How to track the workings hours of field employees?

10 replies
Hi;

For those of you who have employees that work outside an office, how do you track their work hours?
#employees #field #hours #track #workings
  • Profile picture of the author Chad Kimball
    good old fashioned "trust"

    but, they send reports on various projects/tasks and how long it took for each. that way if something looks like it took WAY too much time it sticks out when their reports get reviewed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sherry Han
    I think it's a better idea to pay field employees on a project-by-project basis, unless you have done their line of work yourself and have a very good idea how long each assigned task takes.
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  • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
    Have them text in when they start, and text out when they are done. Store the text in a Google spreadsheet
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  • Profile picture of the author BillyParadise
    make them track their activities in a crm.
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    • Profile picture of the author TurnKeyShane
      There is an open source program call time trex that will serve as a punch clock where they punch in and punch out to track their hours. It also has a full payroll system but I don't use that part of the program. It does not track desktop shots to monitor work. There are some paid monthly services that will do that for you but all of them have had bugs, work incorrectly, or were just over priced in my experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    Forget about hours. Set goals and track fulfillment of goals.

    As Jim Rohn used to say:
    "How many clients did you see this week? There is no room in this little box for your story, I can only fit a number."

    Provide strict deliverables on a week by week or day by day basis and track those. Some people will take four hours and some who are faster will take two. Pay a flat rate that is reasonable for the work you need done per week or day. Don't care how long or how little it takes to do those tasks, as long as they get done.

    After all, your goal isn't to keep people busy for "x" number of hours, your real goal is to get "x" number of tasks done which leads to "y" amount of revenue.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chad Kimball
    I agree with Dan, it should be more about the task than the hours. If you give your employees a sense of ownership over what they are doing and you make them feel like they are an important part of the project than they will be more likely to be honest.
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  • Profile picture of the author PsycFa
    Out of office workers? Don't do based on hours as there are so many hustlers out there. Project based would be your safest bet.
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    The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.....

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  • Profile picture of the author TurnKeyShane
    Maybe its just me but the contractors that I dealt with on a project basis pay were the worst to flake and disappear mid-project. They usually also had more projects then they could handle. I became much more successful by paying a monthly salary and requiring each team member to work a set amount of hours each week. I know approximately how long the projects should take so I follow up if anything seems out of order or it seems like their hours are not matching up to productivity.
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    • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
      Originally Posted by TurnKeyShane View Post

      Maybe its just me but the contractors that I dealt with on a project basis pay were the worst to flake and disappear mid-project. They usually also had more projects then they could handle. I became much more successful by paying a monthly salary and requiring each team member to work a set amount of hours each week. I know approximately how long the projects should take so I follow up if anything seems out of order or it seems like their hours are not matching up to productivity.
      I think it is important to differentiate between project based payment and task based payment.

      I agree with you completely that paying on a full project basis is a great way to have contractors not fulfilling your needs. For this reason it is important to break each project down into a series of bite-sized tasks.

      For example: Call x number of prospects. Write x number of emails. Address x number of envelopes. Make x number of posts.

      These can be on a week by week or day by day basis. Personally, I speak to each contractor daily. I require daily progress reporting at the end of each day. In the morning I followup and set the expectations for each day.

      That's the thing about most workers, they aren't leaders. This will be found in ANY work environment whether online or offline. The leader must lead and set expectations, reward good performance and adjust poor performers. If too many adjustments are made, let the person go.

      Anytime I have ever turned an employee loose to get a full project done, I have been disappointed. Only the superstars can be trusted to do that - and they usually become leaders themselves.
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