Have you ever wondered how you spend your work hours and where your time goes? How much time do emails take? How could you use your working hours more effectively?
Those are the questions that can be answered with the help of a time tracker. Time tracking is key to understanding how you spend your time, personally and in business. It is key to productivity, insight, and a healthy workflow.
It is a very useful tool for remote workers, freelancers, and even those working in offices.
In today’s article, we will explore the main benefits of tracking time, who it can be useful for, and some of the best tools available on the market today.
What is a time tracker
A time tracker is a software application or web application that records and reports the time that you spend on different projects. It’s a tool that helps you keep track of how much time you spend on each project so that you know where your time goes and can make better use of it in the future.
Time tracking software works by taking periodic screenshots of your computer desktop, then analyzing them to identify which applications are open (and what they’re doing). It can also detect keyboard activity, mouse movement, and even social media usage like Facebook, Twitter, and email.
Most time tracking tools have the ability to record all activity on a computer, including websites visited in private browsing mode.
Who can benefit from a time tracker?
Today time tracking is primarily used by team managers, remote workers, and freelancers. Let’s explore this in more detail.
Team managers
Time-tracking software is a great way to keep track of the team’s productivity. It can also help identify waste and inefficiencies within your workflow.
Time tracking software allows seeing how much time each member of the team spends on each project. This allows team managers to better prioritize tasks and manage their resources more effectively.
If you’re using a remote team, time tracking is essential for getting an accurate picture of how much time people are spending on projects, if they are hitting their deadlines, or if they need more time to complete their tasks.
Remote workers
Remote workers can use time tracking to make sure they’re working efficiently and effectively, without distractions from coworkers or other tasks that don’t need to be done at that moment.
They can also use it to make sure they’re getting enough rest between sessions so they don’t burn out from overwork.
Freelancers
Freelancers have full control over their work environment and schedule, so it’s important that they track their time accurately and efficiently in order to get paid for their work.
By knowing exactly how long each task takes, freelancers can create more accurate quotes for new clients — or even just themselves!
Moreover, they can provide the reports of their work day to their contractors and send an invoice right from the tool if they are getting paid hourly.
Why is a time tracking sofwtare useful?
Among all the benefits time tracking can give you, here are the main reasons why you should use a time tracker:
Keeps work-life balance
Few people have an accurate picture of how they spend their days. This can be dangerous because it may lead to poor time management and work-life balance.
With a time tracker, you can improve your work performance, track the tasks that take up most of your time, and make the necessary adjustments to plan your day effectively.
This way you will be able to keep a work-life balance and avoid burnout which has become quite the deal among millennials, with 84 % saying they have experienced burnout at their current job.
Helps employees better manage their workload
Time tracker lets you get an overview of how you spend your time.
You may be spending more time than necessary on minor tasks when you should be concentrating on more valuable tasks.
You can fix this by tracking your time and analyzing the time spent on each task.
Afterward, you can better prioritize your tasks without getting frustrated or feeling like you have a lot on your plate. When you know how much it will take you to complete a task, you will have a clear picture of your day and can better spend your working hours.
Prevents multitasking
Multitasking is the enemy of productivity. It might seem like you’re getting a lot done, but studies show that it reduces productivity by as much as 40%.
The reason behind that is each time we shift back and forth between tasks, it takes our brain some time to refocus.
A time tracking tool allows you to understand how much a task will take you to accomplish so you can provide the necessary amount of time for each task without them intervening.
Provides transparency into work processes
When you set up time registrations as part of your routine, your business becomes more transparent. It allows you to stay on top of your working process, offering insights into tasks and their duration.
Eventually, time tracking tools also provide team managers with a bigger picture of employees’ workloads so they can optimize productivity where needed and keep track of how everyone else is doing in the company.
Time tracking software features that make it effective
When it comes to time-tracking software, the number of options available can be overwhelming. With so many choices, it’s difficult to know which one is best for your needs.
Let’s look at the most important features of effective time-tracking software.
Screenshots
Track how your employees spend their working hours with randomly taken screenshots.
WebWork tracker allows you to choose from 4 screenshot modes to gain more insights into tracked hours, activity level, and much more.
Attendance monitoring
With attendance monitoring, you can easily keep an eye on your employees’ working hours and punctuality.
WebWork Attendance Monitoring software features a list of filters that you can use to instantly generate the information you want. You can track attendance daily or choose an interval from the calendar.
Task management
Task management can be used by teams that work together on projects or tasks. Employees can communicate with each other through the platform and share information about completed tasks or pending ones.
This way, the team will always stay up-to-date about what everyone is doing and when they plan on completing their assignments. And team managers will be able to set priorities, and see who’s working on what at any given moment.
Multiple device use
With so many people working from home or in coffee shops these days, it’s important to be able to access your time-tracking software from anywhere.
Time tracking software should be accessible on any device so you can keep track of your time.
For instance, WebWork operates on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Moreover, the app is available both in Google Play and App Store.
Apps and websites usage monitoring
Time-tracking software can monitor apps and websites that are used by employees during work hours. This helps companies ensure compliance with policies regarding the authorized use of company resources during work hours.
If a company has restricted access to certain websites or applications during work hours, then this feature can help monitor such activities by employees.
Integrates with other apps
Apps like Slack, Google Calendar, and Asana are popular among small businesses because they help streamline communication between employees and clients.
But if these apps aren’t integrated with your time tracking software, employees might not be able to access their tasks from other apps — which means more work for them and fewer opportunities for automation.
Boost your productivity with WebWork Time Tracker
WebWork is a time-tracking and employee-monitoring software for businesses and remote teams with the features you need most.
With the help of WebWork, you can:
- Track all time spent by your employees on their daily tasks in real time, including screenshots and web usage.
- Monitor employee attendance, track tasks, and project progress, assign shifts to employees, and get notified when they arrive or leave work.
- Create reports based on your employees’ activities and performance, analyze trends and improve team productivity.
- And much more.
With more than 10 available features you can boost your productivity and scale up your team efforts.
Conclusion
Time tracking is critical to any business and the importance behind it cannot be emphasized enough.
A good time tracker should be able to streamline all your work processes and let you focus on your core competency.
WebWork’s time tracking software brings a host of features with it too, including browser extensions, customizable team dashboard, reporting and much more.
