How to Choose the Best Employee Time Management Software

Time management software is vital to business growth. If you’re wondering how to choose employee time management software, you already grasp its ability to increase efficiency and productivity. You’re probably looking for a way to optimize operations and curtail time spent reinventing the time management wheel—the reasons why cut to the core of any successful enterprise. 

You want to pay people correctly in a timely, reliable, and highly accurate manner. Payroll professionalism not only often impacts retention, but it also protects you from costly infractions against pay laws. 

Depending on the size of your business, your time management software needs will vary, so we put together a short list of a few things to keep in mind.  

Business Needs

Your unique business model will dictate your needs, so let’s keep these guideposts in mind.

First and foremost, think about clock-ins. On-site clock-ins may be preferred, but remote clock-ins might work better for your business. A software optimized for mobile use can create opportunities for clock-ins via apps. It may also be possible to geo-fence time punches outside of a specific physical area. 

Do you simply create invoices based on the time submitted by all your team members? If so, look for software that can generate and send those invoices to help automate a step in your process. 

Determine how many managers should have access to time approvals and if a hard number limit exists in the software. Also, ask how timesheet notifications work and whether individual managers have the ability to control notifications received. 

Time management software should also make it easy to create separate job codes and assign them to different employees. If you need the ability to track particular tasks and create new codes, find out the process and notice how easily it flows. 

Integration

For integration, you want to consider how seamlessly your new time management software flows with your current payroll and POS systems. If your time tracking software syncs with another system, find out exactly how often this happens, how quickly, and how cumbersome it is to manually prompt a sync, if needed.

Remember those job codes we talked about above? Find out whether the conventions you currently use will square with the limitations and possibilities of your software. If not, can you easily adjust to merge your codes with the character limits in the software?

Finally, does the mobile app work well for iPhone and Android?

Support

In a perfect world, everything runs smoothly and functions intuitively for end-users. In practice, questions are a normal part of learning a new system. How easily and quickly those questions are answered can have a significant impact on the flow of business. A robust time management software support system matters during those crucial moments when you need to process payroll. 

Ask how long most users wait to get knowledgeable humans on the phone and how comprehensive a view those people have of their software. Learn whether you can turn to an online system for help on simple issues and how easy it is to use. Also, ask if documentation exists for someone walking themselves through the use of the system. If not, will humans provide a walk-through on the fly or schedule it? This will especially matter as new managers come online. 

Reporting

Depending on the size and location of your team, your records affect everything from your tax burden to multiple state and federal agencies to your unemployment claims and investigations to your responsibility to report accurate health insurance eligibility and coverage information at the end of the year. 

For businesses that work with W2 employees rather than independent contractors, you’ll likely determine whether or not to extend an offer of medical coverage based on the hours an employee works. Based on your method for measuring the employee’s eligibility, you’ll need to actively monitor hours worked month to month, especially when your workforce changes frequently, as is often the case in the service industry. 

Even an employee’s ability to avail themselves of benefits available under the Family and Medical Leave Act will depend on their hours worked, not to mention accrued time-off availability. 

While tax reporting is often calculated based on payroll data instead of time management data, one usually feeds the other, and a sound time management system can simplify life with easy report generation. Look for reports on job codes, individual employee hours worked over short and long periods of time, and any other tools you know you need. 

TruPay offers multiple solutions for a broad range of business needs, including time and attendance software. Our features list provides a short, easy-to-understand overview of our ability to support you in labor management, accruals, scheduling, pay rules, rate tracking, reports, data collection, mobile applications, security, and email notifications. To get started, request a live demo today! 

Searching for HCM Software?

Businesses looking to get started with Human Capital Management (HCM) but are unsure of where to begin, should understand how to choose an HCM solution. This includes scalability and adaptability, security and compliance, and more.