Originally posted on https://www.0spam.com/how-small-business-owners-can-track-employee-hours/

As a small business owner, it’s vital that you track employee hours carefully. If this process isn’t done with great care, you could end up making a mistake that results in overpaying or underpaying your employees. With as much effort that you put into creating your business, it’s vital that everything runs as smoothly as possible.

To ensure this happens, you’ll need to accurately track your employees’ hours. Fortunately, there are several different ways to do so. And not all businesses use the same tracking methods. To find the best method for you and your business, you’ll need to know what your options are.

Continue reading below to learn about several different ways you can track your employees’ work hours!

1. Paper Timesheets

Paper timesheets are the oldest form of keeping track of employee hours. Now, although you might be thinking that this is a way of the past and has no room in your business, you could be wrong. Some businesses today are still using paper timesheets, and here’s why: independence from technology.

Sure, it’s nice to have the latest and greatest technology within your business, but with electronics comes some room for error. For example, using electronics could lead to a glitch in the system, a complete system shut down, or other issues. By printing out a form with each employee’s name and hours worked, you won’t have to worry about technology failing you.

However, this option is best done by businesses with a small number of employees. It might be hard to keep up with 100 employee hours. Otherwise, you’ll assign a manager to mark in and mark out each employee as they come and go from work.

2. Cloud-Based Software

The pen and paper option can be a hassle, though. It’s time-consuming and there’s much room for human error.

If pen and paper isn’t an option for you, then consider using cloud-based software for keeping track of hours. This type of software allows employees to log in their hours in advance or when they’re working from home. These systems are secure, giving everyone peace of mind.

And many of them allow you to integrate your payroll system. This leads to many saved hours of data entry. Aside from this, managers will also have the ability to notice when an employee is reaching overtime overs before he or she actually hits that mark.

Managers will also be able to review all employee schedules and generate custom reports.

3. Mobile Time Clock Apps

If you have employees that travel for work or work from out of the office quite a bit, then a mobile time clock app could come in handy. Your employees will be able to clock in and out from anywhere. These apps also come with options for managers to either approve or reject hours.

This means that managers won’t have to worry about staying late or running around frantically to approve timesheets on the day of payroll. Do keep in mind, however, that you want to find an app that’s compatible with all different types of devices. This way, you won’t have to worry about somebody not having access to it.

4. Physical Time Clocks

Physical time clocks are actual clocks mounted on the wall in your business, where employees take their time card and punch it into the clock to either clock in or clock out. They’re normally located in a central location within the business, where employees have easy access.

However, it’s important to note that when an employee is running late, he or she could ask a co-worker to punch in for them. This would cause a problem for keeping track of correct hours. To prevent these issues, considering installing a camera near the time clock to catch any illegal time punching from happening.

5. Biometric Time Clocks

Biometric time clocks require employees to punch in and out, but they use the employees’ fingerprints to do so. Although this might seem like new technology, it actually isn’t. These time clocks have been around for quite some time now and work pretty well at tracking employee hours.

They leave little room for error or troubles as each employee must physically be there to sign himself or herself in. Some biometric time clocks even have a camera built inside them that takes a picture each time an employee clocks in. This just adds another layer of security to the system.

6. Web-Based Time Clocks

A web based time clock gives you all of the convenience of a cloud-based time clock without the hassle of software not being supported. These time clocks are free and reliable. To begin, you’ll simply need to create an account and log in.

Managers can use these clocks to easily create employee schedules, collect and track hours, and complete payroll. These time clocks come with a lot of useful features and all the convenience you desire!

How Will You Track Employee Hours?

After reading through this guide, do you know how you’ll track employee hours? With so many great options available to you, you’ll have no problem finding something that’ll work best for you and your small business! Remember to keep these 6 options in mind when making a decision and weigh out all of the pros and cons of each.

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