What is time and attendance software? 

Time and attendance software – or timesheet software – allows employers to track the hours their employees work with greater ease and accuracy. 

Beyond this basic function, time and attendance software can also help employers maintain compliance with labor laws, cut down on admin, access data via reporting functions, and enable staff to check their hours or make HR requests online.  

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Solving problems with timesheet software 

With suitable time and attendance software, you can overcome the pitfalls of manual or non-automated systems like: 

  • Employees committing time fraud by intentionally misreporting their hours 
  • Human error affecting accurate timekeeping 
  • More admin required to keep the system running, e.g. manual data entry 
  • A higher risk of non-compliance with labor laws

How to optimize your online timesheet system 

If you’re investing in an online timesheet system backed by sophisticated time-tracking software, you’ll want to ensure you’re making the most of its capabilities.  

  • Integrate timesheet software with payroll

    To get the most benefit from your time and attendance software, make sure it’s fully integrated with your payroll system. 

    In other words, make sure your time tracking system can communicate directly with your payroll system, so data can flow back and forth automatically. In practice, both your timesheet and payroll software should feel like they’re working as one seamless system. 

    This not only speeds up the payroll process, it can also drastically reduce human error. For example, instead of someone in HR copying over timesheet data into a spreadsheet and emailing to payroll, the data is transferred automatically from one system to the next.  

  • Take advantage of real-time updates

    Another advantage of an integrated online system is timesheet information is accessible and updated in real-time.  

    When you’re tracking employee hours with an online timesheet system, every new piece of data is accessible as soon as it’s uploaded. This means you can easily monitor progress – and quickly resolve any discrepancies that crop up. 

    By ensuring your HR and payroll teams know how to use your time and attendance software to check and manage figures, you can take advantage of real-time updates and achieve even greater efficiency. 

  • Use data to support smarter decision-making

    Today’s time and attendance software does far more than just record who’s worked when. The best examples allow you to compile and analyze data, meaning you can make smarter strategic decisions.  

    In some cases, your time and attendance software will provide you with a reporting suite, so you can quickly analyze data on: 

    • Staffing levels  
    • Absenteeism 
    • Late arrivals and early departures 

    Understanding these patterns allows you to address potential problems before they affect productivity.  

    For example, by monitoring for instances of under or over-staffing, you can adjust staffing levels to meet demand more effectively. This helps in managing labor costs and maintaining high levels of customer service. 

  • Improve employee satisfaction

    Your time and attendance software can help you implement sought-after employee benefits. 

    For example, if you were to introduce flexible working (or flexitime), an online timesheet system could accurately capture all hours worked and automatically calculate flexi-time debt as it accrues or diminishes. 

    You could also use your system’s advanced analytics capabilities to review how different flexi-time arrangements affect productivity. 

    Offering your staff more flexibility will increase employee satisfaction – and having reliable timesheet software means you don’t need to tie yourself up in knots to provide it. 

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Featured Guide

Your guide to time and attendance software 

The right employee time management software can transform the way you manage and support your people. Find out everything you need to know about online timesheets and more. 

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Top timesheet software features  

Time and attendance software can come with a range of fantastic features, including: 

  • Real-time data tracking with GPS timekeeping capability 
  • Seamless integration with payroll and HR solutions 
  • Cloud-based timesheet portals for easy remote usage 
  • User-friendly interfaces so ease of access and use 
  • Automatic alerts to help maintain compliance

The multi-functional time and attendance solution from IRIS 

Our clients don’t just want a system that can track their employee’s hours – they want a time and labor solution that makes workforce management easier all-round. 

IRIS software is designed to meet the needs of any organization, whatever their scale, sector or timesheet requirements.  

For accounting firms and payroll service bureaus, you receive an integrated payroll and time and attendance solution which you can pass on to your clients.  

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