What are the Features of QuickBooks?

QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting software programs for businesses and offers robust features at an affordable price including:

• Cloud Accounting – Allows owners to manage their business from anywhere in the world on any device including smartphones and tablets.
• Automatic Backups – There is no need to worry about losing information with QuickBooks automatic backup feature.
• Track Expenses – Record, organize, and save every expense so that you are prepared when tax season rolls around.
• Custom Reports – Create your own custom accounting reports that offer valuable insight into the financial performance of your business.
• Cash Flow – Manage your cash flow by paying vendors only when they are due and keeping as much cash in the company’s accounts as possible.

QuickBooks offers bank-level security and free unlimited support when you need it most. To obtain scheduling capabilities, you will need to integrate a compatible online scheduling software.

What is scheduling software?

Scheduling software is a specialized computer application crafted to streamline the creation and organization of schedules across diverse domains. Its applications span from arranging employee shifts in businesses to orchestrating project timelines in construction and coordinating event plans in hospitality.

The Importance of Online Employee Scheduling

Staff scheduling is one of the most important aspects of running any business. Scheduling too few employees leads to scheduled staff who are overworked and lower quality customer service. Schedule too many employees and you might as well be throwing money down the drain. Fail to account for individual needs and you have a disgruntled team that leads to lower productivity. It’s easy to see why scheduling is so important. However, it can take several hours per week to make a schedule via traditional methods such as Excel spreadsheets, calendars, and whiteboards. This doesn’t even consider the time it takes to adjust and update it. Business owners and managers need a way to easily create online schedules that can be created within minutes, not hours and updated within seconds.

How to Choose the Best Staff Scheduling Software for Your Business

Choosing the best staff scheduling software for your business involves evaluating several key factors to ensure it meets your specific needs including:

• Identify your business’s unique scheduling requirements, such as the number of employees, the complexity of shifts, and the need for compliance with labor laws.
• Ensuring it offers an intuitive user interface and robust features like automated scheduling, time tracking, and shift swapping.
• Integration capabilities with other business systems, such as payroll and HR software, as these are crucial for seamless operations.
• Review the software’s scalability to accommodate future growth and its ability to provide real-time updates and mobile access for on-the-go management.

Reading user reviews and requesting demos can also provide valuable insights into the software’s performance and customer support. By thoroughly assessing these aspects, you can select a scheduling solution that enhances productivity and streamlines workforce management.

Some of the Most Popular Online Employee Scheduling Apps Available to Businesses

Several popular online employee scheduling apps are available to businesses, each offering a range of features to streamline workforce management:

1. When I Work: Known for its user-friendly interface, When I Work simplifies scheduling, shift swapping, and communication among team members. It also offers time tracking and attendance features.

2. Deputy: This app provides robust scheduling, time tracking, and task management capabilities. Deputy also includes compliance tools to ensure adherence to labor laws and regulations.

3. Homebase: Homebase focuses on small to medium-sized businesses, providing easy-to-use scheduling, time tracking, and team communication tools. It also integrates with payroll systems.

4. ZoomShift: ZoomShift offers drag-and-drop scheduling, time tracking, and employee communication tools, making it a great choice for businesses looking for simplicity and efficiency.

5. Sling: Sling combines scheduling, time tracking, and internal messaging in one platform, helping businesses improve communication and reduce scheduling conflicts.

6. 7shifts: Tailored for the restaurant industry, 7shifts offers scheduling, time tracking, and labor compliance features, along with integration options for various POS systems.

7. Time Tracker: Is a robust, comprehensive and affordable scheduling software that integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks. This software allows owners to reduce their administrative costs while increasing profitability.

These time, billing and scheduling apps provide various functionalities to help businesses manage their workforce more effectively, improve communication, and ensure compliance with labor laws. 

Why You Should Try Time Tracker by eBillity for Scheduling

Time Tracker allows managers to create schedules more easily than ever with features including:

• Creating daily, weekly, and monthly schedules within minutes
• Save multiple schedule templates for future use
• Use a drag and drop interface to quickly fill shifts
• Create overtime parameters and set alerts to let you know before overtime happens
• Share schedules with all employees and update as needed from anywhere in the world on any device

While Time Tracker offers affordable state-of-the-art scheduling capabilities, this intuitive platform also gives managers the ability to track employees’ time, capture breaks, approve time, keep track of vacation time, invoice clients, and utilize GPS tracking for employees in the field. Try Time Tracker free for 14 days to see if it is right for your business.

The post Can QuickBooks Accommodate Employee Scheduling? appeared first on eBillity.

It’s not what you do, but how effectively you do it. Time allocation techniques allow you to take control of how you spend your time, how much time you spend on each task, and ultimately how efficient each day can be. Once you master time allocation, you can regain control over your life and – more importantly – your free time.

Whether your goal is to perform exceptionally at work for a promotion or simply to complete your tasks with satisfactory speed, we’ll take you on a tour of time allocation techniques that you can try today.

Understanding Time Allocation

The essential time allocation meaning is to assign specific amounts of time to everything you do in the day. Rather than listing everything and completing the items in order, you decide how much time and which section of your day each task will be granted. In this way, time allocation is one of the best methods to ensure that the day doesn’t get away from you one task at a time, because time is the deciding factor rather than the checklist itself.

The definition of time allocation is to allocate tasks based on time. Keeping a planner or a time tracking app handy are both useful ways to ensure that you don’t spend too long an any one task, so that more tasks can be addressed throughout the day.

What is an Example of Allocated Time?

Time allocation can be summarized in two different examples. One is to allocate tasks based on a planner schedule. You might check your email from 7:05 to 7:15, then allocate a work focus session from 7:15 to 10:15, and so on. This is when you dedicate blocks of time to specific tasks or projects.

However, the alternative way is to give each task a set amount of time that you will focus on it, no matter when you address the task during the day. For example, you might resolve to check your emails for only 10 minutes and spend 3 hours in a focus session. Both could take all day, but assigning a limited amount of time to each task ensures you have time to address all your duties each day, then come back for another timed round later.

