Imagine the chaos of not accurately tracking employee hours, miscalculating overtime, or failing to provide accurate records during audits. It’s a slippery slope that can lead to legal penalties, financial liabilities, and even reputational damage. No Pennsylvania business owner wants to slide down that slope!
Pennsylvania has specific laws governing time tracking. These regulations mandate employers to maintain accurate records of hours worked, breaks taken, and overtime hours. And to do this effectively, you’re going to need reliable Pennsylvania-compliant time tracking software.
Thankfully you won’t have to search far and wide to find the best time tracking software to meet your business needs. We’ve done the research, sifted through the vast technology landscape, and handpicked the finest time tracking software specifically designed to keep you compliant and your business thriving.
Whether you’re a small startup or a well-established enterprise, these software tools have got you covered.
What are Pennsylvania Time Management Laws?
In the US, there are federal laws in place to manage the time spent by employees in the workplace, safeguarding their rights and guaranteeing fair pay for their efforts. These laws act as directives for employers, keeping them in check and minimizing any forms of abuse or exploitation.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which dates back to 1938, is a critical federal law for time management, setting hourly wage rates and overtime pay and requiring employers to keep an accurate record of their employees’ working hours. Overtime is pegged at 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for workers who exceed 40 hours a week. However, certain job categories, including executives, professionals, and administrative employees, are exempt from overtime pay depending on their job description and salary.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is another essential federal law that governs time management in the workplace, entitling eligible employees to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for important family and medical reasons, such as the childbirth or adoption or caring for a family member with a serious health condition. This act also requires employers to maintain employees’ health benefits during their leave and restore them to their previous or equivalent positions upon their return to work.
Employers who contravene federal time management laws face severe legal ramifications, including fines, back pay, and damages as deemed by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.
| Law Rate | |
| Minimum Wage | $7.25 |
| Overtime Laws | 1.5 times the regular pay rate after working 40 hours in a workweek ($10.88 per hour for minimum wage workers) |
| Break Laws | Breaks not mandated by law |
Overall, federal time management laws are instrumental in ensuring that workers are compensated fairly for their time and effort in the workplace, protecting them from abuse and exploitation by employers.
If you want to dig into further legislative details, take a look at our comprehensive Pennsylvania Labor Laws article.
What are the 6 Best Pennsylvania-Compliant Time Tracking Software?
The definitive list
1. Jibble
Jibble is not just any ordinary time-tracking software; it’s the highest-rated app on popular review sites like Capterra, GetApp, G2, App Store, and Play Store. With its impressive features and user-friendly interface, Jibble has become the go-to choice for thousands of businesses worldwide.
Employees can clock in and out through the one-touch kiosk, desktop, or mobile app. For more secure clock-ins, managers can enable face recognition or customized pins. And did I mention that Jibble comes equipped with geolocation? This is particularly useful for businesses with remote teams, helping ensure everyone is at the right place and time.
Pennsylvania has a minimum wage of $7.25, but there are certain exceptions to this rule. This includes administrative staff earning more than $150 per week and outside salespeople. To meet the individual rates of your team, you can simply customize pay rates on the app’s settings. Rates for overtime are also customizable. Managers can set rates for daily, rest days, and holiday overtime.
If an employee wants to request a leave or PTO, they can do so within the app. Leave policies can be pre-set and made available to eligible employees for easier management.
All hours logged on the app are visible right on the dashboard. You’ll also be able to see upcoming holidays and who’s in, out, and on a break. This data can be exported as reports for recordkeeping and payroll processing. As per Pennsylvania recordkeeping laws, all employee records must be kept for at least seven years, so make sure to keep those reports in an easily accessible location in case of an inspection.
The best part is: Jibble is 100% free. This makes it accessible to businesses of all sizes without any hidden costs. Say goodbye to expensive time-tracking software that drains your budget.
What Users Like
- 100% free to use
- Comprehensive features
- Accurate time tracking
- Simple and intuitive user interface
- Detailed and accurate reporting
What Users Don’t Like
- Jibble’s user interface is so sleek and user-friendly that you’ll actually start enjoying tracking your time.
Key Features
- Geolocation
- Integration with biometric devices
- Time Off Management
- Compatible with mobile and desktop
- Automated timesheets
- Customizable reporting and settings
2. Toggl Track
With Toggl Track’s easy-to-use timer, users can seamlessly track time across multiple devices in real time. The software uses a tiered data structure to keep time tracking organized and ready for client reports.
Users will need to choose a project and task to start the timer. It’s all fairly straightforward and employees can switch between tasks effortlessly. If they want to go on a break, they can simply pause the timer or better yet, use Toggle Track’s Pomodoro timer to set custom breaks throughout the day.
