How to Hire Team Members for Your Bookkeeping Firm Based on Time Tracking Data
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Time is our most valuable resource. Would you agree?
If you don't already know, we are SUPER passionate about time tracking here at Workflow Queen!
We use and love the Clockify app, (they even wrote a blog about us!) and it's something the whole team takes very seriously.
Even if you are still a party of one, you can gain SO much valuable information from consistent time tracking data.
One of the BEST ways to use this information is to hire team members to support your firm based on your time tracking analysis!
In this blog, we are going to discover:
How to efficiently track your time
WHY you should use time tracking data to inform your hiring strategy
Which roles you should hire first based off of the time tracking data
What to do with the time you gain by hiring a team
How to track your time
There are plenty of apps out there that will help you track your time!
We highly recommend Clockify because it integrates with Asana and has a handy Google Chrome extension. This tool is part of our entire team's daily routine and these integrations make it almost effortless to stay consistent.
If you plan to start tracking your time, make sure you are clocking every task for at least 30 days in a row. This is a full accounting cycle, and is typically a good sample of how you spend your time on average.
Now - we don't recommend you stop tracking your time after 30 days, but that is the minimum you'll want to have before doing any analysis.
Clock in and out for every task to do during your work day and be as detailed as possible in your task description!
If you are answering an email from a client about sales tax, your task description might be, "Email Client X: sales tax answer".
If you are answering an email from a prospect who needs to book a call, you task description might be, "Email prospect Calendly link".
See the difference? The first task is showing that the person completing the task would have to have knowledge on the topic in order to send the email. The person completing the second task, would only have to know where to find your Calendly link.
Noting the difference in the two emails will help you decide what role you should hire first, depending on how much time you are spending on tasks in each category.
The benefits of hiring from time tracking data
Consistently tracking your time will help you capture EXACTLY which tasks tend to fill up your day, and how much time you spend on each.
But we're not just talking about client work!
Of course it can be super helpful in highlighting which clients require more time than you thought (hello, price increase!) but you can also see how much time you are spending on tasks beyond serving your clients.
This information is essential for taking you to the next level because it will highlight asks that pop up outside of what is in your Asana (or other project management system) that could be sucking up your time.
Ask me how I know!
Most importantly, this data will give you an itemized list of the tasks that you don't want to do OR are no longer worth your valuable time. You can use this exact list to create a job description for your next hire!
Hot tip: Use the tasks in this list to help you identify the SOPs and processes you will need to create before you bring someone on to support you!
How to analyze your time tracking
Now it's time to pull reports and dive into all the amazing data you have to gain from tracking your time!
Utilize tags to identify which tasks fall into specific categories.
Hot tip: Categorize the tasks based on the role that would perform them, not the type of work it is! This goes back to that email about sales tax, it's not the email that's important, it's WHO would need to write it!
By tagging all of the tasks you complete in a 30-day period, you will have a handy list of tasks to help you fill a job description (or two!).
Image credit: clockify.me
How to create a job description from your time tracking data
Use the list of tasks from the report to generate inspiration for your new job description.
You can use that list of tasks from your time tracking report and literally paste it on your job description!
Example: If you notice that many of your tasks could be executed by an administrative assistant, draft a job description that speaks to someone who may want to fill that role.
While your reviewing your task list, add anything to it that you don't really enjoy doing, or keep them in mind for the future once your new team member has capacity to take on more work.
Using your time tracking data is also an excellent way to know exactly how many hours your new team member can expect to work! Keep in mind that there may be a learning curve and that the first time they execute a task, a little extra time is to be expected.
How to maximize the time you save by hiring a team
Congrats! You're on your way to creating a kick ass team to support the firm you've worked so hard to build.
If you hired a full-time employee to take over some of your tasks, you'll have FORTY extra hours each week to focus on big picture, strategy goodness that only you have the ability to execute.
You might be surprised at the amount of space hiring team members will create for you!
I find it super liberating to delegate tasks to my team members so that I can spend more time growing my firm and strategizing the backend/operations.
Do you own a solo bookkeeping or accounting firm and feel exhausted by wearing all the hats? You may be ready to start hiring team members and delegating work so you can settle into your CEO status.
Do you have a few team members, but STILL find yourself stuck in the weeds of every day tasks? It might be time to streamline your processes and prepare your team to take even more off your plate.
Our high-touch group coaching program, Breakthrough for Bookkeepers & Accountants, is perfect for firm owners who want to create irresistible job descriptions, learn where to find the right candidates, and discover the secret to attracting the right people for the job.
We're giving you our EXACT roadmap to hiring team members based on your time tracking data in this program - plus sooo much more!
Use the button below to get more info on Breakthrough for Bookkeepers & Accountants 👇
