Scheduling – eBillity https://ebillity.com Time Tracking for Payroll and Time & Expenses for Invoicing Tue, 30 Jul 2024 20:36:41 +0000 en-CA hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 /wp-content/uploads/2023/10/cropped-ebillity-favicon-32x32.png Scheduling – eBillity https://ebillity.com 32 32 Time Allocation Techniques for Enhanced Productivity https://ebillity.com/post/time-allocation-techniques-for-enhanced-productivity/ Fri, 15 Mar 2024 15:51:00 +0000 https://ebillity.com/?p=15666 Managing your time effectively is its own reward. For every day that you complete your to-do list efficiently and finish your work early, you have time to spare. The time you win back, you can put toward things that you truly want, whether that is relaxing in a sunbeam or working on a creative skill. There are many ways that ... Read more "Time Allocation Techniques for Enhanced Productivity"

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Managing your time effectively is its own reward. For every day that you complete your to-do list efficiently and finish your work early, you have time to spare. The time you win back, you can put toward things that you truly want, whether that is relaxing in a sunbeam or working on a creative skill. There are many ways that people try to live more efficiently, but we have found that time allocation is the key.

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.

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Effective Strategies for Handling and Preventing Scheduling Conflicts https://ebillity.com/post/effective-strategies-for-handling-and-preventing-scheduling-conflicts/ Thu, 21 Sep 2023 21:49:47 +0000 http://ebillity.com/?p=12751 In many industries, hourly employees who work varying hours each day or week play a key role in smooth operations. However, if you’re managing a large team of such personnel, scheduling can be a nightmare. 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, ... Read more "Effective Strategies for Handling and Preventing Scheduling Conflicts"

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In many industries, hourly employees who work varying hours each day or week play a key role in smooth operations. However, if you’re managing a large team of such personnel, scheduling can be a nightmare.

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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

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10 Easy Steps to Creating the Perfect Marketing Plan https://ebillity.com/post/10-easy-steps-to-creating-the-perfect-marketing-plan/ Fri, 23 Sep 2022 19:28:06 +0000 http://ebillity.com/?p=12129 There is an old saying from Winston Churchill, “He who fails to plan is planning to fail.” One of the biggest mistakes of marketers is trying to operate without a clear-cut plan. You can use the very best project marketing tools and still struggle to make progress without a solid marketing project plan in place. What is a Marketing Plan? ... Read more "10 Easy Steps to Creating the Perfect Marketing Plan"

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There is an old saying from Winston Churchill, “He who fails to plan is planning to fail.” One of the biggest mistakes of marketers is trying to operate without a clear-cut plan. You can use the very best project marketing tools and still struggle to make progress without a solid marketing project plan in place.

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.

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5 Tips to Create Employee Schedules that Work for Everyone https://ebillity.com/post/5-tips-to-create-employee-schedules-that-work-for-everyone/ Thu, 10 Dec 2020 19:16:05 +0000 https://www.staging6.ebillity.com/?p=10478 As a manager, creating schedules takes time. Add to that in-person and remote combinations of work, vacation requests and sick leave, and it can become even harder to figure out how to make a schedule for employees that works for everyone. But there are some easy ways you can create employee schedules without any confusion, headache or stress.  How to ... Read more "5 Tips to Create Employee Schedules that Work for Everyone"

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As a manager, creating schedules takes time. Add to that in-person and remote combinations of work, vacation requests and sick leave, and it can become even harder to figure out how to make a schedule for employees that works for everyone.

But there are some easy ways you can create employee schedules without any confusion, headache or stress. 

How to make a schedule for employees in 5 steps

  1. Get everyone on the same page

If you’re still using excel spreadsheets to create employee schedules, it’s time to update your process. Not only are hardcoded schedules confusing if you need to make changes after sending, but they can also create a lack of clarity around expectations should employees accidentally refer to outdated versions. And therefore, step 1 in how to make a schedule for employees is to get everyone on the same system. 

With Time Tracker, employees can:

  • View their schedule from any device
  • See who’s available if they need to request a shift change
  • Receive instant notifications when changes are made
  • Sync their schedules to their personal calendars

Overall, it’s an easier way for you to create employee schedules that are dynamic, accurate and usable — by everyone, everywhere. 

  1. Automate what you can

Whether you need to create employee schedules daily, weekly or monthly, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel each time. 

Time Tracker helps you save time by allowing you to::

  • Create and save templates for specific weeks, months or holidays (summer vacation, spring break, etc.)
  • Copy previous schedules
  • Use drag-and-drop editing to assign and modify shifts quickly
  • Highlight different job types via color coding
  • Access and update the schedule right from your phone
  1. Safeguard against overtime

Overtime is always a concern when you’re determining how to schedule employees effectively. The easiest way to ensure that your payroll costs won’t go over? Stay up to date on where each employee stands. Getting a global view of overtime is particularly helpful when you’re trying to create employee schedules weeks or months in advance.

