How do freelancers keep track of hours?

19 of February, 2021

When you get absorbed in your work, it’s easy to forget about everything else, including how much time you have spent working. Which is why you should strive to automate as much as possible the time tracking of your employees and collaborators such as freelancers.  Indeed, an automated time tracking system will ensure that the hours worked are billed perfectly accurately. In this article, we explain how freelancers keep track of their hours of work. You will also learn what a freelance project manager can do to supervise the freelance partners that the company works with.

How to track hours when working with a freelancer?

Freelancers come in all forms and shapes. Just like everyone else, each freelancer has their own work ethic and their own way to organise themselves. But the nature of a freelancer’s job makes time tracking particularly challenging in their case. Indeed, freelancers can easily switch from a project to another, or from a client to another. And at the end of the day, if they didn’t make sure to write it down every time they switched to another task or took a break, they have no real way of knowing how long they worked on a project.

There is a very simple solution to this problem: using a time tracking application. To that effect, we have compiled the best time management software for you. There are actually many reasons why you would want to employ a time tracker when dealing with freelancers. We explain them to you right now.

Why should freelance project managers use a time tracker?

As a freelance project manager, you have to trust that the freelancers you work with will complete the project in time and do a good job of it. In this situation, it can very stressful not to know what progress they are making and at what rhythm they are working. Using a time tracking system can help make this part of your job go way more smoothly. Nevertheless, be sure to bear in mind the most important rules of employee time tracking.

Tracking hours through an automated system prevents you and the freelancer from guessing how much time they spent on a project. This has the advantage of clarifying exactly how a freelancer spends their billable time.

A time tracking app also makes it easier for the freelancer to focus on their job. Indeed, there is no more need to stop their work in order to record their progress. If you implement the use of some time tracking software, you may well see a surge in your freelance partners’ productivity.

Moreover, you can access a lot of interesting data through the automated reports created by the time tracking app. You can then analyse it in order to get a better grasp of your freelancers’ work tendencies. All this information comes in handy when you try and improve efficiency.

And finally, time tracking apps with automatic payroll features make it very simple to pay freelancers. By paying them correctly and on time, you secure the freelancer’s loyalty and improve you employer brand.

Make time tracking easy with Sesame

Sesame’s time tracking features allow you to track the work of all your workers. You can instantly see who is working on which task, and estimate accurately how much time it will take to complete a project. The app also measures your projects’ profitability. What’s more, the automated reports and statistics give you all the information you need to optimise your team’s productivity.