There's been a lot of talk lately about the benefits of using time tracking apps for freelancers, but what about company employees? Does it help or hurt their work, and is such monitoring ethical anyway? We will try to answer these questions.
What is the importance of time tracking in corporate culture?
To understand how important time management is in a company, let's first understand the concept of the corporate culture.
Corporate culture is a system, the essence of which is to ensure that business goals are achieved most rationally. It includes all aspects of work – business processes, daily tasks, and, of course, team building. These provisions of corporate culture are consciously accepted by all employees; it also regulates business relations.
The ethical component is now more important than ever. The basis of the current corporate culture is teamwork, where the contribution of each participant is important. That is why a truly successful corporate culture is always based on honesty, openness, and respect for the individual.
By hiring people to work and forming a team, you trust their knowledge and integrity, counting on a similar attitude. No leader would want his employees to believe that they are being followed. This destroys a healthy climate in the organization, increases stress, and provokes conflict. Any company that wants to create a successful corporate culture understands this.
That is why it is so important to understand what the essence of time tracking is. Of course, this is not tracking every step of employees, nor counting the number of mouse movements or keyboard clicks. The essence of this analysis is one of productivity. It is this approach that provides the best working climate.
Does team productivity improve when using a time tracker?
A time tracker is just a tool that provides data, the correct analysis and application of which determines the overall success. What information can be obtained through the software?
First of all, basic information:
- What tasks each employee was engaged in during the day?
- What is the status of each task?
- How much time was spent on each task?
In practice, this gives great opportunities:
- Assess the overall progress of the project and its compliance with the planned schedule.
- Determine the workload of all team members and avoid overload.
- Identify problems in the work to take action in time.
By correctly analyzing the costs of working time, you can even prevent cases of professional burnout. The advantage of a quality time tracker is the accuracy of the collected statistical data. This is invaluable for management and each employee.
In addition to identifying overwork or underwork of employees, this data is the most valuable in quantifying individual productivity. All people are different, and taking into account individual characteristics is the key to overall success. These programs allow you to determine the peaks of activity and plan accordingly for all tasks and workloads.
Modern flexible approaches allow you to create the most comfortable conditions so that all team members can give their maximum without burning out. That's what time tracking software is all about – understanding the big picture of teamwork, ensuring everyone gets the right workload, and constantly improving workflow.
Does the company need a productivity tracker?
Many teams work on an hourly wage model. Time spent on work tasks is required for billing and payroll purposes. In addition, effective task allocation increases productivity, as it becomes easier for everyone to plan and organize their work.
If you work in an international team, a counter is essential. First, it is clear how and when employees work on tasks, and it is much easier to synchronize efforts, regardless of distances and time zones.. Secondly, it allows you to innovate, define mutual responsibility and always keep each other in the know.
We are already a super team. Why do we require this app?
Why did we miss the deadline? Why are some employees overloaded? Why do we have insufficient workload? Why did we spend so much time on this task? If questions such as these remain unanswered, a time counter and analysis of its data will help find answers.
Most time-attendance applications have a free trial period to familiarize yourself with the functionality and operation of the tool. Use this opportunity. Try the product for yourself before buying it for a team. Find out everything you need to know.
A productivity tracker is certainly not a cure-all. But when used correctly, this is one of the most effective tools to help both the team as a whole, and each of its members develop and feel comfortable.
