The various different benefits of time tracking apps for employees have been long well-established and proven. It’s great for automating and optimizing business processes, it heightens control and security of files and documents, its data can help you make decisions to improve your employees’ productivity, and it can even be used as employee attendance time clock. The proof that companies are starting to recognize the amazing potential of software time tracker is in its rapidly growing popularity.

One among its benefits that employers often forget about is the ability of an agency time tracking tool to discover the need for additional training and support of specific employees.

As we’re about to see, you can accomplish this with IT time management software in a couple of different ways. We’ll go into some more details on each of these ways and we’ll also provide a little reminder of why it’s important to give employees support when needed.

Tracking the Amount of Time Spend on Tasks

The first method of discovering the need for extra support we’re going to take a look at is the use of the most basic functionality that all time tracking apps for employees must have by definition - time tracking.

The simple fact that these apps time every computer activity of every employee can be your best ally in pinpointing where the weaknesses are and who needs additional training.

It works like this: You let your online time clock for employees run and collect data while your workers are doing their usual tasks. Every instance of every activity they do will be detected and the time they take to complete it will be registered. This includes working on specific projects and tasks as well as working in particular programs and platforms.

Now, here comes the fun analysis part. You’ll soon have a lot of data on the average time employees take to do certain tasks, and noticing that one or more of your employees take a lot more time than others for doing the same things can be a strong indication that they’re not as proficient.

For example, you’ve got a team of designers. Your time tracking apps for employees show that the time needed to design a particular type of visual in Photoshop is 3 hours. But then you also notice that your software clock detected that one of your designers typically takes about 5 hours to do the same thing. Whether they struggle with finding inspiration, getting colors to fit in or just getting around in Photoshop in general, this probably calls for some kind of extension on their initial training.

Two things to keep in mind when only relying on the time aspect, though:

1. The time discrepancy needs to be a recurring phenomenon. If it happened just once, it might have been because the employee was distracted or they were generally unproductive on that particular day, for example. This behavior needs to be consistent in order to be considered a sign of incompetence.
2. The quality of work should be about the same as everyone else’s (or worse). If an employees typically takes more time on a task but produces better results as well, then it’s probably because they’re a bit more detail-oriented than others. If you need them to work faster, all you have to do is get them to shift their priorities.

Other Indications of Struggling with a Task

Apart from taking a greater amount of time, there are other signs that an employee needs further support. One of these that can be obvious in time tracking apps for employees are the programs and activities that typically accompany the execution of a specific kind of task.

The additional platforms that you should look for generally include search engines, Q&A websites, industry forums, YouTube tutorials, documentation of the software employees are asked to work in and similar resources. If they are interspersed all over a particular task, it’s probably because employees are looking for help and support online.

For example, if every time you assign one of your developers to write a piece of code using a particular language or library they open up Google, Quora, Stack Exchange or any other industry Q&A forum or tutorial hub, it means they can’t do it entirely on their own and some additional training might be what’s needed.

But just like with tracking time, using management time tracking this way will need to produce consistent repeating results. If this happened once for a specific task and never again, it means that an employee learned what they needed to know and can apply it from now on. A genuine need for help is illustrated by a pattern of behavior, not a single isolated instance.

The Importance of Training and Support

Now that we’ve seen how to use hourly employee time tracking software to discover the cases for further support, let’s go over the reasons why providing it pays off much more than letting the situation resolve itself or, worse yet, firing an employee who struggles.

First of all, training boosts morale in employees. It makes them more satisfied and willing to give back. Secondly, it saves you trouble in the future - after a couple of training sessions or a short online course, the employee is going to be much more efficient and productive. And finally, providing a little bit of support along the way to existing employees is a much cheaper and more respectable method of doing business than initiating a new round of hiring every other week.

Conclusion

Employers who provide their workers with constant care, support and ongoing training get happier and more efficient employees. Even though workers themselves might be reluctant to speak up about their need for additional support, time task tracking software can help you detect this need from a distance and react to it early, before any more time and resources are wasted.

Ready to give it a try? Sign up for a free trial of Insightful's time tracking and attendance management system today!

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