Managing Employee Time Off: A Guide for Business Owners

As a small business owner, managing employee time off can be a challenging task, especially during the holiday season. It is essential to strike a balance between respecting your employees’ rights to personal time and ensuring that business operations continue smoothly. One key aspect of this process is understanding how to effectively handle requesting leave from your staff.

Setting a Clear Leave Policy

First and foremost, it is crucial to familiarize yourself with your company’s comprehensive leave policy. This policy should not only define the procedure for employees requesting leave but also provide clarity on who they should submit their request to and the specific timeframe within which they need to do so. By ensuring that this policy is effectively communicated to all staff members, it ensures that everyone is well-informed and understands the process in its entirety. This level of detail and transparency helps create a smooth and efficient leave management system within the organization.

The Employee Handbook and Documenting Clear Guidelines

The employee handbook plays a fundamental role in clearly documenting leave policies and guidelines for managing employee time within the organization. This comprehensive guidebook should detail everything from the process of requesting time off to the specific rules and stipulations associated with each type of leave.

Annual/Vacation Leave: Your handbook should clarify how many vacation days employees are entitled to, how to request them, and if these days roll over if unused. Clearly specify if vacation time increases with tenure.
Sick Leave: Document the process for reporting sick days, any requirement for a doctor’s note, and whether unused sick days can be carried over into the next year.
Maternity/Paternity Leave: Detail your organization’s policy on parental leave, including the duration and any conditions relating to pay. Make sure to comply with any legal requirements related to family and medical leave.
Bereavement Leave: Specify the number of days allowed and define what relationships qualify for bereavement leave.
Jury Duty/Civic Duty Leave: Indicate whether employees will be paid during their jury service and how they should keep the company informed.
Unpaid Leave: Describe the circumstances under which unpaid leave might be granted, along with the process for requesting such leave and its impact on benefits.

The employee handbook should be written in plain, easy-to-understand language, and it should be easily accessible, either in a printed format or online. Regular updates should be made to reflect any changes in law or company policy. A well-documented, clear, and comprehensive handbook can help prevent misunderstandings and ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to managing time off.

Earning and Accruing Leave

Leave accrual within an organization usually depends on its specific policy and the nature of the employment contract. However, there are few common ways for managing employee time.

Time-Based Accrual: In this model, employees earn leave based on their length of service. For instance, an employee may accrue a certain number of leave hours for every month or week of service. This method typically benefits longer-tenured employees.
Worked Hours Accrual: This system allows employees to accumulate leave based on the number of hours they’ve worked. For example, for every 30 hours worked, an employee might earn one hour of leave. This model is often used in part-time or irregular hour jobs.
Flat Rate Accrual: Here, employees receive a fixed amount of leave annually, regardless of hours worked or length of service. This is often seen in full-time employment contracts where every employee gets the same amount of leave at the start of each year.
Unlimited Leave Policy: Some organizations, especially in the tech industry, offer unlimited paid time off. Employees can take as much leave as they need, as long as their work is complete and their team isn’t adversely affected.
Incremental Accrual: In this system, the rate at which employees earn leave increases the longer they stay with the company. For instance, during the first two years, an employee may earn two weeks of leave per year, but after two years, they start earning three weeks per year.

Each of these methods has its own benefits and drawbacks, and the choice often depends on the company’s size, culture, and resources. It’s important for organizations to clearly communicate their leave accrual policy to avoid confusion and ensure transparency.

Managing Employee Time : Paid Leave vs. Unpaid Leave

It’s essential to differentiate between paid and unpaid leave within your leave management strategy.

Paid Leave: This is time off where employees continue to receive their regular pay. Types of paid leave commonly include vacation leave, sick leave, and certain types of family leave. Paid leave is an attractive benefit for employees, helping to improve job satisfaction and retention. Employers often find that providing paid leave can enhance productivity and morale by ensuring employees have ample opportunity to rest and recharge.

Unpaid Leave: In contrast, unpaid leave is time off that is not compensated. Employees might take unpaid leave for a variety of reasons, including extended personal illness, caregiving responsibilities, or a sabbatical. While unpaid leave might not be as beneficial to employees in the short term, it offers flexibility and can be used as a tool to retain employees who need extended time off for personal reasons.

