While there are a myriad of ways to boost productivity at the office, one of the simplest (yet often overlooked) ways to do so is the implementation of an effective scheduling process. So, how exactly are scheduling and productivity related? 

The following discusses 3 key ways that effective scheduling software, combined with effective scheduling practices, leads to increased productivity.

1. Better Time Management

Perhaps the most obvious benefit that an effective scheduling process yields is better time management, for employees and managers alike. For instance, an advanced scheduling platform can provide key time management advantages in the following areas:

Reduction of Multi-tasking

With more traditional scheduling, managers are forced to constantly update employee schedules week to week (or in some cases, day to day). Many managers have to handle this task while juggling several other duties at the same time. What’s the result? One study found that, on average, productivity drops by 40% when an employee (or manager) multi-tasks.

In contrast, a platform that enables automated scheduling can drastically reduce a manager’s workload, leaving him/her more time to deal with pressing operational issues. In effect, the software allows the manager to be more productive on the job.

High Transparency for Employees

It’s easy for miscommunication to arise between managers and employees, for a number of reasons. This is certainly true when it comes to the scheduling process, especially if most workers are on rotating or variable shifts. It’s all too easy for an employee to misunderstand when he or she is supposed to come in to work, or miss a shift because of a last-minute schedule change. These unfortunate breakdowns in communication can contribute to a ton of lost productivity, along with an average absenteeism-related loss of $3,600 per year for each hourly worker.

A transparent and easily accessible scheduling system can help solve many of these communication problems. Software that automatically sends notifications of schedule changes to employees (via email and/or a dedicated app) ensures that they stay on the same page with management. Intuitive and easily-navigated calendars enable employees to get a clear understanding of when they are scheduled to work within the next few days, the next week, or the next month. 

With a visible and transparent scheduling system in place, absenteeism rates will drop, and productivity will inevitably increase.

Improved Planning Capability

On a professional and a personal level, the ability to plan is a critical skill for success. When employees have the ability to look ahead at their scheduled work week, they are in a better position to prioritize key on-the-job tasks, and thus perform more productively. Similarly, managers that have a firm grasp of when and where each employee will be working can successfully develop and execute project timelines according to business needs. Moreover, both employees and managers will enjoy a better work-life balance with a clear schedule in hand.

2. Enhanced Resource Management

Effective scheduling is not just about time management; it also enables managers to allocate resources in a more efficient manner. One of the most common examples of this principle in action involves payroll costs: specifically, payroll costs related to overtime.

It is true that the overtime option can offer several advantages to a business, such as the ability to avoid a heavy investment in new employees, and the capacity to meet busy periods and staff shortages. Nevertheless, there are also key drawbacks associated with regular overtime. These include:

• Increased labor costs (employee pay at 1.5 times the normal rate)
• More man-hours with less productivity, as employees tire and lose concentration
• Decreased morale
• A higher turnover rate

As the above points illustrate, businesses need to find a sustainable balance between using too much overtime vs too little. Effective scheduling software can contribute to this cause by helping managers keep track of which employees have already passed the overtime threshold, which ones have not, and how best to evenly distribute the workload for maximum efficiency and minimum cost. Smart overtime management can even promote worker safety, and increase employee morale overall, all of which contributes to a higher level of productivity.

3. Improved Reporting

Finally, an advanced scheduling platform should make payroll reporting and other key HR functions easier and simpler. For instance, schedule reporting can help in the following ways:

• It allows managers to better understand current business needs, such as when peak times occur, and when staffing shortages are usually encountered. 
• It enables managers to gain insight into employee behavioral patterns. For example, which employees are chronically late or absent? Which ones consistently come in early? What effect do longer shifts have on employee productivity?
• It makes data compilation and visualization much more intuitive and actionable.

Exceptional scheduling software should be compatible with robust data analytics, so that managers and other key stakeholders can view scheduling metrics as a key component of the “big data” picture.

