How to convince employees to believe in the automatic time tracking system

Jai Shree
FlowaceApp
Published in
6 min readApr 25, 2022

Time tracking is not a new concept. Even in the old times when work-from-home and automatic time tracking software were not in fashion, companies still used to track their time. Their style was different, for sure, but their motive was somehow the same as it is today. To get the work done!

How Time Tracking System Got Evolved

Walking to the office, sitting in the cubicles or cabins, attending meetings, discussing ideas, watching the clock hung up on the wall time-to-time (or well, on the wrist), and then leaving after the 8 hour-shift.

Credit: GIPHY

Then came the digital timers where employees could track their working hours even if they were working remotely. Although such timers helped companies in some ways, there were some loopholes still left that both employees and companies had to bear.

To overcome these loopholes, came the automatic time tracking system. An automatic time tracking software automatically tracks the users' work-hour activities by keeping a record of visited websites and documents. But such systems are often misunderstood, especially by the employees. Let’s see why.

Why Employees Doubt Automatic Time Tracking Software

  • Generating trust issues

Sometimes people refer to automatic time trackers as employee monitoring tools. And this leads employees to think that their employer does not trust them. They start feeling insecure and find it hard to accept such a change.

  • Fear of privacy breach

Let’s face it, we humans are bound to get distracted at times. And this is what makes us humans after all. We all surf the Internet for our personal use during our working hours at least once a day. Social media, online window shopping, or taking a short break for a quick round of online gaming. And employees fear that such activities might create trouble for them if their employer starts following up on everything.

  • Constant feeling of getting monitored

Employees might feel that they’re constantly being monitored by the tool. They fear that such feelings may harm their productivity even more. But they may not know that such insecurities can be fixed. (More on this later)

  • Generating self-doubts

The thought of generating self-doubts might occur in the employees' minds while thinking of working with an automatic tracking system. They might feel as if they’re not working enough or their employer is having issues with them.

  • Concerns about being micromanaged
Credit: GIPHY

Employees may think they would lose their creative freedom if they were constantly being monitored by the employer and would be micromanaged by their reporting manager.

How To Make Employees Believe In Automatic Time Tracking System

  1. Talk to them

Instead of taking action aggressively, try to arrange a meaningful conversation with your team. Help them understand your objectives behind automating the time tracking system. Tell them the company’s concerns & how this decision could shape the organization’s future and will benefit employees in the long run.

2. Empathize with them

Try to look at things from their perspective. Getting acquainted with their insecurities and concerns might help you convince them with a more positive approach. Tell them how your company will make sure that their voice is heard at each step.

Credit: GIPHY

3. Build trust

Ensure them that their privacy is safe. Explain that your organization aims for full efficiency without compromising its employees’ privacy. Try to make them understand the potential ROI of the investment behind deploying an automatic time tracker into their system.

4. Opt for a tool with a strict privacy policy

Select a tracking tool that respects privacy. Perform your own research and read their privacy policy in detail and then make an investment.

Too busy to search for a robust and trustworthy time tracking tool?

You can undoubtedly go for Flowace!

We, at Flowace, have been helping 100,000+ teams to increase their productivity by at least 20%. And guess what! We follow a strict privacy policy and ensure that a company’s data is fully secure.

Book a demo NOW!

Flowace’s Activity Timeline

5. Show them how it works

If your team is still doubtful of automatic time tracking, you can think of arranging a live tool demo with them. You can show them how the tool would be working and how it might help them boost efficiency. This will make them feel special and empowered. And they might conclude that the company has genuine intentions to make the system better.

6. Tell them how it will benefit them

They might be unaware of how an automated tracking system would benefit them. Calculating accurate KPIs, rewards associated with the performance of the employees, better work-life balance, reduction in the burn-out hours, and understanding their true potential are only a few of the outcomes that they will be generating by using a robust tool.

7. Access them some control

Give access to them so that they can control their respective dashboards. They can realize, analyze, and amend their working behavior and productivity by looking into their time reports. This will help them understand their maximum/minimum productivity hours during the entire day and also will remind them to take enough breaks without having themselves burnt out.

8. Share the success stories

Share the case studies of the companies that have been successful in increasing their efficiency by using the time tracker that your company is planning to invest in. This will help them visualize the outcomes and they might start looking forward to it.

9. Ask for feedback

Don’t forget to ask for time-to-time feedback while using the tool. Ask them how they are feeling about the tool and what changes they are acknowledging while using it. Once they start noticing the improvements in their task management, they might even start enjoying tracking their time.

10. Give them the space to talk

You can ask them to talk about their issues and insecurities about the automatic time tracking tool. Try to listen to them carefully and clear their doubts immediately. Good communication can bring unprecedented results and might persuade them to accept automatic time tracking wholeheartedly.

Conclusion

We’ve been experiencing this in Flowace that once the employees of our company partners get acquainted with our platform, all their doubts gradually get vanished away and they start enjoying the tool eventually.

It might be difficult to persuade employees to accept automatic tracking at first. And it is because they might be unaware of how it would help them grow both on the professional and personal level. And to avoid any further disagreements with your team, decision-makers should try to comfort them and make them aware of such amazing possibilities.

I hope you find this blog valuable. Till the next time, bbye!

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Jai Shree
FlowaceApp

Catching up on childhood dreams. And putting them into words.