Connected worksites: how can you save time and money managing your payroll?

Being responsible for employee pay is a heavy responsibility. Every month, an HR manager or director faces considerable pressure to pay everyone a fair wage, on time.

This task, which is already arduous, is made even more so by the difficulties associated with the construction sector.

To cope with these challenges and make payroll management more efficient, construction companies are increasingly turning to industry-specific TAM software. Digitalising Time and Activity Management takes the pressure and administrative burden off payroll managers, while having a positive impact on the company's overall productivity.

What exactly is TAM and how can it be digitalised for a construction company?

What is AWM?

As its name suggests, TAM refers to Time and Activity Management, with direct reference to employees' working time and the type of activity carried out during that time.

In the case of a construction company, TAM refers to the monitoring of :

• absences and attendance on site
• and the tasks carried out on these same sites.

The state of play in the construction and public works sector

The challenge of measuring activities

For a construction company, payroll management raises two issues:

1. Having an effective payroll management tool.
2. Correctly measuring workers' activities.

When it comes to HR software per se, construction companies are increasingly equipping themselves with HRIS, or HR information systems. However, the measurement of time and activities is still often neglected by the digitalisation phenomenon.

This is causing major problems, affecting the field as much as the HR department, and even the finance department. Everyone's productivity is hampered by extremely time-consuming and inefficient measurement and reporting processes. For payroll managers, the evidence is stark: information arrives incomplete, late or even wrong.

Payroll management: the choice of weapons

At present, most activity measurement tools are still far from user-friendly. From recording hours on paper forms (which are sometimes lost or damaged at the end of the week), to the excessive use of Excel spreadsheets (in which information is successively re-encoded), gathering information in the field is time-consuming and generally inefficient.

This undoubtedly explains the growing trend towards the use of digital solutions. The use of a time and attendance application, for example, can truly revolutionise the processes of a construction company, and generate major benefits for the payroll manager.

The potential of digital: how to save money and relieve HR?

Collecting hours worked, no more mistakes

Managing the wages of mobile workers is an extremely tedious task. Hours are recorded on paper or in Excel files, with only relative efficiency.

With a digital time and attendance solution integrated into an HRIS system, for example, the correct encoding and processing of wages becomes immediately more accessible. Gone are the days of cumbersome administration and excessive pressure on teams:

• Automated collection of payroll data. The information arrives securely, structured and validated in advance.
  
  
• No more errors, no more time-consuming re-entries, no more scrambling to find missing information at the end of the month.
  
  
• A structured, centralised view of all the information you need.

Monitor attendance, real-time information

Checking which worker has arrived on site, at what time and for how long? This is another traditional headache for the HR department. But this information is vital for calculating wages and managing administration.

• With an attendance control application specialising in the building and civil engineering sector, it is now easy to check the presence of workers on site, in real time.
  
  
• The HR manager can compare this information with an absence schedule and react quickly in the event of unforeseen absences. They can also take these unforeseen events into account when calculating workers' pay.

Consulting information, a centralised view of all data

Collecting hours, checking attendance, scheduling absences... calculating pay requires a large number of dashboards, all of which are equally essential.

But having to cross and recross sources of information can be as tedious as it is time-consuming for payroll managers. The right suite of integrated digital tools can eliminate this inconvenience.

• By digitising clocking in and out, attendance control and absence planning, for example, it is now possible to access a structured view of all the necessary information.
  
  
• Data from the various tools, or from the customer's digital environment, can also be used to highlight anomalies or points for attention: a worker has not worked enough hours or, on the contrary, has exceeded the maximum weekly quota? This information is now automatically brought to the attention of HR managers.

Digital time and attendance for the construction industry at your fingertips

"Our processes are very complex. It's difficult to find suitable time and activity management software".

Construction companies know this all too well.

Mobile resources, the uniqueness of each worksite, the multiplicity of professions (intervention, worksite, office, etc.)... the construction sector presents specific difficulties. Where traditional HR software struggles to provide an appropriate service, specialist solutions have been developed to meet the specific needs of a construction company:

• Wide range of settings: Different maximum hours, night work, successive validations, categories of workers, calendars, specific schedules, temporary work, subcontractors... a specialised application is capable of dealing with all the diversity of situations typical of the construction industry, to provide the payroll manager with complete information.
  
  
• Multiple views available: depending on requirements (view by week, by day, by worksite, etc.), HR managers can obtain an adapted view of the information.
  
  
• Integration with the existing digital environment: on the one hand, your worksite codes, cost structure, etc. are integrated into the time and attendance solution, for example. On the other, the data collected in the field is integrated into your existing digital environment (HRIS already in place, ERP, etc.).

Conclusion: start saving now

Equipping yourself with ATM software specialising in the construction sector will save you both time and money in the payroll process. No more costs associated with errors or delays. Pressure at the end of the month is greatly reduced, while wages are paid more fairly and accurately. You avoid dissatisfaction, or time wasted painstakingly searching for information of dubious validity. Overall, everyone's working time is valued. Teams are more available for richer, more interesting tasks with greater added value.

Choosing the right time management software is therefore essential. Traxxeo's digital time and attendance, absence and resource planning solutions, for example, are perfectly suited to the needs of the construction sector.