Intro Office Productivity Software
When choosing a time monitoring tool, it is important to comprehend the many different kinds of tools available. Tools such as Mavenlink, Wrike, and Zoho Projects all feature robust time monitoring features for professional services businesses. On the other hand, the time monitoring features in these tools are available only as part of bigger project management (PM) suites. Because of this, you are paying much more money for things like file storage, in-app chat, progress reports, and shift management. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you’ll find pure play time monitoring tools such as Hubstaff (which starts at $5 a month per user) and TSheets, our Editors’ Choice tool for time tracking. Office Productivity Software
Attributes and Usage
Hubstaff’s user interface (UI) was created with a appealing left-rail blue navigation bar which leaves plenty of room on the side of your screen for data entry and analysis. When you first log into the system, you’ll be taken to the main dashboard, which provides you an overview of the number of hours your employees have worked that day and how many hours they have worked over the previous seven days. You will also see a list of each member, their latest tasks, and how active they have been over the last week. This is a solid PM data visualization that lets you instantly differentiate between workhorses and do-nothings, and it immediately calls to attention projects which are becoming more than sufficient focus and jobs that are being disregarded.
There are two methods to put in time in Hubstaff: You are able to build manual timesheets with past hours worked, or you may use the stopwatch feature on Hubstaff’s native desktop app. Together with the timesheet attribute, you log in your hours as you probably did with pencil and paper during the analog age of time monitoring. Basically, if you work your change, you add time to your own timesheet, and you sign off on it. This is a fairly standard method of monitoring time. Regrettably, because Hubstaff does not allow you to add future time, you can’t use the platform for a shift planner. Administrators can let users manually edit previously submitted timesheets, and they can induce users to need a reason to ensure they’re actually adding hours that they worked. Admins can also set the system up to remind users to begin tracking time should they haven’t clocked to the system in a while.
The second, and most frustrating, way of monitoring moment in Hubstaff is by using the stopwatch feature. In every solution we tested, this component can be found within the confines of your internet browser–every alternative that is, except for Hubstaff. With Hubstaff, you are expected to download an native desktop application that resides within a separate window. In it, you can choose your project, press Start, and your own timer will start counting. When you are done, your action and your screenshots will be sent to the main hub. The native program will take a photo at random periods of up to 3 shots per hour depending on how often the admin would like to spy on workers. Screenshots can be partly fuzzy to not capture sensitive information on every grab, but a lot of the screen is left unsullied you’ll still get a sense of if the screen is on work-related or play-related content. This can be an annoyingly complex and convoluted means to manually track time, particularly if you’re jumping from task to task throughout the day. Hubstaff must find a way to bring the stopwatch and also screengrab elements to the cloud-based architecture to simplify ease of use.
Tracking time in real-time on Hubstaff’s Android and iOS apps is exactly the same as it’s on the desktop program. The mobile programs let admins monitor movements via GPS tracking. This gives you an overview of how much motion was performed by your employee by capturing location data at different stages.
The Schedules tab enables you to assign dates and times for workers to do the job. You can set a minimum number of hours to work, a lunch break duration, and you’ll be able to allow it to be a recurring shift. The program’s reporting software is horribly basic: You’ll get access to weekly, daily, project, and penis view reports as well as a”habit” report that lets you filter data from the aforementioned reports. In comparison to the PM solutions in this course, Hubstaff’s reporting is utterly embarrassing so, if your goal is to learn and evolve according to when and how your employees manage time, you would be much better off working using Zoho Projects, our Editors’ Choice for PM.
Click here to sign up for Hubstaff
Admins receive notifications when they’ve reached weekly staffing and budget limits. Invoices are automatically calculated and created based on the time each worker worked, as well as their related pay rate. You can set up automatic citizenship through PayPal, which lets you automate payments based on time tracked within the application. Keep in mind: Consumers don’t have to send time through for approval, so automatic payments will be made whether workers were wrong or right concerning the amount of hours they worked. There is not any reminder for managers to double-check each timesheet ahead of automatic payments go out so, if you’re concerned about making false payments, then you can set PayPal payments to guide. Office Productivity Software
Price And Options
Hubstaff was constructed to give you Big Brother-level oversight into when employees are working, what they’re doing while they work, and what you really want to pay them when the work is finished. The Fundamental $5-per-month program gives you access to easy time monitoring tools, an employee payment program manager, 24/7 support, and user preferences that can be managed in an employee-by-employee basis. Moreover, this program lets you keep tabs on whether or not your employees are working by allowing you document screenshots while they function as well as monitor keyboard and mouse activity during shifts. Of the five tools we’ve tested, Hubstaff is the only tool that offered this level of insight into the way that workers are progressing. Although keyboard and screen monitoring are useful (albeit over-reaching) features for a change monitor, Hubstaff’s implementation leaves much to be desired (more about this later).
The $9-per-user-per-month Premium program includes everything you’ll find in the Basic program, but you’ll also get access to Hubstaff’s application programming interface (API) to integrate the tool with other third-party software. The Premium package also has a lightweight schedulingtool that provides administrators the power to assign changes and assign tasks from inside the console. Premium customers may also use the application to make invoices and make PayPal payments mechanically. Clients that pay yearly will receive two weeks free (for both price tiers).
