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Gathering employee data has always been a distraction for owners and managers alike, which is why many businesses have turned to online time tracking tools like Timesheets.com. Web enabled time tracking services help employers take control of their businesses by allowing them to reduce costs while greatly improving various efficiencies. Eliminating manual overtime calculations, tracking time off balances in spreadsheets, and wondering what employees worked on from day to day are just some of the benefits realized by modernizing.
Additional efficiencies are gained by reducing costly mistakes due to human-error, both in payroll and billing functions. Employers and their bookkeepers who formerly had to spend hours each week sorting out spreadsheets or paper timesheets can now generate reports in seconds that accurately display the information they need to complete their tasks. Also, regulatory requirements for things like proper overtime calculations and record keeping are built right into these systems as well, meaning employers can rest easy and assume they’re complying with the law.
In addition to the benefits realized by modernizing the time tracking process, the cost of doing business goes down – even with the addition of a new monthly bill. Below is a Q&A with Joel Slatis, CEO of Timesheets.com. Joel has a BSIE from the California Polytechnic State University and has been working in web-enabled technology for more than 20 years.
Q: Who is Timesheets.com and how did you get started?
Timesheets.com is a cloud-based time and expense tracking solution for any small to midsize business. Timesheets.com was founded in 2004 by our small team of web developers when we needed an in-house solution for payroll time tracking. For most of the first decade, the business was mainly just a part-time project for our development team who spent most of their time building web sites for third party customers. By 2013 the product had reached a point where there the business was so demanding, it no longer made sense to take on new web development customers. Our team shifted to focus exclusively on developing and improving the Timesheets.com service and closed the old web development company for good after 15 years in business.
As a product that grew over time and at a relatively slow pace, Timesheets.com developed truly organically from customer-requested features. This approach allowed our team flexibility to meet customer demand and lead to a solid product with a dedicated customer base and a high customer retention rate. Today, Timesheets.com continues to grow and improve as it enters its 15th year with positive cash flow, no debt and hundreds of 5 start reviews.
Q: What services does Timesheets.com provide?
Timesheets.com provides time tracking for both payroll and billing purposes. Employers use the system to track attendance, time off, and hours spent on customers, projects, and tasks. Timesheets.com also has native mileage and expenses tracking eliminating the need for yet another product integration. The service is customizable so managers can choose which features they will use which features to hide from their employees. In fact, most businesses only one or two of the available features and disable the rest. Whatever the case is, Timesheets.com can cater to just about any specific need.
Here is a list of primary features available from Timesheets.com:
- Time clock for payroll or attendance
- Time tracking for billing and job costing
- Paid time off and time off accrual tracking
- Mileage and expense tracking
- Human resource documentation
- Scheduling
- The Timesheets.com ProPartner™ Program
The Timesheets.com manager’s Dashboard, pictured below, shows just how useful and accessible the service is. Real-time attendance information as well as time and expense data are available with drilldown specifics for every total just one click away. Tabs along the top of the dashboard offer quick access to time-off accrual totals, HR documentation, and inactive users.
Q: Who are your ideal customers?
Although Timesheets.com caters to small and midsize businesses, companies with up to 1000 employees can comfortably use the service. The software is ideal for any company that needs to track employee time whether in an office setting or when working remotely. We serve businesses in many industries including
- Professional offices such as insurance, legal, title, and accounting offices
- Medical, chiropractic, and dental offices
- construction and landscaping companies
- Manufacturing and warehousing
- Technology and IT companies
- Engineers and architectural offices
- Educational facilities from preschool to universities
- Home care providers
- Government offices including politicians, cities and libraries
- Franchises
Timesheets.com also offers discounts to non profit organizations and free service to freelancers, students, and other single users.
Q: How does timesheets handle security?
Time theft is an issue that nearly 3 out of every 4 employers face every day in the workplace, and it’s costly for every business. If employees aren’t being honest about their time spent on work, it can leave a business with an unnecessary financial burden. This is why Timesheets.com has invested time and energy developing ways to combat the different forms of time theft. Time theft manifests in various forms including buddy punching, time card fraud, extended breaks, and excessive personal time on the job. Also, many employees may not intend to steal time but do anyway by rounding time stamps or by recording time they intend to work before the work is actually completed.
Buddy punching is one of the most common forms of time theft that businesses face. Buddy punching occurs when an employee clocks in for another employee who not ready to begin work. This type of time theft gives employees extra work time they do not deserve and can add up to significant over-pay quickly when egregiously abused. To combat buddy punching, Timesheets.com created a solution called Photo Timestamp. The feature forces employees to take a selfie using an installed web-cam when punching the clock.
When businesses use spreadsheets or paper to track their time, they are relying on employee honesty to create accurate time stamps. This situation can lead to times card fraud whether an employee is willfully dishonest or not. While some employees may intentionally alter their timesheets to earn more money, others may simply be rounding numbers (i.e. writing down 5pm when the punch out was really at 4:58pm). Employees may think adding a few extra minutes to the time card here and there will not matter, but it adds up quickly. In fact, adding just 2-3 minutes per clock punch is the basis we use when we show our customers an ROI calculation to demonstrate the value of our service. To ensure that employees are not changing their time stamps without scrutiny, Timesheets.com has a formal approval process for all employee requests and allows requests to be submitted electronically by the employee for audit and accountability purposes.
Time card fraud can also occur when employees punch the clock from unapproved locations. Allowing employees to punch in from anywhere may be just what an employer is looking for, but if the employee needs to be on site before they punch in, we have a solution. Timesheets.com can be locked to one or more specific IP addresses, and for those employees who work offsite, we can capture GPS location from the employee’s mobile device.
Accumulating unapproved overtime pay is a major concern for most employers. While eliminating buddy punching and other forms of time card fraud work to inherently reduce overtime abuse, Timesheets.com administrators can customize settings to further protect against the problem. Employee punch times can be restricted before a specific time of day, and employees can be prevented from working beyond certain times as well.
Q: How does Timesheets.com manage time off?
With multiple employees it can be difficult planning and scheduling time off. Managers have to find a balance between making employees happy and also making sure that the workplace has enough staff to operate normally. Luckily Timesheets.com has an easy-to-use leave management system that makes requesting and approving time off a fast and informative process. Employees can use the manual time entry form in their accounts to create and submit a time off request. That request is automatically sent to the manager for approval. The manager can see who is requesting time off, the date of the request, the number of hours requested, and the employee’s current accrual balance.
If the manager is concerned about the number of people asking for time off for any given date, they can check the time off calendar which aggregates all employee requests into a single view allowing an informed decision on whether to approve or deny a new request.
Q: Creating reports for payroll and invoicing can be a timely process. How does Timesheets.com exporting and reporting work?
Timesheets.com allows managers to create reports for almost any purpose by incorporating filters for every attribute tracked in time and expense data. Reports are available in real-time and are available in summary or detailed formats which can be viewed on screen or downloaded as text files or PDFs. Timesheets.com data works especially well with payroll and invoicing software like QuickBooks, ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Sage, and others with more planned. We understand that everyone has different needs, therefore our support team is available to help create the right report for your accounting or payroll software.