Employee timesheets and other wonders of the world


Posts in category TIME SHEETS

Challenges of switching to electronic timesheets

Apr30
2013 Written by alamontagne

It’s really a catch 22 that many staffing companies face. From one direction they are being pushed to embrace more technology. Going digital is a good thing. But from the other side they get push back when clients and employees are slow to adopt change. Have you faced these same challenges?

Challenge One – Will my clients embrace online timesheets?
This question has been presented more than once from staffing companies that I’ve spoken with. Yet many companies are now requiring that staffing firms have an online timesheet process. So why the concern? I could be an overwhelming feeling of “What if there is a problem? What if they don’t like the system?” These are certainly valid concerns. The best approach to handling the challenge is to face it head on. Get your clients involved. Start early in the process. Select a small sample of clients, bring them on to the new system and work with them to get up to speed. Then gradually add clients on a weekly basis. The best practice is NEVER an all or nothing switch over to a new system. Not only will you clients appreciate the attention, they will recognize that this process adjustment to electronic timesheets is a benefit to them in many ways.

Challenge Two – What about our employees? Some of them don’t have access to computers.
This can be a challenge in the light industrial staffing market. In some cases employees are working in a warehouse or other building where they don’t have access to a computer. These employees may or may not have a computer at home as well. So how could this challenge be remedied? If possible, could the client provide a public computer terminal where employees could enter their time? If that is not possible could a manager or assistant enter time sheets for the employees either at the client or in your own office? Lastly, is it possible for the employee to enter their time from home or using a public terminal in one of your offices? There are ways around the issue.

As the pressure heightens for moving more and more business functions online, at some point every staffing and temporary employment service will need to address the issue and find a work around. The flexibility that we built into Clocktower by means of user permissions really allows you a lot of different and creative options for getting employee time submitted each week.

Remember time is valuable, so save it.

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Cloud based software – Why move online?

Jan28
2013 Leave a Comment Written by alamontagne

There is a lot of buzz these days about cloud based applications. Certainly the trend is going that way but what does it mean for your business? Should you jump on board with both feet or should you be concerned?

The reality is that with in a few years the vast majority of business applications will be web based in one form or another. Some applications will be completely browser based. Others will be primarily mobile based applications and some will be installed applications that store data in the cloud, like ITunes for example.

Cloud applications provide:

  • Business Flexibility – remote employees for example
  • Convenience – productivity from anywhere
  • No updates/Low IT overhead – No software to install or updates

But it has a down side as well:

  • Business Flexibility – Allows you to always be “at work” even when your time and attention should be elsewhere.
  • Data Security is also a big concern. Having back ups of important business data is still important.
  • Questions have been raised about “who owns” your data.

Make sure that you read all software policies in detail. It makes sense to NOT store proprietary or sensitive customer data in the cloud.

The collaboration possibilities with cloud based applications make it such at huge draw. It’s one of the main reasons that we chose to build Clocktower as a web based application.

The cloud is here to stay, make wise choices and cloud based applications can lift your business to new heights.

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5 Reasons Paper Timesheets Require Aspirin

Aug10
2012 Leave a Comment Written by alamontagne

Thousands of staffing agencies each and every week put out the request for their employees to turn in their complete and accurate timesheets. The common headaches soon follow. A recent survey of customers resulted in our compiling this list of the 5 reasons why paper timesheets require Aspirin.

5. They can be hard to read
How excited you are to see that you’ve received all of this week’s timesheets on time! Maybe you’ll get out of the office by 7:00PM tonight. Then you discover that a nearly a half dozen of them are unreadable. The hand writing is worse than a graffiti artist’s tag on a bridge overpass. “Is that an 8 or a 6?” Looks like a late night of interpreting and fact checking. Sound familiar?

4. They are not easily accessible
Someone calls with a question about a timesheet from two weeks ago. You quickly get the answer from your handy spreadsheet. Oh yes, now they want a copy of the actual timesheet. Now it’s off to dig through the filing cabinet to locate it. Next stop…the fax machine or scanner.

3. Rarely are they all submitted on time
Timesheets are due at the same time every week. That never changes. Most of the timesheets make it on time as requested. But there is always a handful that get stuffed under the door or faxed to your office sometime over the weekend. It’s not technically late, right? It’s only 6:00 PM somewhere.

2. They contain incomplete information
We all forget things. But signing your name to your timesheet? If I’m getting paid I sign wherever they tell me to.

1. They include costly incorrect math
Sometimes you might wonder if 1 + 1 is in fact 3. If the numbers don’t add up, what a hassle. The employee just wants to get paid. You really want to pay them and bill your client. The weekly run around begins again.

