How do you choose a time tracking app and what are the benefits of installing an automated solution for this activity?
The digitization of processes is still one of the HR departments’ challenges in the past years. Experts still note a certain reluctance to the technology replacing part of the future jobs, determining a rather frequent resistance to change in contemporary companies.
On the other hand, it has become more evident that the automation of the repetitive activities of the HR department leads to time and energy savings, which can be otherwise dedicated to solving more complex issues.
Legislative updates, a potential catalyst for change
Changes can be determined or accelerated by some amendments to the applicable laws. In August 2017, for instance, a legislative provision stating that employers are bound to keep more detailed records of the employees’ work time determined many companies to consider the implementation of time tracking software, facilitating alignment to said provision.
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Article 119 of the Labor Code, updated by Government Emergency Ordinance No. 53/2017, provides as follows: “The employer is under the obligation to keep record of the daily work hours of every employee, outlining the start and end of the work day, and to submit such records for control by the labor inspectors, whenever requested to do so.”
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This law does not provide expressly for the automation of the procedures used to outline the start and end of the working hours, but merely that a strict record thereof must be kept. However, many companies understood that replacing the old-fashioned attendance register with a time keeping app would have significant benefits, going beyond the alignment to the new legislative provisions.
Automation entails better time management – both for employees, and for the human resources team, eliminating errors that are almost impossible to avoid in case of old-fashioned time keeping methods.
Automation comes with cost reduction and redefining the role of the human resources department. Released from repetitive tasks, or part of them, the HR department can contribute directly to the organization’s development strategy.
6 benefits of installing an automated time and attendance solution in your company
You have a constant overview of your employees
By using time tracking software you will constantly have an overview of your employees. You can follow their working hours and how they stick to them, planning shifts more easily and constantly making sure that procedures are applied and complied with.
You can set customized working hours according to the company’s specifics
With the help of the time keeping app, you can easily follow your employees’ working hours, irrespective of whether they have a fixed schedule, or they work in shifts. The time tracking system ensures versatility, by its multiple configuration, filtering and parameter setting options, according to your company’s needs. You can define different types of working hours (regular, extra, night work, weekend hours etc.), according to your case, as well as any kind of leave (medical leave, annual leave, etc.).
Greater flexibility for employees
An online or electronic time tracking software makes it possible for the employees to fill in directly their working hours – if you want to allow this (an operator can also manage the employees’ working hours). Whoever fills in the information in the online time keeping app, they are quickly centralized without mistakes.
If you want greater flexibility for your employees, or for certain employees, they can fill in their hours remotely.
Simplified tasks for the HR department
When employees, managers and members of the HR department have access to the same system, the HR department’s effort to centralize information is much smaller, and the error risk is reduced to the minimum.
Furthermore, the department members will benefit from extra time that they can use for more complex tasks.
You can automatically calculate the hours worked by employees, which is a good starting point for paychecks
A time tracking app, known also as a time and attendance app, allows you to calculate automatically the hours worked by the employees, including shifts, night shifts, telework, or any work that differs from the regular working hours (training, work-related traveling, meetings, etc.).
With this app, you will have a clear record of the hours worked by every employee, including overtime, special leaves, annual or medical leave.
The time keeping app will automatically generate timesheets according to the work shifts defined by you in the app or in the employment contracts.
You make sure that you comply with the laws in force
Legislative changes in the field often generate delays in the regular workflow. A time tracking app will be constantly updated when legislative changes occur, therefore making the HR department’s task easier, and minimizing the risk of not observing the laws in force.
How do you choose the right time tracking app?
The more HR apps there are, the more difficult the process of choosing the version and modules suitable to your business. Please see below a few criteria that you can use in choosing the suitable time keeping app for your organization.
Pay attention to the functions offered
The functions of your chosen time keeping app must be suitable to the needs and particularities of your company. For instance, you might need an app that can integrate the company’s access card system.
Another particular case is when you want the employees’ time keeping being done differently according to their activity.
The first criterion is the degree of control that you seek to offer. High control allows the employee to keep time at the work unit, either in the office or on site, from a device belonging to the company – even remotely, from his/her work laptop or tablet; for the most flexible variant, the employee can keep the time from any mobile device, straight in the app.
Another criterion is whether time tracking is performed both at fixed and mobile points. Mobile time keeping is a great benefit of an online time keeping app – using a mobile time keeping device (the card reader), together with a mobile tablet connected to the internet, you can keep time directly in the app, with 100% control over real time keeping – which is a very good advantage for teams working on site.
The time management software provided by HR Sincron is flexible.
The app has many options – such as configuration, filtering, parameter setting, timesheet analysis, from various managerial perspectives.
Indicators such as the number of hours worked and total hours recorded by the time keeping devices or the overtime are calculated automatically. Moreover, Sincron HR Software time and attendance software will manage the leaves of any kind and all types of absence from work. If the time keeping app is integrated with an employee Portal, where the people can manage their own leave requests, then the Time Keeping tab will automatically record the leave requests generated by the employees.
Choose a module-based software
The tasks of the HR department are interdependent. Staff management will always be correlated to attendance but also to payroll.
Basically, it’s an umbrella option, combining the functions of a staff management app with a time keeping app and a payroll app, and automating the main repetitive tasks of the HR department.
Contract data is entered in the database via the Staff management module and the Time and attendance app takes over the standard necessary information (number of leave days, number of work days set out in the contract, etc.). The payroll app takes over data from the time tracking software.
A practical and important advantage of the Sincron HR Software platform is Self-Service. The app interconnects all players in the organization – employee, manager and HR expert, using this facility. Any employee can automatically generate a leave request, which is automatically sent to the manager for approval.
Once approved, the request is registered automatically in the time tracking app, and the data is taken over by the payroll app. The flow is fully automated.
Choose a software solution that is easy to implement and use
This is an important aspect: every employee will be using this app, so you need to make sure that the human resources software you choose has a user-friendly interface and is easy to use. Many of the companies offer training programs for their software solutions, enabling the employees to become familiar with the entire range of necessary functions.
Choose a trustworthy supplier, with history on the market and with a vision for the future
An HR time and attendance software requires a mix of functionalities within a legal framework – the needs can be adjusted according to the changes occurring in the field.
A stable company, with an established market history and a significant number of clients, will quickly adapt to the developments in the field or to your company’s needs, which can vary as the company develops.
The complete human resources platform Sincron HR Software was created specially to answer the digitization needs of modern companies, providing an umbrella solution which can be customized according to the specifics of every client’s activity.
Either you use the all-in-one solution, or you prefer to purchase separate modules that you consider to be a priority, the HR Sincron solution was created to adjust to all your company’s needs.
You will benefit from a user-friendly interface and a GDPR compliant approach, the software being designed to protect the safety of the personal data stored by the HR department.
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