Are you a Canadian employer in search of an app to track employee hours? If so, many apps can help you track employee hours and pay your workers accordingly. One of these apps, QuickBooks Online, can sync with many other time-tracking apps for easy integration with your current systems.

Luckily, QuickBooks makes it simple to set up employee time sheets and track their hours. This ensures you always pay them accurately while providing key details concerning your business’ productivity and efficiency.

Learn about the benefits of time tracking software and how to track time in QuickBooks.

What Are the Benefits of Employee Time Tracking?

Better Project Management: Using time tracking to get reliable data on your workflow can be a big help. Employee start time, project name, and scope of the project are instantly available to you, so you can keep tabs on projects in real time—all without having to pester your staff for time estimates. Seeing the project status at a glance makes it easier to find inefficiencies and spot tasks that need additional help. You can also see if the project is on track in terms of budget and adjust your workflow accordingly.

Accurate Client Estimates: When you give a client an estimate, you’re essentially guessing how much time you need to complete the project. But with the help of time-tracking systems, you have access to a database of accurate records that show exactly how long it takes your team to do a similar project.

Efficient Workflows: If your employees aren’t using their time efficiently, it can eat away at your budget without increasing profits. Time tracking can help you spot inefficiencies and teach you how to organize time.

Reduced Scope Creep: Scope creep happens when clients ask for one thing, but then add extra requests and deliverables over time, which can prove to be expensive for small businesses. Time tracking can help you eliminate scope creep. Are your employees spending time on requests that weren’t in the original contract? You can show the client the time-tracking records. Then, the client can stop the additional requests or pay out more money to cover the extra work. Either way, your business wins.

Improve Morale: Automated time accounting software can actually improve your employees’ workflows. They don’t have to worry about timecards or struggle to remember how much time they spent on a project. Instead, they can track time instantly with just a few clicks. Plus, if you choose a cloud-based system, your staff can record time from anywhere, on any device.

Manual Vs. Online Time Tracking

Manual Time Tracking

If you prefer a traditional method of tracking time, consider mounting an automated time clock to the wall. Every employee gets a timecard and each time the person leaves and returns to work, they slide the card under the print mechanism on the clock, where it receives a timestamp. The clocks print the exact time worked each day.

Keep in mind; you have to enter those hours manually to process payroll, which can add a significant amount of time to the process. For small companies, a manual method of entering start and stop times on a spreadsheet may save money and serve as a convenient method of tracking time.

Don’t know where to start? Download easy-to-use time tracking templates for Excel.

Online Time Tracking

If you have room in the budget, cloud time tracking is a better option. Cloud-based systems allow you to track time from any computer, tablet or mobile phone. That means it’s easier to record your hours when you’re travelling or out of the office.

How does it work? Simply choose the client or job from a list. Then, start and stop the timer. Later, you can customize the entry by describing the task and including notes. When it’s time to bill the client, you can itemize the invoice by task or simply add up all of the hours.

If you’re serious about efficiency, consider a time-tracking tool that integrates with your accounting software. A program like QuickBooks Time gives you full time-tracking capabilities. It makes it easier to add billable hours to client invoices and import employees’ work hours and streamline payroll.

Why Track Employee Hours in QuickBooks?

QuickBooks provides an all-in-one time tracking solution and offers easy, accurate time tracking insight. Some of the highlights of QuickBooks’ time tracking solution include the abilities to:

• Track, submit, and approve employee time on the go.
• Monitor overtime and paid time off (PTO) with alerts.
• Get accurate workforce insights.
• See who’s working, where, and on what task.
• Create employee schedules through job categories and shifts.
• Streamline payroll functionality.

How to Choose the Best Time Tracking Software

Invest some time into finding the right time-tracking app for your needs. In some cases, you may want a simple timer to track just your hours. In other cases, you may need an app that multiple employees can use to sign in and out or add expenses as required. Luckily, most apps offer a free trial period so you can test out their features before signing up for the service.

When you’re choosing time tracking software, it’s important to look for features like:

• Cloud access from any internet-connected device
• Mobile apps for phones and tablets
• Reporting and analytics
• Project management tools to help you track progress
• Custom permissions for different users
• Customizable alerts to tell you when a project is nearing its budget limit
• Secure encryption

Also, make sure the app syncs with your QuickBooks accounting software so you can streamline payroll and invoice tasks.

In most cases, time-tracking apps charge a small monthly fee per employee, but pricing structures vary, and you should look closely at the costs to ensure they fit into your budget. In addition to the price of the service, also consider whether or not you need to invest in new hardware. Most time-tracking apps are cloud-based, so you don’t need to worry about storage or processing power. Instead, you simply need a few laptops or smartphones that you can connect to the internet.

As an employer, you can opt to provide these tools to your employees. However, as most Canadians own smartphones, you may simply want to have your employees use their own phones. In this case, you need to ensure you meet your legal obligations. In particular, at tax time, you should fill out Form T2200 (A declaration of Conditions of Employment). This simply notifies the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) about expenses your employees incur as part of their employment contract. This form also allows your employees to claim these expenses on their tax returns

Track Time with QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time allows you to create schedules, and it lets employees clock in and out from anywhere using a computer, laptop, or smartphone app. Employees may even text or call in a code to sign in if they don’t have a smartphone or are in an area with no cellphone coverage. GPS capabilities allow you to check on the location of your workers in the field, and the dashboard shows you instantly who is working, where they are, and how many hours they log.

With the tap of a button, you can sync your workers’ hours to your accounting software. This eliminates mistakes related to manual entry, saves time, and streamlines your payroll process. The app starts with a free trial so you can test it out, and if you like it, the service is available for a monthly fee.

The app offers a wealth of features. Learn more, below:

QuickBooks Time also supports shift scheduling. To schedule shifts follow the steps below:

1. Install QuickBooks with the QuickBooks Time add-on if you don’t already have it.
2. Select Manage and select Schedule to access the schedule calendar.
3. Double-click a cell in the schedule calendar.
4. Select Actions in the top left corner and select Add Shift.
5. Choose the start and end times of the shift.
6. Customize the shift by adding a colour, job description, and an employee.
7. Select the Publish button to publish the shift information to the calendars of the assigned employee.
8. The assigned employee receives a notification of the shift assignment.

Time tracking gives you documented proof of an employee’s hours, which eliminates guesswork on paydays. This keeps employees satisfied, and it ensures your business maximizes profits by not spending more than you have to. Consider analyzing the various methods of time tracking to discover one that works best for your company size, and pair the system with your accounting software.

Online time tracking software can help you stay organized and make sense of your payroll systems. 5.6 million business owners use QuickBooks, help your small business thrive, and join them today!