Time tracking is the process of recording the time everyone in your company spends working. For client-facing businesses, time tracking is the foundation for accurate invoices and project billing; for larger organizations, it’s how leadership understands where time actually goes across teams, projects, and priorities.
Many types of businesses, such as professional services firms, agencies, BPOs, SaaS companies, field services teams, and construction companies rely on time tracking in one way or another.
With the average employee spending so much of their day on work about work (sending around 117 emails and 153 chat messages per day, according to time tracking statistics), it’s easy to lose track of where hours actually go.
A common concern is whether time tracking counts as micromanagement. Used well, it does the opposite: it gives teams the data to work smarter and cuts the check-ins that actually feel like micromanagement.
Time tracking aims to provide teams with the data they need to work smarter, without having to check up on individual employees.
This guide covers the main methods of tracking time, the business benefits, how to choose the right time tracking software, and what implementation looks like in practice.
Without accurate time tracking data, managers risk having projects go over budget, issuing inaccurate invoices, and underutilizing or overworking their team.
Time tracking allows you to:
For a more in-depth look at why teams should implement time tracking, check out our full guide to the benefits of time tracking for employees.
With swipe card systems, employees swipe a card when they arrive at the workplace and when they leave, and then the system calculates their total working hours.
It’s a good option for time and attendance tracking in industries such as healthcare, retail, and manufacturing.
The main limitation is that it’s tied to a location, making it unsuitable for remote or multi-site teams.
Things get more complicated when you have people out in the field or part of a mobile team. There's more than just hours to keep track of. You also need records of work locations, routes taken, and arrivals and departures at different job sites.
Geofenced time tracking uses a device’s GPS location to track team members’ time. You create a virtual boundary around a job site (known as a geofence), and then the software:
It’s commonly used in the construction industry, with most popular construction time tracking software supporting geofencing. The method has one main drawback: like all mobile apps that use location tracking, it can drain battery life.
Time tracking software works for all kinds of teams, including in-office, remote, hybrid, and mobile teams. It can range from a simple hour-logging tool to a comprehensive platform that gives you a full picture of how work happens across an organization.
What kind of time tracking software is best for your team will depend on your specific needs:
Most tools offer one of these two tracking modes (and a few offer both):
Employee time tracking software like Hubstaff offers a comprehensive solution that includes time tracking, productivity measurement, and workforce analytics.
The main risk with any type of software, including time tracking software, is how it’s actually used.
If you’re going to use a time tracking tool to constantly check up on employees instead of trying to improve how work gets done, it will likely backfire and result in reduced employee morale.
Time tracking software is an application that records the time users spend on tasks, projects, and meetings.
Team members track time by using a desktop app, mobile app, or browser extension. The software then logs hours against tasks and projects, detects idle time, and generates timesheets automatically.
Apart from streamlining timesheets, time tracking software can also help you:
You can use time tracking data to get visibility into team capacity, identify bottlenecks, delegate work better, and set performance baselines. Here’s how:
To choose the best time tracking software for your team, start by answering these two questions:
From here, evaluate a time tracking tool based on the following:
Hubstaff supports all of the above in one platform. Sign up for a free trial to try it out for 14 days.
The reason we know what makes a good time tracking tool is because we built Hubstaff out of personal pain.
Starting a remote business without insight into what was getting done, how teams were working, and what tasks were taking up the most time led us to develop a time tracking tool built on transparency, control, and access to your own data.
Hubstaff is available as a web, desktop, and mobile app, and as a browser extension. This gives every team a way to track time that fits how they work.
Team members can start tracking time by using the start/stop timer. Background tracking is also available for company-owned devices.
Hubstaff’s time tracking, attendance, and scheduling features help eliminate manual timesheets and payroll errors:
Hubstaff’s productivity monitoring features give managers visibility into their team’s work without requiring constant check-ins. The software calculates activity levels based on keyboard and mouse usage, and allows you to see which apps and URLs were visited while the timer was running.
Optional screenshots are also available. Managers can set the frequency at which screenshots are taken, and team members have the option to delete their own screenshots if needed.
Employees get access to all their data and can see what’s being recorded at any time.
Hubstaff’s workforce analytics features can help you identify trends across your teams, highlight inefficient workflows, and give you the data you need to make informed decisions about team performance, workload, and headcount.
Teams that need a deeper intelligence layer can take advantage of Hubstaff’s workforce intelligence features and programmatic access through CLI and MCP integrations.
Most time tracking rollouts fail because employees don’t understand why tracking is being introduced and what it’s going to include. Follow these steps to make your time tracking rollout as smooth as possible:
Explain how time tracking can benefit both employees and the organization. Focus on how time tracking software can provide better visibility into each team member’s contribution and prevent burnout.
Consider giving the team a demo of the software or showing them a quick walkthrough video that explains how everything works.
Assure employees that workplace privacy is a priority and give them access to all their time tracking data.
Let them know that you're not implementing time tracking because you don't trust them. Instead, you're looking to uncover bottlenecks and give everyone more dedicated focus time.
Share our time tracking best practices guide with your team to give them a starting point.
To ensure accurate time tracking data, provide employees with training on how to use time tracking software. Check in with them around five and fourteen days after rollout since that’s when most people will have questions.
Create a time tracking policy that outlines how time tracking works. Ask your team for input and feedback on the policy to make the process more collaborative.
It can also be helpful to create an FAQ answering common questions that might come up (e.g., what’s being tracked and who can see and edit entries).
Finally, most time tracking software providers also offer in-app onboarding, live support, and a help center that employees can use to get help.
Track your own time and share reports and findings with your team. This will make team members feel more comfortable about getting started with time tracking themselves.
By being open about your work habits and patterns, you also make it easier for team members to be open about theirs.
By putting the steps outlined in this guide into practice and choosing the right time tracker for your needs, you can avoid unnecessary revenue leaks, increase transparency across your team, boost productivity, and create more accurate estimates that lead to greater profitability.
Hubstaff combines time tracking, productivity monitoring, and workforce analytics and intelligence into one platform, allowing organizations to make data-driven decisions that support their team.