It’s important to clearly document and communicate the conditions and procedures for both paid and unpaid leave in your company’s handbook. This way, employees understand their rights and the potential implications of their leave choices.

Using a Leave Management System

Consider using a leave management system like Hour Timesheet to track and manage employee leave balances. This software can help streamline the “request leave” process, making it easier for both you and your employees to keep track of leave balances.

In conclusion, managing employee time off is a crucial aspect of running a small business. Ready to simplify leave management in your small business? Try Hour Timesheet – it’s the reliable solution for tracking and managing employee leave balances.

Expert Tips to Manage Leave Efficiently as We Approach Year-End

As we are nearing the end of the year, effective leave management becomes crucial for every organization. This process involves managing time-off requests, from ordinary paid time off (PTO) to Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leaves, bereavement, and more. Here’s an in-depth look at how you can better manage leave and ensure a smooth transition into the new year.

Understanding Leave Management

Leave management, also known as time-off management, is the process of handling employee leave requests. These may include holidays, sick leaves, vacations, emergencies, and parental leaves. The aim is to balance the needs of the employees with the operational requirements of the business.

Best Practices to Manage Leave

Establish Clear Leave Policies: The first step is to have a well-defined leave policy. It should cover all possible scenarios and be compliant with local labor laws.

Communicate Policies Clearly: Once the policies are in place, they need to be communicated effectively to all employees. This ensures everyone understands their rights and responsibilities when it comes to taking leave.

Consolidate All Leave Requests: Having a centralized system for managing leave requests can help reduce administrative burden and improve efficiency.

Follow and Review Attendance Policies: Regularly reviewing your attendance policy helps control excessive employee absenteeism.

Use an Effective Leave Management System: A comprehensive HR tech tool can enable organizations to track employee leave requests online. This can significantly simplify the process of managing leaves.

Year-End and Leave Management

As the year-end approaches, employees often rush to utilize their remaining leaves. This can pose challenges to businesses, especially if not managed effectively. However, with a clear leave policy and effective communication, businesses can ensure smooth operations while respecting employee rights.

In conclusion, to manage leave effectively, it’s important to understand the laws, outline clear policies, communicate these policies, and utilize technology to streamline the process. As we approach the year-end, now is the perfect time to review your leave management practices and make necessary adjustments for the coming year.

Remember, an efficient leave management strategy can boost employee satisfaction, reduce administrative work, and ensure business continuity. So, start planning now to manage leave effectively in the upcoming year.

Enhancing Leave Management with Hour Timesheet

Hour Timesheet, a cloud-based time tracking solution, can streamline leave management in multiple ways.

Automated Leave Tracking: The software automates leave request processes, eliminating the need for manual tracking on spreadsheets. With a few clicks, employees can apply for leave, and managers can approve or deny requests in real-time.

Centralized Hub: Hour Timesheet acts as a centralized hub for all leave-related information, providing a clear overview of who’s off, when, and why.

Compliance: It supports compliance with labor laws by ensuring accurate record-keeping for leave balances.

Reporting: Advanced reporting capabilities allow businesses to make data-driven decisions and identify trends in leave usage. By adopting Hour Timesheet, companies can make their leave management process more efficient, transparent, and fair, contributing to improved employee satisfaction and productivity.

We invite you to schedule a demo with us. Witness firsthand how this tool can increase your efficiency, ensure compliance, and provide valuable insights through advanced reporting. Don’t miss this opportunity to streamline your leave management process.

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Simple Software for Tracking Employees Vacation & Sick

How to Keep Track of Your Employees Vacation and Sick Days

Leave management is often a complicated aspect of any manager’s job. If you or members of the team are having difficulties with tracking employees Vacation & Sick days, don’t worry, there are plenty of ways to improve the process. Below is a brief look into how to keep track of vacation and sick days more effectively and modernize your time keeping procedures.

Why Implementing an Effective System Is so Important

When handled strategically, leave time tracking can be beneficial for both the organization and its employees. For the company, it could work to reduce or even eliminate sick leave abuse as well as make activities easier for payroll and human resource professionals, such as wage calculations in consideration of sick leave entitlements. It can also keep managers up to date on the entitlements for each employee with information surrounding regularization, time taken and overall performance.

