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Working time recording

Working hours are generally divided optimally between people & projects. A good working time recording process enables transparency of resource usage and cost benefit. Read more below.
  • Author: Siva
  • Last updated: May 10, 2022
  • 1 Minutes
working time recording by Papershift

Work Time recording Definition

Recording working time is critical especially when it comes to the determination of basic data for payroll or the allocation of hours worked to projects. In addition, labor law requires companies to comply with legal requirements relating to working hours. However, before introducing a time recording, companies should answer the following questions. Why should companies introduce time recording in the first place?

Here are some reasons to support this:

  1. Facilitation of work
  2. Working hours can be better attributed to activities and projects
  3. Cost savings
  4. Working hours and overtime are calculated automatically
  5. Better control

What are the advantages and disadvantages of recording working time for employees and companies?

Benefits for employees:

  • Better self-regulation of payrolls
  • Transparency of time balances and absenteeism
  • Planning facilitation such as holiday planning

Benefits for businesses:

  • Efficient payroll
  • Automated process
  • Work process optimization
  • Minute-by-minute time accounting
  • Efficient booking archiving and traceability of past data
  • Better security, transparency, and overview
  • Employees can be used more efficiently.
  • Better workforce planning
  • Facilitating work and improving profitability

Disadvantages for companies:

  • Violations of data protection for non-data protection-compliant applications.
  • Manipulation of bookings by employees possible.
  • No statement about employee productivity if times are not recorded on a project-by-project basis.

Time recording in practice

A distinction is made between the following types of time recording systems:

  1. Electronic time recording: A hardware terminal is used for this purpose. The function is similar to the clock of the time, but is more modern.
  2. Fingerprint time recording / biometric time recording: The fingerprint is scanned and used to identify the employees.
  3. Mobile time recording: The working hours are transmitted and stored using portable devices. This can be done via mobile phone, smartphone, special hardware, PDAs, or barcode scanner. This variant is ideal for employees who are not very busy, e.g. field staff, employees on the construction.
  4. Working time recording online: At the beginning of the work, the employee logs on to the software, and off again at break times or at the end of work.
  5. Excel Template: Many smaller companies still use the Excel table to record time, create templates for this purpose, and evaluate the times.
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Written by Siva

I write & describe the value & benefits delivered by Paperhift's rota planning, staff time tracking, and employee payroll management software. Especially useful for Shift Planners, Rota Managers, Team Admins, and HR Teams :-)