successfully launch time keeping applications? Keeping your budget intact and avoiding implementation delays hinges on the right tool. A realistic schedule that maps out all the tasks involved doesn’t hurt either. Are there any mistakes you should know about before choosing the best time tracking app? What are the risks involved? Is there a way to reap all the rewards without having to deal with tool trial and error? Well, you’re in luck, because this article features the 7 most common time tracker software hurdles as well as tips to help you steer clear of them altogether.

eBook Release: Punch The Virtual Clock: How To Find The Best Employee Time Tracking App For Your Team
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Punch The Virtual Clock: How To Find The Best Employee Time Tracking App For Your Team
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7 Time Tracker Software Mistakes To Avoid

1. Unrealistic Budget

You haven’t forgotten about the licensing and other upfront costs. But there’s something missing from your time tracking tool budget. Namely, setup, implementation time, and ongoing upkeep, for example, all the payroll hours your team needs to master the new app. Research pricing models and look at your current time tracking expenses, such as how much you spend calculating all the payroll hours manually. Then determine how much you can save with the new app and which fees you should add to your existing expense sheet.

2. Limited Features

You have a general idea of how the best time keeping application fits into your organization. But you aren’t sure which features you need or how they relate to current pain points. It’s essential to narrow down your features list based on business objectives. Do you need client invoicing to keep track of billable hours? What about break timers to improve employee productivity? If your features list is limited, you’ll end up with a tool that falls short since you didn’t include all the crucial elements in your vendor RFP. So, get input from your staffers and conduct a needs analysis to create a spot-on shopping list.

3. No Employee Buy-In

Why is time tracking important? Most organizations ask that question before purchasing new software, but they’re not asking the right people. You need to emphasize why time tracking apps are beneficial for staffers. Why they must use the tool to stay productive and streamline payroll. Time tracker software gives them autonomy over their work schedule. They can set milestones, see how much they’ve accomplished this week, and plan their time wisely. So, how do they know about all the perks? Marketing is crucial for time tracking app success. Send out newsletters or emails to get buy-in and gather feedback to choose the right tool.

4. Challenging UI

The User Interface is anything but intuitive. Your employees find it difficult to navigate or customize. Even the tech-savvy team members struggle with certain features because the layout is confusing or disorganized. This is why it’s so crucial to test the tool beforehand and focus on usability. You typically have between 2 weeks to 30 days to try out the platform. In some cases, vendors offer free demos or live events to showcase the system. That way, you can ask them targeted questions and see how it performs in the real world.

5. Lack Of Support

Even tools that are easy to use may require a learning curve. For example, some of your employees have never used time tracking apps. So, they need a little help setting up their profile or customizing the dashboard. Thus, you need tutorials or other support resources to give them a head start. Certain vendors even provide customer training tools you can pass along to your team, for example, demo videos and guides on how to track time or use the task breakdown feature. If not, you may have to create these resources on your own and add them to your software implementation budget. Finally, consider tools with advanced support services, like live chat and phone, for your backend team. They can simply call the vendor if they run into any problems to get back on track.

6. Limited Scope

Not tracking all projects or individual tasks diminishes value for money. You’re focusing on a small portion of your employees’ workday and overall performance instead of getting a comprehensive overview of their activities as well as how their tasks tie into the project, as a whole. For instance, your only concern is payroll and client invoices. However, you completely overlook individual completion times and project milestone adherence.

7. Not Utilizing All The Features

You probably purchased the new time tracking app because it had specific features. But you need to make the most of them to maximize ROI. For example, those break reminders are only valuable if your team knows how to use them and if you stress the importance of frequent mental refreshers. Or employees only use the project overview feature to track group tasks instead of monitoring their individual goals and deadlines. This is another reason why it’s crucial to host a kick-off event, to talk about all the features and their practical perks instead of just launching the tool and asking employees to punch in and out every day.

Conclusion

Time keeping applications can help simplify payroll and improve employee productivity. But you need to avoid all the common pitfalls to get the most from your investment, such as creating a clear budget and implementation timeline as well as choosing a platform that’s easy to use for every member of the team. Another great way to take the stress out of time tracking software implementation is to use our exclusive online directory which has the best time tracking app solutions in your price range.

Download our eBook for insider secrets to budget, qualify vendors, and draft RFPs. Punch The Virtual Clock: How To Find The Best Employee Time Tracking App For Your Team also features questions to help you find the right tool for your remote workforce. Get your copy today!