Employees steal time at work simply because they can. While the tricks of the trade differ from workplace to workplace, the result is always the same. Employers lose money when employees steal their time. Time theft costs employers $11 billion per year, as per the data we have researched. Furthermore, 49% of employees who track time in the United States admit to time theft.
Employers cannot prevent time theft unless they understand how to detect it. It is where things get complicated. Employees use various methods to steal company time that can "outsmart" a basic employee attendance tracker.
In this article, we will describe how companies can overcome time theft with employee monitoring software which is troubling for their employees.
What Is Time Theft?
When an employee is paid for unworked time, it is considered time theft. Due to its subtle nature, it often goes unnoticed. As employees claim extra hours worked that never occurred, employers lose money little by little. Time theft can happen by claiming hours that weren’t worked, forgetting to work while clocked in, or receiving payment that one is not allowed to accept.
05 Solutions For Avoiding EmployeeTime Theft
1. Create a Culture of Expectations
A clear guideline on how staff members should ideally be using their time at work should be one of the first things you put in place.
It's crucial to set realistic expectations for what working at the company will entail, even though imposing severe and inflexible standards could come out as uncaring. These expectations can include letting them know that social media monitoring is frowned upon, that lunch breaks are often no more than an hour, and how crucial it is to arrive at work on time.
2. Implement attendance management tools
Using attendance management and employee monitoring software is one of the best ways to avoid time theft. Employees can schedule their punch-ins and punch-outs themselves.
This type of solution can be linked into your work management application like Slack to allow employees to punch in within their Slack rather than having a biometric scanner that they must punch into each day. The timesheet calculator makes keeping track of your time easier than ever!
3. Use Time Monitoring Software
You can install a time-tracking tool on your employees' laptops if they spend the majority of their working hours on them to hold them responsible.
A time tracking program runs in the background and keeps track of the websites and applications your employee uses, categorizing them as "Reading," "Work," "Leisure," etc. It prevents workers from idly perusing the internet during their working hours or browsing websites unrelated to their line of work.
4. Check-In Every Month To Make Sure KPIs Are Being Fulfilled
Keep an eye on your employee's performance to ensure there isn't employee time theft at your business.
Every employee would be required to produce better than they would be expected to on average. Set up meetings at the end of each month to go over the work completed that month. Additionally, specify the goals the employee must meet in the upcoming month.
By doing this, you can get ready for the upcoming month's tasks with your staff. And hold them responsible each month to make sure they finish the assignment. You, as the HR executive heading the business, can conduct these monthly check-ins or by the supervisor in charge of the worker.
5. Have A Policy Of Open Doors
A rigorous rule regarding employee tracking how to spend time at work occasionally backfires. If an employee is sick, they are not allowed to take time off, endangering their health. And other people might act secretly when they need to leave their desks for an emergency.
You must have open lines of communication with your staff if you want to prevent this. Tell them they may come to you with any troubles they are experiencing without fear. Have a welcoming attitude. When an employee needs to take a lengthy leave of absence, ask them to let you know.
Wrapping Up
The main sources of time theft can be eliminated by effective time and attendance software: manual time tracking, manual punch cards, and spreadsheets. replacing them during working hours with activity-based clocking in and out and minute-by-minute time tracking.
More than that, employee monitoring software that enables data sharing with staff members fosters a culture of openness and justice.
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