Timesheet Reminders: Top 6 best ways to remind your team to submit their timesheets

In the fast-changing workplace it is crucial to manage your employees time efficiently so that the organization can thrive. A timesheet is an incredibly useful tool but it is not without its errors and challenges. The best employee time tracking system helps you to track employee hours, absences and avoids human errors so that you can stay compliant with labor laws, maintain efficiency and use employees time for results driven projects.

In this article we’ll delve into the importance of timesheet reminders, the best way to send one to your employees, and how to eliminate common challenges linked to tracking time with a streamlined HR software solution.

• What is a timesheet reminder
• Why is there a need for a timesheet reminder
• The best way to send a timesheet reminder
• Common challenges with timesheet management
• Heres how you remove these challenges
• 10 timesheet reminder best practices

What is a timesheet reminder

Timesheet reminders are helpful tools that companies use to manage and track the hours worked by their employees. These can be formatted as written sheets, verbal reminders or automated notifications through HR time tracking software. This is useful as it helps employees keep track of their hours worked which ensures that they are accurately compensated for the time worked. HR software can send gentle reminders which prevents future troubles and errors in paying your employees. Timesheets can take many forms some of which include:

Examples

• Hard copies: this is a physical document that can be touched or held i.e., paper document.
• Videos: this is a visual media that is often paired with audio i.e., a youtube video.
• Audio: this is a sound recording which is often stored digitally i.e., a voice note.
• In person: this involves direct face-to-face contact with the person i.e., having an in person meeting.
• Direct messages: this involves sending a message digitally using platforms to communicate i.e., messaging on Slack, MS Teams or iMessage.

Why is there a need for a timesheet reminder

You may have created a great time-tracking template but unless you have a consistent timesheet reminder you risk facing mistakes in your reports, payroll inaccuracies and setbacks in project management. Forbes states that 69% of employees admitted that they don’t accurately tack their hours worked. Timesheet reminders help ensure that employees hours are calculated and accurately compensated for but also ensures that the company is in compliance with policies and labor laws. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) states that hours worked must be clearly tracked by employees including the time and date that they started working alongside the number of daily or weekly hours. It is incredibly important that timesheet reminders are sent consistently as this regular update reduces administrative burdens and contributes to a well-run organization. Teams can get very busy and priorities are often altered so it is helpful to automatically send reminders to teams once a week. Additionally, as timesheet reminder helps collect accurate data, and as a result, this data can help answer many larger questions for a business. This can include topics such as profit, loss, opportunity cost, and resources.

The best way to send a timesheet reminder

Evidently, ensuring employees submit their timesheets on time is crucial but it can be difficult. There are plenty of ways to send timesheet reminders so we’ll discuss automated and manual solutions and why some of them are less effective than others. This includes using HR software, sending emails, text messages, calendar alerts and memes. A well-thought out timesheet reminder system can eliminate the main pain points of sending timesheet reminders and enhances productivity.

Automated

An automated timesheet reminder provides an efficient and consistent way to remind employees to fill out their timesheet. An automated HR software like Factorial’s time tracking solution can track working hours with live GPS, automate timesheets to the payroll team within seconds and automatically notifies employees if they miss a clock in or out along with many other benefits. As many employees now work remotely it is more important than ever to have a strong timesheet reminder system set up to keep track of employee hours.

Manual

Email timesheet reminders

This is the most common timesheet reminder method as its a commonly used communication method in the workplace. This option allows companies to send an announcement through the company email address that is sent to all employees. Although it may sound easy to send an email reminder this can become very time consuming as the employer has to manually send emails weekly. Email reminders can also get lost amongst the hundred other emails employees get a week.

Direct message timesheet reminders

Sending a message on platforms such as Slack or MS Teams is another common way of sending timesheet reminders. This method is easy to complete but quite hard to track as messages get lost easily and it is hard to determine who has read the message. Similarly to emails, text messages must be manually inputted which takes a lost of time to complete.

