Research suggests that people are spending 4.2 hours on apps on a daily basis. It’s clear that people nowadays are much more used to using digital apps. They are surrounded by them everywhere they go! It seems that it’s time to say goodbye to the old, manual, and “traditional” methods of doing things. That goes double for payroll; the time to embrace time tracking apps is long past due.
Consider traditional employee time tracking. Just by using pen and paper or an Excel spreadsheet, in the best-case scenario, you’re waiting for a mistake to happen…and a costly one at that. Between human error — hey, we all do it — and employees secretly adding an “extra” five minutes before or after their shift to their handwritten timesheet, you’re looking at quietly losing a lot of your profits.
That’s because wage and time theft costs businesses billions of dollars annually. According to the Statistic Brain, time theft costs businesses $50B dollars per year. Furthermore, a shocking $373 million is spent on “buddy punching.”
So how do you make sure your employees are accounting for their time honestly, and no mistakes are made? Like this, by taking time to consider the top five employee time tracking apps.
The Top 5 Employee Time Tracking Apps
1. Connecteam
Connecteam is the number one employee time tracking app thanks to its super intuitive and accurate features.
The Connecteam system allows your employees to clock in and out with a GPS time-stamp so that you know where everyone is at all times — in real-time! All this happens without you having to check up on individuals. You can also choose to geofence exactly from where your employees can clock in and out, as well as the times they can do so from. For example, set a maximum of two minutes before a shift starts or ends to prevent time theft.
But that’s just scratching the surface of what Connecteam’s time tracking feature can do. Not only will you save the headache of wondering if your employees are clocking in and out honestly, but you’ll be able to have a far more simplified payroll to look forward to, thanks to:
- automatic reminders for employees to clock in and out;
- employees being warned know when they’ve reached their max limit for work hours completed (and will be automatically clocked out if they exceed this); and
- the ability to lock the timesheet so no changes can be made once you’ve decided to finish the shift period.
Moreover, Connecteam even offers you a time clock kiosk. You can set a fixed station where your employees are to clock in and out. Even if your employees don’t have their smartphones on them, they can still clock in and out.
- Price: Pricing starts at $39/month for up to 50 seats.
- Free Trial: There is a 14-day trial, as well as a forever-free plan.
2. Jibble
Jibble allows your employees to clock in out easily from desktop, mobile device, Microsoft Teams, or Slack.
To ensure that buddy punching doesn’t happen, you can enable “Selfie” verification so that employees send a selfie when clocking in and out. Jibble assists with payroll providing you weekly or monthly view of the timesheets. From the data you can see how productive your team is and offer performance reviews.
- Price: $1.50/user/month.
- Free Trial: There is a free trial as well as a free plan.
3. Toggl
Toggl allows your employees to clock in and out and continue with the clocking in.
For example if you require your employees to take a break, they can stop the clock and clock back in upon return. If any member of staff forgets to clock in, Toggl will send a reminder.
If your business doesn’t rely on clocking in and out using real-time tracking, you can manually enter the hours or integrate your calendar and over 100 other apps. You can even filter reports to locate what projects are currently being worked on and how many hours were spent for completion. You can decide to download the report in a CSV, PDF, or Excel format.
- Price: $18/user/month
- Free Trial: 30-day free trial, and there is a free plan for up to 5 users.
4. When I Work
When I Work is super easy to download onto your employees’ smartphones.
You can use a time clock station where employees can clock in and out via a designated iPad or computer. Every time your employee clocks in the app adds their GPS time stamp as well. Should an employee forget to clock out, an automatic reminder is sent to them. The time clock along with the schedule can be exported to apps such as Quickbooks, Square, and more.
- Price: $2/user/month for up to 100 users.
- Free Trial: No free trial, however, you can use the free plan.
5. Quickbooks
Quickbooks has capabilities to allow your staff to clock in and out even without WiFi or cellphone coverage.
Every time your employee clocks in a GPS time stamp is recorded. Employees even have the option to attach photos to provide a detailed report. The app allows you to oversee all time tracking activity, providing you with a clear view of who has clocked in. In addition, you can approve time off.
- Price: $180/month for their advanced plan which is more than 5 users.
- Free Trial: 30-day free trial.
The Bottom Line on Employee Time Tracking
Time tracking does a lot more for your business than just track time. It can reduce costs, discrepancies over hours and can boost engagement.
Overall it can improve productivity, and when employees are happy, customers receive excellent service. Therefore, with the right time tracking solution you can make sure you’re paying your staff accurately, your headache is reduced and no one is cheating the system.
