Managing a remote construction workforce without attendance software is not easy. There are challenges that supervisors and leaders have to deal with every day in construction that not many other industries are ever faced with.
Construction companies not only have to deal with a mobile workforce, but they must constantly adjust to new employees at new locations, and oftentimes at many locations at once. They also must handle the day-to-day duties of creating work schedules to meet the needs of every project at every one of these sites, and then keep track of the hours worked, vacation time taken and overtime logged for each employee.
Construction firms also must manage the various levels of employees and which employee groups need which type of skills, training and certifications to perform the plethora of tasks that happen on site. Finally, security and safety are also a concern, as firms must ensure the proper employees – and those proper employees only – have access to the job site in total and even possibly specific sections of the site.
This is not a simple set of circumstances for any construction supervisor to handle, especially when the traditional way of doing so was more manual work. Today, though, construction firms to can handle all of these tasks and more simply, securely and more efficiently than ever before, using Time and Attendance Software.
Time and Attendance Software Benefits
Manually managing time and attendance data is no longer OK in today’s construction world. What companies need is a fully automated solution that helps them better manage, collect and process employee time.
No longer do construction companies have to set up shop at a job site with a manual clocking system that often results in inaccurate time reporting, administrative errors and increased labor costs. Instead, Time and Attendance Software can be used to provide construction companies with a wide range of easy-to-use and mobile technology solutions that streamlines the process for employees and supervisors.
Each employee can be assigned a certain pay rate and normal working hours through the system, which will then be applied to their specific working hours throughout the week for payroll purposes. When the employees clock in and out of work, then, the system will automatically track and report that information and generate accurate and error-free data for payroll.
The task of actually clocking in and out of work becomes simple for employees as well. No matter whether they are working from the office, at a job site or on the road, employees can sign in and out of work through the HR software that is accessible on mobile devices. There is even the ability for companies to utilize more advanced technology for this, such as biometric authentication.
Scheduling and Forecasting Benefits
One of the biggest areas of need for construction companies is a way to create the most efficient schedule that optimizes output and limits cost as much as possible. Time and Attendance platform makes this formerly complicated task much easier as well.
Construction supervisors can access an overview of their entire workforce, broken down by job site and skillsets so that they can create the work schedule that their job site needs. This reduces the headaches associated with creating the schedule that can oftentimes result in projects going over budget or being understaffed.
With the integration of requested and approved time off, supervisors are also able to accurately forecast where they may have workforce shortages in the future, so as to not delay a project or cause a job to fall behind. Not only does all of this make the job site more efficient, it makes the administration of the schedule more efficient as well.
Legal Compliance Benefits
Mistakes that are made tracking time and paying employees accurately can cost a construction company loads of time, money and potentially even legal penalties. By using HR Time and Attendance solutions, these construction companies can significantly reduce their potential liability and help eliminate human error mistakes altogether.
Construction companies often deal with a workforce that is at least partially union-based, which requires them to adhere to strict contractual arrangements. In addition, like all other companies, they must ensure they are not violating laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Simple administrative errors can at time cause a company to not be compliant, and these simple mistakes can become extremely costly. Time and Attendance system makes it easy for supervisors to track their employees’ time and ensure they aren’t inadvertently breaking any laws. Human resources can also have a bird’s eye view of the entire workforce, ensuring the company always remains in compliance.
Attendance Tracking and Human Resources Benefits
Human Resources departments have an extremely challenging job managing complicated workforces such as that in the construction industry. They need automation, simplicity and digital tools that reduce the time they spend on administrative tasks such as scheduling, payroll and compliance, allowing them to instead focus on larger workforce strategy initiatives.
An automated Time and Attendance tool plays a huge role here, virtually eliminating the human error component of administering these tasks and entering data manually. In addition, it also collects and reports this data automatically into one single point of entry, allowing HR workers to easily monitor everything that’s going on from an administrative standpoint.
This data can then also be automatically integrated with the payroll system, eliminating yet another potential point for mistakes, freeing up even more HR time in the process.
Finally, the software gives the HR department the tools they need to accomplish one of the most important set of tasks it does for a construction company – fill vacancies with effective recruiting. The system makes it easy for HR to track and then fill all the company’s vacancies in a timely manner, getting the on-site supervisors the workers they need when they need them.
A cloud based HR employee time tracking software package can bring construction companies into the 21st century, completely replacing the old-school, manual ways of running the company with a robust mobile technology platform that’s easy for everyone to use no matter where they are. Ultimately, HR technology can help any construction company save costs and re-focus the administrative efforts on helping the company generate as much profit as possible.
