{"id":509,"date":"2011-02-10T16:29:13","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T21:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.m2sys.com\/blog\/?p=509"},"modified":"2022-11-16T03:22:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T08:22:10","slug":"top-5-reasons-paper-time-sheets-suck-and-why-you-should-replace-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.m2sys.com\/blog\/workforce-management\/top-5-reasons-paper-time-sheets-suck-and-why-you-should-replace-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Reasons Paper Time Sheets Suck And Why You Should Replace Them"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Surprisingly, many businesses still rely on paper time sheets for employees to track their attendance on the job.\u00a0 Not only is using time sheets so \u201cTriassic\u201d, many businesses aren\u2019t quite sure how to go about effectively looking for a time and attendance software solution<\/a><\/strong> to vault themselves into the 21st<\/sup> Century and put a stop to the abuse that paper time sheets present. Let\u2019s take a closer look at the top 5 reasons using paper time sheets sucks and why you should consider replacing them.<\/p>\n

Reason #1 \u2013 Paper Time Sheets Cause Payroll Clerical Errors<\/span><\/p>\n

Payroll staff often times make gaffes when trying to interpret the scribble they come across on paper time sheets.\u00a0 \u201cIs that a 1 or a 7?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThis name looks like John Smith but the handwriting is so sloppy it could be Jane Smith \u2013 which person do I give credit to for hours worked?\u201d \u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t read that number, the ink smudged when someone spilled Red Bull on the sign in sheet. Looks like a 5 to me.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe faxed timesheet I received is blotted, but I don\u2019t have time to reconcile it before payroll is due, I\u2019ll just mark this employee for his regular hours worked based on past time sheets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0The Benefits of Measuring Employee Time and Attendance with a Biometric Time Clock<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Using paper time sheets often times causes unnecessary interpretation errors and the chance for human error is multiplied when hours are re-entered into a payroll system\u00a0 This can lead to over or understating time that employees worked causing unnecessary problems and losses.<\/p>\n

Reason #2 \u2013 Paper Time Sheets Cause Losses in Productivity<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine a payroll staff that has to constantly chase down employees for their time sheets especially at satellite locations, scrambling to interpret hours worked and illegible handwriting so payroll submission deadlines can be met.\u00a0 How about the extra time that it takes payroll staff to enter hours worked by re-keying the data into a computer payroll software program<\/a><\/strong>?\u00a0 What other productive tasks could those payroll employees be doing in the absence of paper time sheets?<\/p>\n

One of our end users had payroll staff that used to spend an entire weekend transferring \u00a0payroll data to Excel spreadsheets so they could meet their deadlines.<\/p>\n

Reason #3 \u2013 Employees Lie On Their Time Sheets<\/span><\/p>\n

Who?\u00a0 My employees? Never!\u00a0 The truth is that according to a survey by the American Payroll Association, the average business wastes 4% of its payroll in clerical errors (see Reason #1) and improperly recorded time.\u00a0 In fact, time theft through buddy punching affects 75% of businesses in the U.S. and can cost a business up to 7% of gross payroll annually.\u00a0 For example, if your payroll is $500,000, that\u2019s $35,000 per year.\u00a0 Yikes.<\/p>\n

Reason #4 \u2013 Paper Timesheets Lead To Inaccurate Job Costs<\/span><\/p>\n

As John Meibers pointed out in a recent blog posting<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em> The lag time associated with paper-based field data collection delays job cost updates. And having inaccurate job costs makes project management tasks more difficult and accurate projections particularly challenging. Diligent project managers often keep their own job cost logs in spreadsheets to aid their decision-making. While admirable, one might argue whether this is really the best use of a project manager’s time<\/em>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Enough said.\u00a0 Well put John.<\/p>\n