The Importance of Effective Scheduling Software

As discussed above, effective scheduling software offers several key advantages to forward-looking companies. For instance:

• It promotes exceptional time management for supervisors and employees alike.
• It helps to eliminate preventable misunderstandings.
• It allows for a better work/life balance.
• It enables managers to cut down on labor costs, especially with regard to overtime.
• It promotes occupational safety by reducing the amount of overtime the average employee will work.
• It boasts exceptional reporting capabilities to help company leaders make better decisions.

Scheduling and Productivity Go Hand and Hand 

Time Tracker’s new scheduling feature offers all of the benefits mentioned above along with many more. If you feel like this innovative scheduling solution could help your company, then try it out for yourself with our 14-day free trial and find out how scheduling can improve your company’s productivity. 

Read more: New Time Tracker’s Employee Scheduling

The post How Are Scheduling and Productivity Related? appeared first on eBillity.

The entire team in a business setting needs to work together to achieve culpability so that everyone is working to the best of their ability and skill level. A high-functioning unit will pay off when it comes to the ongoing success of a company and workplace accountability.

Workplace accountability is the responsibility of each employee to complete their tasks, to be present and on time for their shifts, and to perform their duties within the company. Each member of a working team needs to be accountable for their own work, so that the business can thrive.

Research shows that accountability leads to increased dedication in staff, heightened capability, better morale, and higher levels of satisfaction within the workplace. When each colleague is committed to initiative and ownership of their own output, no one is left to take up the slack of lower-functioning employees, and each person within that working environment will feel pride in what they bring to the table. An insistence on accountability by the management fosters an environment where these expectations of effort are a regular part of a business’s ethos.

So what are some of the ways to instill a sense of accountability within your team?

Set clear expectations. Know exactly what you need from each team member, and then communicate this to everyone. Specificity is key: ensure that you are communicating exactly what you need from your staff so that there is no room for confusion. There can be expectations for the group as a whole, as well as more specific tasks to help individual employees improve their productivity and accountability, but lay this out very clearly so that everyone understands their part and can act accordingly.

Clarify your goals. Knowing how to implement your expectations means having a clear set of goals for each member to achieve, both individually and collectively. Just as you laid out your expectations for each member of the team, so you must be very explicit in your objectives, for individual departments, as well as the company as a whole. It is your job to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Connect. Really helping your employees understand how important or valuable they are to the business means taking the time to really connect with each individual voice. Make sure you are attesting to their individual strengths and affirming their importance to the team. Everyone wants to be valued, and to have their work appreciated. Don’t overlook the importance of this step if you really want to foster a solid network whose members share the same goals, and who understand why their own contributions are important to the overall achievements and forward progress.

Give freedom. Employees have more independence when they can be in control of tracking their own time and output. There are different tracking apps out there that allow for easy and accurate tracking, with features such as multi-timers, GPS capability to ensure route accuracy, and timesheets which can be approved instantly by an admin. Software like this is a great investment for your team, as the benefits include loss of time theft, the elimination of buddy-punching, and inspire accountability in each employee to track their time and labor effectively. Everyone is invested in honestly reflecting hours worked so that wages are accurate, so this is a really great strategy to inspire greater accountability, as well as allowing employees greater agency and ownership.

Provide deadlines. This is a really important part of accountability and often has to come from an outside source for it to be highly beneficial. Intrinsic motivation is often something we think we can manage, but in terms of being accountable to your team, extrinsic deadlines are best to help really cement that piece. This benefits both employee and employer. Lay out clear due dates for each piece of work so that your team members can refer to them as they complete tasks. You can even set reminders for due dates, which will help to spur employees to complete things by deadline.