In this digital age that we live in it’s amazing how we’re still connected to such an ancient process. As the newer generation of employees hits the job market and as companies adapt to the web and mobile communications, it’s easy to see the handwriting on the wall for the paper timesheet process. The ability to accurately capture employee data and report it to all that need it in your organization, including your clients, is critical. Save your Aspirin for the other headaches that come along and consider these problems solved by adopting a web based timesheet solution.

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Service Company Software: Web Based Employee Timesheets

Feb17
2012 Leave a Comment Written by alamontagne

At Clocktower we have found that service companies like staffing agencies face similar challenges when it comes to employee timesheets and payroll. You may have contracts nation wide where employees and manages may be located for months at a time. Yet their timesheet needs to be forwarded to some base location to be processed for payroll. Paper timesheets have been the normal method for many years despite the inherent problems. Just getting them can be a challenge. Then deciphering an employees handwriting from a fax copy results in inaccuracies.

Stop the madness. Our web based employee timesheets simplifies the process of retrieving and processing employee time. By allowing the employee to enter their own time online through a web browser, it eliminates a vast amount of inaccuracies. Plus having the ability to allow a manager to approve the employee time, before it’s processed for payroll, adds a second layer of accuracy. Our web based timesheets software also has the ability to assign employees, managers and clients to different office locations if needed.

The flexibility to allow for very granular level of permissions for offices, clients and projects makes Clocktower a very effective tool to add to your service company software tool box.

Give Clocktower a try! Sign up now for a 30 day free trial. No Credit Card Required.

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Temporary Staffing Software: Work Smarter, Not Harder

Feb09
2012 2 Comments Written by alamontagne

Nearly 25 years ago I spent most of my summers working construction building family homes. Back then if you didn’t have your hammer with you at all times you were likely to get the evil eye from the boss when something needed to be nailed in while he was standing there holding the board in place. Solid structures were built with a hammer and nails. But how things have changed. Watching one of my favorite shows, This Old House on PBS, you rarely see a hammer these days. Everyone uses a nail gun. Which is a no brainier. It’s less work, less chance for error and a whole lot faster for sure. The saying goes work smarter, not harder.

That saying really applies to all industries and technology is really changing things. In the staffing industry it’s surprising the amount of companies that still use, paper or PDF timesheets. Many still use Excel for compiling all the time for payroll and billing. In today’s web based, cloud data sharing world, the process of collecting and managing employee time offline is really costly, error prone and time consuming. It’s time to consider: Am I working harder than I have to? Why couldn’t my employees enter their own time and the client or one of my managers could just approve it? Why can’t I just export all this collected time for payroll and for invoicing? The good new is you can!

If you’re going to work hard, have it be on things that generate revenue. Not on things that consume valuable resources. Employee timesheets doesn’t have to be and shouldn’t be a laborious process with the right web based employee timesheet solution.

Work smarter, not harder. Words to live by.

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Clocktower Tips: Tracking others’ time

Feb08
2012 Leave a Comment Written by alamontagne

Often times Clocktower customers have multiple methods of time capture.  For instance a company with Light Industrial, Clerical and Administrative workers may receive paper time slips that have already been approved by their clients.  In order to process payroll and billing however, these companies still need to enter the time into a database.  By entering that time in Clocktower they maintain a single database, or system of record, for all temporary employee time.

The benefits of entering time into Clocktower from paper timesheets are countless.  Even though this time is collected via paper or fax, entering the time into Clocktower allows your employees and clients to log in and view the time and work history.

Staffing clients that use paper time slips often have several people (floor supervisors, department heads etc) signing them.  This can be difficult for the client’s HR manager and AP department.  By entering the time in Clocktower they will have a visual account of all of their activity.

Tracking Others’ Time

Permissions in Clocktower are always set at the Project level.  All time entered in Clocktower must be entered on a Project.  If a temporary employee has permission to Track Own Time to Project 1532, and you have permission to Track Others Time on Project 1532, you can enter time for that employee on that Project.

Example

Marty Brown, a temporary employee at your staffing company, has Permission to Track Own Time on “Project 1532 – Machine Operator” in Clocktower.  However, Marty turns in a signed/approved paper timesheet at the end of the week.

You, Max Stone, a staffing master, have Permission to Track Others Time on Project 1532 in Clocktower.  When you receive the approved paper timesheet, you simply log into Clocktower and go to the Timesheets tab.  When you select Marty Brown you will have the ability to enter time for Marty on Project 1532.  Easy as that!

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Web-based employee timesheets – Yet another reason to use them

Feb01
2012 Leave a Comment Written by alamontagne

I recent read a news article about a gentleman who was arrested for turning in bogus timesheets for which he was paid thousands of dollars that he was not owed. He forged not one but two supervisors signatures on a hard copy timesheet and submitted them the staffing agency who had assigned him to his job. It’s yet another compelling reason why staffing companies are moving to web-based employee timesheets. With Clocktower only those who have the permission to approve time on a project, are able to approve employee time. So it makes if very difficult for someone to forge a timesheet.

