Which Time Tracking Software is Right for You and Your Remote Team?

Which time tracking software is right for you and your remote team?

Having an accurate time tracking system in place is crucial in order to successfully manage remote work. It’s one of the best ways to monitor your team’s progress, understand your productivity rates, and properly measure your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators).

The three main reasons for time tracking are to gauge client work, to manage your remote team, and to help improve productivity and profitability.

This article covers the benefits of having a time tracking system in place plus our top 5 recommendations for time tracking software.

 

Benefits of Time Tracking For Remote Teams

Accountability

With remote work, it’s easy to become distracted. The freedom, though wonderful – can become a playground for bad habits to be developed (like going on your social media accounts when you should be working).

By using a time tracking software, you’ll be able to monitor your team’s time on and time off each task and catch any issues early on before they become much bigger ones. 

From the worker’s perspective, time tracking is a great way to help you keep to your schedule, stay on track with tasks from start to completion, and it gives you the chance to celebrate the wins and milestones of your job performance. 

It also gives you the confidence so that if your work were to ever come into question, you have a track record to explain the situation to the management department.

 

Project Management

The many offers of time tracking software make it easy to manage any project from virtually anywhere (or any device). Time tracking software contains many features that help you keep track of projects. From quick reports to visual dashboards that provide you with real-time project views, it’s easy to see everything in one place. 

It helps team leaders manage the projects within their team and provides the opportunity to make decisions about priorities, tasks, and project shifting at-a-glance.

 

Less Stress

Tight deadlines, misplaced files, uncertainty with team progress, and miscommunication can contribute to stress. Stress on the workers, the employer, and overall health of the company.

Time tracking software can do a pretty great job dealing with all of the above pain points. It helps you keep on track with due dates, can act as a hub for file tracking, provides team progress in a visual snapshot, and allows for stronger communication and clarity.

 

Cost-Efficient

There are many ways that a time tracking software can help the productivity and cost-efficiency of a company’s operations. It can eliminate wasted time that takes place in an office environment where employee socialization can steal from productivity. It can help monitor project progress and once completed, can help determine the baseline of tasks and their costs to create a better pricing structure for future clients/projects. Finally, because time tracking is automated, this can free up time on your management teams end which you can use towards other aspects of running your business.

 

5 Time Tracking Software for Remote Teams

Review our picks for time tracking software and evaluate (include pricing): 

Time Doctor

  • What it is: Time Doctor is a Software As A Service (also known as SaaS) platform which provides time tracking and productivity tools. It’s owned by the team at Staff.com and was founded in 2012. It has the ability to easily integrate with the most commonly used CRM systems.
  • What it does: Time Doctor provides time tracking and employee monitoring, online timesheets and payroll, project budgeting and management, distraction alerts, allows for screenshots, website and app monitoring, client login access, and more.
  • What it costs: Time Doctor offers a FREE 14-Day Trial with no credit card required. Packages range on a per user basis between $7 – $20 per month.

Wrike

  • What it is: Wrike is an online project management platform that provides a simple way to plan projects, streamline communication, and workflow. The company was founded in 2006 and has accomplished some noteworthy “street cred” including; 2020 TrustRadius Top Rated Award, 2019 and 2018 Customer’s Choice Awards, and is also mentioned as one of the Top Places to Work between from 2015 – 2019 consecutively.
  • What it does: Wrike offers task management, Gantt Charts, workflow management, task prioritization, workload views, custom reports, real-time activity, shareable dashboards, document collaboration, file sharing, real-time activity, custom calendar, and integration with calendars, dropbox, Google Docs and more.
  • What it costs: Wrike offers a Free Trial and plans ranging from $0 to $10/month per user. 

