Paper timesheets for registration of working time for the flexible workforce are very common in many companies. This is not only time-consuming, but might also result in errors and delays. Thus, there are many advantages to be gained from digitalising the collection of working hours for these employees too.
Many of our customers know the challenge: There is a need for extra manpower for a shorter or longer period of time due to holiday, sickness absence, new orders, seasonal fluctuations or other peak situations. The solution is often to call in freelancers, casual workers, temps, external consultants or other external resources when the need arises.
According to The Danish Chamber of Commerce, there have never been so many temps in the private sector which reflects that the economy is doing well. Temps are, in particular, common within production, warehouse & logistics and construction companies. However, temps are also becoming more and more widespread within healthcare and administration.
In addition, an ever-increasing part of the workforce chooses to replace their permanent full-time employment with flexible, temporary positions – also known as ‘the gig economy’.
The external resources constitute a flexible workforce that can be scaled up or down, relative to the current situation – and thus, their payment becomes a variable cost for the employer.
Exact collection of hours is key
When companies use external resources, they pay a fixed rate per hour to the employee or the employment/consultancy agency. Hence, there is a need for collecting the exact number of hours as they form the basis for the salary payment or the agency’s invoicing of the company.
But in many companies, the ongoing collection of working time is handled by manually filling out timesheets which are then sent to either the company or the agency. This is not only expensive and time-consuming. It might also result in errors and delays. Thus, there are many advantages to be gained from digitalising the collection of working hours for the flexible workforce.
ProMark keeps track of time
If your company often has a need for calling in extra resources, it makes very good sense to include them in your ProMark solution.
By setting up a specific category in ProMark, the external resources can clock in and clock out via the same user interfaces as the permanent employees, e.g. smartphone, terminal or PC. As part of the payroll preparation, working time data on the external workers can be extracted in a separate file. The timesheet either forms the basis for the internal payroll calculation or can be sent to the external agency which will then invoice you on the basis of it, and ensure the salary payment to the employee.
Thus, you can avoid being invoiced on an incorrect basis, such as paying for too many hours and/or paying a wrong rate per hour compared to the work that has been carried out.
Customer case: ProMark eases administration of temps at Easyfood
Easyfood is a Danish manufacturing company, producing quality bakery for the convenience segment, including Starbucks, McDonald’s, Circle K, 7-eleven and Coop.
Easyfood has approx. 160 employees at their factory in Kolding, working in 3 shifts. In average, they have 30 temps per week to be able to maintain the production in case of sickness and during peak periods. For the time being, the temps come from 2 different agencies.
All temps have been created in ProMark with the employee numbers we have received from the agencies. The temps clock in and choose department via a terminal when they arrive – exactly like all our permanent employees – and can change department(s) during the working period, as the tasks are changing, says Bjarne Hansen, Payroll Accountant at Easyfood.
Easyfood has used ProMark since January 2016 – also for their temps. Prior to ProMark, all hours were registered on printed timesheets. Today, Bjarne extracts a transaction list from the system every week, which is then sent to the agencies. The list forms the basis for the agencies’ invoicing of hours.
ProMark saves us a lot of time, Bjarne continues. We avoid paper sheets that are difficult to read, are delayed or disappear, and the calculation of salary and supplements is already made. In that way, we easily get a simple basis for the agencies.
Bjarne can now follow that the invoiced hours correspond to the transaction list to ensure that Easyfood does not pay for the wrong number of hours. In addition, he makes random checks of pay checks regarding overtime, supplements, pensions etc. to ensure that the temps get the correct salary for the work they have carried out, just as he keeps an eye on the 11-hour rule being respected.
Another spin-off benefit from using ProMark is that we always have an updated overview of how many employees are at work. This will be of great advantage to us, if the need for evacuating the factory arises, Bjarne concludes.
Advantages of digital collection of working hours
A digital Time & Attendance solution like ProMark offers many benefits for both the worker, the company and the agency:
- Easy for each worker to report the number of hours worked
- Exact collection of hours (clock-in/clock-out registrations) in an automated process
- The worker will receive the salary that he/she is entitled to according to the applicable agreement (by setting up the workers in the relevant employee categories in ProMark)
- The worker will get the salary payment in time – without errors and delays
- Faster invoicing basis
- Transparency and possibility to follow up on whether the number of hours is correct compared to the invoice from the employment/consultancy agency
- Confidence in that data – and thus the salary payment – is correct
If the company has a need for planning the working hours and tasks for the flexible workforce, ProMark can also handle this. And each worker will have access to his/her roster plan via portal or smartphone.
The workers can also register own time spent on the projects or production jobs they are working on – just as the company’s permanent employees. This gives an exact overview of how the activities are progressing and actual data for ongoing follow-up and optimisation.
With ProMark, the company can streamline the administration of the modern workforce and easily scale the available resources to the specific needs – while ensuring compliance with collective agreements, working time rules and budgets.
