Staying competitive today requires companies to find new ways to drive revenues and profitability. One of your most significant expenses is your labor cost; however, it is also one that is most easily controlled. Are you tracking your dollars and labor minutes?

If not, you’re likely paying thousands extra in unnecessary wages.

Case #1 – Wasted labor Minutes

Did you know that just 15 employees receiving pay for merely 4 minutes of “wasted” time per day [untracked breaks, extended lunches, over-approximated punch times, etc.] will total 1,380 minutes [23 hours] of additional pay per month?

The Cost: if your average pay rate is $10 per hour, then you pay an extra $230 each month for labor worked.

Case #2-Human Error

The American Payroll Association estimates that the rate of human error in time card preparation is between 1% and 8%.

The Cost: Therefore, a conservative 2% human error rate on a $12,000 payroll would equal $240 in erroneous wages paid per pay period. Moreover, the cost to re-issue correct payroll amounts (if the error is detected and reported) further increases your cost of human error.

Case #3- Manual Time Card Preparation

The average payroll clerk spends 7 minutes per time card each pay period:

-Preparing and handling time cards

-Verifying time card totals

-Reconstructing lost or damaged time cards

-Computing time card totals

-Computing shift and department totals

The cost: Preparing 100 time cards will take an estimated 11.67 hours to complete. Therefore, at an average clerical wage of $15 per hour, time card preparation would cost $175.05 per pay period.