Top organizations value productivity as it is the engine room for growth.
These organizations do all that’s necessary to enhance the productivity of the employees optimally.
The truth is that some organizations go as far as hiring top professionals to help their employees to aid the growth of the organization.
To put things into perspective, there are so many competing companies in the same industry, and only the resilient and most productive tend to survive.
This is exactly why these companies often induce their employees to work harder and smarter.
Often, when these employers provide incentives to boost the efficiency of their employees, time always proves to be a stumbling block.
Managing the small amount of time available to carry out necessary tasks is an effort that often proves abortive as there’s a constant amount of distractions.
Getting rid of these distractions is one thing, and converting the recovered time into something productive is another thing.
In recent times, top organizations have devoted large resources into training their employees on the effective use of time, and other organizations have taken it up a notch by initiating the use of time-saving tools to their workforce.
Time-saving tools have a great way of increasing the productivity of workers in establishments as well as freelancers.
These tools help these people to monitor their time usage effectively and even cut out any form of distractions.
Time tracking tools work in so many ways and come in so many forms. The tools can be deployed on-premise or online as a form of software.
Employers and freelancers are beginning to see the beneficial nature of time-trackers, as well as its multiple benefits.
Such software is not designed to function in the same way as one software is developed solely for freelancers while other is built for team projects.
A freelancer ideally wants a time tracker that will help remove all sorts of distractions.
Team leaders derive interest in a time tracking software that helps them adequately monitor the performance of each team member to optimize their output.
Seven Time-Tracking Software To Ensure Optimal Productivity
1. Timenotes.io
This tool is a time-tracking software built to enhance smooth communication and effective workflow amongst remote workers.
This intuitive platform is a great way to monitor all the activities and a project to enhance productivity in the workspace.
The tool functions through an integrated Google chrome extension that creates time-tracking features on your tasks.
Timenotes.io is a great tool to seamlessly add an array of users’ activities onto a single timeline where the user can efficiently monitor these activities.
The platform has a user-friendly interface that lets the user keep tabs on teams, ongoing activities, and even completed projects.
The basecamp time tracking tool helps a project team to effectively communicate and stay on the same page while carrying out a project.
Timenotes.io is also ideal for assigning tasks to each individual on a team and subsequently monitoring the performance of each person on the task.
Users can download this tool on several platforms, and the installation of the Timenotes chrome extension follows immediately.
One can integrate the software into the users’ schedule on the way to enhancing optimal productivity.
Best for: Freelancers, organizations and project teams
Pricing: Free
Features:
- The tool gives the user team management reports which help team leaders to know how the team is performing
- The software has a user-friendly and clear interface
- Timenotes.io integrates seamlessly with other tools like trello, Chrome, and Basecamp.
2. Toggl
This tool is a cloud-based management software that helps organizations optimally tracking time.
It has a real-time time-tracking feature that can be switched on at any specific time, and the timer pops up and starts clocking.
Users can choose to filter the tracker by project name and subsequently track time logged by any specific team member on the software.
The project management feature allows a user to assign tasks to team members as well as projects to employees.
You can also monitor the progress of these assigned tasks through the platform.
Another useful feature of this software is the possibility of users entering their desired range of time for which they want the software to capture their tasks and minutes taken to accomplish them.
Furthermore, the software allows users to export timesheets as well as email reports to clients at any given time.
Toggl allows users to log time offline and then upload the timesheet to the cloud once they get connected to the internet.
The tool is quite flexible and user-friendly. It is ideal for organizations and freelancers who desire to track their usage of limited time effectively.
The flexibility of this software means that even the busiest of users and freelancers can use it.
Toggl is a great tool for increasing efficiency and enhancing productivity through optimal time allocation.
The developers of the software created this tool with usability and effectiveness in mind, and it applies to freelancers as well as corporate organizations.
Best for: This tool is ideal for organizations, small businesses, and project teams.
Pricing: Toggl offers a basic free plan as well as premium plans.
The basic plan has almost all the regular features on the premium plan, and the only limitation the basic plan is that it only has PDF and CSV exporting in contrast to the other premium plans that allow various export formats.
Features:
- The software is simple to use and user-friendly.
- Manual time entry
- Calendar integration and synchronization
- Reporting features make it suitable for filtering time tracking data
3. Harvest
This software is a cloud-based time tracking tool that provides timesheet features and invoicing for organizations as well as freelancers.
This tool allows users to efficiently track time using varying devices like Androids, Macs, and PCs.
Users are capable of approving timesheets, and the tool then sends reminders that are automated to each team member to submit their timesheets.
Harvest allows users also to create invoices, including expenses, project details, and hours used in carrying out the project; users can subsequently integrate these invoices into the software.
Harvest is simple yet powerful in its function of tracking time as its automation of processes allows for optimization of time.
Large companies and organizations can use the Harvest software in estimating hours spent on tasks by their employees as well as the amount of money spent on each project.
The software is known for its intuitive display visual graphs, and this aids the organization in monitoring and tracking the activities of each team member.
These visual graphs also present a platform or an organization to determine the most profitable route to take.
Best for: Harvest is ideal for all sizes of organizations as well as freelancers
Pricing: For unlimited access to all of the software’s features, harvest costs $12 per month for each user. However, there’s a free plan for users who have limited needs.
Features
- The software creates invoice based on the user’s tracked time and sends these invoice as an email to the user’s clients
- The software has a powerful visual reporting feature that displays all information about team members’ activities
- Harvest integrates seamlessly with other tools like PayPal and trello
- The team management feature enables users to monitor the activities of team members
4. Rescue Time
Rescue time is a time tracking software that companies use in tracking the number of hours their employees use in performing certain tasks; it does this through computer usage monitor.
