Missing timecards and incomplete timesheets are some of the biggest employee management hassles. Employers must pay employees for time they work regardless of whether they remember to clock in. For this reason, if employees don’t turn in timesheets, someone has to go chasing after them. This can take up ridiculous amounts of time depending on the size and dispersion of a team. If your employees forget to clock in, or if they forget anything, offer them the following helpful tips.
1. Use a Post It Note
Put a sticky note on your employee’s monitor with a clock in reminder. Consider switching out the color and message once a week so that the note doesn’t become just another decoration.
2. Set an Outlook Reminder
Set a reminder on your employees’ email program. When they start up Outlook or Apple Mail in the morning, a message will pop up reminding them to clock in.
3. Set a Smartphone Alarm
For those that have their cell phones close at hand, consider setting a repeating alarm with a clock in message. Employees can set an alarm not only for the morning but also for the afternoon when they come back from lunch. The alarms can go off for specific days of the week like Monday through Friday, or whatever the employee’s schedule is.
4. Add an Icon on the Desktop
If you’re using an online time tracking system, you can add an icon on the desktop that leads straight to the log in page. When employees start up their computers in the morning, they will see the icon and remember to clock in. The icon helps to put the task front and center.
5. Make the Login Page Your Home Page
Employees can set the browser’s home page to your timeclock’s login page so that before employees start their work, the first thing they see is their time clock.
6. Add a Bookmark on the Bookmarks Bar
If you already have a favorite homepage, you can add a link right underneath the address bar of any browser. Type Ctrl D to add a bookmark and then sort it to the bookmarks bar. Make the bookmark bar visible by clicking the bookmarks button on your browser and then the selection to view the bookmarks bar.
7. Tout the Benefits
Many employees aren’t used to having to track time. If they have always written their schedule down on paper, it might be hard for them to remember to clock in. They might appreciate hearing about the following benefits:
- Accurate, daily record keeping will make your life as a manager so much more efficient. Eliminating the need to calculate hours by hand and being able to import hours into payroll is a huge time saver.
- Previous time records are at the employee’s fingertips without having to ask for help from a manager.
- Employees can see their hours each week and budget better.
8. Reminder Email
Remembering to clock out might be hard too. A clock out reminder can be sent from within the employees’ Timesheets.com account reminding them to clock out.
