Time is the essence of our everyday lives , and we need to understand how it is spent to become better at doing things. Time management tools have been on demand since the very beginning of human dwelling on earth. People began using their time more efficiently with the help of these tools.
The first time management tool that comes to mind is the pen and paper. These tools are as old as the world, employed since the ancient times until today. However, in the era of Internet and technology, they seem like using an old television set in the Google office. At the same time, writing has significant advantages over technology—it cannot be lost or deleted because of system failure. Indeed, ‘pen and paper’ tools require time, significant labor force and attention, especially for big-scale enterprises. Writing is considered ineffective because, for example, for a chain business it is quite difficult to centralize and adjust all reports.
The second tool that I’m using myself for self-management and discipline is the Telegram’s bot named Timesheet. Of course, these applications are perfectly suitable for personal time management and control; you just press ‘Go’ when you begin working and ‘Away’ when you stop. However, this tool is not useful for an employer, because it is not a proof for your manager that you have really worked because people tend to be liars...almost everyone. Therefore, it cannot be utilized by the company for the employees’ time and attendance tracking.
The third tool is electronic time sheets or schedules, which are available everywhere on the Internet. It is just necessary to download the most appropriate one and use it. Again, however, this tool requires labor force and availability of qualified personnel. Manual typing takes time and attention. You will agree that it is quite difficult to control attendance in a company with 100 or more workers in different locations by using this tool.
The fourth tool is biometric equipment. Biometric equipment became popular more than a decade ago. There are many types of biometric equipment, such as fingerprint recognition, eye (iris) recognition, fingerprint recognition and voice identification. Today, many companies are using this equipment for time and attendance control. However, this equipment is quite expensive to purchase as well as to install and service. For many companies, biometric equipment is not affordable.
The last time management tool is time and attendance software. This tool is rapidly gaining popularity due to its affordability, functionality and efficiency. In my opinion, one of the most convenient and appropriate software applications is Workly. Workly is a perfect time and attendance solution that is suitable for small and medium businesses. In comparison with other tools, Workly has a long list of advantages, such as:
- Workly is a cloud-based solution which means that the information is stored in the cloud and can be extracted anywhere, anytime. At the same time, all information is secure. Only people with access permission can see the reports.
- Information about employees’ attendance can be converted into a number of different reports.
- Expenses for complex equipment disappear. You just download the TimePad on your iPad and let employees clock in with the help of PIN or QR-codes.
- Elimination of buddy-punching. During the clock-in and clock out processes, a camera is shooting employees and sending photos to the storage. Therefore, it becomes impossible for one person to clock in for another one.
- The system can work offline.