Clockify

  • What it is: Clockify is an attractive time tracking software because it’s the only software that is entirely FREE. There are no user restrictions, it’s simply free. But there must be a catch right? Clockify does charge to upgrade and allow for additional features. The additional features do make it hard to resist. Clockify was founded in 2009 and has over 2 million users, over 100 employees, and a substantial amount of glowing reviews.
  • What it does: Some features that Clockify offers include timesheets, time-off tracking, hourly rates, real-time tracking, time reports, multiple users, exports and share reports, and more.
  • What it costs: Clockify is FREE and their plans start at $0 per month and range up to $29.99/month with a combination of user and/or flat-fee pricing depending on the package you select.

Toggl

  • What it is: Toggl is an app for time tracking. It allows you to track your activities on a daily basis across different platforms. It gives you detailed insights so you can identify the areas you need to improve on.
  • What it does: Toggl offers a way to easily organize your team through their 3-Stage Hierarchy, provide a continuous backup of data, offer no signup or termination fees, allows for easy integration with FreshBooks, Basecamp and more. It provides real-time synchronization between web apps, desktop apps, phone apps, and more. Because Toggl is open source, it allows accessibility users need to build different third party integrations into it.
  • What it costs: Just like it’s competitors, Toggl provides a Free Trial with plans ranging from $10 to $20/month per user with Enterprise Packages for more complex situations.

Harvest

  • What it is: Harvest is a cloud-based time tracking software. It is built to handle small to large-scale businesses. It has invoicing and timesheet features. Harvest was founded in 2006 by Danny Wen and Shawn Liu who were looking for their own ways to solve some of their growing web design studio pain points. 
  • What it does: Harvest features time and expense tracking, invoicing, expense tracking, time-based reporting, and more.
  • What it costs: Harvest is free to try with no credit card required. The free trial includes 1 user and 2 projects. After the Free Trial, Harvest is $12 per user. 

 

We hope you’ve found this article helpful. You also might like our “How To Effectively and Successfully Manage Your Remote Team” here

 

This site contains affiliate links to courses and resources. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

 

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10 Qualities To Look For When Hiring a Remote Contractor or Team Member

The world has gone digital and as an Entrepreneur, you now have the ability to put your products and services in front of the right people across many digital channels.

This means, that your business could grow substantially overnight. If you’re not prepared for that growth, you’ll find yourself completely overwhelmed with the many day to day tasks required to operate and maintain your company.

Que the rise of remote contractors.

What is a remote contractor?

Just as the name describes, this person works from their own office space (often out of their home) and uses their own equipment and software.

 

Why consider hiring a remote contractor?

  • They can start immediately
  • Require very little training
  • Have little to no onboarding costs
  • Are more productive and
  • Can save you time

When deciding on “how” you want to expand your business, you should focus on filling the voids of your company. 

What does that mean?

Well, if you carefully assess all the tasks you’re doing right now and break them down by priority, the ability to do them yourself, and whether you like doing them – you’ll soon have a vision for your new hire.

Whether you’re hiring a bookkeeper, marketer, content writer, or assistant, here are some common traits you should consider when hiring a remote worker.

 

10 Qualities To Look For When Hiring Remote Team Members

 

1.  Strong Communication Skills

Communication is key to any successful working relationship. It’s especially important for a remote employee-employer relationship because most of your conversations will be taking place through text, phone, email, and/or video chat. You should also keep in mind, the time zone your remote worker lives in, their first language, and their response time when you communicate with them.

Because a remote employee can’t just walk into your office to ask for help whenever a situation arises and vice versa, you have to be able to effectively communicate. Without this core competency, it’s impossible to succeed with a remote employee. 

 

2. Independent and Self Motivated

The last thing you want to be doing is micromanaging your remote worker. He or she should be independent, self-motivated, and be able to complete most tasks assigned with very little direction (unless the task requires it).

Successful remote workers must be able to motivate themselves to stay focused with little distraction seeing each task from start to completion.

Because you can’t be there in person to ensure your remote worker is staying on task, independence and self-motivation are must-have qualities when finding the best fit for your organization.