Proven Time Allocation Techniques

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most popular time allocation techniques currently being used. Time allocation provides many opportunities to get organized and more time-efficient, and each one has different advantages and strategies that optimize the results.

Of course, not everyone thinks, organizes, or achieves efficiency in the same way. The best way to unlock your hidden potential for efficiency is to explore all the time allocation techniques to discover which one works best for you. At least one of the following six-time allocation systems is sure to make you feel motivated and help you realize just how much you are truly able to complete in a day.

1. The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique has received a huge amount of hype and support from both organized and non-organized professionals alike. Why? Because it is simple, and it works.

The basic premise behind the Pomodoro Technique is to break up your focus into 25-minute segments in which you focus on a single task, then rest for 5 minutes. It’s really that simple. The Pomodoro Technique broken into steps looks like this:

• Choose 1 task to focus on
• Focus on your task for 25 minutes: Set a timer
• Stop after 25 minutes
• Take a 5-minute break to do whatever
• Repeat until satisfied.

There are three important elements to the Pomodoro Technique: Focus, Timer, and Rest.

Focus

The first element of Pomodoro is focus. You choose just one task. You focus on that task while the time runs without distraction. You don’t stop to scroll your phone or answer an email. You do only your chosen task for the full 25 minutes, or until the task is completely done. This eliminates the false efficiency of multi-tasking.

Timer

The timer allows you to stay in control of your time. You can’t over-focus and work too long, stealing time you need to do other things. You also can’t break off too soon because you should be focusing until the timer goes off. The short timer also ensures that you have time for other tasks.

Break

The break in the Pomodoro cycle is what keeps you from burning out with this high-intensity time allocation technique. You get 5 minutes out of every 30 minutes to close your eyes, sip some coffee, or whatever helps you refresh your mind before starting the next 25-minute task timer.

After about 2 hours of this, take a 15-to-30-minute break. This will keep the burnout at bay.

2. Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix helps you organize your task list by two factors: urgency and importance. You have probably seen these little square charts before without even realizing that it’s a time allocation technique. The goal is to re-prioritize your task list and handle each task in the most efficient way possible. If you’ve ever made a punnet square in science class, you’ll recognize this one.

The concept is very simple. You are sorting your tasks by urgency and importance, and the square they wind up in determines your next course of action.

• Start by drawing a square made of four squares.
• over the top two squares, write ‘Urgent’ and ‘Not Urgent’
• Write beside the top-left square “Important” and the bottom-left square “Not-Important”.

Now you have your matrix. Within your matrix will be 4 options

• Do: Top-Left / Urgent and Important
• Schedule: Top-Right / Not Urgent, but Important
• Delegate: Bottom-Right / Urgent, but Not Important
• Delete: Bottom-Left / Not Urgent and Not Important

Sort your tasks into these four squares and follow the directions. Do the most important and urgent, book time for the important but not urgent, assign the urgent but not important, and get rid of tasks that are neither urgent nor important.

This way, your time is spent only on the most high-priority tasks, so you get the most important and urgent things done first.

3. Eating the Frog

“Eat the frog” means doing the most difficult thing first. This time-allocation strategy is credited to famous author Mark Twain, who once said “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

Eating the frog is one of the simplest time allocation techniques. it can be boiled (pun intended) down to a single overarching policy. Identify the thing you want to do least and do it first.

This single technique is the cure for procrastination, which is one of life’s greatest time thieves. Any procrastinator knows the time lost to avoiding that one thing you do not want to do.

If you do it first, suddenly the block is removed from your day, and you can dive into the rest of your to-do list with that thing (probably not as bad as you thought/as bad as eating a frog) taken care of.

Focus, Efficiency, and Frog Eating

Those who have looked more deeply into the “eat the frog” approach to time management have also found several important advantages.

Eating your frog first thing in your workday ensures that you have the most energy available to tackle the difficult task. It ensures you have the most time to deal with challenges or dive into a long focus session. It also provides you peace of mind because you are not distracted during your entire day worrying about that lurking frog/task.

4. 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle)

The Pareto Principle also comes from a quote, this time by 1800s economist Vilfred Pareto. The core of the principle is that 80% of results come from 20% of your effort. 

That’s a big concept to think about. When planning your time allocation, applying the Pareto Principle means that you should identify which of your tasks falls into that crucial 20%. Then narrow your focus to do those 20% tasks first and best.

20% of Effort

Pareto identified that, in general, a smaller portion of your effort will have a bigger result. It might be that the work you do on a presentation will go further than the hours you pour into the reports that back your presentation. Pareto wasn’t saying that the other 80% isn’t important, just that you’ll go further by identifying that crucial 20% and giving it an extra push.

When allocating your time, identify the most important tasks each day and give them extra effort. Then, minimize the time used on the other 80% for the greatest efficiency, knowing they will have less impact.

5. Golden Hours

The Golden Hours time allocation technique involves identifying your personal best times to work. Everyone has golden hours, and not-so-golden hours. The key is to save your hardest work and your focus blocks for those golden hours when your energy is at its peak.

Know Your Golden Hours

Most people are at their most alert between mid-morning and lunchtime. However, night owls are the most energetic between dinner and midnight. Early risers are at their best between dawn and 10 AM.

You might have two sets of golden hours. Perhaps you’re wakeful in the late morning and the early evening, with a dip in energy just after lunch and dinner. Or perhaps you’re a double-golden night owl who loves early evening and those quiet hours of the early morning.

Optimize Your Energy

Once you know your best times of day, plan your task-list to align the hardest tasks and the longest focus sessions with your golden hours. Make use of your brain at its sharpest so that you can complete the most challenging tasks with your daily peak of capability.

6. Time Blocking

Time blocking is a technique that involves breaking your day up into time blocks and then assigning tasks to each block. It’s a good way to try several time allocation methods at once in a very organized fashion. You can use Pomodoro time blocks or longer blocks for focus sessions and team collaborations.

You can block your days by the hour or two-hour segments, or in 15-minute segments if you have many smaller tasks to complete.

Time blocks have the advantage of keeping you from running overtime on a task or under-focusing by trying to multi-task because there is blocked time for everything.

