To start you off on the right foot, time is precious, time is money, and time is of the essence. Even a 6th grader can attest to it that when the time is mismanaged, problems usually follow. How your employees spend and manage their time at work can make or break your business. Well, while some of the most common causes of poor time management by employees may include distractions, stress, incapacitation, unpleasant tasks, lack of planning of the day, and personal challenges, technological distractions (especially social media and the internet) are today’s biggest time management challenges as far as workplace time management is concerned.
But hey, don’t blame technology just yet, because there’s a solution for this, and if you guessed right, the same “technology” is part of the solution. It’s all about creating a way through which employees can feel motivated to keep track of their time. But then again, doing so manually can be a pain in the neck for most employees. So how exactly can you motivate your employees to keep track of their time? Here are a few pointers you want to read to learn how to do just this.
User-friendly Timesheets
Timesheets, as you can tell from the name, are tools that tools used to record and track the time employees spend at work, what they are doing, and how much of it is important to the business. While they are also available as physical documents, Anwesha Chatterji from ExcelTemplate.net says that modern timesheets contain sophisticated features that allow you to determine how much time is spent by an employee on a particular project, task, or client in addition to tracking employee time in and out. With a better timesheet, businesses can also keep track of a wide range of time-related aspects, including labor costs, overtime costs, idle time costs, and even individual contributions. Picking a user-friendly timesheet is one way to motivate your employees to keep track of their time.Let them learn time-tracking benefits
Even with a great timesheet solution in place, you might still not be able to follow up on each and every employee to make sure that they fill their timesheets accordingly. Some may even be tempted to cheat when filing their time logs if you put in stringent measures. However, it can be much easier if your employees understand the benefits of time tracking and why they should always fill in their timesheets. After all, employee productivity will largely depend on your management approaches. Instead of being too harsh about it, it pays more to train your employees on what’s in it for them, the company, and your clients if they keep a good track of their time and manage time properly. While you may also have to hire an external trainer for this, free and open communication will also go a long way in igniting the spirit of time-tracking amongst your employees.Provide clear guidelines
Let’s be honest, some people, especially new staff just do not know how to go about it. Before adopting a time-tracking system, it’s imperative to understand how it works inside and out, up to bottom. If you’d rather focus on more important tasks, you can also assign the task to one of your IT or management staff to take the respective teams through the guidelines regarding how the timesheet works.Sharing time-tracking reports
Well, meetings are not everyone’s cup of tea in the office, but they sure go a long way in changing things related to productivity. Alternatively, you could share time-tracking reports with your team of employees by displaying the data on the office TV screen, or perhaps a group chat and other avenues so each and every staff member can see how they measure compared to their colleagues. While you’re not exactly trying to create a spirit of competition – at least not directly – this can be a wakeup call to the least-performing individuals and can get them looking for ways to up their game. However, be sure not to use the data to shame anyone publicly, as this can be catastrophic to your business in case they have the support of the rest of your employees.Reward employees for accurate tracking
Seek feedback and follow-up
Nothing is more beneficial to a business than feedback, not only for customers, but also for the employees. If you adopt a time-tracking solution such as timesheets, you may also want to regularly ask for feedback from employees about how they’re finding it. No system is perfect, and asking for feedback can help identify problems that can be fixed to improve the systems, which could, in turn, motivate your staff to adopt a routine of tracking their time. Additionally, it’s also a way of showing your employees that their opinions count and are valuable to the organization.
Every second that your employees spend absent or on tasks other than the ones they’re assigned, it eats up into your profits. Time mismanagement by staff can be a huge hindrance to growth for any business. And even if you put in place the best time-tracking protocol, or systems, there are challenges that you will always have to address or deal with. One way to go about it is to motivate your employees to keep track of their time, and the above tips can help you achieve this.
