Clocking and scheduling should be a streamlined process integrated into employees’ daily workflows. There are instances when employees forget to record their time because they’re focusing too much on their tasks.
Regardless of the working setup you choose for your team, you need to gather different kinds of data to track their productivity. These include the actual amount of hours your employees are working, the number of hours they need to complete specific tasks, and whether or not they are following their approved schedules.
While these data points seem easy to collect, many productive workers miss out on timekeeping, especially when they’re in the “zone”. These misses contribute to challenges in computing employee pay.
Despite these challenges, you have to find a way to track employee hours, especially if you’re working with a remote team. A time tracking app such as Clockshark will play a crucial role in gathering this data.
Clockshark Features
Clockshark is a paperless time-tracking application that helps you monitor your entire team. There are integrated features in Clockshark that will give you a detailed review of how your entire company is performing.
Here is a breakdown of the main Clockshark features.
Mobile Scheduling
In the service industry, where shift and schedule changes happen frequently, your employees must always be aware of the time they need to report to work. This practice is essential so that they can plan dates and family time around their scheduled shifts without worrying about sudden notices.
It would help if you had software with a scheduling feature that immediately informs users about their schedules.
Clockshark gives you the ability to edit and move schedules around the calendar. Once changes are saved, Clockshark will instantly notify all concerned employees.
Mobile Clocking
Clockshark is user-friendly, allowing employees to clock in from any device, including their mobile phones. This gives you real-time feedback on the hours worked by every employee.
Users simply select a job and task to start recording their hours, then tap “clock in”. Clockshark will then start counting the time your employee has worked.
Clocking per Task
Clockshark allows you to create separate tasks for your employees and track the time spent on each task. When users log into Clockshark and go about their day, they can switch between tasks on the fly. Clockshark will automatically stop the timer for the previous task and start counting on the task switched to.
This feature allows administrators to document how much time is spent on a particular task. This is critical when you have a workforce working on different projects or handling more than one client.
GPS Tracking
Some tasks may require an employee to attend a corporate event or inspect a site. For these cases, Clockshark lets you activate the GPS tracking feature.
The app will send accurate location pins of specific users up to four times per hour. This is useful for assessing whether the employee is headed to a location or “stuck” somewhere. It’s also helpful to see if the employee is at the site or not.
This feature is handy if your company does a lot of fieldwork.
Crewclock Feature
The Crewclock feature allows you to use designated team managers to clock for their crew or team members.
The designated team leader will simply select employees on the Crewclock feature and clock them in as they report on-site or report through other means. The same also works for clocking out. The team leader will select users on the app and tap on “clock out.”
This feature ensures that employees who lose access to their Crewclock app still have their hours reported to the administrators.
Detailed Monitoring
Clockshark compiles all the gathered information from your team (i.e., hours worked, locations tracked, tasks worked on, other notes) and shows this data in one comprehensive dashboard.
The dashboard makes it easier to track the performance of each employee. This feature is also far superior to the traditional manual timesheet or paper timesheet tracking.
Instant Reports
Clockshark can compile data into a PDF or CSV file. One of the more commonly-used reports is the timesheet report which computes costs per employee according to their wage rates.
These reports make it easier to process employee payrolls. They also support data-driven decision-making, critical for the success of your business.
Deviation Alerts
Most time-tracking software solutions check how many hours your employees work and calculate their total wages. However, Clockshark also lets you know when your crew deviates from their schedule.
Clockshark will send administrators real-time alerts whenever an employee’s clock-in time is inconsistent with their provided schedule. Perhaps they clock in on their off day, clock in too early, clock in late, or don’t work on a day they’re supposed to.
These alerts can then be compiled into a report. This report helps maintain accurate payrolls and ensures every employee gets paid for their tasks.
Scaleable
Clockshark will charge you depending on how many employees you have, making it easy to scale up or down. You can add as many employees as you need without requiring a complex configuration process.
Clockshark pricing
Clockshark has a monthly and an annual subscription. You’ll get two months for free if you go with annual billing.
There are three different plans to choose from:
Basic
The basic plan costs $20 per month, plus $3 per user. This means that for a 20-employee business, it’ll be $80 per month. The plan includes a wide array of features, including time and attendance tracking, task tracking, GPS tracking, overtime notifications data reporting, and a CRM for your business development, customer success, or customer support team.
Standard
The Standard plan’s base cost is $30 per month, plus $6 per user.
In addition to the Basic plan features, the Standard plan also includes drag-and-drop scheduling, making it easier to switch shifts and schedules on a calendar. It also has scheduling notifications that alert the administrator when there’s a deviation from the schedule. Moreover, you get GPS features like geo-tracking and geo-fencing.
It also features facial recognition, which ensures only the employee can clock themselves in and out (or unless a designated team member does it for them).
Your employees may also send export their timesheets and convert them into invoices, while you can send customized quotes to your clients using the Standard plan.
Pro
Clockshark’s premium option costs $50 per month, plus $8 per user.
In addition to the extensive features of the standard plan, the pro version allows you to generate branded reports and manage multiple time zones for remote workers.
The Pro version also has a time-off system where employees can submit requests for paid or unpaid time off, clock out questions that ask the employee some questions as they clock out, and instantly notify administrators about unexpected responses.
It also lets you create different overtime rules and automatically apply them to select employees. There’s also a more advanced control system over the standard and basic versions. On top of it all, the Pro version gives you access to a dedicated account manager who can meet with your crew for regular training.
Clockshark pros and cons
Different software solutions come with different pros and cons. Clockshark is not any different. Here are its pros and cons:
Pros
Here are some of Clockshark’s most significant benefits:
With the integration of a GPS-tracking feature, Clockshark is an excellent time-tracking tool for companies with employees who are often out on the field.
- The instant reports make running payroll easy for your finance team, mainly if your team consists primarily of freelancers who charge by the hour. While it is not a dedicated accounting software, the reports it generates are easy to format and feed into most payroll solutions.
- Clockshark also gives you an in-depth report on what tasks and projects take the most time and which employees tend to deviate more from the schedule.
These features are both essential for companies in project-based industries. However, Clockshark also has its weaknesses.
Cons
From kanban boards to task trackers, most business software usually allows unlimited free use for a limited number of users.
- Like most timekeeping software, ClockShark offers a 14-day free trial. However, it does not offer a free plan for small businesses.
- Clockshark’s base fee is also something to be considered. Whether you have one user or 100 users, you’ll pay that base fee.
So to use Clockshark to its fullest potential, you must have a large team.
Conclusion
Clockshark is a reliable time tracker app that incorporates GPS features. It is ideal for industries where employees are constantly moving, such as construction, sales, or on-site support. The app’s pricing is also optimized for cost-efficiency for large teams, making it an excellent asset for most organizations.
On the other hand, you may not need Clockshark’s GPS features when your team works from an office or remote locations. The pricing might also be steep for a small business that does not require its advanced features.