For employees, it works to facilitate the request process, ensure they are following the correct procedures and improve leave time tracking accuracy across the board. Plus, when employees feel their needs are being considered, it may inspire them to be more motivated and engaged at work. All these benefits and more provide a healthier work-life balance which, in turn, could lead to increased productivity across teams and an improved bottom line.

Utilizing the Right Tools for the Job

In the past, time-consuming spreadsheets and unreliable procedures could result in scheduling mistakes, abuse and dissatisfied employees. Now, however, there are modern, automated methods for employee vacation & sick tracking. These sophisticated systems optimize the complex processes and make it simple to track, manage and document employee leave time in a detailed manner. What’s more, they can be customized to better align with an organization’s variables and specific procedures. How do these leading-edge solutions work? Employees use the leave management software to view their sick leave, vacation time and comp time balances as well as to request time off.

Then, managers can either approve or deny leave times after verifying leave balances, carry-over values and company policies all in one central location. They also save time, effort and resources by eliminating manual calculations of leave balances and paper-based requests.

With just a few clicks, these advanced systems and the range of features they offer can provide an organization with more comprehensive insight into all their scheduling affairs. Having this answer to the important issues in managing employee leave in place can streamline the task for everyone involved.

Tracking Employees Vacation & Sick With Hour Timesheet

Here at Hour Timesheet, our leave management software systems are easy-to-use yet robust enough to assist any size of organization with its employees’ attendance monitoring needs. We also offer a time and leave tracking package that can easily integrate with other accounting software to make upgrading a breeze.

You can rely on our team of experts, excellent customer support and valuable training to sort out any and all leave management challenges you’re facing. For more information on what we have to offer or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us today!

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Hour Timesheet’s Leave Management Feature

With the arrival of Covid-19, the past twelve months have seen unprecedented requests for time off throughout corporate America and worldwide. Whether it has been appeals to use accrued vacation time or questions about what qualifies as sick time, managers have been bombarded with questions like never before. At Hour Timesheet, our leave management feature makes tracking any type of absence easy and straightforward. And in the current environment, our feature is needed by managers like never before.

How To Manage Paid-Sick Leave?

A paid sick- leave can take many different forms depending on what part of the country you live in. At Hour Timesheet, our software is able to manage the differing demands of sick leave. However, as a manager you’ve got to be clear what your local laws stipulate. Local paid sick leave can quickly become an administrative headache for employers who run companies in multiple counties and states. The most difficult issue for employers is trying to develop policies when the local law does not match the state law. In some states there is no statewide law, but there are local laws for paid sick leave. This is the case in states like Texas. You can see how it can get very confusing fast!

The easiest approach for employers who are operating in different jurisdictions is to conduct an audit of their paid sick leave benefits. This is the surest way to ensure they are in compliance with the laws of every jurisdiction in which they operate. A complete audit will provide valuable information that will guide the employer to make decisions about paid sick leave. These decisions will then ensure he or she is in compliance with the patchwork of state and local paid-sick leave laws.

How To Manage Paid-Time Off With The Family Medical Leave Act

The Family Medical Leave Act or FMLA allows all employees time off from their job to bond with their children, care for ill family members or recover from their own serious health problems, all without fear of losing their jobs. This act, which became law across the country in 1993, entitles employees a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period for any of the following:

The birth of a child and to care for the child after birth;
The placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care;
To care for the spouse, parent or child of the employee who has a serious health condition
The Employee’s own serious health condition; and
A qualifying military exigency.

There are many details to the FMLA, such as you’re not allowed to make your employees work while on FMLA leave. Yet, you do have the right to contact them on occasion for small details such locating missing files or updates on projects the employee was working on prior to their leave. As an employer you can’t be expected to memorize all of the finer points of this act. The beauty of software such as Hour Timesheet is that it can help you track and manage FMLA to ensure you’re adhering to the law. One less thing to worry about!

Discover Stress-Free Leave Management with Hour Timesheet

Hour Timesheet offers free leave tracking setup assistance included with every account. The advantages of our leave management feature include the following:

Access to leave balance detail on the timesheet
24/7 access to leave information in the cloud
Enforcement of leave policies company-wide
Supervisors are alerted when employees request leave
Manual calculations of leave are no longer required
Paper-based leave request is eliminated
Annual carry-over values are system-managed

Our comfortable, user-friendly, and customizable leave management feature for your employees is also available as a free app download, available in the Android and IOS apps marketplace, along with your main software.

