The ultimate guide to timesheets and how to make them work for your business

 

Whatever your size of business, it will benefit from a closer review and management of how you and everyone in the business uses their time. It should be a question of strategy and personnel empowerment rather than micro-management. 

There is always room for improvement in the business world. It takes effort to make sure everything is going according to plan, and everyone is able to do their best. In this article, we are going to walk you through what they are and how they help a lot of companies.

What Are Timesheets?

Timesheets can help to track every person who works for your business. That can include management, employees and, in some cases, freelance consultants who work with you and deliver on your behalf.  The timesheet will evidence how many hours they’ve worked, when they started, and when they left. It also states which project they are working on, and what their progress is at any given time. The record can show you which clients were being assisted, with exact start and end times, and how many breaks every employee has taken. It gives you the exact number of hours, per project, client or activity, put in on any particular day or time period. 

What’s The Purpose of This Tool?

A timesheet system can give managers and employers an overview of how much money each employee has earned in a particular working day. It assists with planning the payrolls, and it helps to pinpoint any problems that might be occurring. It doesn’t matter if it’s for remote teams, agencies, small startups, or large corporations, hence it’s perfect for any type of business. The main objective is to increase the level of productivity and decrease any time wasted. Everything is done precisely. It can help to produce accurate, verifiable, bills to clients for professional services work, or accurate paychakcs in some cases for workers.  The data provided is critical for effective future planning. helping you to figure out department and project budgets and estimate your future needs as a company.

How Does It Work?

The traditional form of timesheets is a physical document given to employers and senior HR personnel to track everything through screening. They then make any needed adjustments when it comes to the processing phase of payrolls. The electronic software or cloud-based version of these timesheets follow the same patterns, but it’s much simpler and faster for the person in charge. Access is made easy, and they can search for anything they want instantly rather than skim through a lot of paperwork to find what they’re looking for. Both versions have forms that are done weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and bi-monthly. Everything is recorded and stored safely. 

Every employee is required to sign and submit their timesheets to their supervisors, who, in turn, make sure everything is going as planned. Then they are delivered to HR for approval and adjustment of payrolls. After they have been approved, the management team can assist you as an employer to analyse and strategize your future actions based on these reports. This may include tracking productivity percentages for conversion rates, calculating labour costs, monitoring projects thoroughly, billing clients, and determining the company’s profits. You would know every single detail of what’s happening in your company.

It Helps You Know If You’re Losing Money 

This useful tool can help you know how much money you’re spending on a given project, tracking to see if you’re actually making money or losing it. It’s greatly beneficial for companies that give their clients a fixed-fee for their services. You can monitor how much money is spent per hour on any specific project, and reflect on the reports to help you decide if adjustments need to be made, especially if your employees are falling behind and need help. The main goal here is to make money and not pay extra in the process. Timesheets help you figure out where things may be going wrong in that regard.

Your Clients Will Be Kept In the Loop

If, at any given time, your clients want some reassurances or a detailed progress report on their project, you will be able to use timesheets to your advantage. By making an easy and clear, detailed report of how much time was spent on a project so far, and how much money was put into it, your clients will rest assured that progress is being made. It basically justifies the costs of it, and you won’t be getting multiple emails asking for an update on what’s going on. It helps you bill your clients properly as well, with detailed invoices for each day so that everything can be done efficiently.

It’s Great for the Employees

People love knowing how they’re doing each day, week, or month. It gives them an idea of just how much they can pull off on a normal day, and if it’s possible to work smarter. Understanding how they are actually using their time, rather than how they think they are using their time, can be empowering for staff and consultants. It provides them with the data to plan their time more effectively and review the areas that are less productive. It’s a great tool for project leaders or managers to use to work with their team to help everyone learn from those who are performing best in class in particular tasks. Morale will increase because the team are learning from each other and pulling together. 

You Can Eliminate Tardiness

Another great benefit to these tools is that they will pinpoint where members of the team are struggling and those who have time management problems. You will be able to tell if some of your employees are tardy or not. It gives you the opportunity to support those individuals before the issues get out of hand. Start with informal feedback and then gradually start implementing action plans if the problem persists. With good use of timesheets, you can negate these problems before they even begin.

Timing is critical for a successful business. Timesheets can help to keep it on track. 

 

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