Leadtime aims to systematically improve productivity in the company. To do this, we need to quantify productivity precisely - and the most obvious unit for this is time.

For a service company in particular, time is an extremely valuable resource: the business model is ultimately based on selling employees' working time to customers. Every activity in the company consumes time - whether it is work on a customer project or a conversation in the hallway. And of course, not all of these activities are equally productive. Therefore, management should develop a deep understanding of how the working time available in the company is used. And with this in mind, there is no getting around comprehensive time recording.

In our experience, many companies in the industry unfortunately only use time recording inconsistently - for example, only for billing customer projects. The reason is that time recording is often unpopularwith employees; it simply feels a bit like monitoring and control. And we don't even want to dismiss this argument out of hand: Of course that's exactly the point. We want to get a comprehensive picture of how the working time available in the company is used - after all, we pay for it in the form of salaries. However, it is not our aim to indict individual employees. Our aim is to analyze structures in the company's time consumption and uncover potential for improving overall productivity.

It is obvious: complete time recording is extremely useful and informative for an organization; nevertheless, many companies do not use this powerful tool consistently or even do without it altogether. These are the most common reasons:

Time tracking is often perceived by employees as a form of micromanagement, which can lead to discomfort and resistance. Employees often value a certain degree of autonomy in their work. If there is a perception that the new measures are to be used as a means of monitoring and control, this can undermine trust between management and staff. Instead of being a tool to improve efficiency and productivity, time recording is then perceived as a sign of a lack of appreciation for their professionalism.

The implementation of a task-based time tracker can be perceived by employees as a hindrance or inconvenience. For truly meaningful data, it is essential that employees document their activities in real time. And if they have to regularly switch between different applications to do so, this can be perceived as a disruptive interruption to the natural flow of work. Of course, this is especially true in creative or highly focused work areas such as code development, where any interruption to concentration can feel very frustrating. Time tracking is then perceived as superfluous extra work that does not directly contribute to productivity or the quality of the work being done.

Management often underestimates how useful cleanly recorded time and attendance data would really be for managing the business and making strategic decisions. Time tracking provides valuable insights into workflows, employee utilization and project efficiency. This information is critical to making informed decisions about resource allocation, budgeting and process optimization.

Assuming that just because a company has been successful without formal time tracking in the past, it will not need such systems in the future is a cognitive bias that can jeopardize the organization's adaptability and future competitiveness. This argument overlooks the dynamic nature of the business environment and the ever-increasing demands on efficiency and productivity. In the early stages of the business, an informal or ad-hoc approach to time management may have been sufficient. However, as the company grows, the number of employees increases and projects become more complex, a systematic approach to time tracking becomes increasingly necessary and effective. This is because the loss of working time due to inefficient processes and fruitless meetings multiplies with each new employee.

We therefore strongly recommend that you involve your team in the introduction of time recording. Ideally, you should prepare a presentation in which you outline the most important benefits and introduce the system. Here are the most important arguments in favor of consistent time recording:

When introducing time tracking across the board, it's important to take your employees' fears and concerns seriously. Emphasize that this is a necessary organizational professionalization step. Make it clear that the company can no longer be managed effectively above a certain size without this step. In this context, point out existing organizational pain points in the company. And above all: set a good example. If the boss does not record his or her time properly, this careless working style will be transferred to the team.

Leadtime integrates time recording seamlessly into the daily work routine and enables simple and intuitive time recording. Leadtime's key time tracking features include