Implementing Time Allocation in Daily Routines

If you’re looking to gain long-term advantages in time management, it’s best to build time allocation into your daily routines. Using the same techniques every day will build a cycle that your brain will adapt to automatically. Once you have been blocking your time or using Pomodoro segments or prioritization techniques, your brain will jump directly to these methods when a new list of tasks arises to tackle.

How Should You Allocate Your Time?

• Know how much time you have in the day
• Split up your schedule into practical segments, either time blocks or set times for each task
• Choose a time allocation technique that aligns with your work schedule
• Keep track of your time allocation in a planner or scheduling app
• Use a time tracking app to plan time blocks and avoid going over time

How Do You Allocate Time for a Project?

When you have a project ahead of you, break up the project into specific tasks and segments. Once your project becomes a to-do list, you can apply your time allocation techniques. Make sure that the time you allocate for each step of the project fits into your deadline and adapt as needed. 

Planning and allocating time for projects can result in better efficiency and outcomes.

Maximizing Productivity Through Time Allocation

If you’re looking to maximize your productivity, try several different time allocation techniques to discover which ones work best for you. Every person’s brain is a little different, so some techniques will inspire you to greater productivity and help you stay on track while others might not be as effective.

Don’t be afraid to combine techniques, either. For example, you can absolutely learn your golden hours, then use frog eating and time blocking to get the hardest work done at your best times. Or perhaps you’d rather Pomodoro your Eisenhower top-priority tasks 25 minutes at a time. 

Keep track of what you try and the efficiency you achieve to find what works best for you.

Discover Your Hidden Potential for Task Efficiency with Time Tracker

Using time allocation techniques can unlock your own potential for task efficiency. Tracking your time is a key element to both assigning tasks to time slots and assigning time slots to tasks. No matter what type of time allocation you prefer, Time Tracker by eBillity can help you optimize your use of time and personal efficiency.

Try the 14-day Time Tracker free trial to see for yourself whether our app is the key to mastering your schedule each day.

The post Time Allocation Techniques for Enhanced Productivity appeared first on eBillity.

While scheduling conflicts are inevitable, don’t settle for them being the norm. Besides disrupting operations, they also affect employee morale and productivity. According to research, poor scheduling affects employee work-life balance, causing a good number to quit.

Instead of putting out fires, you can transform business outcomes with a more proactive approach to addressing scheduling conflicts. This begins by understanding the cause of scheduling issues to prevent them from arising and having effective mitigation strategies for when they occur.

What are Employee Schedule Conflicts? 

A scheduling conflict occurs when there’s an oversight in scheduling, making it challenging or improbable for an employee to carry out assigned duties productively or even at all.

While overlapping allocations are the most common conflicts, there are different types of schedule conflicts. They include:

• Overlapping allocations – Occurs when an employee is scheduled to work on various projects or at different locations in the same shift without factoring in commuting time.

• Allocations of off days – Employees may be assigned shifts on public holidays or days they’re supposed to be off.

• Overtime – Factors such as shift swapping, staff shortage, and lack of people with certain skills may result in employees being allocated extra hours.

Scheduling conflicts have a variety of origins, from last-minute meetings and miscommunication to a lack of visibility. One common scenario is assigning tasks to a team member without checking their availability on other projects. This can lead to overloaded schedules and inevitable conflicts.

Strategies to Avoid Scheduling Conflicts

As mentioned, you’re not powerless to employee schedule conflicts. Here are some strategies you can implement immediately to ensure employees can enjoy a morale boost from a better work-life balance.

1. Plan Projects with Realistic Estimates 

Scheduling problems often start during project planning. It’s crucial to ensure that your project estimates are grounded in reality. Instead of relying solely on job descriptions, engage in conversations with your team members who perform the work.

This approach provides insights into the mechanics of their tasks and leads to more accurate estimates.

2. Use a Resource Calendar 

Consider implementing a resource calendar to enhance your task scheduling. There are numerous tools you can use to log hours against planned work, helping you compare estimated versus actual time for tasks, including Time Tracker. This data empowers you to forecast and plan projects more accurately.

A resource calendar also improves visibility into your team members’ schedules. With a central view of projects and assigned resources, you can identify team member availability and actual capacity before task allocation. Plus, you can see indicators like overtime, ensuring balanced workloads.

3. Communicate with Other Project Managers and Team Members 

Effective communication is pivotal in preventing scheduling conflicts. If a team member works across multiple projects, stay in touch with other project managers or team leaders to monitor resource demands. Open channels of communication can help identify potential conflicts before they escalate.

Encourage your team members to communicate if they foresee any scheduling conflicts arising due to task complexities or time constraints. Fostering a culture of psychological safety enables team members to speak up when they need more time for a task or spot a potential scheduling issue.

4. Add Buffers When Planning Timelines 

When creating project timelines, don’t forget to include buffers for unforeseen circumstances. Overestimating project durations can be a wise strategy. It ensures that you have ample time to accommodate delays caused by unexpected events or complexities in tasks.

Consider employing the critical chain method—a resource leveling technique that utilizes available slack in your project. This approach allows for flexibility in your schedule without jeopardizing the project’s overall timeline.

Handling Scheduling Conflicts

Although you can significantly reduce employee schedule conflicts, they may occur on rare occasions. When this happens, acting swiftly and effectively will ensure business operations can proceed smoothly.

1. Communicate Before Acting 

When a scheduling conflict arises, the first step should always be open communication. Engage in conversations with all involved parties before making decisions. Collaborative problem-solving often leads to smoother conflict resolution and reduced pushback.

If you’re concerned about obtaining input from your team, brainstorm potential solutions and present them for discussion. The key is ensuring alignment among all stakeholders on the chosen solution.

2. Make Changes to the Schedule 

Sometimes, the only viable solution is to adjust the schedule. Depending on the situation, you can consider various options, including task splitting, scope reduction, start time delays, or task rescheduling. Always communicate these changes to all team members affected.

