Singaporean Entrepreneurs

Here’s an interesting idea: a Web Time Clock machine for employees. Instead of the usual punch card and machine which is restricted by physical space, use a web-based one so you can track employee time from anywhere, anytime.

It’s perfect for businesses with multiple offices, or with employees who work from remote job locations (cleaning, catering, construction, plumbing, renovation). Apart from being able to tell when your employees have actually arrived & finished work, the information can help you gain key insights about your business by seeing where you can cut costs or improve efficiency if you include clocking-time for particular tasks started/done. You may have been relying on estimates this whole time which may be very off. With the ease of access using an online clocking machine, you can now have real data, and know the costs of a project as it flows instead of waiting for the report at the end of the day/week/month.

A company that already has done something with this idea is www.clockspot.net which offers not only an online clock but also a Phone Time Clock which is a very smart alternative should internet access prove prohibitive. They have a very thorough Online Timesheet which even allows managers to approve overtime work on the spot if needed. Another interesting feature is that the timesheet also tracks employee leave (sick, paid, etc.) & shifts for better project coordination and it red flags suspicious clock in/out times.

In addition to the timesheet, clockspot.net actually generates the payroll report which can be exported to Excel saving small businesses lots of time and money. The best feature for me is the in-house instant messaging & sketching where employees in remote locations can “talk” to their managers directly. I’m not sure if this is automatically saved & tracked by the system, but if it isn’t, it should be because this can prove to be powerful information, again for saving costs and streamlining processes. Employees will also feel better about being to focus on getting the job done instead of waiting for tasks to be formally approved through much slower means.