What makes a good training session and “are timesheets there to spy on me?”

I recently visited a client to run a timesheet training course. At the beginning of the training session the Managing Director asked some questions. “I know all of you work really hard but please tell me, what is the most annoying thing about your work?” One of the attendees responded that this was the very long hours and overtime.

The Managing Director then asked, “Please tell me what’s the most annoying part about overtime?” The response: “It’s the fact that we do overtime due to our clients changing their minds, and although we do all this extra work, it is not valued by the customer because they do not pay extra for it. Our efforts, therefore, have no influence on the company bonus system.”

This was the answer the Managing Director had been waiting for, as it led the entire group to the reason for the training session. “We want to record all this time to make sure that we have a better understanding of which work is extra for our clients and to ensure that we charge for it.”

Training on time recording software often proves a challenge, as timesheets are considered by many creative workers to be just another hassle and a surveillance tool. Providing an explanation of why the software has been selected and each person’s role in its use, together with the expected benefits to the staff and the company, can strongly improve the user understanding and thus the success of the training course. Are timesheets used for spying on people? No. In my experience a timesheet is used as an accurate reflection of the effort it has taken to perform a piece of work. This is very important information within a company as it can be used to increase profits by invoicing extra time, can be used to plan future work more accurately and can be used to make efficiencies.

So what ensures that a training session is successful?


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