In addition to scheduling, performance management, and payroll, time tracking is an integral part of workforce management.
But how does time tracking help in workforce management?
Tracking employee work hours helps you identify performance patterns, track future workload, delegate tasks correctly, and more.
However, manual methods like Excel spreadsheets can be prone to human error.
That’s why you need an accurate time tracking tool to get correct time data.
In this article, we’ll highlight the top 10 time tracking software for workforce management along with the key features, pricing, and user ratings. We’ll also take a quick look at the five key benefits of using a time tracking tool for managing your workforce.
Table of Contents
- Top 10 time tracking software for workforce management
- 5 key benefits of using time tracking software for workforce management
Let’s get started.
Top 10 time tracking software for workforce management
Workforce management is an internal process that helps businesses optimize employee productivity and organizational competency.
Here’s a list of 10 excellent time tracking tools for efficient workforce management:
1. Time Doctor
Time Doctor is a powerful employee productivity and time tracking software that helps businesses record work hours, schedule employees, and boost team performance.
Used by large companies like Verizon and small businesses like Thrive Market, this tool offers the ultimate package of features that can help you manage your workforce efficiently.
Key features
Let’s check out some of Time Doctor’s best features:
A. Time tracking
Time Doctor offers user-friendly manual and automatic time tracking modes.
In the manual or interactive mode, an employee can start the timer when they begin their work and pause when they need a break.
Here’s how this works:
- Open Time Doctor and create a task (or choose an existing one).
- Click Start when you’re ready to begin.
- Press Stop when you’re done or need to pause.
In the automatic time tracker mode, this employee management tool starts tracking time when an employee turns on their desktops or during specific hours. This allows the timer to run silently in the background and have minimal impact on your workforce’s routine.
B. Idle time tracking
Time Doctor’s idle time tracking feature informs employees about their unproductive employee hours.
How does it work?
When Time Doctor detects zero mouse and keyboard activity for a predefined period of time, it sends a pop-up alert to the employee – gently nudging them to focus on their task.
Note: Time Doctor doesn’t support keylogging to protect user privacy. It only tracks if the keys are in use.
C. Screencasts (Optional)
The screencasts functionality lets you take screenshots of employees’ screens, giving you real-time insights into employee time and computer use.
Moreover, as this feature is optional, you can disable or enable it for employees’ computer screens.
Note: To protect user privacy, you can blur or delete screenshots with sensitive data like passwords.
D. Work schedules
Time Doctor’s work schedule feature enables you to easily set fixed and flexible employee schedules.
This time tracking app also helps in attendance tracking by displaying whether an employee is on time for a shift or not. It uses the following indicators:
- Present
- Absent
- Partially Absent
- Late
For instance, a team member who starts working in the afternoon will be marked ‘Partially Absent’. And a team member who didn’t track time will be marked ‘Absent’.
E. Productivity reports
Time Doctor generates detailed productivity reports that show how your workforce spends their work hours, helping you evaluate their performance.
Here are some of the reports:
- Attendance report: Displays when an employee is absent, present, late, partially absent, etc.
- Timeline report: Shows you how much time an employee spends on each task, project, and client.
- Activity summary report: Reports each employee’s idle minutes, active minutes, manual time, and mobile time.
- Hours tracked report: Displays every hour tracked by the employee during a day, week, or any selected date range.
- Web and app usage report: Check your employee’s time spent on different apps and websites.
F. Payroll management
With this time management tool, you can automatically generate payroll for your entire workforce in just a few clicks.
Here’s how you can do that:
- Select an hourly rate for each employee.
- Choose a payment method and currency for each employee.
- Save all the information you enter for the next payroll.
- Additionally, you can also make batch payments using Time Doctor. The tool lets you export and upload payroll to PayPal, Wise, Gusto, and ADP.
Discover Time Doctor’s other amazing features.
Pricing
Time Doctor’s supports a 14-day free trial that doesn’t require any credit card information. Its paid plans start at $7/user per month.
User ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (270+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (390+ reviews)
2. Connecteam
Connecteam is an all-in-one workforce management software suitable for remote workers as well as companies of all sizes and industries.
Key features
- Tracks work hours spent on jobs, projects, and clients with an employee time clock.
- Digitizes workflows and procedures with digital forms and checklists.
- Offers task automation and internal communication features for efficient task management.
- Has a drag and drop interface to quickly assign and duplicate employee schedules.
- Integrates with business apps like QuickBooks Online and Google Calendar.
Pricing
Connecteam has a free plan for up to 50 users. Paid plans start at $47/month for more than 50 users.
User ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (30+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (130+ reviews)
3. ActivTrak
ActivTrak is an employee monitoring and productivity management solution that offers intuitive insights for workforce management and workflow optimization.
Key features
- Automatically captures employees’ daily start time, end time, and work duration.
- Sets and tracks goals to boost motivation and track progress.
- Gives a summary of workforce performance and productivity trends with dashboards.
- Analyzes tracked data and offers personalized recommendations for workforce optimization.
- Provides detailed logs of user activities and security events for security monitoring.
Pricing
ActivTrak supports a limited free plan for up to three users. Paid plans start at $9/user per month.
User ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (190+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (530+ reviews)
4. Teamwork
Teamwork is a project management platform that offers valuable tools and reports for timekeeping, project planning, budgeting, resource management, and more.
Key features
- Offers time tracking software to effectively track time and bill client projects accurately.
- Supports task automation to streamline projects and focus on strategic and creative tasks.