3. Have Extra Help Ready 

In scenarios where there’s no room for schedule adjustments, having backup plans in place is crucial. Maintain relationships with freelancers or contractors who can step in when needed. While this might incur additional costs, it ensures project continuity.

4. Change the Project Duration 

Changing the project duration should be a last resort. If no other solutions are feasible, communicate with stakeholders about the necessity of altering the project timeline. Provide them with a new completion date and maintain transparent communication throughout the process.

Unlocking Organizational Success: Your Guide to Conquering Scheduling Conflicts

As a business leader, growing your company is not always about developing new products, getting more talent, or having more resources. You’ll be surprised by how much you can achieve with effective resource utilization and keeping employees motivated.

One of the best ways to achieve this is proactively working to identify potential schedule conflicts and addressing them swiftly. As you implement the strategies outlined in this article, invest in a time-tracking tool that will streamline scheduling.

Time Tracker will help you eliminate scheduling issues as it sends notifications about changes to personnel. Moreover, it has a feature that prevents anyone on approved leave from being rostered. In turn, the seamless functionality ensures team leaders have more time to focus on core business functions as scheduling is fast, easy, and effective.

Book a 14-day free trial to gain firsthand experience of how Time Tracker can elevate your business.

The post Effective Strategies for Handling and Preventing Scheduling Conflicts appeared first on eBillity.

Fortunately, retail managers can optimize their scheduling by leveraging retail employee scheduling software. These solutions streamline scheduling to ensure every shift is covered while considering employee availability, requested time off, and overtime compliance. They do all this while making your job easier, allowing you to focus on the important things, such as improving your productivity and profitability.

This post will discuss all you need to know about using retail scheduling software to manage your retail employees.

What is Retail Scheduling Software 

Retail scheduling software is a digital solution that enables retail managers to coordinate schedules for retail staff. They also enable retail managers to track the number of hours employees work and use this information to prepare payroll.

A good platform should keep things organized across the entire team and streamline the process of shift allocation and increase the productivity of employees,

What Should You Look for in a Retail Scheduling Software 

If you are looking to invest in retail scheduling software, there are several features to consider. A suitable retail workforce management software should have the following features:

• Shift scheduling features: Drag-and-drop features, templates, PTO requests, open shift, and shift swapping, among other features, are essential for making retail scheduling software easy to use.
• Time tracking: After you’ve designed and published the schedules, there needs to be a way to track how many hours an employee worked and to export this information to create payroll easily. The time tracking solution can help you do this, however, to achieve this feat, you need to avoid common employee time tracking mistakes, such as not using time cards and timers properly.
• Ease of Use: The retail scheduling software should be relatively intuitive and easy to use for both management and employees.
• Geofencing: Merely tracking hours isn’t enough; you also need to ensure that employees are clocking in and out of their workstations, as is stipulated in their shift. This will help prevent time theft and buddy punching.
• Communication: It’s important that the software promotes open communication. This way, you can speak directly to anyone, whether employees, different departments, or entire teams at specific locations.
• Affordability: Invest in a scheduling solution that is within your budget constraints. But more importantly, the retail scheduling solution should give you value for your money.

What are the Benefits of Using Retail Employee Scheduling Software to Manage Your Employees 

More and more businesses are adopting employee scheduling software. In fact, according to a recent study, the global employee scheduling software market is expected to reach $820.1 million by 2027. The growing popularity of these solutions is due to the benefits businesses get from using them including the following.

Retail Scheduling Software Improves Efficiency

Shift scheduling is incredibly important in the retail industry, especially if you are a major restaurant or grocer. Proper scheduling ensures that you distribute shifts among various employees appropriately, so your business runs smoothly.

Retail scheduling software can streamline your shift scheduling, so you always have enough employees at any given time to ensure your business runs smoothly. By improving your operations, these solutions save you both money and time.

They Enable Centralized Scheduling, Making Life Easier for Your Employees 

Employees usually have an interest in efficient scheduling. Centralized scheduling of shifts makes things much easier for your employees. For starters, these solutions enable employees to easily swap shifts—if an employee needs time away from work, they can trade shifts with other employees willing to work at those times. All they have to do is simply log in to the platform and search for someone they can trade shifts with.

The centralized nature of retail scheduling software is also beneficial to managers since they can perform their management tasks remotely. This means that as a retail manager, you can oversee your staffing role even if you are not physically present in the store.

They Ensure that Your Business is Always Appropriately Staffed 

One of the greatest benefits of retail scheduling software is ensuring you have the employees you need when you need them. These solutions identify any gaps that may exist in your workforce schedule ahead of time, more so if you’ve integrated your labor and sales.

Retail employee scheduling software can also facilitate your planning of busier times and days of the year when you are pressed to have all hands-on deck. These solutions ensure that your floor is fully staffed and has the necessary staff to support your operations.

Time Tracker by eBillity Can Improve Your Productivity and Profitability

Time tracking refers to the process of recording the time spent on work, a certain task, or a project. Time tracking can show how productive your employees are. It tracks the hours employees work and shows whether employees receive fair compensation for the work they do and whether the work is worth investing in, more so if you’re working with payroll. The insights from time tracking make it easier to determine which tasks take the most time, after which you can decide if they bring enough value.

However, time tracking isn’t just about the task value calls and the quality of payrolls. It also gives you the data you need to make sound decisions in your operations and improve your team’s productivity.

eBillity’s time tracking solution can improve the productivity and profitability of your business. Time Tracker allows you to track time for payroll, billing, and productivity. Some of the excellent features you can expect include:

• Payroll: It allows you to monitor employee time, attendance, and scheduling
• Project tracking: It allows you to monitor budget overrun without ending in a loss
• Syncing: Employee time automatically syncs with payroll and accounting software
• Approvals: This feature allows managers to approve employee timesheets easily and conveniently
• Notifications: This allows you to send notifications to employees to submit time

Time Tracker not only provides flexible time tracking options it also has a robust scheduling system for your retail business. Find out how easy and quickly you can schedule your team and have them clock-in and out to track their time. Try Time Tracker for 14 days for free and reduce your administration time today.

