Why Time Reporting Is a Good Idea – 6 Arguments to Motivate your Employees

Time to time report, ugh! Registering your working hours can be experienced as an annoying and unnecessary task. Why should I waste my time writing down exactly when I’ve been working and with what? However, the fact is that time reporting comes with plenty of benefits – not least for the employees.

Let’s be honest – how’s the time reporting going at your workplace? Completely friction-free and happy faces everywhere? Or, perhaps it comes with a great deal of frustration and resistance? It doesn’t have to be like that! Investing in seamless digital time reporting via the web or cell phone – instead of struggling with spreadsheets and old systems – is an excellent start for improving things.

But more importantly, you need to get your employees onboard first. What do they personally gain from time reporting? And how does it benefit the company as a whole? Informing employees not only that they should time report but also why, can do wonders for possibly negative attitudes. So, the question is, do you and your colleagues realize all the benefits? If not, we have stuffed this article with the top arguments for why digital time reporting is a win-win for the whole company.

How Your Employees Benefit from Time Reporting – Top 6 Arguments

1. Justice and Transparency
   The most apparent benefit of time reporting is, of course, that it becomes crystal clear which hours you have worked and which hours you have been absent. Perhaps you worked somewhere where raised eyebrows and judgemental questions have materialized when someone would come in late, go home early, or take an extended lunch break? With digital time reporting, that problem is reduced. You can trust that times and discrepancies are registered precisely the same for everyone; a late arrival means a minus on the flex account and can, for example, be compensated another day. Ultimately, it becomes transparent and straightforward for you as an employee if you can check your worked hours, vacation days, and the number of flex or comp hours you have.
   
   
2. No Billable Hours Lost
   Time is, as you know, money! This especially concerns businesses that invoice for time spent on a project. By time reporting directly after a completed job, you ensure that no billable hours will be forgotten. If the customer requests it, it will also be easier to present reliable reports of your worked hours. And if the time system is synced with the payroll system, the invoice will be ready in no time!
   
   
3. Your Memory’s Best Friend
   As we mentioned earlier, a good user experience is vital for getting the time reporting done! And, with manual spreadsheet solutions or outdated systems, it is entirely understandable why co-workers would find it tedious and time-consuming. With digital and user-friendly tools, on the other hand, cursing and frustration can be avoided. You can effortlessly check in and out, switch projects, or report your flex hours no matter where you are – with just a few clicks directly on the computer or cell phone. And why is this so important, again?
   
   Well, it will make you more prone to time report continuously since you have your times close in memory. Because honestly, how easy isn’t it to forget about that dentist appointment you flexed out to attend three weeks ago? In short: with flexible tools that allow you to time report in real-time, you will save time and avoid concerns while making your time reporting more reliable.
   
   
4. A More Meaningful Workday
   Where do the hours go, really? Another benefit of time reporting is that you get a complete overview of what you spend your work hours doing – something that gives you feelings of control and satisfaction while simultaneously providing you with many valuable insights.
   
   For example, you can easily view the status of your spent time on different projects and activities, monitor the numbers week by week, and set goals for you and your team. Maybe you’ll also discover that some projects are more time-consuming than you thought. Or that you spend too many hours every week with assignments that aren’t part of your job, taking time from what you really should be doing? The time report can provide an excellent factual basis that you can present to your boss during staff appraisals and other discussions and make suggestions for changes – something that can give you a more meaningful workday and help you and your colleagues navigate toward your shared goals.
   
   
5. Effortless Decision Making for the Company
   As we mentioned, time reporting gives you and your colleagues a good tool for overview and follow-up of worked time on an individual level. But it will also help you evaluate spent time and the company’s costs on a general level. And that’s a critical success factor for several reasons:
   
   

   –You can be confident that you will stay within the budget and the time estimates for your projects

   –You can control that your time is spent on the right tasks. Is time spent and profitability in proportion? Are you prioritizing the right customers and projects?

   –You can easily spot unnecessary time thieves and get valuable insights into how the business can be streamlined.

   –You facilitate the distribution of resources and can detect indications that a co-worker or workgroup is overloaded – an easy way to prevent stress and illness.

6. Always Correct Numbers in the Pay Envelopes
   Worked time, vacation, time off to care for a sick child, overtime, on-duty, comp time, sick leave… A considerable number of information must be collected and compiled monthly for the pay slip to come out correctly. Entering digits manually, calculating, and controlling is time-consuming and increases the risk of errors. With digital time reporting synced with payroll management, you avoid these problems. The monthly support is automatically transferred to payroll, the numbers are summarized, and the correct allowances are calculated. The win is obvious: happy employees and a more effective and fun workday for the payroll department!

Is it Time for More Happy Faces When Time Reporting?

The best time reporting is the one that gets done, right? That’s why we made it cursing and frustration to time report and project report in our time system Flex HRM Time and our app Flex HRM Mobile. Do you and your colleagues also feel that it’s time for more happy faces when time reporting? Please send us an email, and we will tell you more!