What does a time tracking system cost?

Costs vary depending on the solution and the provider. You need to distinguish between purchase costs and the cost of processing the data afterwards. The latter is usually forgotten when choosing a system, but it does considerable damage to businesses in the long run.

Which solutions are available?

The classic solutions are by hand with pen and paper or in an Excel spreadsheet, electronically via a chip card system, or digitally via an app.

What does time tracking really cost your business?

The different solutions

Working time tracking is not a new topic in Germany. In many industries, employers have had to record their employees' hours for years, and for mini-jobbers and temporary staff, who are usually paid by the hours worked, time tracking is nothing new. That is why the market offers many different solutions for time tracking systems. Digital, electronic, with pen and paper or as an Excel spreadsheet. Every solution has its own advantages, disadvantages and cost factors.

When choosing a time tracking system, keep in mind that not all solutions meet the requirements set by the European Court of Justice. Read more about it here.

1. Pen and paper

The classic and probably oldest form of working time tracking is recording hours on so-called timesheets. The start and end of the work assignment are written down by hand on a sheet of paper, usually with notes on break times. At the end of a working day, week or month, these sheets are collected and evaluated by hand. It is not unusual for times to be rounded generously, for sheets to be filled in incorrectly or for them to get lost. Processing these timesheets afterwards also involves a lot of administrative effort, which costs time and money, and it is fairly error-prone. It does have the advantage, however, that there are no purchase costs beyond paper and pen.

2. Time tracking with Excel spreadsheets

To save themselves a pile of paper, many businesses therefore fall back on Excel spreadsheets. There are plenty of templates for this online, most of them free. Instead of noting the hours on a sheet of paper, the start and end of work are entered into these tables. Using various formulas, the program can automatically add up the hours worked, deduct break times and even create a monthly overview. But here, too, time tracking depends on the entries being correct. Hours can be rounded, breaks left out and entries forgotten. And the resulting hours reports still have to be processed afterwards, which again costs time and money.

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3. Electronic time tracking with chip card systems

To make sure the recorded hours are correct, employers introduce electronic systems. One or more terminals are installed in the office where employees can clock in and out using chip cards. The often central position of these terminals is meant to prevent not only forgotten clock-ins, but above all to make sure the hours worked are recorded correctly. The system archives the recorded times and creates an automatic hours overview at the end of the month. This saves employers extra administrative work and lets them be confident that the times are accurate.

However, these systems are not only very expensive, they are also entirely unsuitable for field work. And the popular home office is not covered by the costly chip terminals either. There you still have to fall back on pen and paper. These devices are not error-free either. Maintenance work is usually very time-consuming and expensive. A device that fails therefore often means going back to pen and paper.

4. Digital time tracking systems via app

In businesses that depend on field work and installation work in particular, digital time tracking via app has therefore been spreading. Employees can clock in at the start and end of work using their phone or a fixed tablet terminal in the office, have break times recorded and so make sure all hours are captured correctly. In the field and in the home office, the app also allows tracking offline.

The advantage of this solution, besides being able to track on the move and getting an automatic timesheet at the end of the month, are features that reduce administrative overhead in project management in particular. Apps such as clockin can record travel time and project-related hours alongside the usual working hours. That not only makes work in the office easier, it also delivers solid proof and data for realistic customer invoices. Integrations with other programs such as lexoffice or DATEV can also make the follow-up work considerably easier.

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What does each option cost me?

Which solution is right for you and your business depends on your requirements. Even so, costs naturally play a big part in this decision.

1. Pen and paper

As mentioned earlier, pen and paper cost you nothing at first glance: no purchase costs, no training, easy to understand. But tracking time on paper, and the paperwork chaos that comes with it, costs you a great deal of administrative effort and therefore time and money. In figures, with a headcount of 15 (at an average hourly wage of €18) that can add up to over 700 hours a year and thus over €13,000.

2. Excel

Unlike pen and paper, Excel does come with purchase costs, unless you fall back on the free versions such as Open Office or Google Sheets. But it reduces the administrative effort afterwards only very slightly.

3. Electronic time tracking

Terminals for electronic time tracking with chip cards cost around €1,000 on average and get more expensive from there, depending on the manufacturer and the features. The additional chip cards usually have to be bought separately, and having skilled workers install and configure the system costs money as well. With these devices, though, the follow-up work is considerably lower, because it mostly happens automatically.

4. Digital time tracking via app

Many different providers have different offerings for digital time tracking via app, and therefore different cost models too. There are solutions with one-off costs, subscription models paid per year or per month, or models based on the number of licenses. Costs therefore vary massively from provider to provider. Even so, let us work the costs out using one example: with a headcount of 15, the Starter plan at clockin costs you €53 a month. Compared with tracking time on paper, that is over €6,900 less per year.

At clockin you can choose not only the number of licenses, but also between different plans. The Pro and Expert plans offer further features to reduce administrative overhead in the office and optimise work processes. Here you can even save up to €22,000 a year.

Work out your own savings with clockin using our savings calculator.

Conclusion

As you can see, which time tracking model suits you depends on your requirements. And depending on company size and features, the costs can vary a great deal. But deciding on a time tracking system also gives you the chance to take another step towards digital transformation and therefore towards more efficient processes.

Time tracking that pays for itself

Less effort, lower costs – from day one

With clockin you replace paper, Excel and manual rework with a solution your team can use straight away – with no setup costs and no IT effort.

You clock working hours via app, terminal or browser – entirely without paper.
You have timesheets ready at the push of a button – exportable straight to payroll.
You see at a glance what manual time tracking really costs you.

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