How to Motivate Employees to Fill Out Time Sheets

timeAs a Traffic Manager, employees who are reluctant to fill out Time Sheets likely boggle your mind. Time Sheets allow agencies to bill clients. And if the agency doesn’t get paid, how can employees expect to get paid? If Time Sheets aren’t turned in regularly, agencies can miss out on billings; no client wants to be billed twice for a job because the agency messed up and didn’t bill the full amount the first time.

You’d think this logic alone would be enough to convince employees to fill out Time Sheets. But if you need some additional motivational tactics, try these.

Keep It Simple & Easy

The harder something is to do, the less likely people are to do it. CurrentTrack® offers an intuitive Time Sheet reporting tool that gives employees options for how to record their time. Some may prefer to write their time down and enter it all at the end of the day. Others may like to enter time throughout the day, as they work on and complete jobs. The CurrentTrack Time Sheet also keeps work code keys right there at your fingertips to help ensure accuracy.

Be Flexible

Time Sheets that require employees to track time down to the minute often result in fudged numbers and anxiety. Tackle this problem by allowing employees to bill in 15-minute increments or implement your own process that reduces micro-management of Time Sheets.

Automate It

The harder your Time Sheet tracking software works for you, the less you and other employees will have to do. For example, CurrentTrack can send automated Time Sheet reminders and frequent pop-ups that redirect the user to the Time & Expenses section when Sheets are past due. This is especially helpful from a morale standpoint, because the reminder will come from the software and not a person, who may become a target for resentment.

Value Honesty

Don’t penalize employees who tell the truth on their Time Sheets. Sure, have a daily billable target to strive for, but don’t demand constant, strict coherence. It’ll result in employees who pad their Sheets. Accurate accounting of time can help Traffic Managers spread the workload evenly across team members and identify problems in workflow that may need to be addressed.

Tie Time Sheets To Perks

Everyone likes rewards! Find out what motivates your employees, and offer incentives to complete Time Sheets “on time.” Maybe you could host a weekly or monthly raffle drawing, throw a party for those who complete them on time or withhold expense reimbursements until Time Sheets are complete.

Encouraging employees to fill out Time Sheets in a timely manner seems like a perpetual uphill battle. The key is to be transparent, remind everyone why it’s important and find what motivates your employees.

Good luck out there!

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