ECJ ruling: Working time must be tracked
A recent ruling by the European Court of Justice has caused a stir among employers in the European Union: The highest court in the EU has ruled that they will have to record the working hours of their employees in a “objective, reliable and accessible” way. According to the justices, this is the only way to guarantee adherence to worker health and safety laws.
The details of implementation have been left up to the individual member states since the court did not set out concrete terms of implementation or a deadline by which a system has to be in place.
It is in the interest of both employers and employees to cause as little red tape as possible and to find solutions that are tailored to industry and company size.
Our experience with time tracking solutions
Having developed project management solutions for many years, we are very familiar with time tracking functionality. Our solutions proRM Fast Start (for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales) and Time Tracking (for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation) enable complete and precise time tracking for all employees with access to a computer, tablet or smartphone.
In both solutions time tracking happens in a calendar view. The relevant timeframe is selected via click and assigned to a project. Comments may also be added. Different booking types allow recording absences, vacation or holidays.
Additionally, the Coming/Going functionality included in proRM Fast Start acts as a digital punch clock to record the beginning and end of a working day.
Leeway in implementation
National legislators are confronted with many questions regarding the implementation of this ruling. Yet they have also been given a lot of leeway by the court. This should be used to find the right solution for different requirements.
While paper-based time tracking might be right in certain industries and smaller companies, digital documentation is preferable in many others. Particularly those where trust-based working hours and remote work are common. Being able to record working time from either a PC, tablet or smartphone makes this task much easier for those who work from home or in the field.
