Transparency is important. Not only does it often translate to highly productive and effective organizations, but it also builds trust with supervisors and employees. Creating a transparent work environment may be harder for some organizations depending on the industry and the nature of the work. What if your employees work off-site or in multiple locations? Is transparency and visibility between supervisors and employees still possible? If you are asking yourself these questions, a mobile time-clock solution may be the answer. Is it time for your organization to adopt a time-clock app? Here is a list of five questions to consider when deciding if this is the best solution for your company.
1. Do you have off-site employees?
If your employees work off-site, mobility is key to gaining transparency in your organization. This is because employees can perform the following functions wherever they are on their own mobile devices:
- Clock in for day
- Start a Job
- Clock out for break
- See what Job/Task to work on next
- View their timecard
- View their PTO
- Clock out for day
In turn, mobile time-clock apps allow supervisors to gain visibility as well. As a supervisor, you can see what Jobs are being worked on—plus when and where they are happening. With transactional geotracking, supervisors can pull up a map on their mobile device to ensure employees are where they should be when clocked in. Some employees may worry about being tracked when off the clock. It is important to note that with most time-clock apps, geotracking must be activated to function and is only enabled when performing the punch and using the system. Thus, GPS capabilities are no longer active when employees clock out for the day.
2. Are your worksites in multiple locations?
If you have employees all over the city, state, or even country, mobile time-clock apps allow you—as a supervisor—to gain visibility in every location. You can keep track of each employee—no matter where they are located and when they are performing transactions within the system. There’s no need to spend time traveling to each job site or playing phone tag with other supervisors. Easily pull out your mobile device and open the map to be sure everyone is where they need to be.
3. Do your employees need access to documentation while working off-site?
Whether it’s blueprints, job travelers, or images, the ability to access documentation while on the job is crucial. Several mobile time-tracking apps allow supervisors and employees to attach any type of documentation they need while off-site. While it’s possible to have paper copies of these materials, they can easily get lost or damaged. Plus, when all documentation is in one system, it creates a more structured organization. This results in increased transparency between employers and employees; everyone is on the same page with the same information needed to complete the Job.
4. Do you keep track of employees’ time spent on Jobs?
Many supervisors get job visibility by monitoring employee performance. When employees are working off-site, this gets a bit complicated. When supervisors track time on Jobs, they see exactly how much time employees spend working on Jobs compared to the amount of time they have been clocked in. With mobile time-tracking solutions, like riteTIME, supervisors can even compare employee performance based on productivity levels to better understand where time is being spent. Moreover, mobile time-tracking apps help your front office save time and get more visibility. Once supervisors review, edit, and approve employee time cards, that data can be quickly shared with the front office for payroll processing. There’s no need to spend time tracking down timecards to submit to payroll. This creates more seamless collaboration between off-site and front-office employees.
5. Do you want to improve your employee productivity and keep them accountable?
Mobile time clocks with transaction geotracking not only hold employees accountable but also help increase employee productivity. Maybe your off-site employees are spending too much time on a Task. This can affect your bottom line. Instead of assuming what could be happening, mobile time-clock apps allow supervisors to truly identify potential issues and brainstorm how they can be resolved. Plus, employees will most likely be more motivated to put in great work when they know their time is being tracked.
If you answered ‘yes’ to at least half of these questions, you may want to explore mobile time-clock apps even further. While this option may not be for every organization, it can surely help some gain the transparency they need to increase productivity and efficiency when working off-site. After all, trust between employers and employees is crucial for a successful organization. If you would like to learn how to track time for your off-site team, we’re here to help.
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