As a busy caterer, running around from one event to another, keeping track of employees is the last thing you want to worry about or have time for – but it’s a critical component to managing a business. Not only are the majority of hospitality employees working on an hourly basis, but the unpredictable nature of the job means that their hours can vary dramatically from week to week. While one weekend might mean racking up overtime at events that rage into the early morning hours, another may result in being sent home early from overstaffed, underattended parties.
In addition, the more your business grows and the longer your client list becomes, the harder it is to rely on traditional forms of tracking employee hours – be it handwritten timesheets or a manual punch clock. A larger workforce means that you are either spending an increasing amount of time reviewing timecards and doing payroll or dishing out overtime pay to an accountant handling it for you.
For caterers struggling to keep track of a growing team of mobile workers, replacing this broken system with an efficient employee time tracking system is truly a game-changer. When time is NOT spent worrying about employee hours and locations, you're free to focus on the clients and the events that demand your full attention. While some months are slower than others, there isn't a significant amount of downtime in the catering business. And with wedding season fast approaching, now is the ideal time for caterers to seek out a better method for tracking employee hours.
Whether you've already started doing research to find the best punch clock app or you're brand new to the world of timesheet apps, here are a number of reasons why considering an employee time tracking system is the best thing you can do for your business.
Ideal software for caterers
There are few types of businesses that operate with more fluidity than catering. No matter how experienced you are at planning events and anticipating the amount of labor and food required, it’s impossible to plan perfectly. You will often end up in situations where you have more workers than you need or conversely, where staff hours are extended due to guests' larger-than-anticipated appetite for food, drink and partying.
It’s in this state of constant flux that a reliable employee time clock app is so valuable. No matter how much you trust your staff to accurately report their hours, their honesty will not prevent them from making mistakes. Similarly, your own dedication to paying your staff fairly won’t keep you from making your own errors as you attempt to compile all of their hours and send out paychecks.
Minimizing inflated hours
A clock in clock out app that uses GPS geofencing technology to monitor your employees' hours and locations is the only way to ensure that your payroll isn’t getting inflated by unworked hours. Even if only a small percentage of workers are guesstimating hours or participating in buddy punching, these inaccuracies wreck havoc on the bottom line and undermine your ability to grow your business.
Don't make the mistake of assuming that because you're running a tight-knit small business, you are immune to payroll fraud. If you’re still relying on manual timecards or an archaic punch clock system, you are vulnerable to all kinds of timesheet tampering. Bookkeepers understandably dread payroll, faced with the struggle of compiling hours and processing incomplete timecards. It's no wonder they love the simplicity of QuickBooks time tracking software, an easy integration with Timesheet Mobile.
Keeping employees punctual
Another weakness of traditional employee timekeeping is that it often allows employees a great deal of leeway in terms of when they come and go, particularly if they are part of a large workforce where supervision is sparse. If employees are responsible for keeping track of their own hours, arriving 10 minutes early or leaving 15 minutes late is commonplace ... and costly.
With Timesheet Mobile, however, you can easily set up a geofence around an event venue so that employees cannot punch in until they have arrived at the location. When an on the clock employee leaves or returns to a venue, geofence alerts are issued to the appropriate manager, making it virtually impossible for an employee to submit hours that weren’t worked.
Ensuring timecard accuracy
Employee time tracking is not just about preventing theft. It’s also about avoiding any questions or concerns about timesheet accuracy. Depending on the size of your catering operation and how many events you and your employees are working on at the same time, it can be difficult to recall and track hours, especially since events can often run into the wee hours of the morning.
Rather than attempting to rely on your memory or chasing down employees and asking them to do the same, it just makes sense to have a time clock app automatically compile this information for you. A cloud based employee time tracking system virtually eliminates human error and provides a smart, cost-effective solution.
Gaining greater analysis and insights
Whether you’re a catering veteran or just getting started in the business, there are ways to optimize your systems. What’s great about Timesheet Mobile’s employee punch clock is that all on the clock employee hours can be viewed at a glance, easily analyzed and processed for payroll – in one centralized system. Are certain types of events regularly resulting in overtime? Which supervisors have been letting employees leave early? All of this information helps you better manage your workforce.
Employee time tracking is a staple of businesses that employ mobile workers. Timesheet Mobile’s solution is easy to implement, whether or not you’re tech-savvy. Try it FREE for 30 days and gain an edge this wedding season.