Implement time and attendance software. Just as we discussed allowing more freedom for your employees by enabling them to complete and upload their own time information, you can enable software that helps to track attendance. There are many software features that allow for virtual ‘clocking in’ with methods like facial recognition, which is another safeguard against time theft. You must be upfront with your team if you are going to use this sort of reporting, however. Give everyone notice before bringing in a biometric device, be transparent about the reasons you want to use this technology (loss of time theft and buddy punching), and maintain a commitment to safeguarding every individual’s personal information and data. Make sure this is clarified with your staff and any concerns addressed before you enable any of this technology.

Biometric devices include things like fingerprints and facial recognition software for clocking in to a shift and ensuring the correct employee is matched with the correct information about their work hours and output, and even location. Understandably, the use of biometrics has many benefits, but there may be concerns you will need to address. Get educated on the pros and cons of these devices, so that you can assure your team that you are putting in the correct amount of data protection, and answer any concerns that come up when the discussion happens so that everyone gives their informed consent.

The adoption of this software into workplaces is rising, but it is also an area of consideration when it comes to its ethical and privacy uses. It can certainly be uncomfortable to provide your fingerprints or facial recognition scan to your workplace. But in this fast-paced world of technology, we need to remember that our phones already carry our prints, our bank machines scan our faces when we withdraw money, airports scan both when we travel. There are many benefits to both employer and employee when it comes to using these devices.

For an employer, ease of administration and a safer workplace are immediate benefits to biometrics. Permissions are suddenly unassailable; if the user of machinery, for example, requires certain licenses to carry out their duties legally, or there is an age requirement for a task, biometrics can immediately weed out any illegal attempts. Fraud is reduced when biometrics are used to clock time, which has positive implications for everyone involved. Businesses are safe in the knowledge that the data recorded is accurate, and employees understand that their paycheck perfectly aligns with their worked hours with the increased accuracy of payroll. A scan also replaces the traditional password now, which have always been prone to hacking even when they are changed at regular intervals. Better security is another perk which is gained for both business and team member when the use of biometric devices provides only authorized access to sites and ensuring that an employee is who they say they are.

Regular performance feedback. This is such an important factor in promoting accountability in your employees. Knowing that they are improving (or not) will give them the drive to accomplish more and better. Help each team member understand and recognize their strengths as well as acknowledging where and how they can do better, so that accountability levels rise as they work to address the deficiencies and work harder on their talents to continue to be valued for their hard work.

Following up. If you have laid out all of these steps to get your team’s accountability high, you can’t forget the last, crucial step. Following up is key to maintaining a continued consistency and a level of effectiveness and productivity that everyone will be proud of. Whether in person at their desk, or with a friendly email as an individual progresses in their tasks, following up is so important to keep everyone on the same page. When everyone is driven to succeed to their highest level, your business can only get better.

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Time management is an area most of us struggle with. It must be accurate and reliable. How are you going to implement it in your business, and how will its use benefit your profitability? Here are some of the reasons that time tracking is essential for profitability.

More effective project management. Time tracking helps you to understand where all of your employees’ time is being spent. Which tasks are taking the longest, and which employees could perhaps improve their productivity? If you know exactly how much time is spent on worked hours you’ll be able to easily set estimates and budgets for future projects. If you’ve underestimated the time an employee needs to complete a project in the past, you can adapt when you understand that they may need fifteen more hours for that task. Lost time equals lost money, so understand exactly where your time is going.

Knowing where to cut expenses. Knowing where perhaps too much time might be spent on projects, you also have the ability to cut excess costs. If your time tracking shows that there is an issue with time that has until now gone unnoticed and is affecting your business’s workflow, you will be able to pinpoint exactly where to address any issues. Are some jobs taking longer than they should? Increase your profits by reconciling deficits.

Having more accuracy in billing. Knowing what to charge is such an important part of your business, and tracking your hours down to the minute will be reflected on your client invoices. They need to see a transparent record of all of the services provided to them, and this process will establish trust with customers who will want to retain your services. Time tracking will also allow you to quickly adjust your pricing based on the time it has taken to complete projects. Use your data to help you better clarify profitable and fair pricing for your services.