How To Keep Track Of Employee Time Off?

The Hour Timesheet leave management feature gives employees access to leave balance data, including current balances, accrual, carry-over values. Workers can submit an online leave request with a single click. Hour Timesheet can track and manage your paid time-off, vacation, sick, and holiday with ease. If you would like to learn more about how Hour Timesheet can help you track and manage your employee time off, click here. We’re here to help show you how our leave management feature can simplify your employees’ requests for time off.

DCAA Compliance Explained

The term ‘DCAA compliance’ when referring to your timekeeping procedures is often just thrown around. If you don’t understand what that means or how to verify that you are DCAA compliant, Hour Timesheet can help.

Simply put, DCAA stands for Defense Contract Audit Agency. This is the federal government agency responsible for conducting DCAA audits of the Department of Defense (DoD) contracts. As imagined, the DoD is very strict about its rules and regulations surrounding DCAA compliance and timekeeping. The DoD will award government contracts to businesses that use web-based timekeeping if they meet all requirements.

1. The company must document all timekeeping procedures in a policy or procedure handbook.

The employee handbook must address all critical elements of an adequate timekeeping system. Companies must provide all employees with an up-to-date policy or procedure handbook regarding time entry procedures.

2. Every employee must record all of his/her time daily.

Attempting to track time worked in advance or days after the fact is not acceptable. Hour Timesheet comes equipped with reminders and alerts to ensure employee time is entered daily. This means that no matter the size of the company, Hour Timesheet is equipped for every employee to track time. This DCAA timekeeping feature is especially useful for any companies participating in SBIR and STTR programs. They may be smaller businesses, but they must ensure they remain DCAA compliant to qualify for their funding.

3. All employees must record 100% of the time worked.

Whether working on a government contract or commercial work, all time worked must be accounted for. With the Hour Timesheet mobile app the employees and 1099’s can add time from anywhere, whether they’re working from home or the office.

4. Employees must record all indirect time not identifiable to a given project to proper indirect cost accounts (Overhead, G&A, B&P, R&D, etc.)

One example of an indirect cost is overhead. This usually includes the indirect costs involved in support operations or direct production. These costs are directly related to a project or projects. However, they cannot be allocated to one specific contract. This is because they overlap across many different projects.

5. Employees must record all PTO, vacation, sick, holiday, and other leave time to the proper leave accounts.

Hour Timesheet allows for leave tracking any kind

6. The system administrator(s) should initiate all job codes that appear in the timekeeping system.

Charge codes must be provided to employees authorized to work on a given project.

7. All timesheet entries must be recorded by the employee.

An employee must record their time based on work completed. They should track all time entries, irrespective of whether the time is billable or non-billable. This must happen daily.

8. Employees must charge to the appropriate project

Whenever the employee completes work or tasks, they must charge it accurately and directly to that project. Hour Timesheet can be setup to restrict which codes an employee can charge their time; therefore, an employee cannot charge to a project they have not been assigned.

9. Employees may not work on indirect tasks and record time as direct costs

An indirect task is work that is not explicitly tied to a project. To remain DCAA, compliant employees must never charge the time it takes to complete these tasks to any project. This would violate DCAA compliance and regulations

10. The employee is required to initiate all correction timesheet entries.

The employee must record all corrected timesheet data that includes a detailed audit trail. An audit trail is critical to remaining DCAA compliant.

The employee’s supervisor must approve every correction time entry in a detailed report, in the event of a DCAA audit.

In the unusual circumstances where the employee cannot make the changes to timesheets, then the HTS administrator may make such changes with the employee’s consent. The DCAA may analyze each entry on an employee’s timesheet. Thanks to your detailed audit trail, the DCAA will see who edited a time card after it was submitted. They will also be able to see when the changes were made, and why. Hour Timesheet creates an un-editable audit log that proper documentation. This activity log will include all of all the additions, deletions, approvals, and modifications made to your employees’ timesheets.

