But a properly implemented and efficient program can save money, increase morale
In years past, supervisors had to rely on their own devices to monitor when employees came in to work. But now, thanks to advances in technology, they have a wealth of resources at their fingertips to keep track of employees.
However, the capture of employee time is an activity that generates a lot of unease among workers. That’s because it implies employees must justify every minute of their time at work.
There are many vendors of hardware and software designed solely to record employee time. Time recording devices include manual time cards, time clocks, magnetic strip and proximity cards, bar codes and phone systems. On the cutting edge is biometric technology such as fingerprint, palm print and retina readers.
But how does an employer decide which technology, or what combination, is appropriate? The answer depends on what time management needs it faces.
The management of time and attendance is a neglected and misunderstood activity in many organizations because a number of departments are involved. HR deals with numerous time management issues such as leave. Payroll uses time to measure pay. Finance and operations are concerned about labour costs. And every supervisor is responsible for managing time. However, time management often takes far too much supervisory time, including things such as forecasting, scheduling, absence reporting, finding replacement workers for absences, the analysis of productive versus non-productive time and finding additional workers to meet additional workload.
Saving supervisory time and dedicating it to the right tasks is one positive outcome of a time management initiative.
One company that has reaped the benefits of a new time management system is Aspen Square Management, a property manager based in West Springfield, Mass. Many of the company’s more than 1,200 salaried and hourly employees work at several properties each day, sometimes on multiple projects at each property, creating literally thousands of time-related transactions each day.
A new time-tracking system gave Aspen Square the ability to more accurately track employee time and make staffing adjustments when necessary, resulting in significant overtime pay cost reduction. The new system streamlined the payroll process, cutting the time it took to process 1,200 timecards in half from three days to one and a half.
With the previous paper-based system, the company’s five full-time payroll staff barely made the deadline each week. Not only did this situation put enormous stress on employees, it prevented them from spending time on more important duties. With the new time system, productivity and morale are on the rise, employees are under less stress and there is a lower turnover rate. Since implementation, Aspen Square has increased employee benefits and added a program manager by shifting staff from payroll to benefits — all without hiring additional staff or increasing costs.
Beyond making payroll more efficient, there are many sound reasons to record employee time. Capturing direct and indirect costs of labour, as applied to certain functions and products, is one popular function of time management. In fact, many white-collar organizations are now tracking time applied to projects as part of a process to generate more costing, estimation and tracking information with which to manage and automate billing.
The key question every organization must ask is why it wants to capture and manage time. If the goal is to minimize abuse by employees (such as sick days, overtime, tardiness and long breaks) then the challenge is to treat the majority of employees, who aren’t abusing the system, like adults.
If the goal is to better capture direct labour costing for better management information, then the challenge is to clearly demonstrate that to employees. In both cases technology can contribute, but only if properly applied.
Ian Turnbull is managing partner of Laird & Greer Management Consultants, specializing in HR, payroll and time system selection and management. He is co-author of: HRMS: A Practical Approach published by Carswell. He can be reached at [email protected] or( 416) 618-0052.
However, the capture of employee time is an activity that generates a lot of unease among workers. That’s because it implies employees must justify every minute of their time at work.
There are many vendors of hardware and software designed solely to record employee time. Time recording devices include manual time cards, time clocks, magnetic strip and proximity cards, bar codes and phone systems. On the cutting edge is biometric technology such as fingerprint, palm print and retina readers.
But how does an employer decide which technology, or what combination, is appropriate? The answer depends on what time management needs it faces.
The management of time and attendance is a neglected and misunderstood activity in many organizations because a number of departments are involved. HR deals with numerous time management issues such as leave. Payroll uses time to measure pay. Finance and operations are concerned about labour costs. And every supervisor is responsible for managing time. However, time management often takes far too much supervisory time, including things such as forecasting, scheduling, absence reporting, finding replacement workers for absences, the analysis of productive versus non-productive time and finding additional workers to meet additional workload.
Saving supervisory time and dedicating it to the right tasks is one positive outcome of a time management initiative.
One company that has reaped the benefits of a new time management system is Aspen Square Management, a property manager based in West Springfield, Mass. Many of the company’s more than 1,200 salaried and hourly employees work at several properties each day, sometimes on multiple projects at each property, creating literally thousands of time-related transactions each day.
A new time-tracking system gave Aspen Square the ability to more accurately track employee time and make staffing adjustments when necessary, resulting in significant overtime pay cost reduction. The new system streamlined the payroll process, cutting the time it took to process 1,200 timecards in half from three days to one and a half.
With the previous paper-based system, the company’s five full-time payroll staff barely made the deadline each week. Not only did this situation put enormous stress on employees, it prevented them from spending time on more important duties. With the new time system, productivity and morale are on the rise, employees are under less stress and there is a lower turnover rate. Since implementation, Aspen Square has increased employee benefits and added a program manager by shifting staff from payroll to benefits — all without hiring additional staff or increasing costs.
Beyond making payroll more efficient, there are many sound reasons to record employee time. Capturing direct and indirect costs of labour, as applied to certain functions and products, is one popular function of time management. In fact, many white-collar organizations are now tracking time applied to projects as part of a process to generate more costing, estimation and tracking information with which to manage and automate billing.
The key question every organization must ask is why it wants to capture and manage time. If the goal is to minimize abuse by employees (such as sick days, overtime, tardiness and long breaks) then the challenge is to treat the majority of employees, who aren’t abusing the system, like adults.
If the goal is to better capture direct labour costing for better management information, then the challenge is to clearly demonstrate that to employees. In both cases technology can contribute, but only if properly applied.
Ian Turnbull is managing partner of Laird & Greer Management Consultants, specializing in HR, payroll and time system selection and management. He is co-author of: HRMS: A Practical Approach published by Carswell. He can be reached at [email protected] or( 416) 618-0052.
