ECJ Ruling: What Benefits Does Time Tracking Bring
Following the ECJ ruling, it is clear: mandatory time tracking is coming. But what benefits does this offer employees and employers?
Benefits & Concerns Regarding the Mandatory Time Tracking Obligation
The ECJ’s ruling on a mandatory working time recording obligation is highly controversial.
We have done our research and summarised the benefits as well as the concerns of employees and employers for you.
Benefits
Employers
- Overview of employee absences & attendance
- More revenue through billable hours
- Better resource planning
- Precise documentation of working hours & overtime
- Overview of who is actually working
- Record time from anywhere
- Employee efficiency traceable – measurable – performance monitoring
- Employees can be better compared with each other – who does more
- On the safe side legally – avoid high fines
Employees
- Fair solution – no one can be disadvantaged
- No more self-exploitation
- Overtime is documented
- Precise overview of one’s own working hours
- Work done at home is also recorded
- Reduction of overtime
- Less overload
- Fewer burnouts
- Flexible through mobile time tracking
- Overview of one’s own hours
- High performers are recognised
Concerns
Employers
- Employees now clearly see how many unpaid overtime hours they work
- More bureaucracy – valuable time is lost
- Working hours must be recorded individually – conflicts with flexible working
Employees
- Trust-based work no longer possible
- Employees are monitored more
- Flexible working is no longer possible
- Must sit out working hours
- Prevents the development of productive, motivated and independent work
- Outdated structures
- More performance pressure
- Inflexible
We are convinced that a good time tracking system brings you significantly more advantages than disadvantages
More bureaucracy: Valuable time is lost
Clocking in and out is done in a second; the only thing that takes more time is booking time on projects. When assigning projects, you not only save time during invoicing, but also increase your revenue, as employees’ hours can be billed directly. So the “lost time” actually brings in more revenue.
Flexible working is no longer possible
With projectfacts, nothing changes in your working arrangements. You can conveniently and flexibly clock in and out, whether for a longer break, a smoking break, or even if you get something done at the weekend for 2 hours. How, where and when doesn’t matter at all.
Trust-based work is no longer possible
That’s not entirely true – you can still decide for yourself when, where and how you work; you just need to clock in and out. This simply protects you from working overtime that goes undocumented. Protect yourself and keep track.
Employees are monitored more
A recorded time is not direct monitoring – it is solely for the protection of employees.
You keep track of your own working hours & overtime yourself. If the employer pays for overtime, that’s a pretty good counter-argument.
Must sit out working hours
Just because working hours must be recorded does not mean that the employee has to be sitting in the office. They still have the option to work externally or from home, and leaving early is no obstacle in that case.
Prevents the development of productive, motivated and independent work
As already mentioned, time tracking does not force anyone to work 8 hours straight in the office. With projectfacts, employees can decide entirely for themselves when and from where they want to work.
Outdated structures
In the age of digitalisation, everything is possible. projectfacts is the modern, digitalised form of time tracking. Recording working hours has barely any influence on company structures.