Wait…what?
That’s right. In a recent European Court of Justice ruling, all companies in the European Union must track their employee’s working hours.
This may seem archaic to some of you given flextime, home office days and more generally the culture of freelance work. But don’t forget that although punching in and out may no longer be a mainstay of your daily working day, tech companies and start-ups have not forgotten about it and have in fact continued to modernize how employees can track their hours.
Yes, the thought of tracking your time may seem cumbersome and outdated. But really when we get to the bottom of it, mandatory time tracking is simply a tool of accountability and responsibility not only on the part of the employee but also for the employer.
How so?
Tracking working hours means more fair and transparent compensation.
I’m not only talking about getting paid for the 40 hours you put in every week, but also being compensated fairly when you work overtime, on statutory holidays and on those odd hours during the weekend.
By tracking your time, you’ll also know when you’re due for a break and for how long. Working an eight-hour day? Well go and take your 30-minute lunch and don’t listen to that co-worker giving you a hard time for it – you (legally) deserve it!
Managers have access to a wealth of information regarding productivity.
Now, this doesn’t mean that managers should then go ahead and start micromanaging everyone and chastising people for days when they may not be 100%. But think about it, when employees track their time, managers will be able to see a breakdown of tasks worked on, and when an employee is most productive.
This kind of data can help companies introduce practices that would make it easier for their employees to be more productive throughout the day. This may mean, encouraging employees to take more shorter breaks or perhaps introducing an outdoor office space for fresh air.
With all this data, maybe a six-hour workday would be best for employee health ????
The benefits of time tracking are many! With this new ruling, the EU is taking steps in protecting workers’ rights and well-being.
At absence.io we’re all about living a balanced life and we strongly support practices that will not only make our team happy but also those that will encourage individual health. Our time tracking feature is based on these principles, and if you’re like us then why don’t you give it a try and see for yourself?