Clean working time tracking and documentation on the job site

The rule is: leave the dirt on the job site

"Job sites are dirty, dusty and messy." That is a cliché that does not apply to the plastering and rendering company Heinz Vorwerk GmbH. Cleanliness and order run not only through the work on site; in the office too, managing partner Frank Vorwerk and his team attach great importance to processes running properly.

The construction company's daily work includes classic plastering with mineral products. They do exterior façades, thermal insulation, renovation of older buildings and heritage conservation, and have specialised in mineral surface techniques.

It matters a great deal to them that their high-quality, design-led work is mirrored inside the business as well. That is why great importance is placed on clean processes and on keeping to standards.

The construction industry has its struggles too

In construction, though, it is not dirty boots that cause the headaches. It is challenges such as the building cycle, the skilled labor shortage and documentation obligations.

The economic crisis that crept in with Corona does not stop at the construction industry, and so Frank Vorwerk too sees the downturn in building activity as a "very hot topic for next year". If on top of that the supply of skilled workers stalls and bureaucratic processes eat up a great deal of effort, competitiveness in the market starts to wobble.

Vorwerk spots the advantage of digital transformation early

For many people, grubby folders and large filing cabinets are simply part of working in construction. Many different projects and job sites mean capturing, recording and archiving many different kinds of data, so that in the end resources can be calculated and employees paid correctly.

At Heinz Vorwerk GmbH this problem was recognised and tackled early. "Back then there was already the ruling from the European Court of Justice (EuGH), so something had to happen. And a key point is of course that the only way to be really concrete and effective is to digitalize the work in the office. Otherwise we can no longer keep up. We can't manage it any more," explains Frank Vorwerk.

That includes the working time tracking of his employees, which under the ECJ ruling has to be recorded daily.

Getting started can be easy too

So Frank Vorwerk starts looking for a digital time tracking system. The first system he settles on is a disappointment, however: "There was no real app, more just a start-stop button. You couldn't book breaks." So he puts together an in-house test group of field staff and office staff to try out what such a system actually has to do for them.

"It helped, of course, that the very people who have to use it were the ones engaging with it," explains Frank Vorwerk. The group opted for clockin while it was still in its infancy, and was soon in close contact with clockin.

The relief in the daily workload becomes noticeable

The new digital tool quickly caught on in the company. Employees simply clock in on the job site and the staff in the office have the data ready straight away. That way Frank Vorwerk and  his team always keep an overview of what is happening in the business right now.

"Every day I can look up how many hours have already been worked on the job site and how much has happened on site."

That way it is not only working hours that are recorded correctly. Employees can clock in directly on the relevant project, record travel time and clock breaks.

No more lugging folders around

But clockin does not only give him the option of recording his employees' working hours. The app lets the entire team view the project files digitally from anywhere.. Every employee not only has all the important documents to hand at all times, but can also record photos, notes and agreements on the job site in the digital project file. This data can be viewed directly in the office. That makes communication inside the company immensely easier.

For Frank Vorwerk, another important element is being able to create checklists. For the company that is a substantial relief in preparation:

"Everything gets asked and nothing gets forgotten. You do a job a hundred times and still always forget the same thing. That simply doesn't happen any more. We have a checklist for work preparation, risk assessments, bad weather, job site crews and so on."

40% time saved through digitalization

The clockin Office Center does not only help Frank Vorwerk keep an overview at all times: "The transfer of all data from clockin into DATEV is absolutely essential for us. That helps with payroll."

What the office staff previously needed five days for, they now manage in three days thanks to the integration. "And if we get a bit cleaner there still, it will be another day less," says Vorwerk.  

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