The post Managing Your Retail Employees with Scheduling Software appeared first on eBillity.

Hacks to Prioritize Work

Before you even decide how to schedule your time and stay focused on tasks, you must first figure out which goals or tasks to prioritize. Here are some options:

Hack #1: Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix (or Eisenhower Box) is a framework for categorizing tasks by importance and urgency. The four categories or quadrants, along with the right action for each, are:

• Important and urgent: do these tasks first
• Important but not urgent: make time for these tasks
• Not important but urgent: delegate these tasks
• Not important and not urgent: delete these tasks

Hack #2: Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle, or 80-20 Rule, states that 80% of output comes from only 20% of input. For work, 20% of your activities will account for 80% of the results. In other words, most of what you do is inconsequential to your goals. As such, figure out which critical tasks will help you accomplish your objectives.

Hack #3: Ivy Lee Method

If you try to do 20 items on your to-do list, you might end up with 20 unfinished tasks. The Ivy Lee method dictates that you choose only six of the most important tasks you need to accomplish for the day and stick to them.

Hack #4: 5-25 Rule

Warren Buffett, the world’s most successful investor, has his 5-25 Rule to be ultra-selective on what goals to focus on. List down your top 25 objectives. Identify your five most important goals, then eliminate the rest.

Hacks to Schedule Work

After you have prioritized your goals and tasks, the next step is to plan how to accomplish them. These are some of the strategies and tips to stay focused:

Hack #5: To-Do List

Having a to-do list is an absolute must-do. If you don’t write down your goals, you are less likely to complete them. Jot your to-do items based on your priority goals. Next, plot the tasks using monthly, weekly, and daily calendars. Cross items on your list as you complete them.

Hack #6: Deadlines

How many goals have you not accomplished after two or three years? A goal without a deadline is just a dream. Deadlines put pressure on people to act. Otherwise, with no sense of urgency, you’ll keep procrastinating. So, set a date for each goal.

Hack #7: Micro-Tasking

Major projects can be overwhelming. Micro-tasking makes them more realistic and doable. If something seems too complicated or long, break down large projects, goals, and tasks into smaller and more manageable chunks.

Hack #8: First-Hour Rule

What should you do in the first hour of your workday? You could work on your most challenging task first and get it over with. Or you could start with the easiest task if that works better. If you have difficulty doing deep, focused work, switch to mundane tasks first. As you get into the groove, you can move on to more demanding activities.

Hack #9: Biological Prime Time

When should you do what you need to do? Everyone’s peak time is different. If you’re a morning person, doing productive work first thing in the morning makes sense. Otherwise, there’s no point in doing focused work when you’re sleepy or moody. Knowing your biological prime time, which is when you’re the most productive, should guide you on when to schedule important tasks.

Hack #10: Time Blocks

One or two tasks could consume your entire day, and you miss working on the rest. Parkinson’s Law says that work expands to fill the time you’ve allocated to them. You can assign blocks of time to each to-do item. This gives structure to your work day and forces you to complete each task.

There are several variations of how to structure your time:

• Pomodoro Technique. Work in short bursts, with 25 minutes to complete a task and 5 minutes for a break. Set your timer and concentrate on each task for every interval.
• 90-Minute Rule: We have circadian rhythms when we sleep, but we also have ultradian rhythms when awake. We have around 90 minutes of high-frequency brain activity when we can focus on our work, followed by 20 minutes of lower-frequency brain activity when we should rest.
• 52/17 Rule. Based on a study of high performers who worked for 52 minutes and rested for 17, you can make short work sprints in between breaks to stay productive.
• (10+2)*5. This (10+2)*5 formula from 43Folders.com means 10 minutes of singled-minded work plus two minutes of break time, multiplied by five intervals, completing an hour. It is crucial to stick with the time limits and not skip work and break schedules.
• 3-Hour Working Zone. For some people, short sprints don’t build momentum. So, they prefer allotting three continuous hours to deep, focused work. The rest of the day can be spent on less important tasks.

Hacks to Get Things Done

All the planning and scheduling are for nothing if you still can’t get yourself to work. Here is some advice on what helps focus:

Hack #11: Monotasking

Multitasking does not work for most people. Instead of constantly switching between tasks, just do one at a time. Monotasking enables you to give total concentration on the task at hand. And you are a lot more likely to complete it.

Hack #12: Timeboxing

You can waste much time on emails, meetings, and other non-urgent activities. Timeboxing your schedule is similar to time blocking, except timeboxing is designed for non-essential tasks. The idea is to allocate time with strict limits, so they don’t get out of control. One example is scheduling only 15 minutes to answer emails every three hours.

Hack #13: Day Theming

If you are working on multiple projects, businesses, or responsibilities, day theming lets you dedicate specific tasks for each day of the week. For instance, you can spend Mondays on strategy, Tuesdays and Wednesdays on design work, Thursdays on marketing activities, and Fridays on admin stuff. This strategy works better than juggling each one and switching between them daily.

Hack # 14: Task Batching

Another way to organize your work is to group similar tasks. Instead of switching between functions using different skills, you do activities in clusters. For example, you can schedule sales calls and client meetings in the morning, file reports after lunch, and check emails late in the afternoon.

Hack #15: Time Tracker

You can use a time tracker to stay focused and productive. It’s a good way of tracking your time to help you determine when you are most productive and how much time you spend on various tasks.

TimeTracker by eBillity works for teams and individuals to track how you use and manage your time. Learn more about TimeTracker, or start your free trial today.

The post 15 Hacks to Stay Focused at Work appeared first on eBillity.

More importantly, you don’t want your team members to get overworked because they’ll become burned out. Over the long run, burned-out employees tend to become former employees. With a balanced work schedule, you can maximize productivity, improve team morale, and maintain employee retention levels.

What is Your Team’s Work Schedule?

Whether your schedule is a complete mess or just needs some fine-tuning, there are a few changes you can make to improve your team’s work schedule. Your work schedule is a roster with your company’s future work periods. Individual workers and teams are given expected work hours, locations, work times, job descriptions, and responsibilities.

