In recent years, timesheets have undergone significant developments—transcending from manual paper sheets to Microsoft Excel sheets, ultimately transforming into intuitive online timesheet software.
Employee timesheet software brings multiple employee tracking features on the platter, ranging from accurate work hour calculation, drawing valuable insights, employee productivity measurement, maintenance of real-time records, and cost reduction, to enhanced transparency between the workforce and managers.
In essence, time-tracking systems improve time management efficiency, promote workplace discipline, and instill responsibilities toward the organization.
But, as a manager, do you know the correct procedure to fill an employee timesheet?
Filling a timesheet correctly not only minimizes the payroll errors that may emerge out of the blue but also increases the employee retention rate of the organization. This simple guide will help managers, senior executives, or supervisors comprehend the intricacies of filling their employee timesheets and how to achieve them step-by-step.
Let’s get started!
Types of Timesheets
Different types of timesheets are based on specific business needs, workforce structure, billing cycles, and reporting needs.
Let’s delve into various types of timesheets.
Weekly Timesheet
These timesheets are filled weekly and are ideal for setups following standard and regular work schedules like manufacturing plants, offices, and retail stores.
Bi-weekly Timesheets
Organizations like construction and service providers use biweekly timesheets as the projects span multiple weeks and have biweekly payroll cycles or projects.
Monthly Timesheets
Industries employing professionals like consulting firms or specialized service providers with monthly billing cycles commonly use monthly timesheets. These enterprises have salaried employees with fixed monthly work hours.
Daily Timesheets
Organizations with daily targets such as creative agencies, freelancers, or event management implement daily timesheets. These setups follow rigorous daily goals and enforce shorter timelines.
Project-based Timesheets
Organizations such as IT firms, engineering firms, and consultation agencies that operate on project-based models, follow this type of timesheet to track time and costs per project.
Overtime Timesheets
Industries like hospitality, healthcare, and manufacturing adhere to overtime timesheets due to common incidences of hours exceeding routine work hours.
Remote Work Timesheets
Employees telecommunicating or working remotely use remote work timesheets. These sheets enable them to track their work hours from anywhere. Examples are flexible startups, IT companies, and companies with distributed teams.
Traditional Timesheets
Traditional timesheets such as Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc, Apple Number, Zoho Sheet, OpenOffice Calc, and Quip Spreadsheets require employees to fill in the details and update the information manually. These timesheets include more manual work and less automation, creating a tendency to produce mistakes and work hour manipulation.
What Are the Benefits of Online Timesheet Software?
Timesheet software offers a range of useful features that define company standards and responsibilities for employees. Complying with online timesheet software enhances operational efficiency and streamlines processes.
Time tracking for continuous performance monitoring
A timesheet monitors workers’ time, helping managers and senior executives intervene on critical points and improve the team’s productivity.
In-built calendar to inform about upcoming events or holidays
A timesheet software is integrated with a calendar, automatically conveying the off days and holidays in the work schedule.
Report and analytics to understand employees’ productivity patterns
Timesheet software allows managers to monitor their employees’ performance and productivity, drawing insights into their work styles and productive phases.
Integration with other tools to enhance productivity
Time management software can be easily integrated with project management tools like Trello, Jira, Basecamp, Microsoft Project, and ClickUp to improve work efficiency.
Notifications regarding the status of an employee’s timesheet
Online timesheet software notifies managers about submitting or updating requests in the timesheets. Additionally, employees also receive alerts for status updates on their timesheets like approved, disapproved, or if any suggestions/remarks are made.
Filling Timesheets Correctly— Steps to Follow
This section underlines the steps to fill a timesheet software correctly and minimize payment-related conflicts.
Enter employee information
Entering employee information is crucial for managers as it provides comprehensive information and details of an employee, bringing all the intelligence to one platform. Critical information about an employee, such as ID, name, designation, social security number, department, manager, key responsibilities, and projects helps manage essential information about an extensive workforce in an organized manner. Furthermore, it breaks open the silo culture and supports coordination with the functional departments and managers for missed deadlines.
Fill in project details
Project details, such as the project name, objectives, timelines, ETAs, allocated budget, client name, duration, assignees, and other relevant project information help managers track and monitor their workforce’s productivity throughout the project. Organized project-related information also allows newly joined managers to understand the dynamics of a project and the milestones achieved.
Assign tasks to the employee
Software for timesheets ensures the task assignment is hassle-free and transparent, bringing more accountability among the team members. These tasks can be easily monitored and tracked for completion with real-time updates.
Calculate the duration of work accurately
Calculating the accurate work duration for project completion is important because of occasional holidays and day-offs. Minor discrepancies lead to miscalculations and unnecessary confusion between employers and workers. Time trackers effortlessly and accurately compute the work hours, allowing managers to know precisely about their team’s productivity.
Leave notes/remarks/comments
Notes can be helpful for managers to enquire about failures and missing project deadlines from the workforce. These also assist employees in getting reviews about their performance and improving on the necessary skills. Leaving remarks and comments is crucial for workers to reflect on their performance and improve their productivity for future endeavors.
Adhere to the company’s policies
Adhering to the company’s policies is essential to ensure the expenses are spent on the right resources and talent. Overlooking discrepancies and errors in employee timesheets may ruin the company’s time and revenue, hindering its growth.
Submit for necessary approvals
Once all the relevant and mandatory details are filled in the timesheet, it should be sent to senior management personnel for approval. Once the higher authorities approve the timesheet, the employee can be compensated for their services (billable and non-billable hours).
Finalize and archive
Once the due compensation is dispensed to the employee, the timesheet may be saved and archived for future reference, record-keeping, and payroll purposes.
Communicate with the employee
Timesheets are not for only evaluating an employee’s performance and generating payslips. Managers should communicate concerns or appreciation about an employee’s productivity levels, identify patterns, and how they can improve or sustain adequate performance and work behavior.
Why Do Businesses Need Digital Timesheets?
According to the American Payroll Association, an error rate of 1-8% of total payroll is common due to reliance on traditional methods to track time, like time cards. Furthermore, MarketSplash disclosed that businesses that employ software with timekeeping and payroll features are less prone to make payroll errors. Payroll errors are so common in a workplace that 54% of Americans, including workers and freelancers were affected by the paycheck miscalculation according to the Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated.
Timesheet software helps businesses build confidence in their workforce. These incredible tools facilitate close supervision and enhance the employee monitoring experience. Spreadsheet-, biometric-, and paper-based timesheets are traditional and comparatively ineffective in measuring the workforce’s time management and productivity.
The Bottom Line
Surveys have shown severe employee dissatisfaction due to errors and scrambles in the paychecks. Also, businesses should be informed about the work hours employees spend on tasks and the compensation is justified.
Intelligent time trackers overtake the effective management of the workforce—from productivity to time without relying on manual effort and chance errors. Consequently, incorporating a digital timesheet manager is essential for no payroll mistakes and saving billions.
FAQ
How can I manage my employee’s overall productivity?
Managing the complete performance of an employee is super-easy with intuitive online timesheet software like KonarkPro. It informs about the essential elements of an employee’s work behavior, such as completion of scheduled work hours, overtime, productivity, and performance to assist a manager’s understanding of their workforce and how to improve it strategically.
Can a time tracker remove the errors and calculation mistakes from a payroll?
Yes, intelligent time trackers, such as KonarkPro significantly reduce the chances of errors that might emerge due to manual negligence. It will sustain high accuracy in generating invoices and payroll slips.