Choosing Contractor Time Tracking Software for a Growing Team

Growing teams usually reach a point where the way they track contractor time stops scaling. What worked for five contractors becomes fragile at twenty and unworkable at fifty. Choosing software at that point is a significant decision, because the tool you pick will shape how contractors, managers and finance work every week.

This guide sets out the questions worth asking when choosing contractor time tracking software, whichever product you end up with.

Write down how time currently moves through your organisation, from the contractor recording hours to the figures reaching payroll and invoices. Note who does each step, where delays happen and where errors creep in. This gives you a checklist that is about your problems rather than a vendor's feature list.

Also note what is fixed and what is flexible. Some clients may insist on weekly timesheets while others want monthly. Some placements may need clocking while others only need daily totals. Software that forces one pattern on everyone will create workarounds.

These are the core of any contractor timesheet app, so test them carefully during a trial.

The value of time data depends on how easily you can get it out in the form you need. Ask whether exports respect your filters and date ranges, whether you can preview a file before generating it, and how totals in different currencies are handled. Check which formats are supported, such as CSV, Excel and PDF, and whether payroll and billing exports are covered.

If you plan to move billing data into accounting software, ask exactly what the export contains and whether it is a file you import or a live connection. Both can work, but they involve different responsibilities, and you should test an import with your own accounting setup before relying on it.

Contractor data includes pay, expenses and sometimes company and bank details. Ask how roles limit what each person sees, whether there is an audit log of submissions, approvals and changes, and whether admins can export it. Ask how each organisation's data is kept separate and how card payments for the subscription are handled.

If you record IR35 status or engagement details, be clear about what the software does with them. A tool can help you keep records, but under HMRC guidance the responsibility for determining status sits with the client in most cases, or with the worker's intermediary for small clients outside the public sector. Be wary of any tool that implies it makes that decision for you, and take professional advice where needed.

The best tool fails if contractors will not use it. Check how contractors are invited, whether they can onboard themselves on a phone, and whether anything needs installing. Look for help inside the product, such as guided tours, so managers are not answering the same questions repeatedly. Ask what support is available and how to reach it.

Understand how pricing scales as you grow. Is it per contractor, per pack or a flat fee? What happens when you exceed your allowance? Is there a free trial, and does it need a card? Can you cancel without a long notice period, and what happens to partial billing periods?

As an example of the detail to look for, JN Tempo costs £79 per month billed monthly or £799 per year billed annually, both including 20 contractor accounts, with extra packs of 20 contractors at £25 per month. There is a 14 day free trial with no card needed to start, subscriptions renew until cancelled, you can cancel any time from the Billing page, and partial billing periods are not refunded.

Use the trial to run a real period end to end with a small group, not just to click around. Invite one manager and a few contractors, record and approve a full week or month, export the results and compare them with your current process. That will tell you more than any feature list.

If JN Tempo is on your shortlist, you can start a trial at jntempo.jnhorizon.com and use the questions above to test it against your own process.