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Maximizing productivity should at all times be a top priority for business owners, but trying too hard to micromanage every inch of the operation can actually backfire.
An organization must have systems in place to maintain it running easily – from each day structure to setting meeting agendas, establishing goodwill and establishing hiring criteria – without them, the company can fail.
Time tracking is a great example of a system used by employers to enhance staff productivity by increasing self-awareness, encouraging responsibility, minimizing wasted time and maximizing profits.
Growing demand for time tracking software as a consequence of the increase in distant work may value the market for this technology at an estimated value $31.88 billion by 2028.
But not every thing is positive. While time tracking may look like a smart business move, it actually has its drawbacks if not used rigorously.
Trust is every thing
What separates good leaders from great leaders is their ability to supply guidance, resources and support to their team. At the same time, they need to provide employees with space for self-management.
A healthy skilled relationship between employer and worker relies largely on a strong sense of mutual trust and relatively balanced power dynamics. Tracking time to watch staff input and output can blur boundaries if clear expectations are not set.
Asking employees to log every minute of their working day can make employees feel unduly pressured and feel like they are not trusted to do their job. When employees do not feel trusted, trust might be broken each ways.
Chaining people to their desks
Over the past few years, the importance of a healthy work-life balance has been emphasized greater than ever. The fact is that individuals work higher when they have time for things that do not just revolve around work.
As a manager, being too picky about the times an worker logs into their time tracking tool each day could cause serious problems.
Employees are people, not machines – they need bathroom breaks, coffee breaks, day off for personal meetings, and the occasional early finish.
Time tracking often ignores these key elements of your work schedule. It may even result in employers penalizing employees for not spending a certain variety of (*5*) hours at their desks. The conclusion is that it is completely unrealistic.
Privacy Concerns: Is It Unethical?
Then there are big concerns about supervision.
Not only may there be legal requirements to watch staff productivity, but the morality of tracking an individual’s every move must even be questioned.
People come to work to do their job, earn money for a living, and profit from their efforts during their downtime. They don’t desire to feel like they’re always being watched or criticized for not working hard enough.
Excessive supervision might be a huge demotivator for employees. This may cause them to query what other activities are being monitored, which could lead on to serious conflict.
Cheating the system
When employers overly strictly regulate how their employees use time-tracking software, it leaves room for fraud. This is much more true as the number of individuals working from home increases.
Unless you are sitting in the office and physically monitoring what employees are doing, there isn’t any technique to tell if they’re actually doing their job. Your marketing manager can run a customer time tracker while lounging on a beach in a completely different country. You couldn’t be any smarter.
This brings us back to the trust factor. If employees feel too constrained by the pressure to make every second of labor count, they could be more willing to chop corners.
Don’t complicate success
There is a common misconception that tracking your employees’ every move will will let you determine exactly how much value they create to your organization.
The reality, nevertheless, is that there is no technique to 100% accurately measure a company’s success with this software. The key thing to recollect is that there is a distinct difference between productive and profitable.
Take staff meetings for example. They may not generate direct income, but they are essential to keeping your team updated and on the same page. Without such “non-accountable” activities, a company cannot function effectively. The same goes for prospecting and networking – the success of those interactions is too complex for time tracking software to measure.
Food for thought
While I’m in no way suggesting that business owners completely rule out time tracking software, as you possibly can see, there is a lot to contemplate.
If you select to make use of these systems in your workplace, it’s crucial to seek out a technique to use them that does not limit your team’s ability to do their job – or backfire.
Transparency is every thing. Inform your employees how time tracking might be implemented and monitored from the starting, and allow them to lift any concerns. It is also essential to commonly check what is working and what is not.
And if you do not think time tracking is right for your small business, there are loads of other, more traditional ways to measure success without it.