Why the world’s going timesheet crazy right now

Whoa there. Something strange’s happening.

The whole world’s been fanatical about remote working and asking us about enabling remote teams. 

Then, all of a sudden, customers and prospects are now mad for timesheets and added tracking of how their employees’ time’s spent, where they are and what they’re doing.

Seems like a total contradiction in the marketplace right?

Have we gone from a brave new world of free-as-a-bird digital nomads back to a draconian, control-freak culture? (‘Those bearded, craft beer-swilling, avocado-munching millennials and plaid-clad hipsters have ruined smart working for everyone haven’t they?’ we hear you cry).

‘Time spent making avocado on toast: 56 minutes’ Seen that on a timesheet before? Thought not. What? You have?

And … relax. Digging deeper we see that actually, it’s the burgeoning flexible-working climate that’s demanding new levels of ‘control‘.

Remote-team managers are wising up that they need to have a handle on whose time’s spent on what, so they can responsibly ensure their group’s productivity’s measured and well guided.

Plus many flex workers like to show an account of how their time was spent – even just for themselves – in the absence of being physically near their managers. (If they keep them up-to-date – or have a smart HR software system to remind them too!)

That’s also the kind of taking of responsibility that employers look for from workers they need to trust, especially ‘less visible‘ employees.

Sure, we’ve got more brick-and-mortar firms still needing to get up-to-speed on their compliance (yawn) obligations to log working hours too.

(The latest UK statutory leave entitlement or annual leave regulations can be checked at: gov.uk – holiday-entitlement. In Ireland the Irish annual leave sick pay legislation is outlined at citizensinformation.ie – Holiday Entitlement.)

Flashy, shiny tech Cos aren’t the only organisations wanting an uplift in tracking who’s at work and when.

Not everyone works in an office role and so mobile-friendly clocking of hours and new ways of checking into work are super popular right now.

And many of those types of employers also have more complicated working patterns and remuneration structures – intermingled with added security measures – to manage.

So an upgrade to traditional Time and Attendance systems is a priority.

Lots of firms are catering to their workforce’s preferences on how they check into work and bringing that into this century.

Bottom line: The writing (excuse the pun) on the wall for traditional clocking-in systems as sectors, such as manufacturing, look to modernise the experience for all types of employees.

But the principles remain the same, however, your organisation is structured, or wherever it’s located: smart workers prove how their time’s spent best.

You can expect nearly all types of organisations to have similar time and attendance systems, covering all types of working hours and arrangements in the coming years.

The future’s bright. And it certainly looks like it’ll be easier for both managers and employees to both 1. tick off this old-fashioned requirement and 2. reap the benefits of the added productivity that tracking employees worked hours can bring.