This tool tracks the user’s clients visited sites, active programs as well as computer activities to record the amount on time spent on productive tasks.
Rescue time also records the number of meetings, phone calls and breaks employees in an organization take while undertaking a task.
The software prepares all the extracted information and displays in the form of an overview for users to view.
It subsequently formulates the data accumulated form daily monitoring into graphs that users can view to estimate each team member’s productivity for that period.
The software eliminates distractions through website blocking and onscreen reminders that help users stay focused on tasks at hand.
Managers can use this tool in tracking the productivity of each team member as they can monitor those that are wasting time and sitting idle.
Best for: Rescue time is a great tool for organizations and project teams that desire to cut out time wastage on the way to achieving optimal productivity.
Pricing:
Rescue time offers two pricing plans; The Lite plan and the premium plan. The lite plan is completely free, while the premium plan is offered at $9 per month for each user.
Features:
- Automated recording of activities carried out on computers by team members
- Rescue time takes record of time spent in meetings and on calls by team members assigned to tasks
- A summary email containing all extracted information is sent to the user
- The tool blocks out time-wasting activities like websites
- A constant reminder of tasks at hand
5. Clockify
This is an effective time tracking software that organizations can integrate into their operations.
Clockify allows users to monitor the amount of time spent by each team member on tasks assigned to them seamlessly.
The software has an online timer that tracks work hours and even allows the users to invite other people to track time.
Clockify makes it possible to calculate the project team’s billable hours with the possibility of setting hourly rates while ensuring optimal productivity.
The software also makes reporting more readable through its visual representation of data in graphical form.
The organization can use these graphs to estimate the productivity level of the team. Managers can be more efficient teams with the use of this free time tracking tool.
Users can also add hours manually to the software and also use a timer to the countdown on an activity.
This tool is available on all platforms, including iOS, Android, Mac, and as an extension for Chrome and Firefox on PC.
Best for: Small organizations and businesses who desire an inexpensive time tracking tool
Pricing: Clockify has four different pricing packages; the free plan, plus plan ($9.99 per month), premium plan ($29.99 per month), server plan ($450 per month). The free plan allows the user access to most features apart from the advanced ones.
Features:
- It allows for mobile tracking of time on the move
- The software is quite intuitive, and its users can easily operate it
- Calendar and reminder integration
- Users can manually input time
- Available for download on Android, iOS, Mac platforms
6. Top Tracker
Top tracker is a free time tracking tool that allows all the core functionality of other top paid time trackers.
Organizations that are interested in cutting out slack time and distraction will find this tool quite useful.
The tool gives you total control over activities to be tracked as well as the tracking durations.
The software incorporates other tracking tools like timers, calendars as well as camera shots to achieve optimal results.
Team leaders and company heads can use this software to track the performance index of each team member as well as the progress of the task being carried out.
The intuitive nature of the software means it generates reports based on data collected and sends this report to the user for onward usage.
Freelancers can also use this tool in achieving optimal productivity by cutting out unproductive activities through effective monitoring. The tool is available on all platforms like Android, MAC, and Linux.
Best for: Top tracker is ideal for freelancers and project teams on a low budget.
Pricing: The software is free, and all its functionalities can be accessed on the free plan.
Features:
- Tracking of the Activity level of user
- The tool can be accessed on any platform
- Team leaders can view all the team’s projects and activities on one page
- Real-time reports on productivity and performance of team members
- The flexibility of the software allows users to demand specific tasks to be tracked
7. Tick
Tick is a time tracking tool that helps teams and organizations to track their time and also increase the productivity of the organization.
The software uses its intuitive features to track the organization’s time in comparison to the organization’s budget, and this helps the organization to optimize its profits.
The software allows the user to input the project as well as tasks being performed during the project.
The user is then asked to start the time tracker at the click of a button. It’s a great tool that helps top team leaders to efficiently track time while focusing on other aspects of the project.
Every time the user submits a time entry, the software updates its sheet of project budget and gives the user immediate feedback to help the user know what course of action to take to stay in profit.
Tick is also a great tool for freelancers who desire to gain total control of their time spent on tasks.
The software runs on any platform like Android and MAC; this makes it possible for users to be updated on their timelines continually.
Best for: freelancers and project teams.
Pricing: Tick offers a free trial along with other subscription plans that range from $19 to $149 per month.
Features:
- The tick has a time-card feature that enables users to select project, task and time
- The tool provides a constant report to users to help them stay updated
- The tool is quite flexible and easy to operate
- It integrates with other devices like smartwatches and phones through a timer that runs on the devices.
Conclusion
It has been proven that time tracking is an asset that aids any organization that looks to cut out losses and increase productivity.
Time trackers do not have to be an expensive asset as there are lots of free time trackers that still get the job done.
It’s important to equip your organization with any of the listed software to stay in profit by cutting out time-wasting activities.
Some of the software listed extract data from the activities tracked and formulate this data into visual presentations that can be easily interpreted.
These data are also mailed to team leaders to help them stay updated on the profit or loss status of the organization.
These team leaders can then use such statements to determine which activities are unproductive and subsequently eliminate these activities.
The modes of operation of each of this software differ, and their functions vary to an extent.
However, one common feature the listed time trackers have is that they aid in recording and monitoring activities in an organization, and they offer a great platform to boost performance index.
Many of the listed software can be used on various platforms like Android, Mac, and iOS. This thing helps team leaders to track their time while on the move continually.
Have you ever used any of this time-tracking software for a project? Do you have experience with any other kinds of time-tracking tools not listed here? We like to hear your viewpoints below regarding your experience.