Teaching business owners what the best employee time tracking apps are and how they benefit employee management and payroll.
Staying up late to input employee working hours line by line in a spreadsheet is an antiquated method of management. These days, employee tracking apps take the concept of spreadsheets and create an entire employee management and payroll solution.
Learn five of the most efficient time-tracking apps on the market today, the key features of each, and the pros and cons.
What To Look For in an Employee Time Tracking App
Time-tracking software for employees provides a number of solutions for businesses of all sizes. Your best timekeeping option will depend entirely on the specific needs of your business.
Take a look at the following qualities that separate a pretty good timekeeping app from one that positively changes how you manage employees.
- Automation: Great apps include automation for most of their features, so your team saves time from completing tasks manually.
- Geolocation: Businesses with employees that work on location should prioritize apps with GPS tracking to get the most accurate results.
- Cost: Fixed rates for apps almost always have financial benefits for companies with more employees than pricing that is based per seat.
1. Timecamp – Best for B2B Companies
Timecamp is a time-tracking tool that works for teams as well as freelancers. The app includes a desktop and mobile version so teams can be prepared in the office or at home. The app tracks time in the background without being invasive to the user’s experience. It keeps track of all attendance records so you can understand who is missing shifts or requesting off frequently.
Employees only need to start and stop their timesheet for Timecamp to automatically log it into the system and track and transfer it to payroll. The software sets up invoices with specific billing rates there, making sending them to your clients easy.
The app is incredibly easy to use, and your team won’t need to spend weeks figuring out how to integrate it. Instead, they will be able to use the large integration capability to add it to their workflows without missing a beat. The dashboard is user-friendly as well, so admins and team members alike will see all their data at a glance.
Key Features
- Payroll system
- Advanced reporting
- Project management, accounting, sales and dev tools integrations
- Project management
- Track employee attendance, vacation and holidays
Pros
- Good for teams and freelancers
- Easy to use, yet great time tracking solution
Cons
- Can become pretty pricey depending on the size of your team
- Requires several integrations to support some of the features listed above
- Not a huge variety of features
2. Toggl – Best for Measuring Productivity
Toggl is adaptable to the needs of freelancers or big teams. The premium features include the basic timesheet log capabilities, but they also include monetary value for each hour tracked, making it easier for companies to track budgets across various projects. You can assign different values for each employee to make it even more specific.
If employees forget to clock in or out, the app sends a notification to remind them to do so. Hours can also be entered manually or integrated into a calendar to fit the needs of your business. ToggleTrack can even tell the software you’re currently using and suggest a time entry based on your activity if you haven’t already started one.
Detailed reporting makes it easy for business owners to understand their budgeted working hours at a glance. You can view data by day, week, month, or year and separate it by client or project.
Key Features
- Automatically round time entries
- Time tracking
- Easily filter reports
- Candidate screening and onboarding
- Project planning
- Integration with over 100 apps
Pros
- Quick to start and implement
- Attractive and easy-to-use interface
Cons
- Premium access is expensive
- No invoicing abilities
- Some functions are hard to use
3. Timely – Best for Project Management
Timely is unique in that you and your employees don’t need to log hours at all for the platform to work. Unlike other time tracking software that requires an employee to click a few times, Timely stores all of your computer activity and stores it in its Memory Tracker. Then, it takes the work and pieces it together, suggesting time entries along the way.
Once you’ve reviewed all the information and made any necessary changes, the app stores any and all adjustments. Over time, the app learns how to properly label time entries based on your preferences and correct them for the future.
Key Features
- Easily track employee task progress
- Easily track project statuses
- Integrates with tons of apps
Pros
- Provides clear oversight on projects and time spent on projects
- Easy to use and well designed
Cons
- Not a good fit for gyms or physical therapy businesses
- Users cannot set up recurring time-tracking events
4. Connecteam – Best All-In-One Employee Time Tracking App
Connecteam is a comprehensive time-tracking platform that works from any device anywhere in the world. The app allows you to track employee hours and manage accurate timesheets. It includes a user-friendly interface any employee can learn. A mobile app and desktop make it easy for you and your team to access, whether working remotely or on-site.
The app is more than a time-tracking solution. It includes payroll capabilities so you can streamline the work between tracking hours and processing payroll. The automated timesheets minimize human error, including real-time notifications and alerts for time discrepancies. The process makes it easier to remain compliant with labor laws and ensures all employees are fairly compensated.
Employers no longer have to question where their employees are or if they are abusing time clock privileges. Now, you can track your employees ‘ exact location using GPS to ensure they are on-site and in the area where the work is supposed to be completed. They also can’t clock in and out for their friends since each employee is individually tracked.
Key Features
- Job, project, or client-specific time-tracking options
- Automated timesheets
- Payroll integrations
- Real-time location tracking
- One-touch clock in & out
Pros
- Great customer support
- Budget-friendly
- Intuitive and easy to use
- All-in-one solution
Cons
- More integrations in development
5. ClickUp – Best for Freelancers
ClickUp includes a number of productivity tools under its platform that help manage team activity and streamline workflows. One of the flagship products, the employee hours tracker, lets you track each employee’s time and add estimates. Over time, you can improve project quotes and budgets by accurately estimating hours worked for each project.
Other features include building and customizing timesheets and viewing detailed reporting of time entries. All of these help you and your team allocate resources more efficiently and better manage timekeeping for each project.
Clickup is much more than an employee management tool. It has native apps for managing tasks, creating whiteboards, customized dashboards, team chats, goal setting, and docs for writing content or notes. To make it even more appealing to business owners, ClickUp recently integrated an AI tool that helps with writing and idea generation.
Key Features
- Detailed time reporting and dashboards
- Flexible hierarchy for better workflow management
- Integration with over 1000 apps
- Functional and customizable features
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Affordable pricing plans
- 24/7 customer support
- Complete customization capabilities
Cons
- Steep learning curve due to amount of features
- No table view in the mobile app
What Are Employee Time Tracking Apps?
A time-tracking app uses software to track and collect data on selected amounts of time. As an employer, you’ll use it to track how much time employees spend on specific tasks. It also has a number of other benefits for businesses.
For example, some features of time tracking apps include a one-touch clock in and out, job-specific tracking, online timesheets, location tracking, time off management, and payroll integration. You’ll even be able to see which employees are working on specific projects and assign a monetary value to each hour tracked.
These types of apps allow employers to accurately manage employee hours, benefits, and wages in accordance with federal labor laws.
Benefits of Using Employee Time Tracking Apps
Employee time-tracking apps have leveraged technology to provide convenience, efficiency, and accountability. Here are some benefits a company should expect to gain when using timekeeping apps.
- Regulatory Compliance: Time-tracking solutions organize employee labor hours for you to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
- Low Error Rates: The IRS reported that 33% of employers are guilty of payroll errors. Tracking apps minimize human error by removing human interaction as much as possible.
- Everything is Automatic: Save time, money, and labor costs by automating the organization and tracking your team’s working hours.