Effective scheduling practices have been found to improve time management, increase transparency, boost morale, improve reporting, and enhance a team’s work-life balance. A schedule directs the way your organization uses its labor hours, so it can determine whether your company is a success or failure.

Why Work Schedules Are Important

Your schedule determines your team’s resource allocation, and you need more than a spreadsheet to balance your team’s workload. When you schedule appropriately, you can avoid having any downtime and maximize your team’s productivity.

Achieve Your Goals

You must use your team’s time effectively if you want to reach your goals. A schedule is like your battle plan, and it is an integral way to determine how your battle resources are used. If you don’t plan ahead, you can end up wasting your team’s time and energy on unnecessary tasks.

Allocate Your Resources Properly

Another reason why work schedules are important is that they allow you to allocate your resources properly. When your team members can complete tasks without feeling overwhelmed, your team can enjoy better morale, lower turnover, and decreased absenteeism.

As a company, you spend less on labor when your labor hours are used efficiently. Plus, employees can complete more per hour when they don’t have to do overtime hours.

Improve Reporting

Creating an effective schedule allows you to understand which employees are perpetually late, who finishes projects early, and how everyone is progressing on each task. It gives you a bird’s eye view of your team, so you can make adjustments as you go instead of after someone misses a deadline.

Avoid Wasted Time

How often should teams meet? In most cases, teams should meet a lot less often than they do.

In fact, studies show about half of all meetings are considered a waste of time. This is a problem because the average executive spends 23 hours a week in meetings. Meanwhile, one survey found that 83% of typical professionals spent 4 to 12 hours in meetings per week.

How to Organize Your Team’s Work Schedule

Businesses can improve their operations by improving their scheduling practices. A team’s work schedule determines how your employees use their time, so you need to learn how to schedule as effectively as possible.

1. Know Your Team

Before making a good team work schedule template, you must get to know your team members. For example, you may need to challenge an experienced employee and train a new team member. Meanwhile, another team member needs a chance to practice a recently learned skill.

Beyond growing and developing your team, you also need to understand their skills and weaknesses when you delegate tasks. You should understand each person’s personality type, full-time status, overtime abilities, and experience.

2. Communicate With Your Employees

Your team is your greatest asset, so communicate with them. Tell them about schedule changes, why you chose them for different roles, and what you expect them to achieve.

Think of your schedule as a living document. Talk to your employees during the week, and be ready to make changes as needed. Your employees may have suggestions and preferences, so you can accommodate these needs whenever it is possible to do so.

3. Use Time Tracking Software

You don’t want to simply write down a roster for the week and call it a day. With a world-class time tracker, you can divide up tasks among your various team members. You can track where employees are at on different projects, avoid overtime abuse, and redeploy team members as they complete different projects.

4. Check Team Availability

If one of your team members is on vacation, they’ll have a difficult time completing any tasks this week. Before you release a new schedule, check on your team’s availability. Other than asking about vacation time and upcoming sick days, you should also talk to team members about what they are working on and any other things they need to accomplish at work.

Ideally, you want to avoid double-booking or overscheduling your team members. Overworked employees are more likely to quit, so make your team’s work schedule as balanced as possible.

5. Release the Schedule in Advance

If there’s a problem with your schedule, you need to know about it before the workweek starts. Otherwise, you can’t plan around it.

More importantly, good organizations value their employees. Communicating a schedule in advance allows your employees to plan for childcare, dates, doctor appointments, and everything else in their lives. If you want happy employees and a finished to-do list, you should release your schedule in advance and get employee feedback about it.

Learn How Time Trackers Can Help Your Work Schedule

If you are struggling to create your team’s work schedule, a time tracker can help. With Time Tracker by eBillity, you can enjoy using a leading time-tracking program with your team. To learn more, check out Time Tracker’s free 14-day trial today.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Balancing Your Team’s Work Schedule appeared first on eBillity.

If you need planner ideas and ways to clear up your calendar, there are plenty of options available. When it comes to planner organization ideas and decluttering your schedule, you’ll want to follow a clear process.

1. Acknowledge That Your Current Process Isn’t Working

When working on how to organize your schedule, one of the first steps should be recognizing that something is off with your current workflow. You’ll need to accept there’s a problem in the current system.

While we live in a world of limitless possibilities, we as individuals have limited time and resources. Take a moment to acknowledge the problems clutter is causing in your day-to-day life. This stage of the process will help you be aware of the specific aspects you need to change.

The more honest you are with yourself, the more beneficial the rest of these planner ideas will be to improving and decluttering your schedule.

2. Identify Your Goal for Decluttering

It’s time to find the why. As you jump into your planner organization, it’s a good idea to set clear objectives. Take inventory of your priorities and put specific milestones behind each one. These can be related to your time management, reducing stress, improving productivity, and enhancing your creativity.

Determine the benefits that will come from taking the time to declutter and use them for motivation. Outline these goals and even write them down so you can feel the accomplishment of crossing each item off your list as it’s completed.

3. Make a Plan & Set a Timeline

Among the most important steps for how to organize your schedule, you should align your goals with a clear plan of action. Don’t try to do it all at once. This will lead to burnout and ultimately failure in improving your planner.

Instead, make small changes at a time that will help you gradually feel that you’re making progress. Take some time every day to work on your schedule. Take individual items off your calendar and see what happens. Do some tests. Experiment with changes to see what works for you.

The more you plan out this process, the easier it will be to follow planner section ideas as they come up.

4. Remove “Fluff” from Your Schedule

The term “fluff” refers to any tasks that are irrelevant to your day-to-day success. They’re the timewasters that aren’t helping your productivity on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

The most effective way to remove fluff is to learn to say “no” to tasks, unnecessary recurring meetings, etc that aren’t beneficial to your schedule. Set boundaries for what you’re willing to do during the day. As part of this process, plan ahead to recognize when you can say “yes” and when you should say “no”.

5. See What You Can Do Less Often

Repetition is great for improving yourself and your skills but it can also be detrimental to your overall productivity. There may be tasks you’re doing more often than you need to or meetings that you’re having too often. Cut back on these items and adjust the frequency.