 

3. Flexibility and Availability

A huge benefit for a remote employee is the flexibility of the job. For remote employees who are parents, this means they can drop off and pick up the kids from school, attend soccer games, school plays and more.

Just as flexibility is a benefit to the remote worker, the remote worker should be flexible with you, the employer.

Your remote worker should be flexible with your schedule and also available when you need them. If they are not a designated remote worker, they should be able to attend necessary meetings and communicate with you in a reasonable time frame with proper notice.

If you run a business that has a lot of tight deadlines, consider a designated, full-time remote worker over a freelance part-time one.

 

4. Ability to Organize and Prioritize

Strong organizational skills are extremely important for a successful working relationship with a remote employee.

They should be able to take a list of tasks given, organize, and prioritize them with minimal direction and be able to carry out this task on a continuous basis.

If your business uses a Project Management software, your remote employee should be able to navigate through it with ease. If they have experience using the software, it’s even better as there’s less of a learning curve if at all.

 

5. Tech Savvy

Because the world has gone digital, your remote employee should be tech-savvy, especially since their work is done on a virtual level.

Your remote worker should be fluent in common software applications such as Microsoft Office and Google Docs.

Because your remote employee will be performing many of the day-to-day tasks on a shared software they should have a good understanding of how to use it. If training is needed, they should be able to learn the software from you personally, YouTube or other online training.

 

6. Excellent Time Management Skills

Effective time management is fundamental to the success of any business. When you hire someone with excellent time management skills, they will be able to complete more tasks for you in less time which translates to saving you money.

Remote workers with great time management skills will create and maintain daily to-do tasks, they have designated workspaces so they can perform their work with minimal distraction and will find ways to optimize their time on the tasks they are given – including learning new software applications.

 

7. Honest and Reliable

Remote work requires a level of trust between yourself and your remote employee. You will likely be giving them access to your software, email inbox, website, and more.

It’s important to properly interview and screen your candidate before you hire him/her and depending on the nature of your business, a background check might be needed as well.

An honest and reliable remote worker will tell you when they don’t understand something, they will be honest if they make a mistake so it can be corrected quickly with minimal negative impact to the company.

They operate themselves with the highest level of integrity which is reflected in the work they do for you.

 

8. Remote Experience

It’s important to select a remote worker with experience. They should have a designated workspace, their own reliable technology to work on, the key software programs such as Microsoft Office as well as anti-virus protection to keep their computer (and your sensitive information) safe.

Remote workers with experience are also ideal because there is less transition and training required when it comes to onboarding them.

 

9. Administrative Experience

One of the most in-demand types of remote workers for small businesses are Virtual Assistants (also known as VA’s).

You can incorporate virtual assistant duties into almost any role. Often there is an overlap in VA tasks whether you’re hiring someone to help manage your social media, conduct bookkeeping or maintain your website.

Some common VA tasks include: 

  • answering emails,
  • entering invoices,
  • managing calendars / setting appointments,
  • research,
  • updating blogs,
  • customer service,
  • travel arrangements,
  • answering phone calls.

 

10. Positive Attitude

Sometimes it’s not the talent but the attitude of a worker that helps you determine whether or not they would be a good fit.

A remote employee who has a positive outlook will provide you with higher work quality than one who is negative.

They will take any constructive feedback you provide in a positive light and not become defensive or offended. This, in turn, leads to a continuous improvement of work quality and flow.

 

As the small business community continues to grow, the demand for remote workers does too! At HireMyMom, we have a large selection of remote workers to choose from. The benefits of our workers are that they are often in similar time zones, speak fluent English, and are typically work-ready within 24-48 hours of you hiring them.

We hope you’ve found this article helpful. We have another great article that you might like called “ 7 Reasons Why Moms Make The Best Remote Workers For Small Businesses”. 

If you’re ready to get started with a remote employee, you can post your job here. If you need to hire but are overwhelmed at the task, consider using our VIP Small Business Concierge program and allow one of our HR Specialists do all the work for you! 