11. The employee’s supervisor must approve all employee timesheet data.

Each timesheet requires two signatures, in order to comply with DCAA compliance regulations. Hour Timesheet allows for online signatures at both the employee and manager levels.

12. All employees should be provided documented timekeeping training.

The company’s employee handbook or new-hire orientation program typically includes this training. Either way the employee should become familiar with the company’s timekeeping policy before they begin working.

13. In order to be DCAA compliant, the company must retain timesheet data for at least two years.

That means the company must be keep their files in a secure and easily accessible location. Should the DCAA require you to produce copies of your timesheets, they should be available. Hour Timesheet keeps the timesheets indefinitely for all employees, current, and past.

14. The company must conduct audit or floor checks randomly throughout the year to monitor employee timekeeping compliance.

Unfortunately, DCAA timekeeping compliance is one of the primary reasons government contractors fail an audit. Hour Timesheet can help. We have the employee and contractor time tracking experience to ensure total compliance. Sign up for Hour Timesheet today and work with an experienced implementation rep to review your account for total compliance. All for FREE.

Features To Look For In DCAA Compliant Time Tracking Software

Government contractors that are hoping to get awarded projects from the government have to comply with the regulations set in place by the DCAA. The Defense Contract Audit Agency outlines exactly how businesses should be tracking their time and documenting accounting when working on a government project. The DCAA will audit companies, and ensure they are following these guidelines. The DCAA compliant timekeeping procedures can be tricky to navigate, which is why Hour Timesheet has compiled a DCAA compliance checklist. This makes it easy to prepare for an audit, and make sure your company is in line with DCAA regulations.

DCAA Compliance and Time Tracking

Let’s say you’re looking for a long-term solution to DCAA compliance. Time tracking is a big part of many businesses, and adding in DCAA compliance makes the process lengthy and tiresome. Luckily, companies like Hour Timesheet exist to make it easy for businesses. You don’t have to worry if your time tracking meets DCAA requirements, because we’ve already done it for you. Even if you’re already using QuickBooks, and you’re just looking for some extra help – Hour Timesheet can integrate directly with QuickBooks.

What type of firm needs time tracking software? Most employers who hire hourly employees need to know the number of hours each employee has worked so that payroll can be calculated properly. Government contractors have a different set of rules and are required to track time, both hours for exempt and non-exempt employees. They also have certain rules in place involving tracking indirect costs, such as labor costs. Even organizations that only hire salaried employees have a need to track projects or tasks for successful project management. That’s why finding the right time and attendance software is critical to your bottom line.

What to Look for When Evaluating a DCAA Compliant Timekeeping Software? When researching tools, it’s important to make sure the software that you are evaluating meets certain criteria. Whether you’re an organization with salaried employees, or government contractors hoping to win a government contract, it’s important to partner with companies you can trust. Here are some things to look for when searching for a timekeeping system:

Reminders to Track Time Daily

It’s common for employees and contractors to forget to track time, which can cause a lot of issues for DCAA audit trails. Hour Timesheet offers daily reminders to track time and ensure it’s getting done accurately.

Online Approvals

Whether it’s approvals for time log edits or approvals for charge codes, it’s important to have a timekeeping system that allows approvals online.

Mobile Access (iOS and Google Play)

Managers can access Hour Timesheet from any computer, or through the mobile app, and submit approvals online.

Detailed Audit Log and Audit Trail

Whenever the DCAA performs an audit on your company, they’re going to want to see records of everything. The best practice when hoping to win future contracts is to keep detailed records and trails of all time, labor, and cost history. This will make it easier for you and the DCAA when the time comes for an audit.

Real-Time Location Tracking

Government contractors often perform work offsite and on the location of clients or at work sites. This can make time tracking difficult when managers are unsure where workers actually are. Hour Timesheet offers real-time, accurate location tracking so that your records can be as accurate as possible.

Integration with Accounting Software (QuickBooks Online & QuickBooks Desktop)

This is arguably one of the most important features in time tracking software. The DCAA not only wants to audit the company’s timekeeping requirements, but they also want to do an accounting system audit and ensure those records are accurate. By connecting your timekeeping software to your accounting system, such as QuickBooks, you’re making this process seamless. The DCAA will look at things like labor distribution, cost objectives, indirect costs and direct costs, and uncompensated overtime. Everything needs to be tracked to ensure proper DCAA compliance with QuickBooks.

