How to Prevent Time Theft When Working with Remote Employees?

Due to the recent pandemic, workplaces have had to shift to a remote working structure. While it is the need of the hour, it presents quite a few challenges. Most businesses are not equipped to handle remote business operations, especially on short notice. With the pandemic going on for over a year, businesses must employ measures to boost efficiency, even when employees are working from home.

Tools such as a webbased time clock can help employers handle the biggest challenge to remote work, like time theft.

What Is Time Theft?

For most companies, employees are paid based on the number of hours they put in. However, with remote work, it has become harder to track employee hours. Time theft is not similar to taking a break. While most employers make provisions for their employees to take breaks, time theft occurs when employees take longer breaks, start late, or finish early.

When employees get to pay for the time they did not spend on work. With remote work, employees may log in for work but spend their time doing something else. Hence, companies must ensure that they track their employees’ working time accurately.

Is Time Theft Harmful?

Understanding how harmful time theft can be is crucial to establish proper strategies to prevent it. Although time theft may seem like a minor issue at first, it can add up to a lot. While a few minutes of missed work may not be a big deal, it can add up to 6 weeks’ worth of stolen time.

Employers are not only cheated of time but productivity as well, they can spent time online by watching movies or series on Dramacool . the productivity from employees may drop so low that low productivity may become the new normal for your team.

Even if you have a few hard-working members, they may feel demotivated when they see that other employees get the same pay for lesser work. This can make them feel undervalued and cause them to lose focus on the work at hand.

Hence, apart from paying for work you did not receive, you also pay for lowered productivity. For employers, thus, it becomes imperative to come up with beneficial solutions to prevent time theft.

Preventing Time Theft: What Can You Do?

From the context, it is easy to understand that time theft is a serious concern for businesses. It poses a threat to the overall business operation and performance. For preventing lower productivity, team morale, and financial losses, it is crucial to establish time theft preventive measures.

Establishing Rules and Expectations

As an employer, you have to express your expectations from your employees clearly. You must lay down ground rules to ensure that the entire team knows how they should operate during business hours. Defining appropriate behavior and consequences to meet expectations helps ensure that productivity does not suffer.

Emphasize the importance of time tracking policies and how crucial they are. If your company is working remotely for the first time, you must discuss time tracking policies in detail with your employees.

Implementing Tracking Software

With the help of time tracking software such as a web-based time clock, employers can track work times accurately. When using this software, ensure that the employer’s work can be tracked accurately, with no way to trick the system. While employees need to log their hours, there is no way to know whether they are correct without accurate time tracking software.

Check-in with Employees

Working through a pandemic is stressful, especially when you do not have the option to engage with others. Apart from tracking their progress by checking in with them regularly, ensure that you ask them how they are feeling. When you can track their progress accurately, it gives you an idea of how much time they may have put in and keep track of hours worked.

Show Your Appreciation

Ensure that you recognize employees who have been working hard and putting in the extra effort. Praising your employees helps motivate them and encourages them to work harder and be diligent with their work.

Communicate, Don’t Interrogate

While time theft is frustrating, employees may not be doing it with malicious intent. Perhaps they had to leave for an important phone call or miscalculated their hours by a couple of minutes.

When you find evidence of time theft, it is essential to be patient with your employee and speak to them about the importance of accurate time tracking. If you find that time theft seems to be a deep-rooted problem, it may be time to speak regarding the matter and learn how you can help.

Businesses must establish strict time tracking policies that employees must follow. With accurate time tracking, you can boost productivity levels and ensure smooth operations even when working remotely.