Employees are a valuable asset to any business since they are the ones who go above and beyond to help the organization achieve its long-term goals and tread the path of success and growth. Employees are held accountable for delivering products and services to customers and fulfilling or exceeding their expectations. Therefore, Employees’ productivity significantly influences an organization’s overall performance, success, and ROI.
An employee timesheet app is an excellent method to assess staff performance and their day-to-day work input for the company.
Traditionally, workers were required to record their activities in a logbook or on paper and submit the information to their manager on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The employer or supervisor then had to go through many documents to evaluate the workers. Employers didn’t have a full view of their entire staff using this traditional method, and they had to put in more time to get performance reports for pay and performance appraisal management. Mobile and desktop apps have emerged as a result of technological improvements and breakthrough ideas, allowing for the creation of robust, durable, and scalable timesheet programs.
We’ll go through the importance of an employee timesheet app in a nutshell and the eight major characteristics to search for in an employee timekeeping solution.
What Is an Employee Timesheet App?
An employee timesheet software or app is a technology-enabled solution that is designed to collect an employee’s daily contribution automatically and can be used to obtain performance-related insights for payroll management, among other things. Aside from maintaining records of employees clock in, clock out, and performing their daily duties, this system also records how much time they spend on individual tasks, how long they were active/idle throughout the day (or week), and even produces daily/weekly/monthly activity reports.
A timekeeping software/app aids employees in recording and saving daily work, submitting it to their bosses for evaluation, categorizing their daily activities into the billable/non-billable categories, and calculating task/project-level contributions. Because it is a program/app, workers have more freedom to modify their entries without difficulty.
On the other hand, employers will benefit significantly from using the best timesheet app. It will just take them a few seconds to go through their entire staff’s task records and a couple of minutes more. Employers can also obtain analytics and reports, as it is an effective approach to capturing a company’s overall performance.
Given the numerous advantages of an employee timesheet application, there are a plethora of options on the market. As a result, businesses must carefully evaluate their choices and anticipate their present and future requirements before making any decision. Here are the eight key features to review.
8 Key Features to Look for in Employee Timesheet App
1. Invoice Management
The right employee timesheet app will keep track of your invoice payments and late payments, give you access to data on which clients are slow in paying, allow you to mark specific invoices as paid, so they’re no longer recorded, etc. Ultimately, one of your top goals should be getting paid quickly and without hassle. A great app will have all these features — and more. For example, it might offer options for reminders about unpaid invoices or even automatic dunning letters that contact your clients if you haven’t been paid.
2. Time Tracking Options
The app should let you track your time in different ways. At a minimum, it should be able to support clock-in/clock-out via keyboard entry or by scanning a QR code, although some apps allow for offline tracking as well. (No Internet connection is required when using offline mode.) If you like to measure productivity by the job instead of by the hour, it’s best if you can log your hours manually and still link them back to jobs when necessary.
The ideal employee timesheet app will also integrate with third-party software like Dropbox or Slack so that you can save PDF reports from your clock-in activity directly into project folders inside these tools.
3. Task Management Tools
One of the top features of a timesheet app is task management tools. An employee timesheet app should easily organize your tasks into projects and sub-projects, add tasks and subtasks, prioritize them (especially if you use agile methodologies), track work progress, make changes as needed, and include estimates. Additionally, most employee timesheets apps will allow team members from multiple companies or locations to collaborate on their task lists so that no one gets left out.
Collaboration is also important when it comes to employee timesheet apps. Ideally, you should be able to view your team members’ hours and working schedules, communicate with them quickly, and see their entire activity history — even from months or years ago. You’ll want a clear picture of who worked on what project, when they did it and how long it took them.
4. Reporting Capabilities
No matter what your company does, chances are you will be spending a lot of time looking at report data. That’s because reports allow you to keep tabs on how things are running. There’s no sense in having an employee timesheet app if it doesn’t offer at least some reporting options, so make sure you look for one that includes reporting features that align with your goals and objectives. At a minimum, look for tools that provide line-level visibility and let you create automated reports based on custom parameters.
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5. Customer Support
You need employee online timesheet software that has superior customer support. No matter how great your app is, it won’t be worth having if you can’t get help when you need it. Having reliable customer support that can troubleshoot and address issues quickly means employees will have less downtime and be more productive. After all, a dedicated employee is a happy employee who will stay with your company for longer.
What does superior customer support look like? Look for 24/7 support with live chat, emails, and phone. A responsive customer support team will ensure your needs are met even on your busiest days.
6. Security/Data Encryption
Security is critical for tracking employee hours. Data encryption is essential for employees who work on projects for third parties or have access to sensitive data in other aspects of their jobs. It’s also necessary if employees are logging into your system from multiple devices — phones, tablets, laptops — to track time.
A secure system will ensure that they only enter their time and submit timesheets from one central location. At a minimum, choose a solution that offers 256-bit AES encryption over SSL connections and HTTPS protocol. The best systems go above and beyond standard security features, with additional measures such as two-factor authentication (2FA) across all user accounts.
7. Mobile Apps
Smartphones have changed everything, and even though most employee online timesheet tracker apps are web-based, you’ll still want to consider a mobile option. Sometimes you just need access on the go. An app may not be necessary, but a mobile interface can make life easier if your employees work in different locations.
Best of all, there is likely no additional charge for tracking time on a mobile device. If you need more advanced features like scheduling or clocking in/out, there are also many options with mobile add-ons (and prices will vary widely depending on features).
8. Ease of Use
The foremost thing you want to think about when choosing a timesheet app is how easy it will be for your employees to use. They’ll just give up and stick with paper timesheets if it’s too complicated. Instead, look for an app that uses an intuitive design to make entering time simple and painless.
You should be able to do everything you need from within a single interface, with access to detailed information while being easy on the eyes. Always consider whether or not your team will enjoy using your new software before proceeding further.
Closing Thoughts
So, we have shared our list of eight key features to look for when choosing an employee timesheet app. Keep these in mind as you shop around, and ask questions about how each feature works. Finally, don’t forget to test out the app yourself before making a purchase. The best way to know if an employee timesheet app is right for your business is to try it out!
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Have you found an employee timesheet app that meets all of these criteria? Let us know in the comments below.