Expertly process your payroll. Tracking the time in your business makes payroll more efficient. If you know exactly how much time was spent on each task, as well as which employee(s) worked on the project, it will be a breeze to calculate salaries, wages, deductions, and bonuses. Automated timesheets make this process simple, and reduces time writing it all out by hand.

Transparency of profits. The data collected from time tracking will allow you to see costs and profits at all times. These reports will also help with understanding which of your hours went under their estimated time. This means that you can cut costs and make more profit. If your time is billed by the project, this is particularly helpful to your profitability!

Not understanding hidden costs or data which is inaccurate costs your business. Time tracking allows you to organize your business goals by analyzing the data and then reworking plans to enable for more successful and profitable projects in the future.

Take the guesswork out of the time tracking process, and use an automated time tracker which is easy to use, reliable, and accurate. Know precise billable hours, create automatic timesheets, and understand inefficiencies in your business with Time Tracker. Sign up today for our free, 14-day trial. No credit card required, and no hassle. Enjoy the flexibility of tracking time anywhere, from your mobile, tablet, or laptop, and watch your business grow.

The post Time Tracking is Essential to Profitability. Here’s How. appeared first on eBillity.

The old adage ‘time is money’ is true for all businesses, but for those who bill by the hour, tracking time accurately is critical to their bottom line. We’ve heard from companies such as Accounting Firms, Law Firms, and Consultancy Firms who all love Time Tracker, eBillity’s time tracking software and here’s five reasons why you will too:

1. Keep better track of your payroll

Tracking time for payroll reduces the number of manual errors and lets you avoid the paycheck debate – with Time Tracker employees are responsible for logging their own hours and you can see in real time with employee reporting. It’s easy for employees to over-or under-estimate the amount of time they spend on a task – by using time tracking software, you know you’re only paying for actual time worked and not what’s penciled in on a timesheet.

2. Save hours in admin work

In a 2015 study by Service Now, managers spend an average of 15 hours each work week on administrative tasks. That’s two full days! Time Tracker saves hours of manual data-entry work and eliminates tedious timesheets. Employees track their time on any device – thanks to our handy mobile apps and add-ons – and submit their entries. Admins can review, edit and approve their entries right from their dashboard. Everyone can spend more time doing what they were hired to do and accomplish more in a day.

3. Know more about your business than ever before

No one knows your business better than you, but Time Tracker’s in-depth reporting can give you additional insights to help you make better business decisions. Want to know what clients are making the most profit? Interested to see which employees are racking up the overtime hours? Want to know what tasks are taking up the most hours? Simply run a report to see. You can even save reports and have them run automatically. Your data is securely saved for up to 6 months, so you can easily look back to see who worked when and how long it took – great for future quotes or if you’re forgetful.

4. Easily manage your workforce

It’s not always easy to keep track of everyone on your team, but we’ve built in a few team-friendly features to help you rally the troops! You can assign roles and permissions to employees to control who has access to what information. Assign tasks, send team messages, or remind workers to track their hours – all from your dashboard.

“I manage a remote team so keeping track of their hours is time-consuming, but then I found Time Tracker. It’s super easy for my team to use, I can easily access the information I need to make business decisions and I’m now billing accurately!” – Ryann McQuarrie, MD, Bully Design Co.

5. Time Tracker plays well with others

eBillity has partnered with some of the leading names in accounting, expenses, and payroll, including QuickBooks, Xero, Reckon, ADP, and Sage, as well as some of today’s most innovative web apps, like IFTTT and Amazon Alexa. Time Tracker integrations are designed to make your life easier by syncing with your existing software, not replacing it. Learn more about our integration partners: ebillity.com/integrations.

Try it for yourself

Time tracking software such as Time Tracker helps you to stay on top of billable hours and easily manage your team – saving you time and money. Try it free for 14-days (no credit card required) and see why our customers are raving about Time Tracker.

The post 5 Reasons Why You’ll Love Time Tracker appeared first on eBillity.