Today, most businesses keep track of their employee’s time and work orders; however, most are still doing it manually since that is what they have always done before. It is essential for any business to keep track of time spent by their employees during their work hours. It is even more important if the employee is working at a remote job site. A well-designed time management system will help ensure efficient tracking of your employee’s time.
When an employee is working on a project, you need to know how much time it takes them to complete it. This allows them to understand what they need to improve the efficiency of future projects. Another essential task that employers need to keep track of is when their employees punch in and out; this will help keep track of their daily working hours. Unfortunately, many businesses are still tracking these things manually.
Manual tracking has drawbacks. It takes up valuable time and is prone to errors, including inaccurate estimates, illegible timesheets, and lost, damaged, or illegible timesheets. Sometimes employees even forget to punch in and out. These errors can result in incorrect payments to the employees, costing you money.
Accurately tracking this information is essential. These errors can be avoided by implementing a timesheet management app specifically designed for field service teams streamlining this process and improving accuracy while reducing the risk of errors and fraud.
Timesheet management for field service
Using traditional methods to keep track of time-tracking will not be effective in today’s technology-driven era. Time-tracking tools such as paper timesheets or manual punch clocks are no longer viable in today’s dynamic field service industry—there have been radical changes in technology and how we track time.
The reason there was a need to move away from traditional methods was that it was prone to error and failed to deliver a great customer experience. With conventional methods, businesses faced issues like inaccurate estimating, time theft, and lost or damaged records. Accurate time tracking is essential to help field service businesses optimize their operations, improve customer service, and manage their resources more efficiently.
It is important to note that different industries have different requirements, and how they operate will vary. Landscaping businesses may need to keep track of multiple landscapers, especially if they have them punching in at different times during the day based on their customer’s requests.
All landscaping jobs are not the same; some may be more complicated and require additional time to lay the right soil for decorative landscaping, set up the correct plumbing system to ensure the lawns are watered efficiently, and add final cosmetic touches to the landscapes with painters.
Ensuring all these technicians are working in sync can be difficult. But it does not have to be. The system can be tied together and easily managed with timesheet management software like Zuper. Construction companies and painting businesses need to keep track of different employees for several days during the course of a job.
With manual tracking, it can get complicated—since different crews of employees, like plumbers, painters, and electricians—all work on-site. Each technician has a different wage, and that needs to be calculated accurately. Automated construction management software will help simplify and accurately estimate the time each employee spends on a job site.
Time management software is also helpful with shorter services like HVAC and cleaning. You will be able to track your employee’s productivity by keeping a tab on their breaks, or if they need to purchase a part to complete the task at hand, they can set the job status to on hold. These minutes tracked will add up at the end of a week or month and help you determine the productive hours of your technicians.
Features to look for in timesheet management software
There are a lot of time-tracking apps and software products on the market, and it can get daunting. Most of the software out there does not cater specifically to the field service industry, so it is always a good idea to do your research before investing in a solution. We have compiled a list of features you should look for when choosing a timesheet management solution.
1. Automated time tracking
- Track your employees’ work hours in real-time
- Facilitate GPS location tracking (you can capture the location each time your technicians punch in and out, this will help you verify where your employee is)
- Time-of requests and leave approvals (this should be displayed on your dispatch board or calendar)
- Easily track multiple jobs and the technicians assigned to them
2. Security and access control
- Choose who can access which parts of your database with role-based access control
- Timesheet approval can be handed over to managers or senior technicians
- Data privacy—Location data need not be captured when a technician is on break
- The facial recognition feature allows you to make use of biometric authentication
3. Mobile app for your technicians
- Technicians can use the mobile application to make time off requests on the go
- Technicians can access timesheet details
- They can access the map and calendar and do so much more
4. Alerts and notifications
- Get notified on your mobile with punch-in and punch-out reminders
- Received alerts to submit your timesheets on time
- Get notified of shift updates automatically
5. Integration with a single source of truth
- Zuper allows you to integrate with third-party tools (calendars, payroll, HRMS, project management)
- You can choose to integrate with over 50+ apps to complement your business
6. Accurate billing and invoicing
- Ensure you are able to calculate the work hours by taking break time into account
- Automatically calculate your technician’s billable hours
7. Reporting and KPIs
- Generate reports; you can choose from customized or out-of-the-box reports
- Track real-time performance metrics
Conclusion
Investing in a timesheet management tool is essential to running your business efficiently. With efficient timesheet management software, you can track your technician’s work hours and ensure that you accurately complete the payroll process. Management software provides insights into how efficiently you spend time on different tasks.
This will help you find areas for improvement in your business and enhance both customer satisfaction and overall productivity by working to reduce these weak spots. It is always good to have a reliable system in place to ensure your compliance with labor laws standards like OSHA.
While it is essential to look out for the welfare of your employees, it is equally important to ensure that your productive hours are spent efficiently. To do this, need to have time management software in place, which allows us to see and understand where the efficiency of your current system can be improved.
Manual tracking may be what organizations have used in the past, but it is not good enough anymore. The path forward is a timesheet management solution, like Zuper. To know more about how Zuper works, we will be glad to provide a demo with all the latest timesheet management features that we offer.
