How many business owners still use manual cash registers? Typewriters? Hand-written inventory sheets and business financial papers? Then why have your employees continue to slip a scribbled-on yellow card into a loud, antique time card puncher? By upgrading to timesheet software, and integrating modern scanning technology such as a thumb print scanner or magnetic card reader, you will improve your employee management and payroll, and save time and money in the process. However, in upgrading to payroll and time clock software, one must first know what features to look for. The following are the most important elements to a good, effective time clock program:

- Time in/out features accurate to the second, customizable and compliant to your payroll rules and local overtime laws. This is an important feature. Timesheet software can keep track of requirements of both your local government, and specific rules and guidelines that you set for your own business.

- Proper record keeping capabilities. This is probably the feature that will differ the most from program to program, but is absolutely essential to a complete time clock program. As a business owner, you will need to keep accurate records of attendance, total work hours, and overtime hours. And this information must be made readily available for a number of different purposes.

- Adaptability to security requirements and employee evaluation. Whether you chose to have your employees swipe an ID card to activate the time clock, or press their thumb against a fingerprint scanner, you need to be able to accurately research your employees attendance by day, shift, department, and task. With the standard manual time clock, employees could clock each other in, and give their employers a poor representation of the overall productivity of the business. With timesheet software, this is no longer a worry.

- Save time for your bookkeeper or payroll personnel. All calculations can be completed instantaneously, and either sent or made available to a number of computers on your network while still being processed in one primary location. Instead of wasting time at the end of the pay period with a stack of time cards and a calculator, tallying each employees work hours, eliminate this antiquated business task and free up your staff for more relevant needs.

- Prevent underpayment and overpayment of employees. When employees are accidentally underpaid, the general atmosphere of your work environment suffers. When an employee is overpaid, you are not likely to hear about it unless you catch the mistake yourself, thus losing money. Detailed work hour records-keeping will ensure that each employee is getting paid exactly for the time they worked, no more and no less.

For a low startup cost, timesheet software will greatly improve your business. Instead of spending hours tallying up work hours, you will have these reports available instantaneously at any moment, and free up time for much more important tasks. You will gain a more complete picture of your employee's work habits and be able to make more educated management decisions. Take the next step with your business and order timesheet software today.