Time is money. It is true for all employees and businesses and now it is more than ever. Particularly for construction companies, with labor costs eating up 50-60% of expenses in the industry, getting time tracking right is mission-critical. However, construction crews have unique needs that pose challenges when implementing automated time clock systems designed for office workers.
Managing dispersed, mobile teams that clock in and out from ever-changing job sites requires specialized functionality for verification and payroll data. As the industry embraces mobile tech, specialized time clock systems built for the realities of construction crews are vital to maximize ROI. In this article, let us look at the common challenges in implementing a time clock system for employees.
The Need for Precise Time Tracking
In the construction business, time is money. The Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) reveals up to 5% of a contractor’s yearly revenue vanishes due to time-tracking mistakes and ineffective payroll processes. With profit margins averaging a slim 2-5%, these losses directly hurt the bottom line.
Plain and simple, manual timecards, spreadsheets, and antiquated systems cannot provide the real-time accuracy needed in today’s complex construction projects. Poor time tracking spawns a multitude of predicaments:
1. Incorrect Labor Expenses: Without precise hour tracking, cost overruns are inescapable. For instance, a recent University of Kentucky study discovered about 15% of work hours go unrecorded with manual tracking.
2. Missed Due Dates: Inaccurate time data makes it impossible to catch schedule delays before the damage is done. Construction projects are intricate operations where each task relies on the last finishing promptly.
3. Budget Overages: Just a 1% loss from imprecise time tracking can gnaw away 10-20% of a contractor’s profit. This compounds over time and can completely sink a project.
4. Non-Compliance: Lacking proper time records makes adhering to complex labor laws impossible. Fines for non-compliance are a massive expense.
Transitioning employees to an automated time clock for employees is the sole path for contractors to achieve full visibility of true job expenses and make data-driven choices to enhance profits and timelines.
5 Challenges in Implementing a Time Clock System for Construction Crews
1. Resistance from Employees
The first hurdle in implementing a new time-tracking system is garnering buy-in from staff. Construction workers are accustomed to pen-and-paper timecards and often balk at new tech. Managers may also push back due to misconceptions about real-time tracking.
To overcome this, communicating benefits to employees is critical. Time clocks diminish timecard fraud, refine payroll accuracy, accelerate approvals, and deliver ironclad compliance records. Perks like automated reminders, overtime alerts, and remote access increase convenience for staff too.
Proper training and support during the transition are instrumental in driving adoption. Pilot projects can showcase value prior to company-wide rollout.
2. Fragmented Technology Landscape
While numerous vendors offer time-tracking solutions, the market stays highly fractured. Construction firms struggle to pinpoint systems that fit their unique needs.
Integrating new time clocks with existing payroll, accounting, project, CRM, and other business systems is a major snag. With no universal solutions, contractors end up stitching disjointed systems that don’t sync.
Data flow between systems is encumbered, with manual importing/exporting of CSV files still required in many cases. This begets:
- Duplicative data entry
- Difficulty generating unified reports
- Costly IT overhead
- Increased human error risk from fractured systems
Customizable platforms with open APIs can prevent integration issues, often at the expense of advanced capabilities. There’s still no single time tracking system tailored to construction’s complexity.
Prioritizing core time tracking features over unnecessary bells and whistles is key. But aligning stakeholders on must-have capabilities is hard. The fragmented vendor landscape necessitates compromise to strike the right balance of functionality, cost, and integration ease.
3. Meeting Compliance Requirements
In construction, noncompliance can spur dire fines, lawsuits, and even criminal charges. Time tracking systems must satisfy all applicable state/federal labor laws, prevailing wage rules, union needs, and safety standards.
Instead of contractors tracking and verifying certified payroll, automated time clocks with geotagged clock-ins and supervisor review to ensure compliance.
Cloud-based systems with automated reporting let contractors readily generate certified timesheets, labor distribution reports, and other mandatory documentation.
4. Managing a Mobile Workforce
Tracking time across multiple job sites with a mobile workforce poses unique challenges. Paper timesheets get lost in transit and data entry lags preclude real-time visibility of labor hours.
Advanced systems now enable clocking in via mobile apps, SMS, or toll-free numbers. Location-based tracking confirms workers are at the right site. Managers can access timesheets and run reports from any device.
Biometric face/fingerprint authentication curtails “buddy punching.” These features minimize time theft while providing flexibility for dispersed workforces.
5. Analyzing Time Data
While time clocks capture raw data, contractors struggle to analyze it for meaningful insights. Issues like overtime misuse, time theft, and inefficient labor allocation often go unnoticed in manual reports.
Robust reporting is crucial for transforming time data into an asset. Look for easy-to-use tools that uncover trends and metrics like overtime triggers, absenteeism, cost overruns, and more.
Dashboards delivering real-time analytics across the enterprise enable data-driven decisions to optimize workforce costs.
6. Cost of Implementation
Purchasing time-tracking software, hardware, and equipment can be a hefty upfront investment for contractors. Cloud-based solutions reduce IT infrastructure costs, but hardware like terminals and mobile devices still necessitate budgeting.
Ongoing costs like cellular data plans, maintenance, and IT support accumulate too. For smaller firms, it may be hard to justify the investment if processes work fine manually.
To get buy-in, quantifying the long-term ROI from eliminating timesheet fraud or errors, optimizing labor, and risk mitigation is key. The total cost of ownership should be weighed against the significant time and money a modern system will save.
7. Training Managers
Getting frontline construction workers up and running with a new time-tracking system is only half the fight. Managers must also learn how to use the software and interpret reports. With managers spread across different sites, getting everyone up to speed on the new tech requires a coordinated training program.
Many will be uneasy relying on an unfamiliar system. Reliable training resources and documentation are critical when rolling out a timekeeping system. Classes and workshops to help managers run reports, grasp metrics, set up alerts, and communicate with staff should be standard.
Hands-on support during implementation also eases the learning curve. Patience and a well-planned training program thwart manager resistance.
Key Takeaways
Migrating from paper-based timesheets to automated time tracking comes with challenges like adoption resistance, system fragmentation, compliance risks, managing mobile workers, and harnessing data. However, advanced solutions available today can effectively address these barriers.
Contractors who implement user-friendly digital time clocks integrated with their tech stack will gain the accuracy, efficiency, and insights needed to reduce costs, meet deadlines, and stay compliant. With time as their most precious resource, construction companies can no longer afford to delay modernizing their time-tracking processes.