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Keeping track of employees hours

6K views 15 replies 14 participants last post by  johnb32xq 
#1 ·
How is everyone doing this, it's hard to have a punch clock with different yards, and different guys doing from home to elivator and such. I have been getting the guys to text in and out and seems to work. Then it's pretty boring doing cheques tonight and doing the hours math. Is there a better way!?
 
#3 ·
I just write my hours in my phone notepad. Send my hours in once after seeding and once after harvest. I always figured if you can't trust your workers they shouldn't be working for you.

However for when I'm billing out for custom combining I use an app called hourstracker, as it date stamps each entry, as well as has inputs for me to write any extra info in for myself, and let's you plug in your hourly rate so you know how much you made per day and per customer. I'd say it's a pretty good app if that's more what your looking for.
 
#4 ·
I don't have employees, but have been an employee at several other jobs. Joesixpacks method IMO is the answer. I know having a punch clock, is a bit of a moral killer.
If you are to record and total your own hours, it shows trust, and as an employee you may take more pride and ownership in your work.
If an employee abuses the trust...well then I don't know.
 
#5 ·
I tried out TimeStation app. If your guys have smartphones they can use their pin or a scan card to clock in and out were ever they are. I would always forget to write down times with maybe 6 guys doing diffrent hours. This seemed to work well. Can also scan their personal time cards at any iPad or iPhone. Times are editable if needed.
 
#6 ·
I have had way way too much trouble fudging the clock!
It wasn't just one employee either!
I have a punch clock and a surveillance camera next to it. The clock was a joke until I put the camera next to it and I have not had to chew butt not one time since!

I am fortunate to have my shop in town so it's the central location so if they have to drive to a field or whatever they are getting paid for it.

My problem before the camera is two guys in particular (one has gotten the Das boot and the other one is close) they would show up and clock in, go down to the C-store and buy breakfast in my pickup then go spend 20 min getting rid of thier gut bomb on my ****ter while checking to see what was new on Facebook. Then that wasn't enough so they would come into town, stop at the bar to eat super then go back and clock out.

Help can be a *****, even the ones that you think you can trust will try to screw you.

For trucking I pay by the loaded mile, them having a CDL is worth alot to me so they get a much better pay scale while driving working on the farm and in the shop.
 
#9 ·
My problem before the camera is two guys in particular (one has gotten the Das boot and the other one is close) they would show up and clock in, go down to the C-store and buy breakfast in my pickup then go spend 20 min getting rid of thier gut bomb on my ****ter while checking to see what was new on Facebook. Then that wasn't enough so they would come into town, stop at the bar to eat super then go back and clock out.
That's quite the vivid picture you paint. Maybe you could be an author.

They didn't stop by your bar on the clock did they? That would be either really brave or really stupid.

I guess there's one advantage to being a half hour from civilization.
 
#8 ·
We have a "timesheet" for them to fill out, but they keep track of their own hours. I've spot checked over the years, but never found anything that's worth complaining about - 1 week, they are over 5 min, next week under 5 min.

Made it up on Excel - has 1 line for each day in the 2 week period. Space for "date", "hours", "project/details". The project details is more to help keep track of when each farm operation was completed.

Andrew
 
#13 ·
Tom, this is what is done for a guy I help out. Keep the timesheet in their vehicle so they always have it wherever they go to work.

If you and your guys are more tech-y, there are smartphone apps out there that you 'punch in' when you start and 'punch out' when you're done, and can write in what you do, when lunch break was, who you worked for (can track for multiple employers) etc. The apps usually have an export function that creates an excel spreadsheet as a summary of the month or whatever pay period, which they can send to you.

Personally I'd lose that paper timesheet so I track my hours using Timesheet app (android only) and transfer it over at pay time. Less likely to lose my phone than a piece of paper. But using apps is not foolproof, so they should have some tech know-how, for example knowing how to back it up so you don't lose all the data if their phone gets lost or ****s the bed.
 
#10 ·
Time sheets in the coffee room works for us, but we run a dairy and someone from the family is on site every day so we can keep a reasonable eye on things. We also can kinda double check based off when the computer is recording when the wash cycles are happening after milking.

But the final word is having employees you can trust to keep track of their own hours. We've been very fortunate over the years and our long term employees are basically extensions of our family....
 
#11 ·
We don't have employees but have worked where there was the honor system and and the time card. I found the honor system worked the best, especially in a job like farming (my job was in construction) where hours are dependent on weather and many other factors. This gives the employees more freedom to just go strait home or to an appointment etc without having to run by the shop to punch out. Worked the same at the start of the day. I found when I worked where there was a time clock, people were a lot less efficient. Everybody's goal was to just get there early to punch in then run back to town for parts etc rather than just picking them up when they were in town before work, so this way were getting paid to drive both ways. No matter what route you go there will always be someone who will try to beat the system. I feel if you give someone the trust to look after their own hours they will return the favour in being honest.
 
#14 ·
We use tracksmart, a paid service which they check in with their own phones. No adding or anything needed can compile nice reports on each guys hours. We might switch to a app called timesheets soon though as it integrates with QuickBooks online. Makes payroll pretty quick and easy. I'd only recommend it for guys with 5+ employees though, I think pen and paper honour system worked just fine before. I just got to a point where I wanted to spend as little time as possible on payroll which is why I'm willing to pay the 30 bucks a month or whatever it is.
 
#15 ·
There are so many dif ways depending on the farm job. Like alot of dairy farms have a time clock. I have a friend that has helps a farmer during harvest for some extra cash takes a pic of the hours on the tractor when he gets in and when he shuts down. The honor system seems to work well but there is always a guy that adds a lil time here and there...
 
#16 ·
when i did a harvest one last year i had to keep a track of my hours for the guy i worked for and i used this app on my android tablet called Time Recording, pretty simple easy to use and the farmer had no issue of me using it to keep track of hours, Im not sure if there is an Iphone version but here is the android version

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dynamicg.timerecording
 
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