- Displays key project metrics and activity timelines with the dashboard.
- Lets you easily create invoices using the billable time logs.
- Provides reports to track the profitability of projects based on time, cost, and budget.
Pricing
Teamwork has a free plan for up to five users. Paid plans start at $12.5/user per month.
User ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (950+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (650+ reviews)
5. BambooHR
BambooHR is a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. It helps HR (Human Resources) managers create custom workflows to collect and organize workforce data.
Key features
- Track and edit time worked on specific projects or tasks.
- Manage workforce data like personal information and payment methods with accurate employee records.
- Provides employee self-service options like time-off requests, company calendar, and directory.
- Efficiently manage information through all phases of hiring with the Applicant tracking system (ATS).
- Instantly generates intuitive reports on almost any data in the tool.
Pricing
It offers a 7-day free trial. Pricing is available on request.
User ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (1000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1500+ reviews)
6. Hubstaff
Hubstaff is a time tracking and task management tool that lets businesses manage their workforce through timesheets, GPS tracking, and project management functionalities.
Key features
- Desktop and mobile time clock apps to streamline scheduling, shift management, and paid time-off (PTO) requests.
- Prevents buddy punching with geofence-enabled employee time tracking.
- Offers automated timesheets generation based on the hours tracked.
- Determine workforce productivity trends and activity levels with app tracking and screenshots.
- Gives a bird’s eye view of changing hours, costs, and budgets with reports.
Pricing
Hubstaff supports a 14-day free trial. Paid plans start at $7/user per month.
User ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (380+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1200+ reviews)
7. Timecamp
Timecamp is a free time tracking solution that helps managers monitor how their workforce spends time, to boost productivity and efficiency.
Key features
- Track each employee’s time spent on apps, websites, and documents to allocate tasks efficiently.
- Automate timesheet approval process or set up notifications to alert when approval is due.
- Assign keywords to clients or projects to track time automatically.
- Simple clock in and out and leave-reporting for managing employee attendance.
- Set up custom billing rates for each team member, project, and client.
Pricing
Timecamp offers a limited free plan. Its paid plans start at $7/user per month.
User ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (170+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (500+ reviews)
8. Clockify
Clockify is a time tracking and attendance software solution that allows managers to track and monitor employee time, productivity, and billable hours.
Key features
- Track time for your tasks with the start and stop timer.
- See where you spend time and what your team is working on with dashboards.
- Visualize how your day looks and log time with calendars.
- Supports scheduling to help you plan projects and visualize the team’s capacity.
- Supports integration with tools like QuickBooks, Jira, and Helpscout.
Pricing
Clockify has a free plan with limited features. The paid plans start at $4.99/user per month.
User ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (110+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (2900+ reviews)
9. Shiftbase
Shiftbase is a user-friendly employee scheduling software that provides end-to-end solutions to start-ups, SMEs as well as enterprises.
Key features
- Punch in from anywhere using the mobile app, desktop, or a clock terminal.
- Set up repeating as well as standard shifts with the drag-and-drop interface.
- Indicate employee availability in the work schedule with the iOS and Android mobile apps.
- Add expected turnover to planning and see the percentage of labor costs in the employee schedules.
- Automatically forwards submitted absence requests to supervisors for a quick approval.
Pricing
Shiftbase offers a free plan for up to 75 employees. Its paid plans start at $2.75/user per month.
User ratings
- G2: N/A
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (170+ reviews)
10. Workday payroll and workforce management
Workday Payroll and Workforce Management is a cloud-based workforce management software that helps organizations automate repetitive tasks.
Key features
- Review and approve time for the entire team at once.
- Mobile time tracking with geofencing to remind employees to clock in and clock out.
- Easily track time-off, leave requests, balances, and accruals.
- AI-powered scheduling that matches employee shift preferences with business needs to generate schedules.
- Offers seamless payroll experience for employees in the US, Canada, the UK, and France.
Pricing
Workday Payroll and Workforce Management doesn’t offer a free trial. Pricing is available on request.
User ratings
- G2: N/A
- Capterra: N/A
Next, let’s find out the benefits of using tracking time software for managing your workforce.
5 key benefits of using time tracking software for workforce management
Here’s a quick look at the five key benefits:
- Increased productivity: Time data can help managers understand how their workforce spends time and identify time wasters. They can then take actionable steps to prevent them.
- Encourage self-improvement: Time tracking features like reports can offer valuable employee performance insights. Employees can then reach out to their peers or managers to get tips on improving productivity.
- Reduce overworking: Tracking time can help employees identify their productive hours. They can then use these hours to tackle critical tasks. It also helps identify possible bottlenecks in the workflow. Employees can take measures to solve them.
- Declining error rates: An accurate time entry in time cards translate to error-free payroll and client invoice. Also, some tools offer payroll automation features that can help save both time and money.
- Increased security: Some time tracking tools can track employee behaviors and activity logs. This can help determine when and where a security breach may occur.
Wrapping up
Using time tracking software for workforce management can be a game-changer for your business.
You can use it for employee scheduling, forecasting, payroll management, training management, and more. Similarly, your workforce can use such platforms to track their work hours, notify their availability, and submit time-off requests.
You can go through the tools mentioned above to pick the best time tracking software.
If you want an all-in-one time tracking, scheduling, payroll management, and performance management software, then Time Doctor is the tool for you.
So why not sign up for Time Doctor’s free trial and make workforce management a piece of cake?
