Time Theft: Knowing How Employees Steal Time and Ways To Detect It!

Time deprivation occurs when an employee gets paid for the work he has not done or for the time they are not working. There are petty things that get stolen from the workplace, but time theft is an expensive issue. In today’s constantly growing mobile workforce and internet availability, employees stealing time has become one of the major concerns for employers. It is so big of a concern that it often costs a billion-dollar loss and low productivity in many organizations.

By clocking in a little late, operating a little less, getting a little longer breaks, and straying off work a little bit daily. The employees might stack up work for an entire year! Only a flexible routine and strict schedule can help in maintaining productivity- but the question is, are your employees working to their full potential?

To avoid time theft, you need to understand the adverse effect of it first. Think about a dripping tap, it won’t bother you much for a few minutes, and if you do not fix it, the water dripping will also fill a bucket in some hours. The same is with employees, stealing time.

Now that we know ‘what is time theft’, let us move on to another segment:

The Top 5 Ways Of Time Theft That Employees Commit!

A person who may be reluctant with their negligent behavior may not feel sorry for their acts if they face no consequences. Here are the various time theft tactics practiced by employees:

• Beating the clock

It is like faking the actual work hours and showing extended and overtime to portray sincerity.

• Buddy punching

It is fake proxy attendance. It happens when a friend punches your attendance on your behalf but secretively, even if you are not physically present at the office.

• Lengthened lunch breaks or regular breaks

Even after a determined schedule and strict diligence, an employee might run out of their clock during lunch and miscellaneous breaks- sequentially working for lesser hours

• Flubbing off

Not every spontaneous employee is a goldbricker- but excessive socializing, frequent calls, naps, and unauthorized breaks always lead to depriving productivity.

• Overusing the internet for personal purpose

Checking up on social media and your friends can feel refreshing but to a certain extent. Using the internet for personal entertainment and faking the work updates is a red flag.

How To Detect Time Theft?

Before you think ‘how to avoid time theft’ in the workplace- determine the goofy, little hints. A lot of enigmas pop up in mind in such situations like:

How do you know if your co-worker is rendering an article or caressing their kitty?

How do you recognize who timed in and then nestled back into bed?

How do you know if a person is following educational YouTube videos or the new movie trailer?

How do you know if the punching-in time is honest and not a bluff to cover the extra time and get compensated for it?

Nothing to worry about here the indicators of your employees stealing time while at work:

1. Check for their frequent unavailabilities, especially of the employees with the low workload. If you get a late response, then there is a high chance that they are goofing around.
2. It is only human to refrain from their responsibilities and work sometimes, but not always! Look out for people who avoid taking leads and showing a lack of will to do any work every time.
3. Watch out for the low-quality work and declining productivity graphs.
4. Keep a close eye on the employees who chat a lot. They maintain a happy vibe at the office but certainly disturb the other employees as well.
5. Track the employees who delegate their work to subordinates and take all the credits. They are highly contagious of time theft.
6. Check the detailed work updates of employees regularly. Some of them purposely keep it long and lengthened, trying to project the excessive work done.
7. Team meetings can be a little boring sometimes, but a couple of employees gazing at the oblivion when something important gets discussed is a sign of them doing it often during working hours.

Now that you are very well aware of the sinister ways your employees can be time thieves. Let us discuss how to avoid time theft in the workplace.

Mainly there are two ways to avoid the time thieves at the office:

The Organic Way

As we all know, the office environment can be the biggest reason for us to yawn during work and feel lazy to complete the daily targets. Your office should fuel your creativity, imagination, ignite a fire in your belly, steer motivation like a morning coffee!

A happy work environment is a rare stock. Here is a secret recipe to it:

1. Promote your team to collaborate and share ideas/opinions related to a project
2. Be open to constructive criticism from the employees
3. Improve the aura of the workplace. Start with a nice color combination that emits good vibes.
4. Be communicative and easy on your employees by making them feel valued.

The Easy Way

The easiest way to identify time thieves is by installing employee monitoring software. It has become nearly impossible for physical surveillance at the office or when the employees are working remotely. Deploying monitoring software has become one of the latest trends in 2020 and 2021. It helps in building a safe and transparent workplace and provides a detailed productivity report of every employee.

Monitoring software has the following features:

1. Captures screenshots of an employee’s computer screen at regular intervals
2. Records keystrokes
3. Tracks the internet activities, including emails, downloads, browsing history, etc
4. Shows productivity graphs
5. Tracks the most used apps and websites

Some of the most-used monitoring software are:

• EmpMonitor
• Hubstaff
• CIPHR
• Leapsome
• Time Doctor
• PayCor
• Bamboo HR

Also watch: EmpMonitor: The Best Employee Monitoring Software

Wrapping Up

Time theft should not be taken lightly! As the only way to maintain excellent productivity is through efficient time management. After all, time is money, and money is precious. I hope this article provides you with all the desired information targeting the time thieves at your workplace and ways to detect them.