Right to home office: digital time recording required

Even though the Federal Minister of Labour, Hubertus Heil, has failed politically for the time being with his draft law for an entitlement to mobile working, one thing is nevertheless clear: in times of the Corona crisis, shifting employee workplaces to the home office is often the only way for many companies to maintain their business operations. Especially in project-oriented companies such as management consultancies, IT services or advertising agencies, however, working in a home office has long been an integral part of employees' everyday working lives.

Regardless of whether it is corona-related or a long-standing form of work, the following also applies to the home office: All working hours performed there must be recorded promptly and precisely.

Duty to record working time in the home office

The basis for the obligation to record working time is the ECJ ruling already issued in 2019. The Court ruled at the time that EU member states are obliged to adopt regulations requiring employers to set up a system to measure daily working time. And even if work in a home office was not explicitly mentioned, there is no doubt that this regulation also applies to work at home. It is not for nothing that the draft law mentioned at the beginning also contains the obligation to provide for digital time recording for home offices.

But regardless of laws and obligations, there is a business necessity for companies that allow their employees to work at home to also record these working hours promptly and precisely. Only in this way are they in a position to be able to prove and account for these times to the client. This in turn is - regardless of times of crisis - a central prerequisite for entrepreneurial success in project-oriented industries.

Any Time, Any Place, Any Device: Web-based time recording with ZEP

Web-based time recording solutions such as ZEP - Time Recording for Projects - offer exactly the functions needed for this. Employees can enter their working hours in ZEP via any internet-enabled device (PC, notebook, tablet, etc.) and assign them to the corresponding project. Mobile apps for all common operating systems (Android, iOS) are available for mobile use. So no one has to wait until the next time it is possible to go to the office again, but can also do their time recording from the home office with just a few clicks.

Project controlling from the home office

What applies to the individual employee naturally also applies to the project management or the management. Thanks to the web-based user interface, access to the project controlling functions of ZEP is also possible independent of time and location and can also be done from the home office. This makes it possible to get an overview of the project status, the hours already worked and/or invoiced or the hours still to be invoiced at any time and from anywhere. Quotations and invoices can also be created from anywhere - even from the home office.

edict egaming: Time recording from the cloud no problem with ZEP

One company that takes advantage of cloud-based time recording is the edict egaming GmbH from Hamburg. Roman Krust, employee controlling at edict egaming, explains the decision for the cloud operating model: "Our employees do not usually work on site at the customer's premises, but they should still be able to access the time recording via a web-based interface and enter their project times there, regardless of time and location - for example in the home office." He explains further: "ZEP is a very stable tool, the employees appreciate the intuitive interface and so we are very satisfied that we were able to meet all our requirements with ZEP."

For further information on web-based time recording with ZEP, please contact available here.