Time allocation is one of the biggest challenges faced by workers today.

Seek out ways to automate processes whenever possible. Use team communication channels like Slack to cut back on meetings and make it easier to share necessary information.

6. Batch Your Work into Similar Tasks

One of the most common planner ideas to declutter your schedule is to combine your workload into similar tasks. To start this process, you’ll want to organize and prioritize a list of your responsibilities. From there, you can identify the function of each task and batch them into standard workflows.

The more you can break down large projects into smaller milestones, the more manageable your days will feel during the week.

7. Create Time Blocks in Your Day

Going back to priorities, it’s a good idea to set blocks on your schedule that are designated for specific duties throughout the day. Setting recurring reminders on your calendar is a great way to avoid forgetting essential tasks that need to be completed. You’ll keep up with your responsibilities and get into a routine.

Set proper expectations for yourself with specific tasks, including when you should be finished with your work day. Give yourself about 30 to 45 minutes at the end of each day to review your work and finish up.

8. Use Time Tracking Software to Maintain Organization

Integrating an efficient time tracker into your process is a great way to help you audit your time. As you determine how long certain jobs are taking, you can use these audits to remove any tasks that are out of alignment.

The more emphasis you place on being intentional with your time, the easier it will be to declutter your schedule.

9. Look For Outsourcing Opportunities

One of the best planner ideas to clear your calendar is to ask for help. Ask yourself which of your tasks you can outsource to other people, whether they’re within your organization or a freelancer. Work with people who can take on tasks you don’t need to be doing.

Some of the most commonly outsourced tasks include:

• Accounting
• Customer service
• Marketing
• IT and computer programming
• Shipping
• Logistics
• Data entry
• Research

Manage These Planner Ideas Based on Importance

If you want to declutter your schedule, a good place to start is with the most urgent responsibilities on your list. Organize your tasks based on urgency and use these suggestions to streamline your processes.

As you learn how to organize your schedule, eBillity can help you keep track of your time. Sign up for our free 14-day trial to see how time trackers can boost your productivity and declutter your calendar.

The post Declutter Your Schedule in These 9 Steps appeared first on eBillity.

What is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan forces you to outline your goals, steps, and measurement tactics for any project. Rather than assume your team is on the same page, you should always outline a specific plan to drive success.

A marketing plan isn’t the same thing as a marketing strategy. Strategy is more high-level and included in the planning process. The marketing plan breaks down your strategies and goals with actionable tasks and outlines a schedule.

10 Easy Steps to Create a Marketing Plan

The more specific you get with the goals, budget, tasks, and tracking of your plan, the more you can see whether your plan is achieving what you want. Here are ten steps to help you create a marketing plan.

Understand Your Audience

If you don’t understand the people you want to attract to your business, then you will have a hard time addressing their pain points and concerns. Look at your existing customer base and establish profiles based on top customer groups.

If you don’t know basic information—like how they found your company or what drew them to your products—then now is the time to do some legwork and find out.

Research the Competition

What is your competition offering? What are they not doing? Knowing where you fit in the market will help you stand out from the crowd. Don’t go into your marketing plan without a clear understanding of what’s already out there.

Researching the competition can give you ideas on what’s working, what isn’t, and what audiences may be up for grabs. If you can find the right positioning in the market, you may not have to fight for your spot.

Consider Your Strategies

Part of your marketing plan includes understanding where you plan to go in the future. You need to define your company strategies so that your plan aligns with your goals for the future.

Strategies to consider during this stage should include your brand positioning, your mission statement, your value proposition, and the challenges you need to address.

Set Defined Project Goals

Break things down into smaller, actionable projects that clearly align with the strategies outlined in the previous step. Establish objectives and key results (OKRs) that support your overarching goals with smaller, bite-sized goals.

For example, if you want to start targeting a neglected part of the market, your initial project goals may include campaigns that address this part of the crowd with some A/B testing to see what is most appealing to them. Each project goal in your marketing plan should take a step toward achieving high-level business strategies.

Determine Your Budget

Everyone wants to trim the budget. You might be tempted to go in with an “as little as possible” attitude toward spending, but this can hamstring your plan.

Know what you can afford and how much you are willing to invest into your plans each month. Measure return on investment (ROI) and change up your plans if you don’t see a solid return. Your budget should include what you will spend on employee hours, tools, paid ads, content, design, etc.

Create a Resource Plan

What can you handle in-house, and what do you need to outsource? Your team may not be experienced or skilled in certain areas. It’s important to take stock of what you can own as a company.

You can change your resources by hiring new employees with skill sets your current team doesn’t have. You could also help existing employees upskill with new training. However, you need to know what tools, people, facilities, materials, and budget are available to support your marketing plan as it stands right now.

Clarify Employee Responsibilities

You don’t want to overload your team. Know what your team is busy doing before you ask them to support your plan. With an employee time tracker in place, you’ll have a much clearer picture of how employees spend their time. You can use time tracking software insights to choose which projects should be taken off their plates to make room for the tasks you want them to focus on.

Make sure employees are very clear on which responsibilities are theirs and which aren’t. Not only do you want your team to be efficient in how you divide and conquer, but you also want to make sure employees can manage what they have on their plate.

Build an Organized Schedule

Once you identify who you want to put on various tasks, it’s time to establish a planned timeline. Use your Time Tracker to build out schedules that show how many hours you expect employees to spend on various tasks. Include deadlines you plan to meet to hit certain project milestones. Don’t leave projects open-ended or you’ll never reach a point of assessment and reevaluation.

Clarifying how many hours are expected to be spent on a project and setting a deadline will help get your employees on the same page. If someone doesn’t think you are giving them enough time, they should feel free to speak up and discuss their concerns. This can also help you catch projects you might have forgotten when planning out responsibility breakdowns.

Establish Communication Lines

Determine how employees will discuss project completion, challenges, and needs as they work. It’s important to make sure conversations happen on specific channels to avoid missed messages. Poor communication and documentation could spell unnecessary failure for your projects.

