Dealing with employees and managers who are chronically late submitting their timesheets is a problem that has plagued payroll and human resource folks since the beginning of time. You've heard how time and attendance systems drive the bottom line but somehow struggle to meet timecard submission deadlines.
Late Timecards - The Complete Guide on How to Avoid Them
We have a few tips and time and attendance strategies for the modern workforce, that will give you the winning edge and ensure your time and attendance processes are efficient and streamlined for all users.
Keep Time Entry, Submission, & Timecard Approval Simple
Your employees and managers will be destined for success if you make time tracking and other time and labor features available to them through a modern, cloud-based time and labor solution, so processes for day-to-day entry, submission, and approval steps are simple and easy for them to follow.
Make every effort possible to streamline and create efficiencies for your end-users. Evaluate what can be done better with your time and labor management practices and policies. Are you setting up your users for success? Can you automate rules, rely on reporting, or simplify processes using security overrides to reduce the buckets your users interact with? Can you consolidate data, clean up old and unused pay rules, or segment complex time tracking requirements into specific departments or job classifications? Make every effort possible to streamline and create efficiencies for your end users through cloud-based time and attendance software.
Clearly Define Timecard Submission & Timecard Approval Deadlines
Set time card submission deadlines for your employees and approval deadlines for your managers. Make sure your written policies are clear and enforce the rules in your time and labor management system. Uniformity in your policy and consistency in your practice open the doors for coaching and progressive discipline policies to correct errant behavior as it occurs.
Use Automatic Timecard Approval Reminders for Managers & Employees
Sending email reminders to employees and managers each pay period to remind them and guide them through the process of submitting or approving time.
Employee messages should convey what they are required to do when they are required to do it, and explain why it is important. In a similar fashion, emails to managers who approve time should be crafted to remind them that they are responsible for approving timesheets by the approval deadline. Be sure to explain why timely approval is important, and discuss the impact missing timesheets have on other departments and the company as a whole.
In every case, you should remind your users how easy it is to submit or approve timesheets.
Timecard approval reminders are just one of the many benefits of using a cloud-based time and labor solution.
Make Timecard Submissions and Approvals Easy & Accessible
Take all excuses away from your users by ensuring your workforce has access to submit and approve timesheets from their computers and mobile devices. Be sure to message how easy it is to access, submit, and approve timesheets in your email communications to all users so everyone is aware of the flexible options.
Use mobile technology, and cautiously use restrictions that prevent access. If you feel the urge to restrict access, make sure your bad example employees aren't ruining it for everyone else.
Again, this is all made much easier and much more possible with a powerful time and labor solution at your back.
Get Managers Involved in the Timecard Process
Make sure you've clearly communicated to managers that they are required to approve timesheets. Send email notifications up the chain of command when users neglect their approval duties. Persistent offenders will be used to hearing their managers complain each pay period- but they're likely to take note if they hear from a Director or VP., more often than not they will correct their behavior immediately.
Don't Reduce Pay for Late Timecard Submissions
Anyone who struggled to fix late submissions can relate to the desire to dock pay or charge a penalty to repeat offenders. Avoid the urge and the risk associated with penalty pay strategies. Instead, work with employees and managers to follow your processes and make every effort to determine correct hours.
These simple but effective steps are a sure-fire way to quell your late submissions problems. If you're manually tracking time, or using a legacy system that isn't capable of automation OR makes you're life difficult then it may be time to evaluate your options.
For employers who are continuing to struggle with timecard submissions, timecard approvals, and reminders, it may be time to consider a flexible, cloud-based time and labor solution. To see how Inflection HR is already helping countless businesses manage their timecard submissions, as well as time and attendance, contact us today.
Inflection HR's modern cloud-based time and labor solutions empower and engage your workforce and can dramatically improve your payroll processes by reducing activities that cause payroll inflation.
