Tracking time and attendance helps you effectively manage your workforce and stay compliant with your local labor laws.
However, keeping track of employees’ work hours and attendance manually is not efficient. Thankfully, time and attendance tracking software make the process more efficient, accurate, and cost-effective.
If you are looking to invest in time and attendance software but are confused by the sheer amount of choices, you are in the right place.
In this article, we’ll highlight the ten best time and attendance software available today. We’ll also cover the three major benefits of using them.
This article contains:
(click on the links below to read a specific section)
- 10 Best Time and Attendance Tracking Software
- 3 Major Benefits of Using a Time and Attendance Software
Let’s get started.
10 best time and attendance tracking software
Before we list the best time and attendance tracking software, let’s briefly cover what these tools do.
Time and attendance tracking software is an umbrella term for tools that offer features for effective employee management. These solutions could range from a simple time clock to an enterprise-level workforce management suite.
Some of the standard functionalities of time and attendance software include:
- Employee time tracking.
- Employee scheduling.
- Attendance management.
- Payroll integration, etc.
So here are the best time and attendance tracking software:
1. Time Doctor
Time Doctor is a robust time and attendance solution used by large companies like Verizon and SMBs like Thrive Market to optimize their workforce.
It has powerful productivity management features to keep your on-premise and remote employees working at optimum levels.
Key features
Here are a few ways Time Doctor can help boost your workforce management efforts:
A. Flexible time tracking
Tracking employee hours helps you measure productivity levels at individual and team levels. It also keeps them more focused on their jobs.
With Time Doctor, employees can conveniently track their work hours. They can use both manual and automatic tracking features for more flexibility.
For manual tracking, just follow these simple steps:
- Open the Time Doctor app and enter the task name you’re working on.
- Click ‘Start’ to begin tracking time. Time Doctor will now track your time as you work.
- Click’ Stop’ to end the tracking if you need to take a break or have completed the task.
In the automatic mode, time tracking starts as soon the employee turns on the computer. It allows them to focus on the tasks without having to worry about starting the timer. Besides, it gives the employer valuable insights into their productivity and behavior.
B. Work scheduling
The work schedule feature allows managers and administrators to create work schedules and track employee attendance with ease.
The following functionalities make employee scheduling a simple and quick process:
- Add or modify a single shift or make bulk edits.
- Create flexible shifts for any period up to an entire week.
- Set up a different schedule for each employee.
- See detailed attendance reports to know when an employee is late, partially absent, or fully absent.
- Set access permission to control who can view/edit the shift and attendance data.
C. Productivity reports
Managers and supervisors can get insights into an employee’s productivity with detailed Time Doctor reports.
Some of these reports include:
- Activity summary report: Shows an employee’s active and unproductive time, down to the second, for a specific time frame.
- Timeline report: View the time employees spend working and on breaks in daily and weekly formats.
- Hours tracked report: See the team’s total working hours in any specified date range.
- Web & app usage report: Shows the sites and applications employees use during work hours and their time on each of them.
- Projects & tasks report: Take note of the time an employee spends on various projects and tasks.
D. Payroll management
Once you have the time and attendance records of your employees, you can accurately process their payments.
Time Doctor’s integrated payroll feature allows you to pay your employees through popular payment gateways conveniently.
Here are some functionalities of Time Doctor’s payroll feature:
- Maps payroll with employee time tracking data using manual or automatic timesheets.
- Make batch payments for faster processing.
- Customize payroll based on currency, pay periods, and type of employee (salaried or hourly employees)
- Integrate with popular payment gateways like Gusto and Paypal.
- Download payment information in CSV, XLS, or PDF formats.
E. Powerful Chrome integration
Time Doctor’s Chrome extension lets you track time across third-party project management tools like Asana, Slack, Basecamp, and more.
Here’s how to set up the Chrome extension:
- First, download the browser extension from the Chrome Web Store.
- The extension adds a start/stop button within your preferred project management tool.
- Now use this button to track time for tasks and projects without switching between apps.
These tasks and projects will be automatically added to the Time Doctor’s desktop app.