Monitor Progress and Assess Outcomes

Finally, use your key performance indicators (KPIs) to see if you are meeting your project goals and succeeding in your marketing plan. As you monitor progress, track employee time to see if your team accomplishes tasks as quickly as you’d budgeted in your plan.

Time Tracker by eBillity can help you prioritize employee time and measure outcomes for your marketing plan. Get a 14-day free trial today.

The post 10 Easy Steps to Creating the Perfect Marketing Plan appeared first on eBillity.

Whether you’re looking for an increase in accounts payable cash flow or you’re trying to find the right attendance tracking software, a few key tactics can make a big difference. 

How to increase cash flow in business: 7 tips and tactics 

1. Document your process

Before you can increase cash flow, you have to understand it. Start by documenting your processes and writing a strategic plan. 

If you need help figuring out how to do either, bookmark these articles to read later:

• Why Is Strategic Planning Important and What Are the Steps?
• How to Document a Process in 10 Steps: Why Process Documentation Matters

Next, create a schedule that includes looking at any decrease or increase in accounts receivable cash flow and in accounts payable. 

Finally, consider implementing an accounting program and/or an integrated cloud-based payment system to streamline your process. Businesses that switch to automated payment systems often get paid twice as fast as those who process payments by hand.

2. Assess your short-term cash flow

Take a critical look at your short-term cash flow. 

• Identify which regular expenses are costing you more money than they should and which are on-target. 
• Make a list of the high-cost items and take action to change them.

Ask to renegotiate rates with a vendor or downsize an office space that’s larger than it needs to be — whatever it takes to decrease costs and increase cash flow.  

3. Ask for payment promptly

When it comes to learning how to increase cash flow in business, invoices are key. The quicker invoices go out, the faster cash comes in. Every increase in accounts receivable cash flow depends on invoice efficiency. 

Foster prompt payments by:

• Asking for payment as soon as possible, ideally using automated invoices
• Sending invoice reminders a few days before an invoice is due, on its due date and a few days after, and following up with phone calls as needed
• Giving customers incentives such as small discounts for paying invoices early
• Charging late payment fees

4. Be strategic with vendor payments

Do your vendors offer a discount for paying early? If you take advantage of those, you can quickly see an increase in account payable cash flow. If not and your vendors don’t apply discounts or penalties, make payments when it’s best for your business.

5. Consider your debt and credit

Debt

If you owe lenders money, talk to them about negotiating a lower interest rate to increase cash flow, or discuss available options for extending the payback period. 

Credit

If you think cash flow may become an issue in the near future, apply for a line of credit. The best time to apply for a line of credit is before you need it, and you won’t pay anything until you use the money.

6. Check your pricing structure

When you’re wondering how to increase cash flow, it’s obvious that increasing prices is the fastest way to boost revenue. But before you overhaul your pricing structure, check in with your business and your market. Ask yourself: 

• What are my competitors charging?
• Are you in line with your industry or are you way above or below the mark? 
• Are my prices too low? 
• If they are, you may be making your business appear to have less expertise than it actually does.
• When’s the last time I raised prices? 

If it’s been a while, clients are likely to be more receptive to an increase. Just be sure to market the fact that it’s been three or four years since prices went up before you announce it.

7. Use integrated attendance tracking software

As you evaluate your pricing structure, consider the role time tracking plays. 

• How much time are your employees spending on a certain client or project? 
• Are you charging enough to cover that time? 
• More importantly, are you charging enough to make a profit? 

The right attendance tracking software will help you answer all those questions. 

With Time Tracker, you can turn employees’ time into billable hours in seconds. Time Tracker will:

• Sync data every few minutes
• Connect with accounting software such as Quickbooks or Xero
• Automate payment reminders via editable templates
• Connect with Stripe so clients can pay instantly
• Generate real-time reports so you can see the status of outstanding invoices 

Add that to all of Time Tracker’s other features and it can save you 30+ hours a month in administration. 

Try Time Tracker today

Ready to learn how Time Tracker can help you increase cash flow in business? Try our free, 14-day trial.

The post How to Increase Cash Flow in Business: 7 Steps to Take Right Now appeared first on eBillity.

The only way you can do it all is by automating tasks that don’t require hands-on expertise. To help you determine the proper course of action, we’ll be answering these three questions:

1. What is workforce management?
2. What is team management software?
3. How do I make them work for me?

Question 1: What is workforce management?

Workforce management is any process that maximizes the performance and competency of your company. Put simply, anything that keeps your organization on track can be considered workforce management. Executed well, workforce management gives every employee the tools and software they need to do their jobs, and it gives every manager the ability to measure how those employees are performing. 

Workforce management includes:

• Recruiting
• Training
• Field service management
• Performance measurement
• HR & payroll
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Scheduling 
• Data collection and analytics

While workforce management as a concept started mostly as scheduling and time management, today it’s focused more on integration, optimization and automation. That’s where team management software comes in. 

Question 2: What is team management software?

One of the fastest ways to optimize workforce management is with software. Team management software is any tool that helps you plan, organize and manage resources.

Depending on the sophistication of the tool, team management software will:

• Track employee time by capturing every second, from any device, while monitoring overtime.
• Track expenses so you can assign the cost of materials or time to a client or project.
• Create schedules so you can plan projects while managing and monitoring labor.
• Manage costs by applying expenses before billing clients.
• Collect data you can use to more accurately predict job costs in the future.

Put together, team management software should help you control costs, allocate resources, control quality and make informed decisions. 

Question 3: How do I use workforce management and team management software to my advantage?

This answer is simple: Find a solution that does both. 

With team management software like Time Tracker, workforce management is built in. 

Use Time Tracker to:

• Create and send out schedules in minutes.
• Submit employee time-off requests quickly and easily.
• Review, reject or approve employees’ hours and expenses prior to invoicing a client.
• Evaluate employee productivity.
• Track travel time down to the second.
• Run real-time reports to make sure your projects are on budget.
• Increase profitability with accurate job costing.

It really is that easy. 

Try Time Tracker.

Improve your workforce management today. Try a free, 14-day trial before you commit.

The post How Team Management Software Can Benefit Your Business appeared first on eBillity.