Most organizations start looking for time clock software after they discover an employee has been padding hours. Or the business grows to the point that manually collecting and calculating employee hours becomes error prone and time consuming..
Being a church, you may not need to worry about these 2 issues. However, there many compelling reasons why you should be tracking your employees time. Here are 4 top reasons.
#1 - It’s The Law
Tracking employee time is not optional. All organizations(churches included), are required by the DOL(U.S Department of Labor) to track employee hours and keep timesheets for a minimum of 3 years. This applies only to non-exempt (hourly) employees, if your employees are paid salary then you are not required to track hours or maintain timesheets.
There has been a 77% rise in lawsuits tied to wages and time since 2004
If an employee suspects that they are being shorted hours on their paycheck, the employee can file a complaint with the DOL which many times will result in an investigation. In addition to complaints, the DOL may target an organization for a myriad of reasons, here are a few...
- Low wage industry - because many employers take advantage of low wage employees
- Rapid growth or decline in an industry
- Random businesses in certain geographic areas
If you are selected for an investigation, the investigator will show up, present his/her credentials and explain how the investigation will proceed. You will be required to provide payroll and time records dating back up to 3 years for each employee. Employees will be privately interviewed and finally the investigator will meet with employer to discuss any violations and repercussions. Fines may be assessed and is any back wages are owed, the employer will be required to calculate and pay the employees.
#2 - Time Tracking Systems Are More Accurate
Accurately tracking time should be the #1 goal of anyone in charge of payroll. You want to get your team paid on time and for the correct amount of hours worked. Errors in payroll can generally be tracked to poor time tracking or a lack of technology in tracking hours.
Studies show that 82 million US workers have had payroll errors - don't be part of this statistic
#3 - Keep Everyone Honest
Honesty is a keystone to building strong relationships both personally and professionally. Implementing a time clock system adds a layer of transparency where the the employees and church management have a common area to view worked and PTO hours.
We expect church employees to hold themselves to a high degree of integrity. However in the general public, time theft can cost businesses as much as 7% of their gross yearly payroll according to the APA.
Sometimes when adding time tracking for your church staff, there may be a bit of resistance from your employees. They may think that you believe that there is some foul play going on or may see time tracking as an intrusive big-brother type move to closely monitor them. Take time to meet with everyone and explain that this is not the case, explain that it is required by law and protects the church as well as the employees.
#4 - Tracking Employee Paid Time Off (PTO) Hours
Adding a time tracking system is not all about tracking employee worked hours, it's also about tracking PTO hours such as vacation, sick and holiday time off. Most churches will have a time off policy where staff either accrue hours over time, or are allotted hours for the year.
Without a proper time off tracking system in place managers will have to reply on memory, handwritten notes or spreadsheets to track time. While this is possible with the aforementioned techniques it will be very error prone and time consuming.
Modern time tracking systems can handle time off properly. There will be a ledger of allotted/accrued time, along with the used and remaining hours for PTO categories(sick, vacation, holiday etc). Employees can request time off online or using phone apps, church staff can then either approve or deny the request. Employees will also have a portal to view the current time off.
Your Next Steps
Next, you will want to do some research on exactly what features you want and need. Here is a list of basic features that all modern time tracking systems should have. Look through these to create your checklist.
- Online (web based)
- Phone Apps for managers and employees
- Automatic time card calculation
- Automatic overtime calculation
- PTO (paid time off) requesting, approval & tracking
- Mobile Location Controls (geo-fencing, IP & device authorization)
- Ability to export to your payroll system - eliminates transposing data and errors
- Fingerprint (biometric) employee clock in/out
- Church or non-profit discount