 

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7 Reasons Why Moms Make The Best Remote Workers For Small Businesses

Running your own business can be very rewarding but it can lead to you doing absolutely everything in order to run it effectively. This is where bringing on part-time employees or contractors can be very beneficial. Knowing what you do well and then outsourcing or hiring team members to do other things gives you the opportunity to focus on your strengths AND grow your business. 

So why do MOMS make the best workers for small businesses…..

💪🏼Because there’s probably no one more motivated to make a remote work opportunity work like a mom.

💪🏼Moms deeply desire freedom and flexibility in order to be more present for their kids and family.

💪🏼Having remote work is a huge blessing for moms, and therefore, we believe they go ABOVE and BEYOND to do a great job to make sure they can continue working from home. 

💪🏼Moms typically have been working in their careers for some time, unlike students who are just starting out.

💪🏼Moms possess life skills that a small business can benefit from such as……

 

Time Management

From household chores to diaper changes, from homework help to getting dinner on the table – Moms sure do a lot! Time Management becomes an essential skill for Moms and something they have no choice but to quickly learn in order to keep up with the demands of family, kids and running a household. 

This skill becomes highly beneficial to your business. Moms have no time to waste and that means a reliable and dedicated worker you and your business. Moms know how to use their time wisely.

 

Organizational Skills

A Mom quickly becomes the organizer in the family. From vacations to birthday parties, Moms are really good at planning and executing.

They are also great with rolling with the punches and can be quite flexible when things fall out of line. They are great at coming up with a new plan that keeps everyone happy. Moms know they must be organized to get all the things done! This is why Moms are great Virtual Assistants especially for Small Business Owners like yourself. We have a great article about how VA’s can help you grow your business here.

 

People Management

From tantrum-throwing two-year-olds to grumpy teenagers, Moms have to deal with many personality types and different levels of maturity.

Strong listening skills, empathy, and conflict resolution go hand in hand with people management. This makes a Mom a really great candidate for your business’s customer service. Moms can handle customer complaints at all levels of your marketing funnel and offer win-win resolutions for all. 

 

Negotiating Skills

Children quickly learn from a young age how to get what they want and can get quite creative about it too! This is where the power of Moms negotiation skills can really come in handy. Moms become experts in compromising and trading.

Because Moms are good at negotiating, they can make a great addition to your company’s Sales Team. 

 

Problem Solving Super-Heroes

Some problems are completely predictable while others can come as a complete surprise. Moms deal with new problems each and every day and it’s amazing how they can still stay calm, cool, and collected throughout the solution process.

This makes Moms ideal candidates for small service businesses that are focused on “solving problems” for their customers

 

Master Multi-Taskers

Moms always have more than one project on the go … literally! They are great at handling a phone call while prepping dinner and helping their child with his/her science project all at the same time.

In the workplace, this often translates to being on the phone with a customer while typing in the customer’s account info and facilitating their transaction from start to finish. Moms are great at multi-tasking and getting things done efficiently and effectively. 

 

Now that you’ve learned about the benefits of hiring a Mom, where can you find one? Right here at HireMyMom of course!

Click here to post your job to our talented pool of Mom Professionals.

Or let our HR Specialists do all the hard work for you! Check out our VIP Concierge service

It only takes a few minutes to create an account with us, post a job, and then wait for the resumes to come in. We have some pretty amazing Moms on this site ready to work with you.

You can see what other Small Business owners have had to say about HireMyMom here

 

 

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9 Tools to Help Your Virtual Team Succeed

In our last article, we gave you 10 Key Questions to Ask during the Interview and prior to that we shared 4 Tips on Writing a Great Job Post.

Now that you’ve hopefully found your virtual professional, we wanted to share some tools to that can help you and your team be more efficient, effective and organized. Below you’ll find a variety of tools from time tracking to management to organization to help your team soar to success!

