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In many professional services industries, implementing time tracking into your team’s workflow is critical. It provides an easy way to improve productivity, better manage time, and make smarter decisions for future initiatives (to name a few benefits).
However, the unfortunate truth is that sometimes introducing time tracking can result in objections from your team. And if you don’t know how to overcome that challenge, you could end up struggling with actually getting the new process off the ground.
In this guide we’ll go over the common objections you might face and how to overcome them so you can implement time tracking without losing the trust of your team.
Common time tracking objections
If you understand the objections you might face when implementing time tracking, you’ll have a better chance of ensuring your team’s fears are addressed and that they have the motivation they need to get on board. Here are a few of the most common objections and how to counter them.
1. Time tracking is time consuming
Time tracking may seem like an additional administrative burden for employees, filling out forms and logging their hours. This can be particularly frustrating if they feel that their time would be better spent on more meaningful tasks, if they already feel overworked, or if they get into their flow only for it to be interrupted.
How to overcome it
Ensure your team that you’re dedicated to making the process quick and easy — and find a time tracking solution that helps you do just that. For example, Harvest is an intuitive tool that’s loved by users because it’s easy to adopt. And on a day-to-day basis, your team will see how easy it is to track time with Harvest’s flexible solutions and integrations with the tools they already know and love.
2. You don’t trust your team
When you first introduce time tracking, your team might feel like you don’t trust how they’re spending their workday and are using the new tool to keep tabs on what they’re doing.
How to overcome it
First, make it very clear that time tracking has nothing to do with your confidence that they can get the job done. Instead, it’s a way to gain powerful insights that can help both the organization and individuals thrive. Highlight that the collected insights will make their work lives easier and even give you a way to measure team capacity and address any potential burnout issues before they become a problem.
3. Time tracking is a micromanagement tool
Your team might be concerned that a new time tracking system will lead to increased micromanagement — that you will use the information to question why they spent a certain amount of time on particular tasks. This feeling can be demotivating as work autonomy is one of the top factors of job satisfaction.
How to overcome it
Explain exactly how time tracking information will be used. Instead of implementing the process as a micromanagement practice, you’re using the insights to improve project planning, progress tracking, and resource utilization — which will lead to better results, easier forecasting, and a happier team.
The most important thing to remember when gearing up to introduce time tracking is to find the solution that works best for your team. Although you might still run into a little resistance, if the tool is intuitive, easy to use, and packed with insights that help everyone work better, you’ll be surprised at how quickly your team will adopt the practice.
Harvest is the perfect tool to help you and your team track time with ease. Discover for yourself by signing up for a free trial today.