Not only are web-based timesheets easier, more accurate and convenient. It’s also much more secure.

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Just a Little Patience – think Axl Rose

Aug04
2011 Leave a Comment Written by ct_admin

Lack of patience?

 

A recent email sent to a staffing manager at a temporary placement agency in Massachusetts. (the names have been changed to protect the innocent)

Can you confirm the total hours that Jim worked at Teradox Manufacturing to date?  This information used to be included in the weekly reports but it is not there and the reports are not updated.  My opinion is that it is very important and helpful information for Staffing Consultants to have at their fingertips.  Having to request a confirmation of hours each time a client asks for it seems like a self-created roadblock to efficient customer service.  I think that all Staffing Consultants, but especially the ones who can’t walk to the payroll person’s desk to

make an instant request, would appreciate having access to that data restored.  Thanks!

 

We understand your frustration.  Technology has made life easier, but it has also made all of us a bit impatient.  We are always in a hurry and we want instant results.  Well at the risk of encouraging your lack of patience, we would like to suggest using Clocktower time sheets.

Not only would using Clocktower allow your staffing consultants to log in and find the answer to their question, they could even allow their clients to log in and find the answer themselves.  Either way, the answer is only a mouse click away.

 

Restricted views streamline the process in Clocktower

Aug03
2011 Leave a Comment Written by ct_admin

As most staffing company professionals have learned over the last 2 years, speed to fill or speed to placement is becoming more and more critical.  While quality of fill remains a top requirement, the speed to submitting those candidates is quickly moving to the top of the priorities list.

With time being of the essence, your client needs help now and doesn’t have time for you to train your new employee on your time tracking system before they begin.  This means that the time submittal process needs to be clean, accurate, and easy.

Clocktower time sheets makes the process easy by restricting the abilities of users based on their permissions.  If a user logs in and only has permission to track their own time, they are presented with a much different view and set of abilities than that of an account owner.  As another common example, if a staffing client is logging in simply to approve time, they will only see those features most needed for that process.

Take a look at the example below and you will notice the view of an Account Owner, a Employee and a Client.  Note that the Client only has access to the Dashboard and the Approve Time sections, while the Employee can see the Dashboard and the Time Sheets sections.  This change in view ensures that each of your users is not bombarded with unnecessary information.

  • Account Owner:  Dashboard, Time Sheets, People & Projects, Approve Time, Account, Settings
  • Employee:  Dashboard, Time Sheets
  • Client:  Dashboard, Approve Time
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A Timesheets Story with a Happy Ending

Jul30
2011 Leave a Comment Written by ct_admin

You’ve looked at Clocktower, you’ve seen the demo, and it’s all great. But you’re asking one simple question. “Why should I use Clocktower?”

Let me tell you a story.

A mid-sized employment company is reviewing their bills for the time tracking software they use.  They have 200 employees for the month in question. For each of those employees, they paid $5.50 to allow those employees to access the software.

Do the math; (that’s right $1,100!)

Now, where this story gets really gloomy is when the company realizes, about 10% of their employees logged less than five hours each week for the month.

Now, the company might think, “We’ll just track the time for those employees someplace else.” Nice solution, till they have to reconcile their numbers!

And let’s not even think about giving access to their 300 different clients, some of whom didn’t work with the company for the month in question. (Because, that would cost the company another $1,650, just to let someone sign off on an employee’s time.)

A Better Approach

Let’s step back for just a moment and think about something. What is the resource that is really being tracked? It’s not a trick question; and I know you’ve got the answer. It’s not people, it’s time!
Let’s look at some numbers. We’ll start off with the same 200 employees.
180 of them actually billed 40 hours/week for 4.2 weeks.

Total number of hours: 30,240
And that remaining 10%; they worked 5 hours/week for those same 4.2 weeks.
Total number of hours: 420
Total hours for the month: 30,660

Using Clocktower:

  • The company pays $.03/hour for the first 5,000 hours: $150.00
  • The company pays $.02/hour for the remaining 25,660 hours: $513.20
  • Total for the month: $663.20
  • Total additional charges for the 300 clients to use the site: $ 0.00

And if we dig a little deeper, we see something very interesting. Let’s compare the two approaches for those low hour employees:

20 Employees, 5 hours/week, 4.2 weeks on Other System – $110.00

20 Employees, 5 hours/week, 4.2 weeks on Clocktower – $12.60

It is time to stop wasting money and start saving time with Clocktower Time Sheets.  Read more about the benefits here.

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