Manual Vs Automated Timesheets: Should Attendance be Digital?

Have you been working with a team of field executives and are struggling to find the right way to manage their attendance? In this article, let us talk about the pros and cons of manual and digital timesheet management and see what will work for your organization. 

Manual Timesheet and Attendance Management 

When we think of payrolls and timesheet management, manual management seems like a time-tested method. After all, it was the only way to manage timesheets until software came along, right? 

Manual timesheet management involves managers manually making entries of when employees came and left the office. This way, they will always personally know when an employee comes onto the field. Sometimes, managers might even share the responsibility of making entries with someone else. 

Manual timesheet management is great for smaller organizations and teams where everyone might be working on the same site. Manual timesheet management hardly costs anything and is robust even when hardware and software troubleshoot. 

However, when it comes to larger teams, the system will crumble and HR managers will feel immense pressure in manual data entry. Moreover, the system requires constant human supervision and is also prone to errors. 

Advantages of Manual Timesheet Management

Sure, the advantages might seem bleak considering the number of ways the manual timesheet management system might crumble. However, don’t be quick to judge! Let us talk about some benefits you will have in managing timesheets and attendance manually. 

• Perfect for small teams: If your team is smaller than 6 people, manual timesheet management becomes simple. After all, there won’t be much logging in to do anyway, right?

• Cost-effective: One of the biggest reasons why several companies choose manual attendance management is because it is cost-effective. All you need is a notebook and a pen and you’re good to go! 

• Robust: Regardless of power cuts and software crashes, manual attendance and timesheet management is always an option. It doesn't rely on any external force other than a responsible human taking logs. 

Disadvantages of Manual Timesheet Management

Now that you know the benefits you can have with manual timesheet management, let us also look at some cons to help you make informed decisions. 

• Data Manipulation: It is very easy to manipulate data in a manual timesheet management system. Time theft becomes a real issue and employees might do it by entering the wrong information. 

• Human Errors: Anybody can make mistakes while entering details such as time. Manual timesheet management can never be 100% error-free

• Dated: While manual timesheet management worked for years, it has not become dated considering the alternatives available. 

• Low Scalability: There’s only so much your team can grow if you keep resorting to manual tracking, After all, you cannot integrate it with other systems and there are only so many people whose attendance you can manage manually, right? 

Automatic Timesheet and Attendance Management 

Automation and digitization is the new buzzword in the business milieu. Everybody wants to automate everything - both because of convenience and fashionability. Timesheet and attendance automation have crept their way into the world of workforce management as well. 

With automatic timesheet management systems, field employees could either punch in attendance on a site or get it marked through geofence entries. Regardless of the way it works, each employee will have an accurate time to log in and log out. 

This timesheet management system is especially beneficial for HR managers in a bug company. This is because they do not have to do anything in terms of attendance management and everything is done automatically for them. 

Automatic timesheet management also saves the company a lot of time and paper. Moreover, it also minimizes the possibility of time-theft. These systems also offer reports based on the data in software. Therefore, the software along with your management will grow smarter together. 

Advantages of Automatic Timesheet Management

Automatic timesheet management and attendance automation is the way to go for moat businesses in the current time. Here, let us look into the reasons why that is the case. 

• Low Admin Time: Naturally, when managers do not have to waste their time logging in attendance, they save a lot of time that they could use elsewhere. 

• Higher Data Precision: When all data is managed from software, the chances for errors are negligible. You can be sure that whatever information you do have is perfect. 

• Kill Time Theft: Since data will be precise without the need for supervision, the machine will note the exact time every time. Therefore, employees do not get the opportunity to enter at the wrong time and steal working hours. 

• Insightful Reports: Software takes all the login and log-out information and creates a very insightful report system. It will automatically calculate time, productivity, etc. 

Disadvantages of Automatic Timesheet Management

Automatic timesheet management might seem like the way to go to manage your employee’s attendance. However, there are surely some negatives to the system that will make the process unideal for your business. Let us look into them in this section. 

• Operations Cost: If you’re a part of a small organization, the cost of the operation might be overwhelming for you. Therefore make sure that you only adopt these symptoms if you plan on scaling. 

• Can be Hacked: Any software can easily be hacked. For some organizations, attendance is a very sensitive topic that cannot be leaked. Therefore, you should always know that your data might not be completely safe. 

• Learning Curve: Using workforce management software will not be easy if you do not have any IT skills. You will have to sit and learn the software a bit to get the most use out of it. 

The Final Verdict: Automated or Manual Timesheets?

If we look at all the facts stated in this article, automatic timesheets do seem to be the best option out there. However, you must also remember that that cannot be the ubiquitous system everyone uses. 

The final verdict in this regard is simple. If you have a small and uncomplex team of under 5-6 people, you can use manual timesheet management, This will save you cost of operations and will help bond with the team every day. 

However, if you have a larger team, manual timesheet management will not work and you would have to invest in workforce management software to manage timesheets. 

Manage Your Employee Timesheets With TrackoField 

Now you've read all about the pros and cons of manual and automated attendance and timesheet management. We’re sure that now you can make an informed decision about managing your team. 

If you opt for automatic attendance and timesheet management, you should try field force management software like TrackoField. With TrackoField, you will reap automated timesheet benefits and other features that will make simplify managing a team of field executives.