Is your business losing hundreds of minutes to time theft?

Time is money as the old saying goes. So, what happens when employees take advantage of the time that is so valuable to your business?

This is known as ‘time theft’ and it’s an incredibly common issue for modern businesses.

Let’s explore the issue of time theft, uncovering some scenarios where time theft occurs, and help you find the best solution for your business…

What is time theft?

The definition of time theft simply refers to different examples of staff mis-using designated working hours. From unauthorised extended breaks to taking longer than needed to complete a task or using work hours for non-work-related activities.

Time theft often occurs when employees are dis-engaged or lack motivation in their role. However, there are several ways you can prevent time theft as well as solve the issue if you’ve noticed this behaviour within your team.

Common examples of time theft

Examples of time theft aren’t always as malicious as the name suggests. Sometimes employees pick up habits or lack motivation which leads to various practices of time theft. For example:

Spending excessive amounts of time away from their work

Short breaks every now and again are fine and should be encouraged to promote a healthy working environment. However, when employees are frequently taking extended breaks away from their tasks, perhaps even disappearing from the business premises, this can quickly hinder performance, work output and quality of work.

Arriving late and leaving early

When staff show up to work later than they should be or leave earlier than their contracted hours state they should, this is a perfect example of time theft. Possibly one that is most common across small businesses, where managers are not always around to see/monitor staff start and end times.

Mis-using timesheets

If your business uses timesheets, you place a degree of trust within your staff to complete hourly, daily, and weekly timesheets to track the hours they spend on different tasks. However, there is the issue of falsifying timesheets. A practice some employees will use to inflate the number of hours they have spent on a single task.

This example of time theft would be particularly harmful to businesses such as agencies, who charge their clients based on the number of hours a task has taken. And if the quality of work is lacking, this could cause all sorts of problems for managers dealing with customer/client relationships.

Spending time on personal activities

While an employee may be physically ‘at work’, if they’re too focused on personal activities they will not be completing the work they are being paid to do. The use of personal devices such as mobile phones can be incredibly distracting to both individuals and teams.

Setting guidelines on mobile phone usage or having a mobile phone policy in place is a good step to take to deal with this issue.

Sleeping on the job

If an employee is overworked or dealing with difficulties at home, they may experience fatigue at work. Which, on some occasions, has caused employees to fall asleep during their work duties. Leaving work to go astray and other members of the team to pick up the slack. Although this is an extreme example, it has the same impacts on a business. With work from home now a common occurence, though, it's likely more and more employees feel they can get away with taking quick naps in the day without anyone noticing.

Ways to tackle time theft

There are many ways you can deal with time tracking that work effectively.

Establish clear guidelines for your staff

One effective way you can manage and prevent time theft from occurring is to establish clear rules and guidelines for your staff. This could be as simple as including how long their scheduled breaks should be within their employment contracts, or writing up specific policies on mobile phone usage, taking breaks from work, and lunch hours.

Boost employee engagement

Remediation is just as important as understanding why time theft occurs in the first place. If your staff are struggling with their workload, are overworked, or feel unmotivated, it’s important to develop clear lines of communication so that these feelings can be expressed and discussed. By tackling issues head on, you can reduce the amount of time wasted at work.

Monitor internet usage

If you’re worried about employees spending too much time using their own devices for personal use, it may be worth monitoring internet usage. Particularly if staff are using workplace devices for personal browsing. Not only does this cost you time and valuable resources, but your online security could also be at an increased risk. You could opt to invest in monitoring solutions such as:

• Network monitoring tools

• Monitoring software

• Web access blocking

• Track bandwidth usage

However, any type of monitoring should be done with caution and within the lines of the law.

Introduce employee time tracking methods

One of the most effective ways to monitor employee’s usage of time and to prevent time theft is to implement time tracking methods. Including the use of clocking in systems and timesheets.

These tools allow you to see exact details of when an employee started and finished their working day and allows them to take accountability of their break times, recording these for your own records and reports. Analysis of the data these systems provide will offer you greater oversight of your employee’s time and allow you to stamp out time theft as and when it occurs.

Are you a victim of time theft?

Are you noticing a pattern amongst employees? It’s probably best to hold a 1:1 meeting, address this issue and put a stop to the unwanted behaviour.

With accurate records to refer to, employees who are abusing work hours won’t be able to talk their way out of it.

And if you believe that bad habits or practices of time theft at work is a hinderance to the performance of your team, there are specific ways you can deal with an underperforming employee.

Leveraging employee time tracking technology to reduce time theft

Employee time tracking software, such as a modern clocking in app, can help businesses reduce the issue of time theft. Holding employees accountable for recording their hours, encourages transparency and honesty regarding how long they spend working throughout the day.

As well as clocking in and out, a mobile app or web application will also encourage workers to record their breaks, giving you greater oversight of the time your employees spend away from their work tasks throughout the day.

Ready to try a clocking in app that works for a wide range of businesses? Discover Blip today with a free demo.