Tracking time and attendance is an important function for any successful company. First of all, because accurate time and attendance data allows to ensure that payroll is processed quickly and correctly, labor regulations are complied with, and that company`s attendance and time-off policies are enforced.
If you still process payrolls and time-off using manual methods of tracking time and attendance, then you`re already aware of how inaccurate and inefficient this is. Modern companies are successfully moving these processes off from desktops and onto the cloud.
1. No more paper timesheets and Excel spreadsheets. Get a cloud-based solution
Even the smallest human mistake can turn all tracking data sluggish and of course, inaccurate. Now imagine multiplying these mistakes?
Old ways of tracking time and attendance don`t work anymore. Imagine that you own a big company that has over 100 employees. To get basic payroll information collected on a weekly basis, you`d have to collect hundreds of pieces of paper, get them validated by several layers of managers, and then try to consolidate the data
Can you imagine how much time and effort it would take?
Some companies use an Excel spreadsheet to limit the paperwork, but it only eliminates a portion of it. This method is still slow and inefficient, because of importing to other applications and ensuring that everyone’s pay and time off are issued and accounted for correctly.
Best practice: get rid of all the paperwork and use a cloud-based solution instead. Tracking time and attendance is much easier through a centralized system that you can access anytime, anywhere.
2. Ensure that time and attendance data is current and accurate
Among the most difficult aspects of tracking and approving data about attendance are:
- getting it on time;
- getting it approved;
- and ensuring that it’s accurate for payroll.
With a manual system as noted above, physically gathering information is always a challenge, and many organizations require multiple levels of approval before triggering the payroll process.
In automated, cloud-based systems however, information about attendance is entered easily and is available immediately. The result is that people’s jobs get easier; pay is timely and accurate, and regulatory issues are covered.
Best practice: Get a system that streamlines time capture and provides accurate information quickly for running your payroll.
3. Get a cloud solution for better efficiency
Running business applications on expensive, internal hardware is a thing of the past or a highly secret establishment.
If you follow the trends of cloud computing, then you know for sure what SaaS is and its advantages that are too great to ignore.
Firstly you know in advance the amount of money you have to spend, you do not need to worry about installation of local servers, their customization and maintenance.
Best practice: Switch to a cloud-based solution to save money and time. Concentrate on your business while the time tracker takes care of application maintenance, security, and updates for you.
4. Get software with a high level of adoption
There’s tremendous value in being able to track and view attendance data in a centralized system, but the real measure of a system’s success relies on employees adopting the software.
It’s crucial that the software you choose is user-friendly. Employees should find it intuitive and require minimal or no training at all.
The best time tracking systems also simplify the review and approval process for supervisors, and eliminate the need to provide employees with information about time-off or pay-related questions, since employees will be able to look up this information by themselves.
Best practice: consider the opinion of your employees, when choosing a time tracking software application. Get them involved in the assessment of every software you`re considering to implement.
5. Get software that makes administration and reporting easy
Choose a software application where you can sign up for a free trial or go through a demo version. It is important to spend some time test driving before buying it.
When you try a new system, its workflow and configurability should feel intuitive. The best attendance tracking software gives you a comprehensive set of functions — such as highly flexible and easy-to-run, real-time reports — and makes it easy to set them up and expand upon them by adding things that suit your requirements.
In short, using your attendance tracking software should be easy and hassle-free,— and a big time-saver — to configure reports by specifying the data you need.
Best practice: always test drive the software before buying it. It should be simple and fast to install and use. HR/Payroll managers should be able to run and get reports with minimal support from IT to make their lives easier.
6. Ensure that the data is safe and secure
With traditional enterprise systems, you hold the responsibility for the safety of the data.
When you choose a cloud-based time and attendance tracking solution however, you pass the responsibility for safekeeping your data to a third party. Therefore it’s extremely important to ensure that the vendor can provide the security, integrity and availability you need.
Some aspects you should pay attention to are firewalls, antivirus protection, encryption of in-transit data, and offsite data backup with tested disaster recovery provisions. It is also very important that your vendor should have a service level guarantee for the availability of your data and the software you use.
Best practice: Be sure that the vendors you consider can document their means for supplying security, protection, disaster recovery, and SSAE compliance.
Conclusion
To get timely, accurate attendance information use a centralized, cloud-based system. It will make it easy for employees and managers alike to account for and review their information.
By choosing the right cloud-based solution from the right vendor you can make time tracking and attendance simple, fast, and hassle-free.
