What employers gain from tracking working hours

Q: What benefits does digital time tracking bring in practice?

The classic formula is: Productivity = output / input It saves time, reduces sources of error and gives you an overview of working hours and project hours at any time. Employers can plan more efficiently, pay employees fairly and improve internal processes measurably - all digital and mobile, entirely without paperwork chaos.

7 benefits of time tracking for employers

One topic has been causing unrest in many German boardrooms since September 2022: the obligation to record working time. It often feels like just another tiresome cost factor. But it does not have to be. We have set out the benefits time tracking can bring for you and your business, and above all how the right decision can save you not just time but money too.

Die wichtigsten Fragen im Überblick

Why should employers use time tracking?

Time tracking creates transparency, protects you against legal risks and helps you document working hours fairly and verifiably. Modern systems such as clockin also make payroll easier and show where processes can be improved - with no extra work for the team.

What benefits does digital time tracking bring in practice?

It saves time, reduces sources of error and gives you an overview of working hours and project hours at any time. Employers can plan more efficiently, pay employees fairly and improve internal processes measurably - all digital and mobile, entirely without paperwork chaos.

Isn't time tracking really a monitoring instrument?

Not if it is used properly. Digital time tracking is not there for surveillance, but as a shared tool for more fairness, transparency and efficiency in day-to-day work. It builds trust and shows appreciation for the work people do.

What is the legal basis?

With the ruling of the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht), published in December 2022, new time tracking requirements are settled for German businesses: employers are obliged to introduce a time tracking system. What those systems have to look like is to be laid down by a working time recording act that is still pending. In April 2023 the Federal Ministry of Labour (Bundesarbeitsministerium) presented a first draft for an obligation to record working time electronically.

We answer all the questions around the obligation to record working time here.

Your benefits as an employer

Even now, though, we can say that a law on time tracking can bring you major benefits. Whether in how you communicate with your employees, in project management or in how you deploy your resources. With the right time tracking system you save yourself not just nerves, but time and money too.

1. Less paperwork chaos

Depending on which time tracking system you choose, it will often offer you further features that make your working day easier. With digital time tracking in particular, providers often make it possible to manage absences digitally. Sick leave notifications and vacation requests can be submitted and uploaded online. That saves you a great deal of paperwork chaos and time.

2. Transparency

Time tracking means getting a better overview of the hours your employees have worked. That can create more trust and transparency in the business. Your employees can be sure that you have an overview of the work they put in, and you have a better overview of capacity.

3. Resource management

A better overview of the hours your employees have worked also leads to better use of resources. Deploy the right employees in the right places and work even more efficiently. Your business automatically increases its productivity.

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4. Recording project hours and travel time

Working time tracking can bring major benefits in more than just people management. The right time tracking system can also offer you the option of project time tracking. With digital time tracking via an app, for example, your employees can not only record the time they have worked but also assign it automatically to different projects. Travel time can be tracked the same way.

5. Solid evidence for customers

Recording travel time and project hours goes down well with customers, too. With precisely recorded project hours, your customers have reliable proof of the hours worked.

6. Accuracy

Working time tracking therefore does not only mean that wages are paid out correctly. Reliable data lets you bill customers correctly and stops you asking a customer for less money because of a calculation error.

7. Process optimisation

As an employer, you see in the end how much time went into a project. Once a project is finished, you can see in the project overview to what extent the planned hours were used up. That way you can always keep an eye on whether the real effort matches the plan. This is how you secure satisfied customers, lower costs and optimal project management.

Three people standing at a high table, two women with their backs to the camera and a man. The woman on the right is high-fiving the man. The woman on the left is looking at the woman on the right. Other people are standing in the background

The right time tracking solution

As you can see, time tracking can bring you many benefits as an employer. The various solutions differ widely from one another, though, and depending on how you record hours, further features can reduce your daily workload and improve your work processes.

You will find an overview of the different working time tracking systems here.

To get everything out of time tracking, we recommend introducing a digital time tracking system. That way you save yourself a lot of paperwork chaos, time and money, and create a transparent and open working atmosphere.

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