BOOSTING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY CAN BE EASY WITH BETTER TIME RECORDING

Professional people are not good at recording time. In particular they under record time. This means that they will never really understand what things cost and hence the real profitability of the work being undertaken.

The main reasons for under recording are being too busy to find time to record it, feeling like things should have taken less time or coming under pressure to stick to a budget.

If all time was recorded, then fee earners would be able to see how profitable individual matters were and clients would be able to see the full amount of work that has been done for them.

Once a client can see the effort then they become more inclined to pay. However, if they cannot see the effort they will be less inclined to pay.

HOW CAN TRAINING HELP?

It is often only by training people that they can see that they are under recording and recording time in a different way to their colleagues. By sharing good practice, it becomes easier to ask fee earners to change their practices and to be more disciplined in the way in which they record their time.

Training can also be used to demonstrate how a small increase in time capture of just 10% will typically boost profits in a professional firm by about 40%. Given that no extra work needs to be done and it is simply a case of recording what is already being done this has to be the easiest way of creating a step change in productivity and profitability.

Firms need a clear policy on time recording and some FAQs which give guidance on common grey areas. Building up a good policy is best done through discussion of practical problems in a training session.

WHAT WOULD THE TRAINING FOCUS ON?

The training would cover a number of points but would focus in detail on when time should be recorded, exactly what time should be recorded and how all time should be recorded. The following issues are key in this regard:

WHEN

When – nobody should start a busy day before ensuring that their time records are up to date. Doing this first thing in the morning means that any work undertaken overnight can be captured before starting another busy day.

WHAT

What – All time actually spent in the office (apart from a personal lunch break) and all time working away from the office need to be recorded. If this definition is compared with the amount of time currently being recorded, then it is possible to quantify the amount of unrecorded time.

HOW

How – time recording is all about establishing what things cost and should not be confused with billing which is all about what things are worth. To ensure separation between time recording and billing it is important to use terms like matter related and non matter related time as opposed to chargeable and non-chargeable time.

Good training might also focus on the way in which time narratives should be written. Professional people tend to focus too much on the processes that are filling their day, rather than focusing on the value that is being delivered to the client. If narratives focus on the value delivered, a client is more likely to be happy to pay for the time than if the narrative simply explained what the fee earner was doing.