Why You Should Track Employee Data
For any company with employees, there’s a lot of data that’s generated each day; from hours worked, to keeping track of employee time off, websites visited, targets met, and more. Depending on how many employees you have the prospect of data collection and tracking can quickly start to feel like a full-time job!
For companies, though, having access to the right data is invaluable. Relevant data will give you the information that you need to make informed decisions that will benefit your business as a whole. It will also help you to notice any discrepancies or potential problems as soon as they arise; allowing you to take action right away, before things get out of hand.
When done correctly, data collection can benefit your company in more ways than one. But it’s important to ensure that the information that you’re collecting is gathered in a way that’s in compliance with the law. For example, monitoring your team’s working hours and their productivity is perfectly reasonable, and is one example of how time tracking can yield much better results than collecting data that might be questionable, and downright illegal.
With this in mind let’s take a look at a few benefits of collecting employee data; the right way!
Keeps Everyone Honest
Let’s face it, wasted time isn’t uncommon. In fact, the average employee admits to wasting 3 hours, during an 8-hour workday. By tracking your employees’ data you can see where their time is really spent, and how much is being wasted. Armed with this information, you’ll then be able to go about creating a more efficient workplace. While your employees might feel conflicted at first, knowing that their productivity is being tracked can help them to work more efficiently.
Just keep in mind that there’s more than one way to measure a worker’s productivity. Many companies are embracing results-driven productivity, which involves tracking their employees’ ability to meet targets and deadlines, rather than their minute-to-minute activities. Instead of causing your team unnecessary stress by forcing them to constantly work under pressure, look for ways to recognize them, and encourage them for their accomplishments. This will help to motivate them to do their best, and lead to higher productivity. Finally, if you are considering implanting a new time tracking system, make sure you take the time to help your employees understand how it works, and inform them of how it will benefit them as well.
Reduces the Chance of Errors
Data tracking can also help to reduce the chance of errors from occurring. When it comes to traditional methods of time keeping, such as punching in or manually writing down hours worked, there’s a high chance of errors occurring. Your employees may jot down the wrong time, or put down that they worked for longer than they did. They may forget to clock out. Then there’s the issue of transferring the data from the time sheet into the computer for payroll processing; another step where there’s a high chance of errors occurring. Mistakes can be costly, both in terms of money that’s lost when overpaying, as well as the amount of time that’s spent correcting them the errors. But by tracking your employees’ hours with a robust time tracking system, you’ll be able to collect accurate data on your employees. Thanks to sign-in verification that require your team to log in via webcam or other verified method, you can be certain that your team is on site, and ready to work on time.
Helps You Stay Ahead of the Game
Tracking employee data give you access to valuable information that you can use to make key decisions. It can also help to improve accuracy in the billing and estimating process, and give you the data that you need for creating accurate budgets and forecasts. Best of all, it can alert you to potential problems as soon as they arise, such as overpayment, or issues with understaffing, allowing you to take action to correct any potential issues before they have a chance to escalate.
Can Improve Your Bottom Line
At the end of the day, tracking employee data can save you both time and money, helping to improve your bottom line. Having accurate data can help to eliminate many costly errors, reduce wasted time, improve invoicing and estimating accuracy, and give business owners the data they need to make fact-based decisions. It’s something that can benefit a number of companies, in almost every industry.
Finally, as an employer, you’ll want to ensure that you’re monitoring your employees in a way that’s ethical and in compliance with the law. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act prohibits the intentional capture or disclosure of any electronic communication where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. This means, in most cases, situations when the employees don’t know they are being monitored. Before you implement a tracking program; whether it’s time tracking, to keep track of employee time off, monitoring mileage, or tracking computer usage, it’s always a good idea to inform your staff about it first.