Harvest makes it easy for users to keep track of the time users spend on tasks and projects. It also allows you to spot trends and compares someone’s work hours vs their capacity week over week. Here are four other time tracking options to consider.

Slack– a platform to connect teams with apps, services and resources. From Slack’s website, “When your team needs to kick off a project, hire a new employee, deploy some code, review a sales contract, finalize next year’s budget, measure an A/B test, plan your next office opening, and more, Slack has you covered.”

Loom allows you to connect with your team via videos. You can record yourself, your screen or both. Save time by videoing notes, how-tos, directions, and more without spending valuable time emailing back and forth.

Asana  is a free team management tool that allows you to delegate and organize tasks into projects. You can track the progress of group projects while also displaying individual to-do lists.

Trello is a task management tool that gives you a visual overview of what is being worked on, who is working on it and what’s next to do.

Zoom is a great tool if you are looking for face-to-face meetings, a way to share your screen or conduct online meetings.

DropBox and Google Docs let you share and access files remotely. No more emailing files back and forth, now you can easily edit and share files instantly.

idonethis makes it easy for your team to provide quick daily status updates and helps you run your team more efficiently.

And don’t forget we offer, our personal “Small Business Concierge Service” which includes:

    • consultation to learn about the position,
    • writing a professional, descriptive and thorough job post,
    • posting the job on our website (once approved by client),
    • reviewing all applicant resumes and cover letters, including a check of LinkedIn to reality check the resume.
    • Scheduling interviews – Reach out to selected candidates, coordinate interview scheduling,
    • Interviews -prep & conduct interviews, record interview notes, save interview recordings, etc. ,
    • Select top candidate(s) to pass along to client, write candidate summaries, upload interview video file(s) to Dropbox, email client with resume, summary and link to video file.
    • Follow up with client, answer questions about candidates, etc.
    • Wrap-up – Send turndown email to candidates interviewed but not selected, etc. along with final notes.

Contact us for details!

 

 

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Challenging Times Call for Creative Hiring Solutions

In today’s economy, many businesses are having to downsize and cut back expenses every place possible in order to survive. This includes letting valued employees go – often times with much regret. And unfortunately some believe our economy will not improve for a couple of years. So what are businesses to do? How do you support and grow a business if your employee pool is or will be dwindling? Are there creative hiring solutions?

Outsourcing is a Creative Hiring Solution

The good news is that many businesses are finding a perfect solution in outsourcing to independent professionals. These professionals offer the same skills and experience as an on-site employee yet they work as an independent, not requiring employee benefits or office space. One of the largest pools of independent professionals is mom professionals who have left the workforce voluntarily or involuntarily.

Many of them are looking for ways especially now to help supplement their families’ income. And in some cases support their family altogether if their spouse has been laid off. These professionals are experienced and educated but are seeking the freedom and flexibility to work hours that are more conducive to having a family. Some of them work part time and some work full time. Some of them work on an hourly basis and others work on a salary or by the project. What’s great for them and for the company is that studies have proven that a person’s productivity actually goes up when working from a home office. This is at least partly due to the fact that independent workers want to prove themselves and go above and beyond expectations to ensure the work keeps flowing to them.

A Win-Win Solutions

The beauty of it is that these creative hiring solutions is a win-win for the company and the professional. In the majority of cases the company saves on payroll and employee benefits and the professional is pleased to have flexible work and puts forth his or her best effort to make sure the work keeps coming in. For more information on hiring at home professionals, visit www.HireMyMom.com.

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Lesley Pyle is the founder and president of HBWM.com Inc. which includes the national association of Home-Based Working Moms helping moms network, learn and grow in their role as a Home-Based Working Mom and HireMyMom.com connecting at-home Mom Professionals with home-based jobs and projects in virtually every career field.  Pyle has been featured in numerous publications including Forbes, Entrepreneur, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Home Office Computing, and many others.  Twitter @lesleypyle and @hiremymom

Check out these other great articles about tips for mom as a work from home professional.Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

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