With Time Tracker, you can:

  • View each employee’s total shift hours while creating new schedules 
  • See each team’s daily, weekly and monthly hours as they come in, even in the calendar view
  • Set up rules so that you’re alerted when an employee goes into overtime
  • Use historical data to make sure you don’t over-schedule an employee who often ends up working overtime
  1. Integrate time-off requests

Figuring out how to make a schedule for employees always hits a snag when it comes to vacations, sick days and PTO. Save time and minimize errors by employing a system that makes it easy and foolproof for employees to request and track time off. 

With Time Tracker, you can:

  • Set up time-off codes (sick, vacation, etc.) 
  • Block any days or dates
  • Approve or deny every request in a few easy clicks
  1. Get creative

Unfortunately, a time-tracking system only takes you so far when it comes to employee scheduling. There will always be decisions that need to be made to create employee schedules, especially in times where people are working remotely, only coming in certain days, etc. 

In those instances, try these creative tips for how to make a schedule for employees:

  • If people don’t need to be onsite all the time, try staggering in-person shifts for tasks that must be done in-person.
  • Keep or schedule 1:1 meetings with your employees so you can stay informed about their needs regarding scheduling, productivity, etc. 
  • If an employee’s project is paused or stalled but you want to keep them on the payroll, take advantage of the downtime. Assign online training or encourage them to pursue remote certification opportunities, and use Time Tracker to track those assignments.
  • If continuing education isn’t an option, consider shifting staff into departments or positions that have a need for extra support right now.
  • If you do set up a remote workforce, be sure everyone aims for consistency in schedules. Ask employees to notify you if they’re unable to work a regularly scheduled day via Time Tracker so you can keep track of where everyone is at any time. 

Try Time Tracker

Ready to learn how to make a schedule for employees the easy way? Start your free, 14-day trial today. 

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Time Tracking & Scheduling Software for the Healthcare Industry https://ebillity.com/post/time-tracking-scheduling-software-for-the-healthcare-industry/ Wed, 08 Jul 2020 16:05:39 +0000 https://www.staging6.ebillity.com/?p=10191 Many healthcare professionals and organizations struggle with scheduling and tracking hours spent for payroll and billing. The challenge for the healthcare industry applies both to scheduling staff and patients–not unrelated, of course.  And it can waste a lot of time and human and financial resources. Typically, the burden of scheduling staff, including the assigning of shifts, falls on a manager ... Read more "Time Tracking & Scheduling Software for the Healthcare Industry"

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Many healthcare professionals and organizations struggle with scheduling and tracking hours spent for payroll and billing. The challenge for the healthcare industry applies both to scheduling staff and patients–not unrelated, of course.  And it can waste a lot of time and human and financial resources. Typically, the burden of scheduling staff, including the assigning of shifts, falls on a manager or a central office.  Thus, too many managers are spending time creating schedules when they could be spending that valuable time on other tasks and projects.

The online world offers many technological solutions that can ease pressures in the healthcare industry, including workforce management. One such solution is the implementation of scheduling software for tracking professional and other employee time and, additionally, client billing, and provide a clear record that in itself can offer managers and employees invaluable insights into their organization’s requirements–and optimizing their role.

Time track and scheduling software

Time tracking and scheduling software is an innovative digital platform that captures the time professionals spend with a patient, bills patients the correct amount, and provides an interface between staff attendance data and payroll. The benefit is a significant reduction in time spent on administrative tasks even as profitability increases by reducing hours of manual record keeping. 

Time tracking and scheduling software is being discovered by lawyers, accountants, doctors, or other professionals who bill clients or patients based upon a clear record of professional hours spent. Whatever your professional practice, it is crucial for patient relationships to have an accurate and verifiable record to both charge the correct amount and document it. Doctors and other health care professionals–psychologists, chiropractors, and nutritionists, for example–can benefit immediately and long term from time tracking and billing system software.

Among vital data that tracking and scheduling software captures are the number of hours worked, overtime, breaks, and time-off requests–to mention a few.  This collected data translates into efficient creation of employee schedules, freeing administration from a complex and repetitive task. It accommodates employee exchange of shifts with colleagues, clock in and out, and receiving crucial reports from supervisors. Apart from these basic features, the software can be easily integrated with payroll to make the end of the month efficient for all administrative employees.

Key features of Time Tracker

eBillity’s straightforward employee time and attendance tracking software can be accessed anywhere. Time Tracker includes free mobile apps for iOS and Android. You easily track records from any location where you have a mobile internet connection.

  • Save hours every month on administrative tasks by efficiently tracking employee time and attendance.
  • Run efficient payroll and invoices quickly. Staff can track their time easily by entering their time hourly, daily or weekly into online timesheets or use timers to document time down to the second. 
  • Employee time entries are approved by Admin with a few clicks. Easily manage employee time entries from one central location and edit, approve or reject before syncing with payroll and accounting software. Monitor hours worked to avoid unnecessary overtime. 
  • Time clock kiosks make clocking in and out easy. Staff use a unique 4-digit pin to clock in and facial detection captures a photo of the person to reduce “buddy punching”. 
  • Turn time tracked into accurate invoices in a few clicks.

