{"id":1206,"date":"2020-03-23T16:00:37","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timingapp.com\/blog\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2023-10-25T12:49:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T10:49:31","slug":"attendance-tracking-for-remote-work-with-timing-a-3-step-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timingapp.com\/blog\/attendance-tracking-for-remote-work-with-timing-a-3-step-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Attendance Tracking for Remote Work with Timing: A 3-Step Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Attendance<\/p>\n

Tens of millions of people are now working from home as a direct result of the Coronavirus crisis. In fact, some of the largest companies in the world<\/a> \u2013 such as Apple, Google, and Amazon \u2013 are asking employees who regularly work in-office to stay home in order to mitigate the spread of the virus, which has had a devastating impact worldwide.<\/p>\n

How can employers and employees stay attentive and productive, even in the midst of a crisis?<\/p>\n

While we at Timing can’t magically make you more productive, our solution for tracking time and productivity might help get more order into the chaos we are all struggling with these days.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[content_upgrade_scripts]
\n[content_upgrade cu_id=”1211″ preload=”1″]Free Download: 5 Tips for Working Productively From Home<\/strong>[content_upgrade_button]Click Here[\/content_upgrade_button][\/content_upgrade]<\/p>\n

The Challenges of Working Remotely<\/h2>\n

For freelancers, digital nomads, and remote teams, working from home is standard. They know the drill: Get focused, keep careful track of working hours, and create boundaries.<\/p>\n

But for employees accustomed to working in an office \u2013 where you\u2019re accountable to staying focused and delivering on time \u2013 working at home can become a real challenge.<\/p>\n

First, the issue of focus: Typically, an office worker can\u2019t just get up and wander aimlessly about the office, or spend an hour in the break room, or watch Netflix on company time. But if you\u2019re working from home, who\u2019s to know if you spend 30 minutes watching the news, or go to Costco during your working hours?<\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s the opposite problem: Overworking<\/a>. When you\u2019re not surrounded by others who are on a similar work schedule, you may find yourself losing track of your hours and working overtime. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s the challenge of tracking your own time when telecommuting. When you\u2019re working in an office, you may not need to show evidence of what you\u2019ve accomplished or how long you\u2019ve spent on various projects or clients. That being the case, you\u2019re probably not accustomed to religiously tracking your time \u2013 as you may be required to do when working from home.<\/p>\n

\"Attendance<\/p>\n

All of this, of course, poses a significant challenge for managers: Managing the time and productivity of employees who are working remotely, keeping attendance, and ensuring processes continue to run as smoothly as possible.<\/p>\n

The solution?<\/p>\n

Attendance tracking using automatic<\/em> time-tracking.<\/p>\n

Timing can help both managers and employees to continue working productively and effectively by automatically tracking, categorizing, and reporting on any and all work-related activities performed during a given day.<\/p>\n

Here are three steps for remote workers to get started on automatically tracking their time \u2013 and for managers to maintain attendance tracking.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Install Timing & Set Up Projects<\/h2>\n

First, download and install Timing on your Mac<\/strong><\/a>. Timing runs offline, so you don\u2019t need to be connected to WiFi for it to function properly. Once you have installed Timing on your Mac, you can also access on your smartphone with a special web app<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Timing will run automatically, so you don\u2019t need to manually capture your working hours. But you do need to accurately \u201cseed\u201d the time-tracking process for Timing to correctly define what you were doing during your working hours.<\/p>\n

To do this, go into your \u201cOverview\u201d tab, where you\u2019ll see all your projects listed on the left-hand side. To set up a new project, simply click the \u201c+\u201d button on the project list in the left part of the window. Here\u2019s the important part: In the project editor that shows up, make sure to press the “+” button below the keyword list and enter your project name again there. This ensures that Timing recognizes all activities containing that project name and automatically categorizes them into this project. You can also create additional \u201cRules\u201d by dragging specific activities onto that project while keeping the option<\/strong> key pressed; rules ensure that similar activities will automatically be assigned to that project in the future.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Review Your Work<\/h2>\n

You can use Timing throughout the day to ensure you remain on task when working from home, but perhaps the most important part of your workday is the end of the day.<\/p>\n

At the end of every day, go into your \u201cReview\u201d tab, where you\u2019ll see a detailed breakdown of what you\u2019ve accomplished and when. On the top of the tab, you\u2019ll see a timeline of activities represented by colored blocks, as well as gray areas where no work is detected. We will cover those in a second.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But first, have a look at the four “cards” below the timeline. There, you\u2019ll find your activities broken down in different ways: by keyword, website, application, and folder\/path. Here\u2019s a brief overview of how each activity functions:<\/p>\n