Time tracking

How to Improve Team Productivity with Time Tracking

The best productivity hacks can be as simple as using the right tools to help get a job done right. Like time tracking and employee scheduling software, one tool can be a game-changer for businesses as they implement the technology in their everyday processes.

Such software allows businesses to maximize their resources and up their output of work as issues can be caught and corrected quickly for improved efficiency. Learn more about how to improve team productivity using time tracking software.

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How to Increase Productivity of Teams

To boost your team’s output, you first need to get employees to start tracking time. Using tracking tools to monitor employee work hours and what they are working on can go a long way in upping a business’ productivity overall.

Once the daily processes are implemented into the team, your business can start to benefit, boosting workplace productivity and team efficiency. Time tracking for teams increases output and improves project management in the various ways below.

Creates Baseline of Metrics

For your business to increase its work output, it first must understand the current level of its employees’ output. Tracking times means collecting relevant data- like who is working, when, on what, and for how long- and building metrics to measure past, present, and future employee productivity levels.

Such metrics create a baseline for the project manager to compare against. By tracking and measuring the hours of work and employee efforts needed to complete specific tasks and projects, businesses can determine their workforce’s strengths and weaknesses.

Identifies Time Sinks

A good time tracking tool should track every team member’s work hours and project tasks. Managers can use this collected data to discover where the greatest efforts are being placed within the business and how those work hours and human resources are translated into deliverables.

Small business owners and project managers can then use the results to identify what internal processes need to be improved upon, locating time sinks and other problematic issues. Once determined, scheduling and other requirements can be altered to improve efficiencies and resource allocation of team members.

Decreases Duplicate Work

When multiple people are working on the same project, communication is key to ensuring no two employees are working on the same task. Organized workflows and team communication are both essential to successful work management. Duplicate work costs businesses money, time, and effort and should therefore be avoided at all costs.

Time tracking for teams can put a stop to this- as the work hours aren’t the only thing being recorded- employee tasks and project jobs should be specified, so everyone knows what they are working on without fear of overlapping efforts.

Organizing the team schedule using the information required for time and task tracking can help you manage everyone’s jobs. Scheduling like this means implementing a form of timeboxing to help with your team’s time management and productivity levels. Learn more about timeboxing here.

Increases Effective Task Delegation

Another way time tracking improves efficiencies and team development is through task delegation. For a manager to effectively delegate tasks, they must first have a complete understanding of what is necessary and how much time each objective will take to be completed. With this knowledge, they can communicate what is required of each team member.

The productiveness of employees is reflected in how well the manager has conveyed what is needed. Task delegation also results in an effective employee productivity tracker. You can keep tabs on what each staff member is doing and their time spent on specific tasks, monitoring project progress from start to finish.

Keeps Team Members Accountable

High team output can only be reached consistently when the members each know what they are accountable for and must complete. When employees can tell everyone on the team is pulling their weight, they won’t want to let down their coworkers. By time tracking, you can help keep members accountable for their tasks and due dates, which increases staff productivity overall.

These time tracker solutions also keep businesses accountable for tracking overtime. It is essential to differentiate regular work hours from overtime to ensure proper remuneration and follow all labour laws.

Uses Time Tracking Metrics for Business Insights

A business’ historical time tracking data and past employee schedules can be compared against current and future output levels. Such metrics offer insights on where time is spent in the company. These reporting features let you keep a detailed eye on your workforce’s output to improve efficiencies overall.

Using these metrics the software has set in place and measured against, businesses can accurately forecast the time and human resources needed to complete jobs. Such information can help put an end to over or under-costing projects, which is just one of the many issues time tracking can solve for your business.

Using Team Time Tracking Software

One of the only productivity hacks your business needs to know and use is how effective time tracking software tool can be for you and your employees. Such software can automatically track hours and update information in real-time, generating reports and providing business insights.

By implementing time tracking and scheduling software in the business’ work process, you can help boost your workforce’s output and efficiency while implementing an employee productivity tracker. It also makes less work for you, as the manager and business owner, as you won’t have to update information and calculate payroll manually.

Give QuickBooks Time a try with a free trial to improve the productivity of your business today!

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