Calendar alert timesheet reminders

Sending a google or outlook calendar alert is another option for sending timesheet reminders. This method adds a calendar placeholder for employees to fill our their timesheets. This placeholder could be easily overlooked and wont stand out amongst other notifications for meetings, birthdays or tasks on the employees calendar.

Meme timesheet reminders

A modern and alternative method for sending a timesheet reminder is to send a meme. The fun aspect may keep your team engaged and motivated. Although this may put a smile on employees faces, it will lose its novelty after awhile and employees could end up not taking it seriously.

In-person timesheet reminders

Talking to an employee face-to-face used to be a great way to remind them to complete their timesheet data. In the modern workplace it does not have the same effect for numerous reasons. Many employees now work remotely or in a hybrid working model so this does not work. Similarly, as businesses grow, in-person reminders poses a great challenge as more employees join the business.

Common challenges with timesheet management

Timesheet management is not an easy task as it can impact both your employees and the organization. We’ll discuss some of the challenges companies commonly face and how to fix them.

• Human error/Inaccuracies: employees can easily make mistakes when submitting their timesheets which has a domino effect and causes delays in many avenues of the organization.
• Time-consuming: sending timesheet reminders manually is time-consuming and tedious. HR employees spend a lot of time manually inputting hours and sending reminders. This valuable time could be spent on more strategic, results driven projects.
• Lack of integration: as manually inputted timesheets lack integration with other systems it creates a challenge for companies. This disconnectedness makes it difficult to share data with payroll, project management and other functions that need to use the data to compensate employees. This lack of integration creates extra work, inconsistencies and allows for mistakes.
• Lack of real time updates: traditional manually inputted timesheets rely on data entry that is accurate and they do not provide real-time updates. This makes it difficult for employees to track and manages resources properly.
• Limited accessibility: traditional timesheets are often stored on an employees computer or a drive which can make it difficult to share information and to approve timesheet requests.

Here’s how you remove these challenges

Automated timesheet reminders along with time tracking software is the answer to removing these challenges. Limiting the amount of admin tasks employees must do is key for their success. These employees are gifted with time back to focus on larger  more important projects with their full attention. Having to send timesheet reminders daily is not efficient and should not be part of a regular work week!

Factorial’s all-in-one HR software solution offers an intuitive solution to tracking employees hours, leave requests and manage absences. By implementing this solution your employees will be able to easily track their hours and the payroll team can access the data with our analytics and reporting feature. With a simple and easy to use interface, this system allows companies to easily scale up their business as it accommodates for organizational growth.

Automated HR software solutions are designed to make the employer and the employees lives easier by providing an all-in-one solution to your HR problems. Do you want to eliminate manually sending timesheet reminders altogether? Check out our time tracking software solution to save yourself and your employees time each week!

10 timesheet reminder best practices

1. Automate timesheet reminders: use automated systems to send reminders at predetermined times to eliminate errors.
2. Convenience: allow employees to conveniently submit their timesheet via their phones along with their laptop/computer.
3. Deadlines: ensure that you set clear deadlines for employees to follow.
4. Clear, concise messages: keep messages short and to the point as employees time is valuable and costly. Communicate the importance and impact that not filling the timesheets will have to all employees at their onboarding and again throughout their employment.
5. Consistent timing: consistently send reminders at the same time each week to develop a routine which in time becomes a habit.
6. Consequences: inform managers of the effect missed timesheets would have on the business.
7. Incentives: reward timely submission with small gifts such as gift cards or food deliveries.
8. Audits: conduct regular audits of the data to ensure it is accurate.
9. Feedback: create a safe space for feedback from employees to learn what works best for your employees.
10. Research the data: there is so much data to back up the concept of automated HR software solutions. Learning from the statistics is a key step to understanding the benefits you could achieve.

Do you want to know more about what HR software is? Why not check out our article what is HR software? that explains the revolutionary technology and timesheet software guide: 10 tools compared to help you find the best HR software for your business.