Knowledge of Government Contracting

At Hour Timesheet, we believe the most important thing to look for in a timekeeping system is a demonstrated knowledge about the DCAA system. Without this knowledge, the software may not be able to provide what it promises. It’s important to work with a company that has an in-depth understanding of how the federal government awards contracts, audits companies and enforces DCAA regulations.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Some other features that can be very beneficial in a timekeeping system include an online web clock, correction timesheet workflows, and online job tracking. These make it easier for everyone involved to do their job.

Are you wasting time and money on the following?

Correcting math errors on hours worked and other time entry activities
Tracking down late or missing weekly timesheets
Manually entering employee time worked into your accounting and/or payroll file

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, it’s time to let today’s technology work for you. Intuit and QuickBooks have a marketplace where 3rd party vendors who offer time tracking are listed. Only companies that pass strict guidelines and follow Intuit’s partner policies are listed on these sites.

View QuickBooks Online Marketplace Apps here

View QuickBooks Desktop Marketplace Apps here

Hour Timesheet was created for you; with your origination in mind. We have created a simplified solution that captures your complex situations and makes DCAA compliance easy. Give us a try FREE for 30 days. No credit card is required. Our experts with over 20 years of industry experience are waiting to hear from you now. Hour Timesheet includes a QuickBooks timesheet import sync that makes your payroll process a snap!

Hour Timesheet can be a perfect tool that will integrate & sync with your QuickBooks Desktop Hosting keeping an eye on your reminders, daily tasks, etc. Learn more about add-ons like Office 365 E3 suite for improving your team collaboration.

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Making technology work for you

Making Technology Work For You

Today’s technology moves so fast that it’s not easy to keep up with. It seems like new tools are surfacing every day to help business owners and entrepreneurs save time, money and boost productivity. New technology empowers business owners to achieve what they set out to do and allows them to be creative while maintaining a high level of productivity. Businesses that want to stay relevant know that they must incorporate new technologies into their company’s growth strategy.

The trick to making technology work for you and your team will depend on how it’s integrated. You can use these tips to help your employees to successfully embrace technology:

1. Highlight the Benefits

Technology can do so much to make our lives easier, but the process of learning new technology can still be daunting. To ensure team member buy-in, help them understand the decision to implement new technology. Identify the limitations or problems in the current tools or software. Help your users see how technology could solve these problems. Even though fear is normal in the face of change, we can’t let fear stop us from moving forward.

2. Find Your Champions

There are always employees who readily accept new technology. These are your champions! They can help convince reluctant coworkers where no one else can. Have them be available for questions and training to those who are slower to adopt. Some employees may not be convinced of the benefits of technology until they see someone else do it.

3. Provide Training

Training is critical to the successful adoption of new technology. You must ensure that team members of all levels of technological know-how have the access they need to learn at their own speed. Training can be looked at as a two-step process: You need training from external sources (free at Hour Timesheet), and then you need a core group of internal employees who are comfortable in the new system and can help others if needed.

REASONS YOUR BUSINESS SHOULD EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY

By embracing today’s new technology your company will reap the benefits that keep them ahead of their competitors who fail to embrace technology, including:

Staying connected
Encouraging timely and accurate input
Ability to monitor employee productivity
Improving manager productivity
Improving employee accountability
Access to advanced business reporting and analysis

Additional Links

HTS QuickBooks Online Marketplace Listing

HTS QuickBooks Desktop Marketplace Listing

HTS Android Download Link in Google Play

HTS iOP Download Link in Apple Store

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FLSA Timekeeping Requirements

Who does FLSA apply to?

One of the FLSA Timekeeping Requirements is that hourly employees must be paid at least the minimum wage and not less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for overtime hours worked.

What are the timekeeping recordkeeping requirements?

Every covered employer must keep certain records for each non-exempt worker. The department of labor requires accurate records. The following is a listing of the basic records that an employer must maintain:

Time and day of week when employee's workweek begins
Time worked each day
Total hours worked each workweek and pay period
Total daily or weekly straight-time hours
Total overtime hours for the workweek

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What type of record should be retained?

