Tracking Time for Farm and Agricultural Employees

Today’s agricultural environments can be a sprawling network of jobs and responsibilities. People move between posts and positions all day, every day, handle equipment, manage livestock, and focus on produce that will eventually make its way to restaurants, cafeterias, and kitchen tables.

In some farm and agricultural environments, employees are spread out over dozens, perhaps even hundreds of acres. While many work in the fields, others work in small retail spaces, clock in and out of onsite warehouses and production facilities, work as mechanics, or support the transportation and delivery side of your operations.

No matter how or where your employees work, tracking their time accurately can make a huge difference when it’s time to measure labor costs against goods sold.

Tracking Time on the Farm

Farming has changed quite a bit in the last few decades. Successful agricultural environments have adapted to new competition, shifting demands, and an ever-shrinking profit margin, thanks in part to rising labor costs.

Modern time clocks have evolved as well, especially in the last decade or so. It’s no longer about punching in and out with a paper card. Advanced time clock solutions, including those in Icon Time’s TotalPass suite of time clocks, include features and tools that help you solve a number of operational and managerial challenges, including:

• Syncing up with, and streamlining your payroll.
• Supporting you as you scale.
• Generating key reports so you can accurately measure ROI, and make key staffing and scheduling decisions during different times of year.
• Putting next-gen features at your fingertips, in order to help curtail buddy punching, and other types of time theft.

How do you know if your time clock is serving the needs you have in your modern farm or agricultural environment? Keep reading to learn more.

Workforce Management in Agricultural Environments

People who have never worked, managed, or run a large farm operation may not fully understand how difficult the work can be on a daily and seasonal basis. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the challenges involved in making sure an agricultural businesses is a profitable and sustainable one.

When you factor in things like labor costs, equipment upkeep, competition, and annual ups and downs, it’s easy to see why tracking employee time as accurately as possible is more essential than ever.

The business world is filled with workforce management tools and technologies that are designed to support just about every business-related need.

Icon Time’s TotalPass suite of time clocks are built to handle the unique needs of a farming or agricultural environment.

For instance, the TotalPass P600, our most powerful proximity time clock, helps you manage the needs of mobile and onsite time tracking.

• This can be valuable when workers work offsite as part of delivery teams, or when laborers move around to different locations during the day.

The TotalPass P600 can also help streamline your payroll process.

• The clock captures digitally accurate time, and valuable labor data. It can also help supervisors handle employee management issues, thanks to real-time alerts whenever there’s a missed or inaccurate time punch.

With Icon Time’s TotalPass software built right into the clock, there’s no waiting around to use the clock. Instead, you can get started with your time clock solution right away.

• What’s more, there are no recurring monthly costs. This can be a big help during seasonal downturns, when every expense matters.
• Via an Internet connection, managers can access the clock from anywhere, using their web browser.

When you run an agricultural business, you’re required to keep and maintain wage and time records for all of your employees. However, while paper time sheets may have worked in the past, they’re simply not a viable solution in modern, dynamic agricultural environments—especially if your labor force moves from site to site, works as part of a delivery crew, or is a mix of part- and full-time employees.

As you balance the costs of labor, harvesting, production, shipping, delivery, and even retail, be sure your time clock is working for you and your operations.