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Streamlining Field Operations with Workforce Time Tracking

Are you certain that your field workforce is utilizing their work hours in the best possible way? 

Field service management software that has a built-in employee workforce time tracking feature can ensure that it does.

And if you’re still using outdated, time-consuming traditional methods to log your field technicians’ hours, you’re caught off guard. 

A recent survey reveals that employees lose approximately 4.5 hours each week per employee due to time theft. 

No surprise that many field service companies face chronic time management issues. These include wasting time, timesheet fraud, longer break times, buddy punching, and unauthorized overtime, to name a few. 

To combat that, any business, especially those in the oil and gas industry, should implement reliable and accurate field personnel time tracking.

Let’s dig deeper into the world of streamlining oil and industrial field operations with field personnel time tracking.

 

Streamlining Oil and Industrial Field Operations
Stat Fact: The American Psychological Association states that 20% of adults delay tasks regularly, impacting their efficiency

Challenges in Oil and Industrial Field Operations

The oil and gas and industrial field industries are highly complex and operate within risky environments.  Companies face several key challenges, such as:

1. Poor Visibility into Complex Field Service Operations

Oil and gas companies operate in tough environments and face political and geographical challenges like:

  • Fluctuating demand,
  • Volatile markets,
  • Compliance requirements,
  • Workers with different cultural and educational backgrounds,
  • And more. 

Gaining improved visibility into complex oil and industrial field operations is critical. It helps businesses control costs, optimize field technicians’ performance, and get maximum equipment uptime. 

2. Inaccurate Field Personnel Time Tracking

Many oil and gas companies still use paper-based time entries. As a result, they struggle to ensure efficient worktime utilization by the field workforce. 

It leads to gross payroll errors, low productivity, and significant waste of time which could hurt any oil and gas company’s bottom line. Accurate employee time tracking software is a must-have to ensure every worker gets paid for the work they perform on-site.

3. Field Equipment Reliability

Oil and gas companies deploy a wide range of equipment at drilling sites. Often, these companies experience unplanned downtime. This, in turn, leads to an increase in maintenance costs, low productivity, and potential injuries to the field workforce. 

To prevent downtime, oil and gas field service companies need to ensure preventive and predictive maintenance programs. They will help identify potential issues and fix them to prevent a sudden equipment breakdown.

4. Regulatory Compliance

Oil and gas companies are known to cause severe environmental damage. Thus, this industry remains under the intense scrutiny of regulatory agencies. 

There’s increasing pressure on oil and gas field service businesses to implement new practices in extraction, production, and distribution processes. These could lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions. 

Challenges in Oil and Industrial Field Operations

How Workforce Time Tracking Software Streamlines Field Operations

So, how does using field workforce time tracking app help oil&gas and industrial businesses streamline field operations?

  • Real-time tracking makes the field workforce more efficient and aware, as they have a clear view of their working hours. It also promotes a sense of accountability among field employees who regularly fall short of completing minimum work hours. 
  • A field service management app can sync time-tracking data on field workforce activities with scheduling. This helps managers and supervisors review and approve the employees’ time data. You can also automatically sync that into an online payroll system, such as Quickbooks. This way, you can avoid manual data entry errors and ensure accurate employee compensation. 
  • Field timesheet software compares actual time spent on jobs against clock time. This helps the management monitor productivity llevels and take steps to increase it through optimal resource utilization. 
  • Field personnel can easily clock in and out through their mobile devices when they are within the geofence, eliminating the possibility of faux time entries. 
  • Another benefit of using field personnel time-tracking software is greater transparency. The management can utilize time data to improve operations and employee management.
  • You can use a web-based time-tracking app to manage your field employees anytime from anywhere. You can use the mobile app to review your employees time tracking information to ensure field personnel are punching time at the right time. 

Stat Fact: A Homebase survey states that employees tend to check their emails 36 times within an hour, which hampers efficient time management

Top 5 Field Workforce Time Tracking Implementation Strategies

Implementing the best field workforce time-tracking software into your field service company’s daily operations is easier said than done.

Here are some proven strategies to help your oil and gas and industrial field services company get right on track. 

1. Assessment and Planning 

Identify why your oil and industrial field service company wants to implement the time tracking software. What problems does it solve and what results do you hope to achieve by using it? 

Also, you need to set clear objectives with timelines to ensure you track and measure results by implementing the time-tracking software. 

2. Training and Onboarding

To benefit from implementing time management software, you must provide training sessions for your field service personnel and backend office team. Doing so will familiarize them with the software, its features, and how to use it correctly. 

Proper training and onboarding will help minimize the learning curve, so your team members can start using the software with minimum roadblocks. 

Field Workforce Time Tracking
3. Choosing the Right Software 

Choosing the right software for field personnel time tracking is vital to your oil and gas business’s bottom line. You should opt for an “all-in-one” field service optimization platform with a suite of powerful features that include employee timekeeping software. 

In addition, your application of choice should be accessible via mobile. It should also easily integrate with third-party applications your company is currently using. 

4. Monitoring and Optimization

After implementation, you should continuously monitor the performance of time-tracking software to see its effectiveness or lack thereof. Software with robust reporting capabilities will provide you with valuable insights into time-tracking usage patterns by your field service employees. 

It is equally important to collect feedback from employees to evaluate the system’s current performance. You’ll also be able to identify any issues that your field service employees might be experiencing. 

5. Data Security 

The number of cases related to sensitive data theft are on the rise. So, oil and gas companies need to implement a time tracking system with robust security features to keep data breaches at bay. 

Field service companies store a huge amount of employee and client data. Therefore, a secure time management system can block unauthorized access to ensure data safety. 

Case Study: Leading US Liquid Natural Gas Company Streamlines Workforce Time Tracking with FieldEquip

FieldEquip’s robust digital field service management solutions helped its client significantly improve operational efficiency. It also enhanced resource utilization by eliminating paper-based, manual processes. 

FieldEquip’s field personnel timekeeping software helped the client track every field employee’s productivity while simplifying the payroll process. Thus, the business was able to achieve a 30-40% improvement in field employee productivity.

Link to case study:

https://www.fieldequip.com/case-study/streamlined-work-order-automation-and-accurate-timekeeping-for-a-leading-liquid-natural-gas-lng-company-in-north-america

Final Thought

While businesses across various industries have relied on manual time entries for decades, they’ve become outdated and irrelevant. 

Digital field service management software designed specifically for field service companies can help your business achieve comprehensive digitalization. 

With it, you gain complete visibility into your field operations:

  • What tasks your field employees are working on,
  • Their location,
  • Work hours vs. clock time,
  • Equipment performance, and more. 

Such valuable insights help you assess field service personnel’s current schedule and output. You can also cut costs and optimize upcoming resource scheduling in the best manner possible. 

FieldEquip is a robust, innovative field service management software. It provides you with a single platform to access and monitor every industrial field services business operation from anywhere. 

Request your demo to learn how FieldEquip can help you enhance the efficiency, accuracy, and productivity of your field service operations.

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