Happy New Year! For many, the turn of the calendar serves as a catalyst for change. So, what’s your New Year’s resolution? Do you intend to make lifestyle changes designed to help you lose weight? Are you planning on improving your nutrition by incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet? Are you aiming to spend less time scrolling through social media?

Professionally, what steps are you taking to maximize your productivity? A recession is rumored for 2024 — do you have a plan in place? Are you planning on streamlining your operations by cutting staff? Are you finally going to purchase that large piece of equipment or replace that aging technology?

Before you take such drastic measures, I have some low-hanging fruit for you to consider. Are you currently tracking your employees’ time? If not, you should be.

New Year’s Resolutions

In honor of the New Year, we’ve compiled a few hypothetical resolutions a business owner may make in hopes of optimizing operations and demonstrate how OnTheClock can help achieve these goals.

Resolution #1: I’d like my employees to be more productive.

This can be accomplished through time tracking.

At its core, time tracking is a methodical approach to recording and analyzing how hours are spent in a workplace. It's an insightful process designed to help managers understand employees' tasks and activities. Tracking time serves multiple purposes:

• Understanding Workloads: It reveals how time is allocated across different projects and tasks;
• Efficiency Analysis: It helps businesses identify areas where processes can be streamlined; and
• Accountability and Transparency: It fosters a sense of responsibility among employees and provides clear insights into work habits.

Surprisingly, 82% of people don't use a formal system to manage their time. This demonstrates a significant opportunity for improvement in how productivity is assimilated in the workplace.

Those who are currently tracking time may utilize antiquated methods, such as pen and paper, time stamps, a spreadsheet, or a Bundy clock. Upgrading to a software as a service (SaaS) option, like OnTheClock, affords managers an easy, effective, and efficient way to track employees’ time via multiple vehicles, including desktop computers, mobile phones, kiosk stations, and more.

Through OnTheClock, administrators can create schedules, see who’s actively working, track employees’ scheduled absences and time off, and much more. Holding employees accountable is a surefire way to increase productivity.

Resolution #2: I’d like to better monitor my employees’ time on specific projects, analyzing who is most efficient on specific jobs.

OnTheClock is much more than a punch-in, punch-out system; it offers a precise way for employers to gain insight into what employees are actually doing when clocked in through job costing and reporting.

Employers can set up calendars to keep track of hours worked on specific projects, including how much time was spent on a specific task (i.e., the amount of hours spent on flooring, plumbing, HVAC, dry wall, roofing, etc. within a home restoration project).

Data can be collected, organized, and analyzed accordingly:

• Schedules can be organized by client and demand, which is particularly useful when working with part-time employees and subcontractors.
• All tracking is recorded in one place, eliminating the need to jump from app to app.
• Project budgets can be made more quickly and efficiently by using data from previous projects — providing clarity on the number of hours worked and the cost associated with labor.

Tracking employees’ time for each job is essential to gauge whether the company is staying within a budget. If a bid is placed for “X" amount of hours and a workforce begins to exceed that number, the business may ultimately lose money. Exceeding an agreed upon timeframe may lead to unhappy customers as well.

Finally, OnTheClock’s job costing tools are a great way to promote your business. Through OnTheClock, your sales team can show clients how your team tracks project budgets and labor hours in great detail. This demonstrates proficiency in your ability to complete projects on time and under budget, which could help win over clients who are debating which company to partner with.

Resolution #3: I’d like to easily implement my employees’ time cards with my accounting system, simplifying the process.

OnTheClock offers one-click payroll integration with a number of reputable partners, including ADP, Gusto, Quickbooks, Square, and Thompson Reuters.

Additional payroll integrations are available via CSV exports with many other companies, including ConnectPay, Payroll Connect LLC, Paychex, Paychex Flex, Sage, Ceridian, and Paylocity.

Via OnTheClock, employers can easily sync data and send complete pay periods, allowing them to complete payroll in minutes. Simplify your process by adding this feature today.

Resolution #4: I’d like to balance my employees’ paid time off so that we have coverage during the busy season.

Through OnTheClock, administrators can schedule and manage PTO requests across numerous categories, including holiday, personal, sick, and vacation.

Administrators may schedule, prioritize, and approve PTO requests based on seniority or other factors. Additionally, managers can quickly and easily peruse how much PTO each employee has used and how much remains.

At the end of the year, via OnTheClock, administrators can quickly check how much PTO time each employee has left over and can then choose to accrue unused amounts into the next calendar year or to pay an employee out. All of this can be easily viewed and managed in seconds.

Resolution #5: I’d like to implement a system that restricts coworkers from punching each other in.

Buddy punching is a form of employee time theft that occurs when one employee asks another to clock in for them, effectively punching the time clock on their behalf. Whether they're running late or playing hooky, the result is manipulated time records that don't accurately reflect hours worked.

Buddy punching costs U.S. employers $373 million annually. OnTheClock offers numerous ways to eliminate this epidemic.

• Punches can be done exclusively through a biometric station, requiring each employee to scan his or her fingerprint to clock in.
• A geofencing option requires an employee to be in the vicinity of a job before allowing him or her to punch in.
• A kiosk station requires employees to punch in and out from one device, requiring an employee to be present before punching in.

The American Payroll Association reports that 75% of companies are losing money due to buddy punching. Adding these features via OnTheClock is a definitive way to stop this form of time theft from occurring at your company.

Resolution #6: I’d like to limit the amount of overtime pay my employees are accruing.

OnTheClock can be set to send alerts to administrators, managers, and employees via text or email if and when workers approach their overtime threshold.

This alert can be customized to send at a specific time increment, i.e., 30 minutes or 15 minutes before overtime begins, through a simple click. Such an alert will allow administrators to better manage overtime allotments, ensuring projects stay on budget.

Alerts can be toggled to meet California overtime requirements as well; simply select “California" when setting your company’s overtime rule.

Get Back on Track with OnTheClock

To fulfill each of these resolutions, a business owner may find himself or herself installing dozens of unique apps or software programs. OnTheClock accomplishes each of these in an easy, manageable way, serving as a roadmap on the path to productivity.

According to EnterpriseAppsToday, almost 89% of workers are wasting time every day at work. In the U.S., during eight hours of working time, employees waste an average of 2.9 hours by doing no effective work.

Curtail time theft and further optimize your workforce by adding OnTheClock today, for free. Simply visit www.ontheclock.com and click sign up to begin your 30-day trial. From there, you can add employees and begin viewing their time cards immediately. Join the more than 15,000 companies that rely on OnTheClock and discover how time tracking can transform your expectations in 2024.