How H2L2 saves up to 240 hours per year with Hubstaff

Key outcomes

• Reduced time-entry overhead by 75% 
• Saved an estimated 168 to 240 hours per year just from faster project switching and time entry
• Improved budget control through real-time burn-rate visibility by project code
• Created a repeatable system for scaling contractors without losing billing accuracy

Background: A team that outgrew spreadsheets fast

Hundred Hands Learning Lab (H2L2) is a remote creative team that works across multiple client projects with frequent context switching.

Before Hubstaff, time tracking lived in spreadsheets. That worked early on, when the business was small. But as soon as contractors entered the picture, spreadsheets stopped scaling.

“That worked when it was basically two people, but it fell apart as soon as we started hiring contractors and running multiple client projects at once.”

The team needed a more sophisticated time tracking system that could keep billing aligned with real effort and prevent team members from quietly overworking, under-billing, or draining budgets without warning.

Hubstaff as an operational backbone for growth

H2L2 implemented Hubstaff in September 2020, and eventually it became a core part of how they run the business.

“Over time it became part of our operational backbone. When we formed Hundred Hands Learning Lab in February 2024, Hubstaff came with us because it already matched the way we work.”

For H2L2, Hubstaff is more than a time tracker. It provides the structure needed to manage increasingly complex client work without losing control of budgets, billing, or workflow consistency.

While Hubstaff offers a range of monitoring and visibility features, H2L2 chose to build their workflow around three core elements:

• Accurate time tracking
• Detailed time-entry notes
• Consistent project codes

Over the years, the team developed internal standards for how time should be tracked. They treat time entries as a professional record that could be reviewed at any time.

This approach has allowed Hubstaff to function not just as a tracker, but as a reliable operational record that supports billing accuracy, budget control, and client transparency as the company grows.

One of the most measurable impacts was the time saved from switching project codes and recording notes.

In spreadsheets, logging a single time entry with a note took around 2 minutes. In Hubstaff, it dropped to about 30 seconds.

“A single time entry with a note took us roughly ~2 minutes in a spreadsheet, versus about ~30 seconds in Hubstaff.”

That is a 75% reduction per entry. And because the team switches codes so frequently, the savings compound quickly. With roughly 1.5 minutes saved per switch, H2L2 estimates they save:

• 42 to 60 minutes per day
• 14 to 20 hours per month
• 168 to 240 hours per year

Just from time-entry mechanics alone.Not counting the secondary savings from fewer errors and less end-of-day backfilling.

Budget control: Scope creep becomes visible while it’s happening

In creative services, scope creep is constant. Clients often do not understand how long work takes, and requests expand midstream.

“Scope creep is constant because clients often don’t understand how long things take.”

Instead of discovering a budget overrun after the fact, the team can see burn in real time and adjust. This shifted how H2L2 protects both the business and the team.

Hubstaff plays a central role in keeping billing aligned to actual work. For H2L2, Hubstaff is the time-and-notes record and the burn calculation engine.

Hubstaff also helped drive important conversations about margin by separating pay rate and bill rate.

“One specific impact is that Hubstaff’s separation of pay rate and bill rate prompted important early conversations about margin and overhead.”

This supported a deeper internal audit of non-client work vs client work and ultimately helped them adjust bill rates.

Scaling with confidence: Ready for contractor surges without breaking the system

For H2L2 Hubstaff supports consistent onboarding and time tracking regardless of location.

“Hubstaff makes the workflow consistent regardless of location or time zone.”

Onboarding time improved as well:

• Hubstaff onboarding: ~10 minutes
• Spreadsheet onboarding: ~30 minutes + follow-up

“Onboarding someone into Hubstaff is typically about 10 minutes… In the spreadsheet era, it was more like 30 minutes, plus more follow-up.”

The team sees Hubstaff as a foundation that makes future scaling possible without losing operational fundamentals.

For H2L2, Hubstaff has become a core operational system that keeps client work accountable, budgets transparent, and time defensible.

Instead of reconstructing months of work from memory, the team can rely on a clear, detailed record of what happened, when it happened, and how effort was distributed across projects. With hundreds of structured time-entry notes tied to project codes, they have the documentation needed to answer client questions, validate billing, and manage scope with confidence.

As they continue to grow, Hubstaff provides the foundation to scale without losing control of budgets, workflows, or billing accuracy. It gives the team solid ground to stand on, whether they are onboarding new contractors, forecasting project burn, or navigating the inevitable complexities of creative client work.