Some agencies rely on their gut to manage their budgets, operations, and the performance of their employees. While it technically can work, it is not ideal, especially if you work on a project-by-project basis. A proper estimation of how long will it take for you to finish a certain project takes a lot of effort and some luck. Manually tracking everyone’s hours could potentially be inaccurate and is a mundane and insufficient way to spend your time at work. 

That is why agencies should rely on an employee efficiency tracker instead. Tracking time and efficiency is one of the best things you can do for your agency. Every hour you track is another hour you can bill your clients. 

It works both for projects charged by hours or charged at a flat rate because in both scenarios you will not have to diligently track the time your employees spend on each task, client, and projects they are currently working on throughout the day. 

To track your time, you can use a spreadsheet or a time tracker. The best way to avoid wasting time when tracking time is to invest in an employee efficiency tracker.

They work by recording all the desktop and web activity of each of your employees without interrupting them. You can then use that data to measure the productivity and effectiveness of your employees, and bill your clients, all while at the same time not affecting your team's work.

In this article, we will be taking a look at some of the benefits time tracking can give your agency.

Greater Transparency

In recent years, clients have started demanding greater transparency from their agencies. Clients give a lot of money to agencies and it is fair that they know exactly where that money goes. With an employee efficiency tracker, you can provide all the information about the hours and expenses your clients require by including them in your regular reports.

If your clients ask you to provide them with information about your hours, you must provide the information quickly. If you have to gather all the various information from multiple sources, it can take quite a bit of time which can make your agency look unprofessional or even reluctant to provide the asked information.

With Insightful, for example, you can create Client accounts for free and give them access to the data related only to their own projects. They can check in at any point, without having to disturb your or any of your team members.

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Better Project Planning and Management

In any organization, especially an agency, it is important to be able to have a clear overview of everything that is happening inside the company at any time. 

Time tracking allows you to easily see how long certain tasks take to complete. This information is useful for planning future projects, either for ones that are already in the pipeline or for those you are pitching for. It can also help you to assess the effectiveness of your employees much easier.

Easier Remote Management

Even before the coronavirus outbreak, there has been a huge growth in remote working and hiring workers that are located on the other side of the world. For agencies, with the right tools and a stable internet connection, most work can be done from home or other locations which is why many agencies are tapping in the remote talent pool. Remote work also allows agencies much greater flexibility than before by allowing them to choose the right person for each project. 

To successfully manage the time and the productiveness of remote workers, you need an employee efficiency tracker. They allow you to know exactly how many hours your remote freelancers are working while at the same time having an overview of the progress of the project. This will give you much more confidence since you know that your remote employees are doing the work you are paying them to do.

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Final Takeaways

For an agency to be effective in managing their operations, budget, and the performance of its employees, it is recommended to use an employee efficiency tracker. While it is possible to get by without it, you have to rely on a lot of guessing to ensure everything is billed right.

With a time tracker, you can provide your clients with transparent data that will allow them to see exactly everything you are doing and how you are spending their money. It also helps you better plan any future projects as well as manage any ongoing ones. Finally, time tracking allows you to better manage your remote employees, whether they are your current employees that are working from their homes or remote freelancers.