Are Project Time Tracking Tools Worth The Investment?
Some organizations avoid project time tracking tools because they think it micro-manages remote staffers. Or that it isn’t worth the investment because there’s already a traditional attendance system in place. Employees clock-in and out, then accounts payable calculates payroll at the end of the week. However, the right project tracking app does more than just tally billable hours. It can help you boost employee productivity, reduce absenteeism, and even improve client satisfaction, as evidenced by these surprising time management stats.
8 Stats That ALL Time Tracking App Buyers Should Know
1. Nearly 90% Of Staffers Admit To Wasting Time On The Clock
Employees admit that they waste about 30 minutes every workday. A staggering 10% of staffers say that number is closer to 3 hours. If you add up everyone on the payroll, that’s a significant amount of time squandered every week. Time that digs into your profit margin and forces you to miss project deadlines. For example, if you employ 50 employees, that’s at least 125 work hours wasted EVERY week. Time tracking tools help your team focus on the task at hand and account for every minute of their workday.
2. Organizations Spend 16 Days Annually Searching For Paperwork
Businesses who still rely on manual input and printed timesheets can spend up to 16 days, annually, looking for documents. Project time tracking systems centralize all your records so that you can process payroll, bill clients, and update your accounts. As a result, you can devote those 16 days to completing a project or expanding your market reach.
3. UK-Based Employees Procrastinate Over 2 Hours Daily
One of the most shocking time management stats is that, in the UK, employees spend roughly 2 hours and 11 minutes on procrastination EVERY workday. According to studies, the most time consuming distraction is texting, which occupies 28 minutes. Another surprising stat is that they spend about 16 minutes visiting social media sites. Time tracking platforms monitor every aspect of their day so that they know how much time is spent on idle activities.
4. Staffers Spend Roughly 2 Hours A Day Overcoming Distractions
Social media, texting, and gossiping with co-workers doesn’t just impact work performance in the moment. In fact, employees take up to 2 hours to ‘recover’ from those distractions every day. For example, they might need to re-read documents because they weren’t paying attention. Or simply get in the right frame of mind in order to complete the task. The right project tracking system prevents distractions because employees know they’re held accountable.
5. Employees Are Most Productive Between 9AM And 12PM
Staffers are usually at their productive peak in the morning hours. Time tracking tools can help you create more flexible schedules for your team to maximize in-house talent and bring time management stats up. Then again, employees who are atypical and tend to be more productive in the evening hours can still achieve their full potential. Since you can track staffers round the clock and allow them to create their own agendas, as long as they get the job done on time, of course.
6. Task Time Is Limited To 3 Minutes
Whether it’s our short attention spans or our propensity to multitask, employees only spend about 3 minutes on tasks. Then the move onto the next one. Time tracking tools help employees concentrate on what they’re doing instead of trying to divide their mental capacity. They start the work timer when beginning the task, then pause for breaks. When it’s time to switch to another task, they must account for this in the system. Therefore, they have better oversight of task completion times and can look for areas of improvement. For instance, maybe they need to spend more time on this activity to avoid frequent mistakes.
7. Almost 80% Of An Employee’s Work Day Consists of ‘Low Value’ Activities
Many employees are unaware that they have time management issues. They log in to the work platform with best intentions, then spend nearly 80% of their time on tasks with little value. One of the benefits of project time trackers is that employees can evaluate their work habits and how they contribute to your organization. For example, does a staffer really need to spend a half hour perusing your inventory if they performed the same task this morning? Should they be doing online ‘market research’ for the first hour of their workday, or is their time better spent elsewhere?
8. 46% Of Job-Related Stress Is Due To A Heavy Workload
In the US, almost half all work-related stress is caused by a heavy workload. Maybe the manager doesn’t realize how many tasks they’ve assigned to an individual. Or the employee is putting too much pressure on themselves, putting them on the fast-track to job burnout. Whatever the case, time tracking systems give employees the chance to create a healthy work/life balance. Teams can evenly distribute the workload based on max capacity. For instance, an employee can only work 20 additional hours this week because they’re current project demands the other 20. Employees must also record all their activities, instead of trying to ‘sneak’ in extra time when they should be off the clock.
Conclusion
Project time tracking tools help staffers meet deadlines, identify areas of improvement, and monitor job performance from anywhere in the world. They can also use a project tracking app to make the most of their workday and avoid external distractions. Which contributes to your company’s bottom line. Ideally, you should look for platforms with work timers and project overviews so that employees can plan ahead. As well as track task completion times and streamline work processes.
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