Time tracking
Taking into account the hours worked is an obligatory part of the work process, affecting many factors, including the payroll of employees. Competent accounting of working time helps to maintain labor discipline, rational redistribution of work tasks, increase labor productivity, which leads to an increase in the income of the entire enterprise, and individual employees.
Accounting objectives
The distribution of job responsibilities is carried out by the employer or the manager, based on the scope of tasks that can be performed within a specified period, taking into account the specifics of the functioning of the enterprise.
The duration of the working time is regulated by the Labor Code (Article 91) and is 40 hours per week. A tentative list of job responsibilities is spelled out in the qualification handbook.
In addition to legislative norms and the specifics of the enterprise's work, when drawing up a work instruction, it is recommended to take into account:
- force majeure;
- human factor.
Of course, the employee's tendency to regular smoke breaks or systematic delays is not provided for in the instructions. However, a traffic jam or accident on the road, a sudden illness of an employee can significantly change the planned volume of tasks.
In addition to the personal problems of employees, objective circumstances are possible that disrupt the work schedule. These include:
- accidents at the enterprise;
- under-delivery of parts or components;
- natural disasters.
The listed objective factors also affect the number of completed tasks, which leads to an imbalance between material costs (wages) and the volume of work performed.
For this purpose, accounting of hours worked is carried out, which allows you to achieve several goals:
- Strengthening work discipline: minimizing delays, early departure from work, games at the workplace, correspondence in social networks, smoke breaks, and coffee breaks during the day.
- Increasing the quality and productivity of labor.
- The decrease in resources for staff salaries. The paid period excludes the time during which employees do not fulfill their duties, even if the downtime is caused by a technological failure or is associated with a violation of the agreement by third parties.
An employer who keeps track of working hours pays exclusively for the time when employees of the enterprise produce products and do not sit out a shift while waiting for the delivery of parts or repair of equipment.
Documenting
The labor legislation of Russia obliges an organization, regardless of its form of ownership, to maintain a thorough documentary record of the hours worked by employees. The procedure for registration of accounting is fixed by the internal documents of the company:
- Labor regulations.
- Collective agreement.
- The contract for the performance of work (provision of services).
These documents regulate the work schedule: the duration of the shift, the number of breaks, their duration, the time of the beginning and end of the shift, the number of days off, the duration of the vacation.
This is an estimated work schedule. And the daily accounting of working hours is drawn up in the form of an employee exit sheet. Its task is to record the hours worked, taking into account:
- overtime work;
- being on a business trip;
- illness confirmed by a certificate of incapacity for work;
- night shifts;
- weekends, holidays, non-working days.
At some enterprises, accounting documentation is kept according to a simplified scheme, or an internal coding of employees' working time is being developed. This is due to the peculiarity of the functioning of the organization or the specifics of the work of individual employees.
Accounting classification
Labor legislation provides for three types of accounting for hours worked:
- daily;
- weekly;
- generalized.
The choice of the type of accounting is carried out based on the specifics of the organization's work.
Daily
Daily record keeping is typical for organizations with the same length of work shifts. Daily accounting allows you to record the hours worked and avoid overwork.
Control over the processing time is carried out to avoid exceeding the organization's payroll. Daily records help to record the working hours of the personnel related to the beneficiaries. The working time of such employees is regulated by Article 94 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and is:
- For an employee under the age of sixteen - no more than five hours a day, from sixteen to eighteen - seven hours a day. If a minor employee combines work with study at a university, the working time is halved.
- The length of the working time for disabled people depends on the recovery program and the possible workload.
- Creative staff or athletes are offered flexible hours.
The Labor Code (article 92) provides for the possibility of reducing working hours at the personal request of the employee, due to family or personal circumstances.
Weekly
Personnel officers keep weekly sheets of records if during the week the duration of working hours varies due to the specifics of the functioning of the organization.
If employees work on a flexible schedule with ad hoc working hours, one cannot do without maintaining weekly records. It helps to adjust the length of working hours to comply with the norms provided for by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and to avoid overtime.
In some organizations, fragmented shifts are practiced. This is due to the specifics of the company's functioning. The weekly working hours record reflects the hours worked in fact, which allows you to invest in the working time norm provided by the legislator, to avoid shortcomings or overtime work.
