Recording working hours in the skilled trades is subject to certain problems. Only in a few skilled trades are employees continuously active in the company on site. Most of the time, they work outside the company on construction sites or at other locations. Working time recording then only works with a suitable system.
With pen and paper on the construction site
Tradespeople work away from home a lot. Preparations are made in the workshop or warehouse, but the installation and service itself takes place at a location outside the company.
This means that it is not always easy to record working time correctly. It is of course possible to hang up a time clock in the workshop. Employees can then stamp their card at the start and end of their shift. The working time is therefore recorded and everything is fine.
However, this does not make it clear what was worked on. A duty roster or shift book would also have to be kept. This requires additional work and time.
The alternative is the classic timesheet. Employees record their working hours themselves with pen and paper. Breaks are taken into account and the individual activities are also recorded.
Basically, a timesheet is clearly laid out and contains all the information needed to prepare the payroll. However, the disadvantage here too is the time required. In addition, timesheets are usually quite inaccurate when recording working hours. Hardly anyone records their working hours to the minute or even to the second.
In addition, the workload for payroll accounting is relatively high. These are all disadvantages that can be avoided with a modern working time recording system.
A modern working time recording system for the skilled trades
Modern working time recording systems such as the timecard solve the problems that many established systems have. Of course, established systems have not become established without reason and all offer certain advantages.
Digitization takes over these advantages in the context of time recording and expands them with additional functions. Let’s take the timesheet again as an example: the working times, activities, working hours and duration of work are entered on it. All important information.
A digital working time recording system includes all this information. But they can be recorded much more easily. Basically, everything works automatically. For example, projects or tasks can be created. It is possible to start time recording with just one click and the project, task or activity is transferred directly. This means that the activity does not have to be re-entered each time. This saves time and ultimately also resources.
We addressed the biggest problem with time recording in the skilled trades at the beginning of this article: the numerous different locations where work is carried out. This means that it is not easy to record working time at all times.
With a modern time recording system such as the timeCard it is possible to start time recording anytime and anywhere. Via a mobile app that can be easily downloaded to a smartphone. Each employee has their own account and can easily create their own list of favorites. This means that every activity is literally just a click away for time recording.
Conclusion
In the skilled trades, working time recording is often still carried out using traditional methods. These have not become established for nothing. However, they have certain disadvantages that can be avoided with modern time recording systems. A mobile app for time recording is intuitive, quick to learn and saves a lot of time that can be used for more productive things.