Click here to sign up for Hubstaff
In comparison to TSheets, its closest competitor in our roundup, Hubstaff is reasonably priced, particularly given the added tracking features that are unavailable in competitive resources. TSheets offers a basic free accounts, in addition to a $4-per-user-per-month account that costs a $16 base fee a month for groups with fewer than 100 users, and a $80 base fee per month for groups with more than 100 users. The base fee, which Hubstaff doesn’t charge, makes TSheets marginally more costly than Hubstaff, even in Hubstaff’s Premium level.
If you’re more interested in those hulky PM alternatives, then you’ll want to pony up a little more cash. Mavenlink’s cheapest plan that includes time monitoring prices $39 per user per month. Zoho’s cheapest time tracking plan is $25 a month for an unlimited number of users (that is a pretty good deal if you need all of the excess PM features). Wrike’s lowest time tracking plan costs $24.80 per user per month.
What Ought to Be Added
Editor’s note: Since our first review of Hubstaff, the business has released a significant update in late 2018 that specifically addressed certain feature flaws or omissions, including adding a web timer, fleshing out reporting options, and adding activity levels and monitor monitoring. We are going to be testing these features shortly and you will see the results in an upcoming update to this review.
Aside from its draconian screengrab and keystroke monitoring, Hubstaff doesn’t do an excellent job allowing for deeper change oversight. For instance, Hubstaff does not allow advanced monitoring. If you operate a trucking business and you are less concerned about the number of hours each trucker drove than the distance driven, then there is no way to manage that in Hubstaff. Users can add notes to an empty text area, but that information will not be mixed into accounts. This means you can’t use it to find out about who’s working, how they’re functioning, and what they are generating (other than the number of hours monitored ). TSheets not only gives you this choice, it gives you the ability to create six extra customizable advanced monitoring fields. You might even put in a question for every clock-out (i.e.,”Was there an episode? Yes. No.”) Along with the system forces the user to reply to the questions at the close of each change or they will not have the ability to clock out.
As hardcore as Hubstaff is all about monitoring work, the application does not permit for IP address restrictions, so your employees can say they’re working from the workplace but they can actually be operating from a cruise boat in the Bahamas (unless they’re using the cell app to monitor time). This is a standard feature that’s available in almost every other tool we tested. Hubstaff also does not enable admins to need users to snap a photo when they report to work. I guess it’s overkill to make somebody take a selfie before you get started recording their screen and monitoring their keystrokes, but TSheets lets you place this as a necessity (which makes sense, especially if you’re tracking tasks done out of a computer, such as electronic, building, or amusement work). The program also does not let users clock in via a telephone call, which can be an element TSheets along with other service providers make available for employees who do not have a smartphone.
Monitoring Employee Work
We’ve touched on how some of Hubstaff’s more Enormous Brother-like attributes factor into time monitoring. However, the platform also offers a lot of the hallmarks of employee monitoring tools. Hubstaff’s employee monitoring attributes include keystroke logging, URL and application tracking, GPS and location tracking, and action screenshots.
As soon as you place your users and they download the timer app onto their server, the desktop program not only tracks time but will require screenshots randomly or in custom intervals, such as three screenshots each minute. This applies not only to the user’s main screen but any attached monitors too. Hubstaff does not log keys however, it will monitor the activity provided through the mouse and keyboard, providing employers a calculation of just how active the worker is. This info all winds up on the Hubstaff dashboard in the Task tab. This is where you can then pick a user from the drop-down menu to view their screenshots connected with activity data.
When it comes to program and URL monitoring, Hubstaff goes beyond simply tracking time to see what sites and programs an employee opened or visited and how long they had been there. The Reports module can then run custom queries on vectors such as app usage mapped against time and activity. Hubstaff integrates with project and job management tools such as Asana and Trello to filter reports from specific tasks or projects to track productivity.
1 unique employee tracking feature supplied is GPS location monitoring through Hubstaff’s mobile app. While the mobile app can not take screenshots or capture mobile app and site activity, it allows you to monitor and log place for employees working in the field. While the thickness of monitoring surveillance and data features can’t step up to a grid application such as Teramind, our Editors’ Choice for employee tracking, Hubstaff includes a helpful choice of features for employers that want a bit more oversight. Office Productivity Software
Wrap-up
Hubstaff is an easy-to-administer, feature-rich, time monitoring tool. If you are diligent about tracking employee behavior while on the clock, then there is no better software available than Hubstaff. You will have the ability to log screenshots, monitor keystroke volume, and route moves via GPS tracking.
Regrettably, if you’re trying to find a platform which goes the excess mile to allow customization, irregular data entry, or a more advanced reporting arrangement, then Hubstaff won’t be right for you. In addition, should you choose another system, your employees will thank you for not needing them to obtain a secondary program for tracking time–particularly when you consider that every other tool we examined makes this possible within the confines of their web-based UI. Office Productivity Software
Click here to sign up for Hubstaff