You can use technology advancements to bring landscape designs to life and document payments, but what about keeping track of your employees?
With the ability to monitor when they check in and out of a job, request time off and work overtime, labor tracking software can be a good decision to take a lot off of your plate.
Falcon Lawn and Pest in Orlando, Florida uses tracking software to keep track of employees’ requested time off. Each person with the company has a user login and can request time off, which is then sent to a supervisor for approval. “A place I worked at previously had a manually created Excel spreadsheet so everyone had access to it,” says Annetta Special, office manager.
She prefers the program Falcon Lawn and Pest uses now. Offering a quick snapshot of everybody, Special says she’s able to easily run reports if there are discrepancies.
“It’s very user-friendly,” she says. “You can put company events on the calendar; it tracks anniversary days and birthdays.”
“I’ve got to be honest, it’s been a game changer for us.” Brandon Walsh, Village Green
Brandon Walsh, owner of Village Green in Bay City, Michigan, says using tracking software that integrates everything together really helps the company. “Everything is compatible with the software,” he says. “Before I was using separate systems and trying to input data with extra people. Things got lost in the shuffle sometimes.”
Falcon Lawn and Pest’s software also had a time clock option, but after using the sample trial, it was determined they didn’t have a need for it.
“It would be something we’d consider possibly in the future if we had more employees,” she says. “It depends on what each individual company’s need for the program would be. It works great for what our need is.”
Tracking movement. Village Green uses tracking software to keep track of routing schedules, which Walsh says has helped with efficiency.
“I’ve got to be honest, it’s been a game changer for us,” Walsh says. “It’s been a lot more efficient. I learned a lot about my employees and their efficiencies,” he says. “I know that it all really comes down to efficiency and the dollar and how much we’re saving by using the software.”
Village Green has a TV monitor where managers can track each crew’s route. They’re able to see where in the route they are, and are able to add new customers to the routes immediately.“We also evaluate afterward,” Walsh says. “We look and see if that’s the best route or if there’s a way to improve it.”
Walsh adds that the tracking software also helps from a legality standpoint when it comes to contracts.
“Everything is implemented so it’s legible,” he says. “It’s always there.” If anything comes up legally, the company has quick access to all the documentation it would need in that situation.
They can also interact with customers through the service.
“We always leave feedback, and leave comments for the customer,” he says. “It’s all tied in there so we can easily do it to provide good service for our customers.”