Key features of employee scheduling 

Time Tracker’s scheduling enables you to produce daily, weekly, or monthly schedules efficiently. You also can create and save multiple templates. Convenient features make the software user-friendly. For example, there is a drag and drop feature and you can copy and paste past schedules.

Keep track of overtime hours

Ensure that payroll expenses stay within your budget. Automatically view individual employee and team hours daily, weekly, or monthly as they are added. Establish overtime rules and once overtime hours are in effect, overtime hours will appear in red.

Employees can easily request time-off

Save time and reduce errors by making it simple for employees to request their time-off online. Administrators can set up time-off codes (sick days, vacation days, etc.) and block specific days or dates. Employees can then access their Time Tracker account and easily add time-off requests, which the administration can quickly approve or deny.

Combat lateness and absences

Your employees will have access to an accurate and up to date schedule at all times eliminating scheduling errors as an excuse for lateness or absence. New schedules and changes are emailed to employees immediately as well as a banner notification that appears in the app notifying them of an update.

Sync your schedule with your calendar

Set up your schedule to sync Time Tracker shifts with your personal calendar. Receive reminders from your calendar, see changes in real-time, view your schedule, and the team’s schedule–all from any device, anytime. No more scheduling confusion or uncertainty about who has what shift.

Some other Time Tracker benefits 

Since virtually all health care professionals, practices, and organizations of all sizes face challenges related to time tracking and scheduling, the major benefits of Time Tracker will apply: 

  • Increased visibility of the complete staff schedule.
  • Increased organizational transparency.
  • Employee flexibility to exchange shifts and clock in whenever they are in.
  • Mobile access for all employees improving time tracking, communication, notifications, etc.
  • Implementation of a reliable staffing strategy that improves service and reduces costs.
  • Simplification of calculating overtime, making payroll far more efficient.

The right system for scheduling labor and tracking time and attendance can have a crucial role in reining in labor costs. For example, labor costs typically account for the largest percentage of a hospital’s operating revenue, typically absorbing an average of 50 percent. Time tracking and scheduling software will save you a lot of valuable time and reduce payroll costs.  Without this prudent management software, experience shows that overtime costs can quickly sink budgets. 

Healthcare organizations are adopting scheduling and workforce management solutions to reduce those labor costs, improve employee engagement, and enhance the quality of services they offer. When your responsibilities include dealing with healthcare administration–and, in particular, staff shifts, payroll, and client billing–accuracy and efficiencies are imperative. Reduce your administrative time and try our 14-day free trial of Time Tracker today. 

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Time Tracker’s Employee Scheduling https://ebillity.com/post/new-employee-scheduling/ Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:54:44 +0000 https://www.staging6.ebillity.com/?p=8429 Schedule your employees shifts in just a few minutes! Automate your employee scheduling and share with your whole team from one centralized location.  Stop spending hours on your weekly schedule Time Tracker’s employee scheduling allows you to create daily, weekly or monthly schedules in minutes. You can also create and save multiple templates like summer break, or Christmas holidays.  Admins ... Read more "Time Tracker’s Employee Scheduling"

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Schedule your employees shifts in just a few minutes!

Automate your employee scheduling and share with your whole team from one centralized location. 

Scheduling Drag and Drop

Stop spending hours on your weekly schedule

Time Tracker’s employee scheduling allows you to create daily, weekly or monthly schedules in minutes. You can also create and save multiple templates like summer break, or Christmas holidays. 

  • Admins can select or add an employee, add the date and time and publish shift 
  • Easy drag and drop feature to edit and modify shifts quickly
  • Save time by copying over the previous week’s schedule, or create a template, and edit as required
  • Use color codes to highlight different job types
  • Make changes to the schedule right from your mobile phone

Keep your employees on schedule

Your employees will always have the most up to date schedule, so no more excuses or showing up late

  • Employees can view their schedule from any device
  • View the entire schedule so they can see who is available if they need to request a shift change
  • Receive instant notifications! New schedules and changes will be emailed to employees and a banner notification will also appear in the app

employee scheduling

Keep track of overtime hours

Ensure that your payroll costs don’t go over budget

  • While adding employee shifts the total hours show under each employee   
  • Total team hours are calculated at the bottom of each calendar page based on day, week or month
  • Setup rules and staff hours will turn red to notify you if they are into overtime hours

NEW- April 2020 Release

1. How to export and view schedules for specific users and days

a) Click on Users Dropdown

Check the box next to the User you want to view. Uncheck Users you want to hide. “Hidden” users will not display when you export the schedule to PDF, CSV or Excel.

b) Click on Days Dropdown

Select the days you want to view (orange shows selected). Deselect the days you want to hide (white shows deselected). “Hidden” days will not display when you export the schedule to PDF, CSV or Excel.

To export the schedule click on the Export Schedule dropdown and select PDF, CSV or Excel. Access the file in your download folders.

2. Sync your schedule with your calendar
Never miss another shift (or shift change) again. Set up your schedule to sync your Time Tracker shifts with your personal calendar. Receive reminders from your calendar, see changes live, and view your schedule, and your team’s schedule, from any device, anytime.

Need help setting up scheduling?

Our support is always free! Setup a tour, give us a call or use live chat our support team is here to help.

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