Employees Working in the Field – How to Track Their Time

The issue of time theft is a real and pressing concern for most businesses –regardless of their size, or industry.

It’s estimated that 43 percent of hourly paid employees round up their weekly work hours, while according to the American Payroll Association (APA), nearly 75 percent of U.S. businesses are affected by time theft.

But while many companies are able to take steps to reduce time fraud at the office, when it comes to remote workers – combating this issue is a bit more complicated. For companies with a remote workforce or employees who work out in the field, implementing a robust GPS tracking app for business that’s able to accommodate off-site workers is especially important – and one of the best ways to guard against time theft.

Managing off-site employees has always been a challenge, but thanks to new tools that are available today, it’s easier than ever to keep track of your workers in real-time. But modern employee time trackers aren’t just about keeping everyone honest –they’re also a great way to simplify many once time-consuming tasks. Mobile time tracking has changed the game, and more than just Android and iOS phones are capable of it without disrupting your employees’ workflow.

With this in mind, we’ll be going over how to track employee time for your field workers and how it will benefit your company.

Confirms Job Site Attendance

A software-based employee tracking app can help to improve accountability. It can verify field service attendance, allowing you to ensure that your team members are onsite when they say they are. Thanks to GPS location tracking, it’s easy to keep tabs on your workers, and ensure they are at worksites at the time of sign in. A program that uses a webcam or mobile device for verification will add an additional layer of accuracy to your employee scheduling system, giving you assurance that your team is where they’re supposed to be –at any given time. Beyond making sure they’re where they’re supposed to be, you’ll be able to confirm that the employees hours at the site were accurate. With more advanced time tracking app features, such as geofencing, you can manage clock in and clock out at multiple remote locations – sending an error notification if an employee tries to clock anywhere you didn’t authorize.

Reduces the Chance of Errors

Having robust inexpensive time entry software can reduce potentially costly errors on both paychecks –and invoices. This is especially true with an app to track time that can sync with your billing and payroll processing software. With an up-to-date time tracking system, you’ll be able to track job-specific tasks more accurately –ensuring accuracy with invoices, and future estimates as well.

Improves Productivity

Lost productivity is a real concern for many companies with workers who are out in the field. Time management goes out the window when your employees are left to their own devices (literally and figuratively). However, once they know you’ve instated employee gps tracking, field employees have no choice but to more seriously consider how they spend their work time. Just the fact that they now believe that automation will immediately detect if they’re slacking off will make employees clock in and out with purpose. With a time tracking system, they’ll have a sense of urgency in their workday –and will be less prone to distractions and more likely to stay on-track and focused on their work.

Allows You to Pinpoint Your Staff

With time tracking software, you’ll be able to easily pinpoint your team –no matter where they’re located. Knowing where your team is at any given moment will allow you to improve your customer response time and increase the number of jobs that you are able complete per month. Project management this powerful can also help to cut costs. It will also help to facilitate better customer communication, allowing you to provide your customers with a more accurate estimate of when they can expect their delivery or service call.

Saves Time

Finally, an automated time tracking system can simplify many once time-intensive tasks –and can also reduce processing costs by up to 80 percent. By choosing time card software that syncs up with your payroll system, you’ll no longer have to enter data by hand. It will also save you from having to calculate extra hours, overtime, or vacation time. Many of these Gps time tracking software are available as mobile apps or web-based apps, so worker with a device can use them.

With 45 percent of the U.S. workforce now spending at least part of their time working remotely, the issue of monitoring workers’ time is becoming more prevalent –and something that many businesses are concerned with. If your company has a remote workforce –or team members who are regularly out in the field, it may be time to streamline your time tracking solution –to help make payroll and worker management more efficient –and accurate.