Generalized
The use of generalized accounting is regulated by article 104 of the Labor Code of the Federation. This form of control of working hours is provided for companies where other forms of accounting cannot be kept due to the peculiarities of the production process of the enterprise. For such companies, the legislator provides the opportunity to summarize the hours worked over a long period to comply with the working hours' norm stipulated by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
An example of the use of a generalized working time calculation is an enterprise with an around-the-clock production process. Work in such an enterprise involves day and night shifts. Accordingly, it is impossible to calculate the working hours of individual employees per day or week. Therefore, working hours for a quarter or half a year are taken into account. In this case, it is important to work out the established rate of hours.
Generalized accounting for a rolling work schedule is applied. This schedule assumes different workloads on different days of the week. The hours worked with a sliding schedule is distributed over the accounting period established by the company's internal acts and corresponds to the forty-hour norm provided by the legislator.
Accounting methods
The ways to control working time depend on the following factors:
- the specifics of the enterprise's functioning;
- the level of labor discipline of employees;
- the financial position of the company;
- the ratio of resources expended and income received;
- the corporate policy of the company.
Depending on the discipline of employees, the level of income, the administration controls the hours worked by:
- organization of a checkpoint at the enterprise with a personal access card, a security guard or a watchman responsible for recording the time of the employee's arrival/departure in the log;
- control of the head over the observance of the work schedule by his subordinates;
- the self-control of the company's personnel - leaving daily reports on completed tasks;
- automated control of the time of arrival (departure) of an employee using a scanner;
- installation of video surveillance cameras over the use of working hours by employees: performing work tasks or solving personal issues.
Accounting procedure
Labor legislation provides for the control of working hours by keeping a timesheet. The unified form of the timesheet for companies of all forms of ownership is fixed by the Resolution of the State Statistics Committee No. 1.
Filling rules
Labor legislation provides for the daily filling of the timesheet, regardless of the chosen type of time tracking. This situation is justified by force majeure situations, which cannot be foreseen in advance.
The need to deal with the consequences of an accident can lead to overtime work for some employees. An employee's illness, an unscheduled business trip, natural disaster - all these factors can change the period of working hours.
There are two methods of recording hours worked:
- The method of the complete recording of the exit and absenteeism of the employee.
- The method of fixing the absence of an employee at the workplace: due to absenteeism, late arrival, time off, vacation, sick leave, business trip.
The daily report card provides for the affixing of legend codes in the upper parts of the columns in the absence of an employee due to illness, training, involvement in community service, vacation, or time off. The lower part of the column is not filled in.
If the staff of the company is small, the timesheet is filled in manually by the employee responsible for its maintenance. Large corporations use an electronic program for monitoring staff time. The calculation of the results is carried out by the program administrator in automatic mode and is submitted within the time limits established by internal documents.
The completed timesheet is sent to the accounting department. Salaries are calculated based on data on hours worked. To enhance control, the timesheet is filled in both automatically and manually. This eliminates the "human factor", as well as a technical failure, and is the most objective method of accounting for hours worked.
Responsibility for accounting
Job responsibilities are provided for in the employment contract and are also imputed based on the order of the head. This rule also applies to keeping records of hours worked.
In large corporations, the position of "timekeeper" is initially provided, the main responsibility of which is to fill out the timesheet of employees' hours worked and the accuracy of the specified information.
In small companies, the control of the number of hours worked is assigned to the heads of departments (sectors) by order of the director.
Regardless of which of the employees is responsible for filling out the timesheet, the personnel officer or HR manager controls the accounting. It is these workers who are responsible for drawing up vacation orders, filling out travel papers, and orders for overtime work. Therefore, the personnel officer controls the reflection of the specified periods in the report card.
The head of a subdivision (department, sector) signs the accounting sheets, so he is also responsible for the accuracy of the information.
Penalties for violations
Controlling the working hours of staff is not the employer's right, but his duty. Lack of accounting or significant violations in filling out the timesheet is the reason for bringing the employees responsible for maintaining it to administrative responsibility.
A company that has committed violations in filling out the accounting documentation is brought to administrative responsibility under Article 5.27 of the Administrative Code of Russia, which provides for a fine of fifty thousand rubles or more.
Automated accounting programs
IT-solution "Timesheet of hours worked" is developed for automated control of employees' work. With it you can:
- Facilitate record keeping.
- Fill out the timesheets using the legally approved codes and symbols of the T-13 form.
- Save information in formats: XLS, DOC, OpenOffice.
- Automatically archive saved data.
Similar programs are offered by Russian and foreign vendors. Using the free product testing service, you can evaluate the convenience of the interface, quality, functionality, and ease of use of the program.
Accounting for hours worked is an integral part of the functioning of an enterprise. With its help, payroll is facilitated and labor discipline in the team is increased. Therefore, keeping records requires a responsible approach.
23.11.2020
