Businesses Prefer Online Time Tracking to Paper

The most preferred method of employee time-tracking is via web application on a tablet, phone, or PC, according to a recent study by Paychex, a provider of integrated human capital management solutions for payroll, human resources, retirement, and insurance services. In addition to the 29% of business owners surveyed, 14% like their workforce to track their time using a mobile app.

Tracking time using an online solution is gaining a lot of momentum, especially among younger business owners. Sixty-one percent of business owners age 18-34 prefer tracking time using a website or mobile application, while nearly half (47%) of business owners age 50 or older prefer to track time worked via paper timesheet. Overall, the latter was the second-most desired (20%) among all respondents. Seventeen percent of those surveyed say they prefer relying on the use of a physical timeclock, followed by businesses that rely on a mobile app to track employees’ time worked.

“Simply put, tracking time using some sort of online application makes smart business sense,” said Tom Hammond, Paychex vice president of corporate strategy and product management. “Tracking time in real-time using an online method helps to ensure accuracy and minimize errors that can easily happen when employees are using paper or a spreadsheet. While those options appear to be both simple and free, organizations that choose to go that route are missing out on saving time, money, and insight into their workforce that ultimately provides employees with simplified methods to record their time worked.”

Paychex’s research found that once a time and attendance approach is adopted, many business owners don’t change their method(s). In fact, 36% of respondents claim they’ve never changed their time and attendance solution and of that group, 50% have been in business for longer than 10 years.

“From time-tracking to payment processing and everything in between, it’s important for organizations to evaluate their business solutions from time-to-time,” Hammond continued. “Over the last decade we’ve seen incredible advances in technology. Innovation has led to opportunities for increased efficiency. Let’s face it, all of us are looking for ways to save time, for ourselves and our teams. Taking a closer look at manually intensive processes makes sense.”

While the primary function of any time and attendance solution is to capture time worked, many of today’s solutions offer secondary features and functions that can increase efficiency and save time. In fact, nearly half (48%) of respondents said that the most important reason to invest in a time keeping solution was the efficiency and accuracy of collecting time for payroll reporting.

According to Paychex’s poll, small business owners felt that the following are the most important secondary features of time and attendance: scheduling (32%), employee self-service (20%), analytics (14%), absence management (13%), points tracking (9%), GPS/geofencing (7%), and other (6%).

Paychex, the largest payroll provider among small businesses, will be exhibiting at the American Payroll Association’s 2017 Congress, May 17-20, 2017, at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Fla. For attendees looking to learn more about workforce management tools like time and attendance that can help payroll professionals better position themselves as a strategic partner within the organization, Paychex experts will be located at booth #811 in the expo hall.

In addition to exhibiting, Paychex leaders will be presenting the following sessions as a part of the show programming:

Real World: Health Care Reform
Paychex Presenters: Jenine Hallings, payroll tax compliance manager, and Laurie Savage, senior compliance analyst
Tuesday, May 16, 9:45 – 11:15 a.m. ET

IRS Reporting: What a Service Provider Needs to Know About Employment Tax
Paychex Presenter: Jenine Hallings, payroll tax compliance manager (with others)
Tuesday, May 16, 2:15 – 3:45 p.m. ET

Positioning Payroll as a Leader Activity
Wednesday, May 17, 9:45 – 11:15 a.m. ET

Regulatory Update on Employment Law
Paychex Presenter: Laurie Savage, senior compliance analyst (with others)
Friday, May 19, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET

To learn more about Paychex at APA Congress 2017, click here.