We spend a lot of time talking to contractors, and most of them share a few key operational habits in common.
One particular commonality among contractors is how they use their time cards.
Many businesses use time cards only to record an employee’s hours. In many cases, the time card information is “best guess,” which information is inaccurate for anything other than payroll.
The reason for their inaccuracy is because employee’s generally fill out time cards with the mindset of wanting to get paid.
Growing companies are starting to utilize time card data more efficiently though. These companies are improving the scope and accuracy of the information collected from time cards. This results in greater insights that business owners, estimators, and payroll personnel can use to improve and grow their business.
Here is a question you should ask yourself, and your team:
If you were going to be paid either way, would you still need the information found on your time cards?
If the answer is yes, then you might be getting the data you need.
If the answer is no, then you have a broken system.
To show you what we mean, let’s compare the worst case (broken) against the best case (accurate) time card collection scenario.
Here’s the broken way:
The above time card just shows how many hours the employee worked for that one day.
Or, you could track the detailed way.
In a report, the data looks something like this:
This data includes the employee’s time organized by:
- Project
- Cost Code
- Equipment
What you might not realize about these two different time collection methods is that the accurate way is faster, more detailed, and provides in-depth analysis for your business.
What questions can be answered with these two time collections processes?
A well-kept secret of successful construction companies, is that their time card information is a heavily utilized operational tool. These businesses use their time cards for more than just payroll. They use time card information to stay on top of how the jobsite is performing, and also to assess overall company health.
With the technology that busybusy has developed it is actually easier and faster to track time using an app than it is to use paper time cards.
Using busybusy’s Mobile Time Tracking App:
- The time cards are easily and accurately collected from the field
- Information can be reviewed by your payroll & management team
- The data can be transferred to your payroll software, either directly or through csv
When time card are used effectively, they not only provide payroll information, but detailed analysis and insight about the goings-on of your company.
Who wouldn’t want that?
