Boise, Idaho (PRWEB) August 29, 2013
Recently TSheets.com, the #1 employee rated and requested time tracking software on the planet, determined that on average, an employee wastes 6% (or 10 hours) per month of their time at work. Average cost to an employer? Almost $3,000 per year per employee. That’s a shocking $300,000 per year for a mid-sized business of 100 employees.
According to a survey in 2012 by Salary.com, 50% of employees waste between 1-5 hours per week. The six reasons for wasting time, with low pay ranking last, are:
Not Challenged
Long Hours
No Incentive
Unsatisfied
Bored
Low Pay
Do it like Yahoo!?
Earlier this year, several Fortune 500 organizations blamed financial woes, in part, on employees not working enough and the flexible work programs in effect. Both organizations reined in their remote workforces, bringing them back to the office, to mediate the costs of lost or wasted time.
Conversely, the Coil Group, a company that provides mobile strategy, UX services and mobile application development services to public sector, mid-market and Fortune 1000 companies, takes a completely different approach. “We are strong believers in flexible work styles. We have a policy where every Monday and Friday are home office days. Even our office days are flexible with some folks starting their day at 7am and others at 11am,” says Founder, Jim Brown.
TSheets.com CEO Matt Rissell comments, “Flexible work programs seem to be an area businesses target during times of economic stress. Yet, as is evident in our research and infographic “The Changing Face of Time and the Workday,” there have been dramatic changes in the way employers have tracked time and productivity." In the 20th century alone, the productivity of the American worker has increased, tripled in fact, due to technology, the changes in the American workday (why we celebrate Labor Day), and businesses evolving and becoming more efficient.
Why some employees can waste time and still be productive.
According to the Well-Being Index, people that aren’t as happy about their jobs don’t show up consistently, produce less, and deliver a lower quality end product. No surprise; there are employees who waste time and are a cost to their employers.
Yet, employees that are happy with the job hours, flexibility, and more - do take breaks, albeit are they sacrificing productivity? With smartphone technology in this day an age, more employees than ever are answering emails and working after hours. And according to Salary.com’s survey analysis, employees moving back and forth, in and out between work and personal during the day, are making work a more natural and integrated part of their everyday life.
Jim Brown, running his consulting group out of northern Detroit agrees, “The whole point for us is that employees can manage their tasks and deliverables. We measure on what gets done, not how many hours they are sitting at their desk.”
What about those $300,000 reasons…?
According to Rissell, “In our business, we advocate that technological advances will continue to be an opportunity for businesses to lower costs and increase productivity due to fewer office expenses, and more appealing work conditions for the employee. As for saving money on employee time worked? Keeping your employees challenged wouldn't hurt (time wasting reason #1), and an effective, down to the second time tracker that monitors employee time per project and per client. Like TSheets.”
Take a tour of (and share) the history behind “The Changing Face of Time and the Workday”; from the long days of work managed by the sun and bell towers, to the shorter, yet more productive days of the 21st century.
About TSheets
TSheets is a Web based employee time tracking and attendance software, developed in 2006 out of Boise, Idaho. Used by thousands of companies and their employees around the world, TSheets provides an easy to use and interactive employee interface, saves administrators hours in processing payroll, and provides business leaders with real-time labor and job-costing information.