There aren’t any break policies in Pennsylvania but if you have your own break policies you can customize the break duration and frequency on the timer. Employees will be notified for the start and end of the breaks to encourage compliance. Toggl Track also lets you enter custom pay rates for each of your employees and see the total billable amount at the end of the day.
The reporting feature on the app offers detailed insights into your business’s performance and all logged hours. There are customizable charts and graphs to visualize your data and allowing you to analyze it effectively. It also provides various export options, including Excel, PDF, and CSV, for quick and versatile reporting. These reports are definitely helpful to have for complying with Pennsylvania’s recordkeeping rules.
While Toggl Track shines in time tracking, it does not provide invoicing, expense tracking, or employee-monitoring services. Fair warning: its paid plans can also be expensive.
What Users Like
- User-friendly and intuitive interface
- Wide range of integrations with other apps
- Custom breaks with the Pomodoro Timer
What Users Don’t Like
- The screenshot feature can feel invasive
- Limited customization options
- Time-consuming manual timesheet processes
Key Features
- Detailed analytics and reports
- Real-time and offline time tracking
- Over 100+ integrations
- Pomodoro Timer
Why not check out our full, and of course completely honest, Toggl Track review?
3. Hubstaff
This list wouldn’t be complete without Hubstaff. This time tracking software is an innovative solution that simplifies time management and can help businesses comply with Pennsylvania’s time-tracking regulations. Although it has some drawbacks, like occasional bugs and a higher price point, Hubstaff offers the features necessary to streamline your operations.
One of these features is the app’s dashboard where you can get an overview of all tracked data. There are charts that help you visualize the amount of activity from your team. And the best part is, you can customize the dashboard to see data that’s most important to you. No more combing through irrelevant information to find what you’re looking for.
Hubstaff does more than time-tracking, it also keeps tabs on your employee’s location, what apps they use, the sites they visit and for how long. There’s also a screenshot feature that takes random screenshots when your employee is working. Now, although legal, these features may feel uncomfortable for your employees. Thankfully you do have the option to enable or disabled the tracking features per user within the app.
Another thing about Hubstaff that Pennsylvania businesses are sure to find useful is the Members section. Here, you can set up your team, change someone’s role and reassign them to a different project. You can also change their pay rates and set weekly limits so they don’t track more than the hours they’re supposed to. This is important in keeping with minimum wage standards and managing overtime.
All in all, Hubstaff presents itself as a great time tracking solution for any businesses in The Keystone State.
What Users Like
- User-friendly
- Great customer service
- Customizable settings
- Simple UI
- Zapier integration
What Users Don’t Like
- More expensive than competitors
- Buggy Android version
- Abrupt software crashes
Key Features
- Customizable Templates
- Sprint Management
- GPS Location Tracking
- Payroll Tracking and Integrations
Why not check out our full, and of course completely honest, Hubstaff review?
4. ClockShark
ClockShark is another powerful tool that helps businesses manage their mobile workforces effectively. It’s especially ideal for those in the construction and field service industries.
Using ClockShark, employees can track their hours through the mobile app and browser. It functions much like any other time-tracking software; you only need to choose a task and click the start button to track your time. Employees can switch between tasks seamlessly, and if they want to go on a break, they can click the pause button.
Breaks can be scheduled for specific times of the day and a specific duration. Overtime can also be customized within the app. You can set either daily or weekly overtime thresholds and the corresponding rate. These make it easy to enforce the break policies within your business and comply with Pennsylvania’s overtime laws.
All the data recorded by the time tracker is auto-populated on the timesheet. And depending on employee permissions, they can add or edit their time logs. These timesheets can be exported as reports to payroll integrations like QuickBooks for more accurate and streamlined payroll processing.
On top of all that, ClockShark’s geofencing technology sends real-time updates to managers when employees enter or leave a job site. This improves accountability and eliminates incomplete timesheets.
ClockShark doesn’t go without its faults, though. The mobile app could use more work, and there’s a very limited pay rate adjustment between tasks. But overall, it still makes for a good Pennsylvania-compliant time-tracking solution.
What Users Like
- Easy to setup and launch
- ‘Who’s working now’ function
What Users Don’t Like
- Doesn’t allow adding passed time
- Clunky mobile app
- Limited adjustment of pay rate between tasks
- Difficult to add sick days
Key Features
- Job management
- GPS tracking and geofencing
- Employee scheduling app
Why not check out our full, and of course completely honest, ClockShark review?
5. OnTheClock
OnTheClock is a cloud-based and cost-effective solution for businesses seeking simple and compliant time-tracking software.
Employees can easily record their work hours with multiple clock-in options, including web-based mobile apps and group punch stations. The system supports fingerprint scanners to prevent time fraud. Employers can also set up clocking-in rules, define multiple locations for clock-ins, and adjust punches with rounding options.