Pricing
Time Doctor’s paid plans start at $7/user per month, and there’s also a free 14-day trial (no credit card required).
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (350+ reviews)
2. Quickbooks Time
Quickbooks Time (formerly Tsheets) is a timecard and scheduling solution available on multiple devices and platforms.
It allows employees to clock in and clock out using a web-based dashboard and stores the data as online timecards.
Key features
- GPS tracking feature to get an overview of an employee’s location.
- Convenient mobile app to track, submit and approve timesheets.
- Create and edit an employee schedule by dragging and dropping pre-built shifts.
- Digital time kiosk in a tablet form factor to easily track attendance of on-site employees.
- Allows employers to track paid-time-off (PTO) and leaves automatically.
Pricing
Paid plans start at $7.5/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (1300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (5000+ reviews)
3. Replicon
Replicon is a cloud-based employee and project management suite with end-to-end solutions for time and attendance tracking.
You can use Replicon’s time tracking and other features on a PC and a mobile device.
Key features
- Time tracking with GPS and geofencing capabilities, as well as local labor law compliance.
- Configurable timesheets to capture time information based on your business goals.
- Real-time project and expense tracking to accurately bill clients.
- Interactive dashboards to monitor project and workforce metrics.
- Connects with tools like Tableau, Microsoft Power BI for advanced analytics and business intelligence (BI) functions.
Pricing
Replicon’s time and attendance solutions start from $8/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (400+ reviews)
4. TimeClock Plus
TimeClock Plus is a workforce management suite with innovative time and attendance tracking, and employee scheduling solutions.
It automates the timekeeping processes to help you stay compliant with laws, manage labor costs, and boost your team’s productivity.
Key features
- Allows flexible and dynamic time tracking configuration that can be applied on the company, department, and employee levels.
- Has an effective overtime management system.
- Offers exception tracking to monitor late arrivals, absences, missed punches, etc.
- Real-time schedule updates to check overstaffing and understaffing.
- Integrates with major payroll software like ADP and Agile, as well as with ERP systems such as SAP and NetSuite.
Pricing
TimeClock Plus solutions start from $2.5/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (150+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (150+ reviews)
5. Jibble
Jibble is a hassle-free attendance tracker and time clock app with advanced biometric authentication features.
It works on multiple platforms (mobile, tablet, web app) and can be used with popular third-party tools like MS Teams, Slack, etc.
Key features
- Clock in, clock out, and time tracking with GPS locations through any mobile device.
- On-site attendance kiosk with facial recognition to prevent buddy punching and time theft.
- Customized work schedules with reminders for clock-ins, meal breaks, etc.
- Automated timesheets for a faster and accurate payroll process.
- Detailed time and productivity reports to monitor employee performance.
Pricing
Paid plans for Jibble start at $2/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (40+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (200+ reviews)
6. Bamboo HR
Bamboo HR is a cloud-based HR software with essential time tracking and attendance management features. Employees can punch in and out using the Bamboo HR home screen or on their mobile phones.
Key features
- Allows employee time tracking for specific categories like a project, client, location, etc.
- Employees can check their timesheet and fix errors on the go.
- Efficient approval workflow to help managers review timesheets quickly.
- Automatic reminders to update schedules, submit and approve timesheets, etc.
- Built-in overtime tracking and compliance management.
Pricing
Pricing is available on request.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (700+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (1200+ reviews)
7. DeskTime
DeskTime is an automatic time tracking app that helps businesses boost team productivity and accurately calculate billable hours. You can also use it to track projects and create work schedules.
Key features
- Unified app for time tracking and employee scheduling.
- Offline time tracking allows employees to manually enter work hours.
- Absence calendar to track leave requests, unpaid leaves, sick leave, etc.
- Project tracking to accurately bill customers.
- Track time from popular apps like Trello, Basecamp, and Asana using DeskTime integrations.
Pricing
Paid plans for DeskTime start at $7/user per month.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (15+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (200+ reviews)
8. ClockIt
ClockIt is a cloud-based time and attendance system suitable for medium and small businesses. You can use it through a mobile app or a web browser.
