On Monday, the employee works remotely from home. On Tuesday, they have a customer meeting that takes 1 h 20 min including travel time. On Wednesday, in the middle of the day, the employee has a personal appointment from 12 p.m. to 12.45 p.m. that has been agreed about with their supervisor. On Friday, they travel to and from an appointment with the occupational health doctor between 8 a.m. and 9.05 a.m. and have a sales meeting from 1 p.m. to 2.45 p.m. At the end of the week, the number of working hours is 39 h 10 min and the accumulation of the working time bank 1 h 40 min on the plus side.
Nowadays, a normal working week can contain many events that can complicate the tracking of working hours. In many workplaces, hybrid work is already commonplace. In addition to remote work, customer meetings and travel time, doctor’s appointments, taking care of a sick child and other similar events disrupt the daily rhythm. Work time tracking cannot only include time spent sitting at the “production line” or clocking entries made with a device placed in the hallway of the workplace.
Work time tracking may be synonymously associated with work time supervision. Of course, supervision is part of the whole – after all, in order to maintain occupational safety and comply with the Working Hours Act, the employer has the obligation to supervise both work and working hours. The problem is often related to how the tracking of working hours is perceived and how the changed methods of work time tracking are implemented in the company.
Fortunately, the question does not have to be about confrontation between the employer and the employee. It is ultimately in the interest and security of all parties that working time records are made reliably. Reliable measurement contributes to the expansion of flextime and remote work opportunities in companies, which in turn creates well-being and contentment at work. The accumulated information also helps the employee and employer to improve their practices. For example, could I myself get more tasks done if I tried to arrange meetings more remotely and spend less time on commuting?
Work time tracking is required by law. But not everything that is mandatory has to be difficult and laborious. When work time tracking is planned from the very beginning for the needs of the company and its employees, it is possible to take into account part-time work, overtime, remote work, hourly monitoring of projects and customers, as well as other requirements. In this case, the forced change may eventually contribute to the job satisfaction at the company and make the operating methods more efficient, ultimately bringing value for money.
