Harvest
Time Tracking
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How to Track Employee Hours

Harvest simplifies time tracking and invoicing for teams and freelancers, reducing productivity losses and ensuring compliance with labor laws.

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How much revenue is your team leaving on the table?

Most agencies run at 55-60% utilization. Even a small improvement means significant revenue. See what closing the gap looks like for your team.

Number of people who track billable time
$
Blended rate across roles (junior, senior, lead)
55%
Percentage of total hours that are billable. Industry average is 55-60%.
75%
A realistic target for service businesses is 70-80%.
Monthly revenue gap $0
Revenue at current utilization $0/mo
Revenue at target utilization $0/mo
Extra billable hours needed per person/day 0h
Annual revenue opportunity $0

Start tracking team utilization

Walk through the entire flow below. Start a timer, check your reports, and create a real invoice — all in three clicks.

Go ahead — start tracking!

One click and you're timing. Try it right here: start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Harvest.

  • One-click timer from browser, desktop & mobile
  • Works inside Jira, Asana, Trello, GitHub & 50+ tools
  • Duration or start/end — your call
  • Day, week & calendar views to stay on top of it all
  • Friendly reminders so no hour gets left behind
Acme Corp
Website Redesign
Homepage layout revisions
1:24:09
Content Strategy
Blog calendar planning
1:30:00
SEO Audit
Technical audit report
0:45:00
Brand Guidelines
Color system documentation
2:15:00
Logo Concepts
Initial sketches round 1
1:00:00
Today's total 6:54:09

The Importance of Accurate Employee Hour Tracking

Accurate employee hour tracking is essential for legal compliance, operational efficiency, and financial accuracy. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers must maintain detailed records of hours worked to ensure compliance with labor laws. Inaccuracies in time tracking can lead to significant penalties, including fines and back wages. For example, in 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor recovered over $274 million in unpaid wages. Additionally, businesses often lose up to 20% of productivity due to inefficient time management.

Manual time tracking methods, such as paper timesheets, are notoriously inaccurate, with an error rate of around 80%. Automated systems like Harvest help mitigate these issues by providing one-click start/stop timers and manual time entries to ensure precise data collection. By automating timesheet generation and overtime calculations, Harvest reduces human error and helps businesses avoid costly compliance issues.

Choosing the Right Time Tracking Method

Selecting the appropriate time tracking method is crucial for effective workforce management. Employers can choose from a variety of methods, including manual timesheets, punch clocks, and advanced time tracking software. Automated solutions are generally preferred, with 73% of organizations opting for software due to its superior accuracy and integration capabilities.

Harvest stands out by offering seamless integrations with popular platforms such as QuickBooks, Slack, and Asana, ensuring a smooth workflow. These integrations allow for real-time data syncing, which is vital for accurate payroll processing and project management. In fact, businesses using automated tools like Harvest experience a 30% increase in profitability, highlighting the financial benefits of precise time tracking.

Addressing Common Challenges in Time Tracking

Effective time tracking can be challenging due to factors like employee resistance, time theft, and compliance concerns. For instance, nearly 49% of employees admit to engaging in time theft, which costs businesses billions annually. Harvest addresses these challenges with features like project budgets and alerts, which keep track of billable and non-billable hours, ensuring accountability and transparency.

To prevent time theft and improve compliance, Harvest offers customizable reporting that provides insights into employee productivity and project costs. This level of detail helps managers identify discrepancies and address them promptly. Moreover, Harvest's mobile apps enable real-time tracking for remote employees, ensuring that all work hours are accurately recorded, regardless of location.

Integrating Time Tracking with Payroll Systems

Integrating time tracking with payroll systems is essential for streamlining operations and reducing errors. Automated time tracking systems like Harvest facilitate this integration by capturing precise work hours and syncing them directly with payroll platforms such as QuickBooks and Xero. This eliminates the need for manual data entry, which is prone to errors and time-consuming.

Harvest's ability to manage different pay rates and overtime ensures compliance with labor laws while simplifying payroll processing. With features like detailed reporting and team management, businesses can monitor expenditure and budget adherence effectively. Such integration not only enhances accuracy but also saves valuable administrative time, allowing teams to focus on more strategic tasks.

Track Employee Hours with Harvest

The preview shows how Harvest tracks employee hours with real-time updates, ensuring compliance and efficient payroll processing.

Harvest time tracking dashboard showing employee work hours.

How to Track Employee Hours FAQs

  • Businesses track employee hours using various methods like manual timesheets, punch clocks, or automated time tracking software. Automated systems are preferred for their accuracy and ability to integrate with payroll systems, reducing errors and administrative workload.

  • Common challenges include employee resistance, time theft, and compliance with labor laws. Tools like Harvest address these with features like real-time tracking, project budgets, and detailed reporting, ensuring accuracy and transparency.

  • Harvest integrates with payroll systems like QuickBooks and Xero by syncing tracked hours directly into the payroll process. This automation reduces manual entry errors and ensures timely, accurate payroll processing.

  • Look for features like real-time tracking, automated timesheet generation, integration with payroll systems, and detailed reporting. These features help ensure compliance, accuracy, and efficient management of work hours.

  • For remote employees, use time tracking software with mobile app capabilities. Harvest offers real-time tracking and integrates with tools like Slack, allowing remote workers to log hours accurately from anywhere.

  • Yes, Harvest helps ensure compliance with labor laws by providing detailed reporting, managing different pay rates, and integrating with payroll systems. This ensures accurate record-keeping and payroll processing.

  • Accurate time tracking is vital for compliance with labor laws, financial accuracy, and operational efficiency. It helps prevent costly penalties and enhances profitability by providing insights into productivity and project costs.

  • Harvest prevents time theft with features like project budgets, real-time tracking, and alerts for billable and non-billable hours. These tools promote accountability and transparency, reducing opportunities for time theft.