Key features
- Tablet kiosk to collect punch times with features like geofencing and biometric authentication.
- Offers manual and automatic time tracking.
- Color-coded calendar to see the time performance of each employee.
- Allows managers to track employee leaves and PTO with automated accruals.
- Updates regularly to offer new features.
Pricing
Paid plans for ClockIt start at $29 per month for up to 10 users.
Customer ratings
- G2: N/A
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (50+ reviews)
9. eBillity Time Tracker
eBillity Time Tracker is a software solution that offers essential functions like timekeeping, employee attendance tracker, scheduling, and invoicing.
Key features
- Time clock kiosk for easy login using PIN and facial recognition.
- Offers automatic overtime calculations.
- Tracks time and expenses for job costing and labor forecasting.
- Managers can view detailed reports on project profitability, labor cost distribution, etc.
- Integrates with top accounting software like Quickbooks, ADP, etc., for accurate payroll.
Pricing
Plans start at $7.5/user per month plus a monthly base fee of $12.5.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (2400+ reviews)
10. Kronos
Kronos is a provider of workforce management and HR solutions for small and mid-sized businesses. These solutions include time management, employee attendance tracking, absence management, etc.
Key features
- Keeps separate time cards for salaried and hourly employees.
- Shows attendance and time data using visual reports.
- Notifications and alerts for missed punches, unscheduled overtime, etc.
- Customizable templates for absence-related documents like disciplinary action letters and medical certificates etc.
- Employee self-service tools for tasks like checking shift details, scheduling leave requests, etc.
Customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (3500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.1/5 (300+ reviews)
Read this article for a detailed comparison between Time Doctor, Replicon, and Kronos.
You can pick from a range of highly adept timekeeping and attendance management software. But why should you use one for your workforce management needs?
Let’s find out.
3 major benefits of using a time and attendance software
Using spreadsheets or manual timesheets is not an efficient way to maintain employee time records.
Time and attendance software undoubtedly offers many advantages over these traditional approaches.
Let’s check out some of these advantages.
1. Improves efficiency
Filling out a timesheet or employee attendance record manually is time-consuming and prone to human errors. These approaches could lead to delays in payroll processing, or worse, inaccurate payments.
A time and attendance system eliminates the need for manual timekeeping and speeds up the entire process.
It can automatically track your employees’ work hours, leaves, PTO and helps the HR (human resource) department generate accurate payroll in just a few steps. Moreover, it can prevent practices like time card fraud that can cause significant losses to the company.
With improved team productivity and timely payments, these software solutions ensure a win-win scenario for both employers and employees.
2. Gives actionable insights
Advanced time and attendance solutions have a ton of analytics functions. They can process massive volumes of records to give you feedback and insights on employee productivity, workforce optimization, compliance risk, etc.
For example, month-end payroll reports may reveal that you are spending more on employee salaries than your budget permits. This may indicate an overstaffing problem, prompting you to change your scheduling system to tackle it.
Similarly, time reports may show that some employees take more time to complete a task than others. You can ask these employees to take additional training or assign them different tasks to boost their productivity.
When you consistently take notice of these insights and take the required measures, it will help optimize your operations and increase profit margins.
3. Ensures compliance
Businesses need to adhere to local labor laws that regulate minimum wage payments, overtime calculations, etc., for nonexempt employees.
To comply with these laws, companies must follow solid timekeeping and recordkeeping systems.
Thankfully, most time and attendance software are compliant with such regulations. Some vendors even allow you to customize these tools to meet your compliance needs.
Read this guide to find why you should also be tracking time for exempt employees.
Final thoughts
Using time and attendance management software will help improve the efficiency and accuracy of your workforce management program. It will also keep you compliant with labor laws.
You can choose the time and attendance app that best meets your requirements from the tools listed above.
If you want to track time, manage attendance, and monitor projects all in one app, Time Doctor is clearly the way to go.
So why not get started by trying out Time Doctor’s 14-day free trial?