If your company has specific break policies, you can use OnTheClock to help enforce them. To set up a fixed break, you have to specify the frequency of the breaks, their duration, and which employees it applies to. The same goes for overtime policies. You can set a weekly threshold for overtime hours and the corresponding rate. Managers will receive notifications when an employee is about to enter overtime.
OnTheClock also offers a convenient PTO and leave management request feature for employees, allowing them to submit desired dates and hours without leaving the app. Managers can review and approve these requests, and they will automatically be updated on the time cards. The great part is that PTO and leave policies can be set to align with company policies as well as the state’s leave laws.
While OnTheClock may have limited updates and customer support concerns, its budget-friendly pricing starting at $3.50/user/month for a minimum of 3 users makes it an attractive choice.
What Users Like
- Payroll integration, including QuickBooks
- Paid Time Off (PTO) Management
- Group Punch for a team-based clock in/out
- Powerful reporting and analytics tools
- Budget-friendly for SMEs
What Users Don’t Like
- Customer service issues
- Reported overtime and PTO Calculation errors
- Integration issues with some payroll solutions
- Buggy mobile app
- GPS tracking issues
Key Features
- PTO Tracking
- Geolocation
- Team scheduling
- Online time kiosk
- Project time tracker
Why not check out our full, and of course completely honest, OnTheClock review?
6. My Hours
My Hours offers comprehensive features designed to simplify your time management and boost productivity while helping with compliance. From attendance tracking and project budgeting to invoicing and client billing, it’s a convenient all-in-one user-friendly platform.
This software is available in a desktop and mobile app that lets users track time on the go and add task-specific descriptions. Managers can create projects, add project members, and assign tasks. Various pay rates can be set for employees too; these rates can be:
- Project rate
- Task-based rate
- Member-based rate
Member-based rates would be more appropriate for accommodating members with different rates. The app automatically calculates all billable hours so you can assess project profitability and adjust budgets where needed.
My Hours also provides great reporting features to monitor productivity levels and analyze project progress. It can generate reports on Team Activity, Attendance and Absences, Project Analytics, and so on as either Excel or CSV files. Though it would be great to have more control over report customization, the software guarantees reliable insights and accurate data for payroll.
This software is ideal for small teams and freelancers in Pennsylvania. The Android app could benefit from improvements, and most users on review sites would agree. Their third-party app integration can be a little tricky too. But it does offer a wide list of integrations for over 2000+ apps, including QuickBooks through Zapier, making it a good fit for any workflow!
What Users Like
- User-friendly interface
- Detailed reports
- Easy to switch between projects and tasks
- Responsive customer support
What Users Don’t Like
- Issues with third-party integrations
- The mobile app has some bugs
- More customizable options required
Key Features
- Automatic and manual time tracking
- Attendance and absence tracking
- Expense tracking
- Third-Party Integrations
Why not check out our full, and of course completely honest, My Hours review?
What Should Pennsylvania Businesses Look for in a Time Tracking Software?
Compliance can be complicated in Pennsylvania. But with the right time tracking software, it can be a whole lot easier. Here are the key features that you NEED from a time tracking software:
Accurate Time Tracking
This is a non-negotiable feature. The time-tracking software should offer precise time-tracking capabilities, allowing employees to clock in and out accurately. It should also have security measures in place, like unique user PINs, facial recognition, and NFC technology, to avoid time theft.
PTO and Leave Management
Look for time-tracking software that includes robust PTO and leave management features. It should allow customization of PTO policies, tracking of accrued leave, and management of various leave types such as vacation, sick days, and personal time off. The software should enable employees to request leave, and managers should be able to approve or deny requests, with balances automatically updated.
Overtime Rules
Pennsylvania has specific rules regarding overtime pay. As such, time-tracking software needs to be able to accurately measure and calculate overtime hours based on state labor laws.
Customizable Pay Rates
Businesses may have different pay rates for various employees or specific situations. The software should allow for easy customization of pay rates to accommodate these variations. This also makes it easier to comply with the state’s minimum wage standards.
Reporting
All employee records must be kept for at least seven years in Pennsylvania. This is why a robust reporting feature is a must for Pennsylvania businesses. The software should generate comprehensive reports on employee attendance, PTO usage, overtime hours, and other relevant data. Not only are these reports for compliance, but they also provide valuable insights for workforce management and decision-making processes.
Payroll Integrations
Look for a time-tracking software that seamlessly integrates with payroll systems. This integration streamlines the transfer of time-tracking data for accurate and efficient payroll processing.
By assessing these factors and understanding your business’ needs, you can select a Pennsylvania-compliant time tracking software that ensures legal compliance while streamlining your time management processes.
