Accurate employee time and attendance management are crucial to the smooth functioning of your business. You’ll need precise information on how long each employee works, how much they make, and if they earn overtime. You’ll even need to keep track of employee time off and job details. 

You need an excellent time clock and payroll software to do this efficiently. The software allows you to collect information on your employees, generate reports that show you the exact amount of work they’ve done, and determine if they’re meeting their objectives.

However, finding a good time clock isn’t always that simple. To assist you in your search, we’ve put together some tips when it comes to looking for the best time clock and payroll software.

Labor Law Compliance

To comply with labor law, employers must maintain accurate records of employee time, overtime, and other conditions of employment. With the help of online time clock software, staying compliant becomes a breeze—let’s take a closer look!

Error-Free Attendance Tracking: Inaccurate time tracking can lead to employee disputes, ultimately leading to a lawsuit if not resolved in-house. Needless to say, tracking work hours accurately, including time off, is essential for flawless payroll and employee management. 

With time clock and payroll software, you can automatically capture employee work hours—the system generates reports that provide insight into employee work hours, break compliance, and rest time between shifts.

Automatic Overtime Calculations: Modern time clock solutions automatically calculate overtime for each employee. They come with multiple overtime types and accommodate state-specific rules. This ensures that employees receive the right amount of money and that employers stay on top of labor law requirements. 

Furthermore, the software will automatically calculate shift premiums, weekend premiums, and non-discretionary bonuses for each employee. These features are essential for staying on top of labor laws.

Accurate Payroll Processing: Aside from precise time tracking, another reason to use employee timesheet software is to streamline the payroll process. Clerical mistakes make up a significant portion of payroll errors that result in delayed paychecks and angry employees.

With time clock and payroll software, you can seamlessly transfer the time tracking data captured and transfer it to your payroll provider. Since you no longer have to do this manually, you can have peace of mind knowing that your employee work hours and their pay is accurate.

Choosing a time clock solution that can keep your business labor law compliant allows you to save money and keep your employees happy—it’s a win-win!

Features

When looking for a team time tracking solution, it’s vital to consider the features it offers. What features you need will depend on the type of business you have, your workforce, company policies, and more. Since features vary from one solution to the next, we’ll look at the most important ones.

• Alerts & Reminders: Alerts & reminders can help your employees stay on task with minimal oversight. 
• Break Tracking: Tracking breaks’ start and end times can help you stay labor law compliant. 
• Integrations: Integrations allow you to share data with your most-used applications.
• Usability: An easy-to-use system ensures employees can track time accurately.

Take the time to consider your needs and what features you would absolutely require before beginning your search.

Support

The quality of customer support is another essential factor to consider when looking at an online timecard system. The type of support you require will also vary depending on your business type and the technical capabilities of your team. 

Customer reviews are a great way to help you determine the quality of support offered by a given provider. Trials are also another great way to test the capabilities of the vendor’s support team—you should take into account the following during your testing:

• Average response time
• Knowledge of support team
• Friendliness of customer support (Yes, this matters!)

Many solutions offer multiple support channels, so it is crucial to choose the one that is best suited for your needs. 

When searching for a new time clock and payroll software, there are many things to take into consideration—it can quickly become an overwhelming process. The tips we provided in this article will help you start on the right foot in your search for the best time tracking solution!