Time-tracking research shows the U.S economy loses 50 million hours in productivity per day because of unrecorded work activities. That’s $7.4 billion per workday!

Lost time affects many companies so employers must track their staff’s hours closely. If you don’t know how to do this for your car lot, you’ve come to the right place.

Here are our top 10 ways to track employee hours.

Why You Should Track Employee Hours

Before we answer “how do you track employee hours?”, it’s important to cover the benefits of doing so. Good organization is the key to running a successful business and admin is the way to do this.

Advantages include:

• Your employees are accountable for their input and output
• Contractors have proof spent when billing clients
• Saves the company time and money

Once you have each employee’s timecard, employers can use a pay stub generator to keep a record of payment and start tracking employee hours.

Top 10 Ways to Track Employee Hours

Now we can dive into how to keep track of employee hours. There are many fantastic time-tracking apps available or you can keep it old-school. Check these out:

1. Manually Enter Employee Hours Into a Spreadsheet

If you’re a small company with limited staff, you may not need a cloud or online system. Start keeping track of employee hours by manually punching their data into a spreadsheet. It’s important to note you must back documents up regularly to avoid a disaster.

Plus, make sure the employee creating the spreadsheet is trustworthy so they don’t commit time theft.

2. Use Time Doctor

The best way to keep track of employees’ hours is by using reputable software.

Time Doctor, for example, is used by big names like Apple so you know they’re reliable. The software monitors the tasks your staff is working on, how long they’re spending on each task, and the time spent in the car lot.

You don’t have to manually enter any data plus the software produces reports like timesheet, time use, and attendance reports so you’re up-to-date. Remote staff can be assured their data is safe and that they’re not being monitored outside the workday so their work-life balance isn’t compromised.

3. Try Toggl

Toggl is a time-tracking system that lets employers set up projects, assign work, and create estimated timelines.

This tells you if any projects are overdue or you’re exceeding the budget. Plus, Toggl offers virtual timesheet management so you can access detailed records via desktop or through the Android app.

4. Use Wall Mount Card Swipes

Wall mount card swipes are an updated version of the traditional punch card system. Give employees their own ID and let them clock in and out.

The data is then automatically sent to your computer and gives you a calculation of how many hours each employee worked at the car lot.

5. Try the Timeneye App

If you’re looking for basic software that tracks how much time your employees are spending, look no further.

Timeneye gives you reports on each staff member’s time usage so you can monitor their efficiency. It also has an automatic time-tracking system so you can track productivity and see which hours are billable or not.

6. Use ClickTime

ClickTime is a life-saver as it creates hundreds of detailed reports so you can monitor your workforce.

Using this data, you can measure employee performance and productivity on certain projects alongside their deadlines. You can use ClickTime through your browser or as complete software.

7. Track Remote Employees Through a Mobile Attendance System

If several staff members at your car lot work away from the office, it’s difficult to track them.

To combat this, install a mobile attendance system on a company phone and give it to your employee. Employees confirm their hours collected from the GPS phone so you can integrate this into your payroll system.

It’s important to note employers can’t install this on a personal phone as it’s illegal.

8. Introduce DeskTime

DeskTime is renowned for its three main features: employee monitoring, project management, and productivity report.

This software pinpoints unproductive habits by analyzing an employee’s history of URLs and apps. So if employees spend time using work-related software, they’ll earn a high productivity score.

Employers should set a productivity target (e.g. the monthly target should be 90%) and encourage team members to meet it.

9. Keep Online Attendance Records

Around 48% of companies believe the most important reason to invest in time-tracking is to improve payroll accuracy.

Using a web app, employees can record how many hours they’ve worked so it’s easy to generate payroll reports. This saves on admin time and doesn’t require complex software. These are basic online time clocks you can introduce to your team, saving you money in productivity and software.

10. Use Timecamp

Timecamp is a cloud-based software where employers can track billable hours and oversee important projects.

The software also creates a list for employee payroll and monitors how productive the team is during the workday. A major bonus is how Timecamp integrates with common project management software like Asana so you can sync data and start time-tracking immediately.

That’s How to Track Employee Hours

Now you know how to track employee hours to boost productivity and save your business money.

You can use older methods like manually entering in a timesheet or using employee card swipes, but time-tracking software is far more accurate and efficient.

All the above produce detailed reports about how efficiently employees are working and if there’s room for improvement. Once you use time-tracking software, your car lot will become far more productive and sales will skyrocket. Good luck!

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