Compliance and timesheet issues? There’s an app for that!

One of the main downside of running contractors has got to be the timesheets – when I worked for an Exec Search firm back in the 90s their temp division was always a mess of different coloured paper scattered everywhere and the occasional sobbing temp whose hours had been miscalculated. However, as an APSCO article pointed out in 2013 compliance is one of the fastest growing issues for UK recruiters. Regulation is tightening, clients have an increasingly heightened sensitivity to risk – and there’s the threat of dire consequences if you’re in breach.

The article states two-thirds of UK recruiters say their main concern about compliance is the fear of getting something wrong. And yet 1 in 3 don’t carry out Right to Work checks unless a client expresses interest in a candidate.

At our recent Recruitment Technology Conference I was chatting with a chap who is group technical manager at an investment group (James Newman of Right Track Group INC) who have just developed a really interesting mobile app within one of their companies Biotech Designs UK.

I do get asked to do reviews quite a lot and mostly have to say no, however, I am really taken by the R-Track app and some of the ways it can help recruiters.

The product and idea was bought about by the issues that Right Track Recruitment were having with compliance and getting timesheets in on time for payroll and authenticated, as well as the time constraints and human error involved in processing payroll for 100’s of contractors on a weekly basis.

Let’s be honest anything which can help to ease the pain of all that timesheet paperwork and those dull, complex hoops compliance hoops is well worth a look.

Also, don’t you want your guys to focus on the core business of building relationships with clients, sourcing candidates and getting them onsite? Finally, let’s be honest, anything that can properly add value in this current tough market has got to be good.

As I’m doing a review of the R-Track product in the next week or so for anyone who is looking for a compliance and automated timesheet solution I don’t want to give too many spoilers. However, essentially, the simple act of a picture for signing in and out will automate the timesheets on a weekly basis and automatically invoice all of the clients at the same time as well as tracking consultants’ performance and figures in realtime every15 mins. .

However, I’m also interested in knowing what your biggest worry with timesheets is; please can you take a few minutes to complete this survey and I’ll post a follow up blog to that too.