Each employer shall preserve for at least three years payroll records, collective bargaining agreements, sales and purchase records. Records on which wage computations are based should be retained for two years, i.e., time cards and piece work tickets, wage rate tables, work and time schedules, and records of additions to or deductions from wages.

What type of timekeeping is best?

Employers may use any timekeeping method they choose. For example, they may use a time clock, have a timekeeper keep track of employee's work hours, or tell their workers to write their own times on the records. Any timekeeping plan is acceptable as long as it is complete and accurate

Android App | Time Tracking Android App | Time Tracker | Leave Management

What about employees on irregular work schedules?

Many employees work on a fixed schedule from which they seldom vary. The employer may keep a record showing the exact schedule of daily and weekly hours and merely indicate that the worker did follow the schedule. When a worker is on a job for a longer or shorter period of time than the schedule shows, the employer must record the number of hours the worker actually worked, on an exception basis.

Are timesheets required by law?

Timesheets are a legal document, which are the source of payroll transactions, and are related to a project, customer invoicing. Timesheets serve as the legal authority to pay an employee. ... For example, the timesheet policy might require that time worked be reported accurately on the date that such work was performed.

Can my boss alter my timesheet?

While falsification of an employee's time sheet can be a serious offense, it isn't illegal for a supervisor or employer to change an employee's time sheet –as long as it reflects the correct hours that were worked.

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Additional Resources

Record-keeping Requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations

A DCAA Compliant Alternative to Deltek Timekeeping

When a business undertakes a government contract, part of the agreement is for their timekeeping and accounting procedures to comply with the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). DCAA-compliant contracts require daily time tracking, precise records, detailed reporting, and specific manager approvals, all for DCAA audit purposes. Ensuring DCAA compliance can be a lengthy and confusing process if not using the right tools. If you are searching for alternatives to Deltek’s timekeeping, keep reading to learn more about Hour Timesheet’s DCAA compliant solution.

There are expensive and not-so-user-friendly software programs such as Deltek that don’t deliver some of the features that other products such as Hour Timesheet do. The following are some of the reasons an increasing number of companies are switching to Hour Timesheet.

Regular Reminders

Hour Timesheet features both daily and weekly reminders to employees and managers when timesheets are due. This ensures that everyone working for the company, whether remotely or in the office, regularly tracks their time. DCAA compliance requires daily timesheet entries by every employee and for managers to approve their hours. This must happen whether they’re working on the DCAA that day or not. They don’t let it accumulate and try to submit them at the end of the month in a hurry.

Accurate Charging Codes

Hour Timesheet’s DCAA compliant timekeeping software restricts employees charging to an expired charge code. With Hour Timesheet, employees can only enter labor time for specified job code assignments and labor categories, with the ability to set maximum limits or expiration dates. Thanks to this feature, managers do not need to worry about unauthorized or excessive labor costs for their tasks. This built-in feature prevents government contractors from making incorrect entries, resulting in time-consuming corrective actions, delayed invoice payment, or the most severe DCAA audit findings.

Regular timesheet processing

Part of the DCAA compliant timekeeping requirements is that timesheets must be processed every month, if not more frequently. Hour Timesheet’s timekeeping procedures allow for this to happen. A report can be generated to illustrate the number of timesheets generated for the month, information on costs, and billing.

A detailed audit trail

As DCAA compliant time tracking software, Hour Timesheet is DCAA compliant. That means it has a long and detailed audit trail. If an employee or manager edits a time card after it has been submitted, the DCAA will want to know who made the change, when it was made and why? Hour Timesheet creates an un-editable audit log that provides a permanent list of all the additions, subtractions, and changes that have been made to the employees’ timesheets.

Manual time tracking

The Hour Timesheet time-entry feature can help protect and allow your business to grow with the timekeeping capabilities you need to be DCAA compliant. Our manual time tracking features will help you track direct and indirect costs on a project-by-project basis and tackle head-on one of the most daunting aspects of DCAA compliance by creating a detailed audit trail. Often the timekeeping requirements of being government contractors can be overwhelming. Let, Hour Timesheet help.

An up-to-date sick/personal leave balance

With Hour Timesheet, all employee’s current sick/personal leave and vacation balances are always prominently displayed on their timesheet entry page. There is no need to wait for a regular pay stub to review these balances.