How to Manage Employee Time Entry and Compliance

The number of remote and hybrid work environments are growing due to COVID-19 and also in part to the digital transformation allowing flexibility. This has created a huge opportunity for business owners to hire talent from across the globe, defying the obstacles that occur with in-office positions, and redefining the workplace. With the expansion of locations for employees to conduct their work and ‘office’, there also comes new challenges regarding labor law compliance. Overtime, time off, meal breaks and rounding rules are just a few of the labor laws that businesses need to consider when hiring across state or even country borders. For example, Canada requires overtime to be paid at 1.5 times the standard pay, whereas, in Sweden, it is 1.5 to 2 times the standard pay. Leave policies have similar variations: Canada requires a minimum of 14 days leave entitlement for annually, but in the United Kingdom, the minimum leave requirement per year is 28 days. Staying on top of the issues presents challenges because they are fluid. 

For example,  Japan significantly changed its overtime rules in April of 2020, and several states changed their rules with regard to leave time and pay at the beginning of 2021, or mid-2021. Additionally, laws governing how these days are to be accrued and paid are often dictated in the new regulations.

Different employee classifications such as full-time, hourly, part-time, salaried and contractor, are also a consideration when calculating timesheets, and therefore need to be a recognized practice in any human resources solution. These employee types often have different rules as far as overtime, breaks, and even just general payroll and tax compliance. Automating pay calculations based on overtime and other exceptions helps streamline payroll processes and lightens the administrative time spent by HR to process timesheets, approvals, and payroll.

Timekeeping software solutions provide functionalities that manual time collection cannot. Employees can request time off within the system, and both the employer and the employee can see how much personal time off has accrued. Many solutions offer tracking for employees on multiple job sites through a mobile app or geotagging. These solutions can also work with multiple time clocks regardless of where they may be positioned. Significantly reducing the amount of paperwork for employees who travel from site to site or multiple job assignments. Additionally, Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers must keep certain records for nonexempt employees, including hours worked each day and total hours worked each workweek, which increases the need for accountability in a time-keeping system.

One easy way to make sure your organization follows labor laws for timekeeping and compensation is to use a timekeeping solution. LightWork® Software's Time & Attendance solution ensures accurate timekeeping and reporting.

Want to learn more ways to become effective at time collection, management, and reporting? LightWork's timekeeping software makes the human resources management experience easy and valuable to your organization. LightWork turns the overwhelming task of managing employees into an indispensable business strategy with dynamic human resources management software tools.

It is a web-based software solution, and because each organizations' IT requirements are as diverse as its employees, LightWork Software offers several deployment models. It can be deployed on a company’s local server, private cloud, or as software as a service (SaaS).

LightWork Software offers several areas of expertise in managing and growing your organization’s workforce through human capital management. To learn more, visit LightWorkSoftware.com.