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With so many different time tracking apps available, figuring out which is right for you is tough. You know you want to monitor work hours, manage productivity, and provide data for billing and time management, but need to figure out which tool is best. In this post, I'll help make your choice easy, sharing my personal experiences using dozens of different time tracking tools with teams of all sizes, with my picks of the best time tracking apps overall.

What are Time Tracking Apps?

Time tracking apps are digital tools designed to record and analyze the amount of time spent on tasks and projects. They help improve productivity, ensure efficient time use, and facilitate accurate billing for work done. These apps are useful for both individuals and teams to track work hours and analyze time allocation, whether in-person or remote.

Features include a timer for recording work hours, task and project tracking to allocate time effectively, reporting tools for analyzing time spent, and customizable settings to suit different work styles.

Overviews Of The 10 Best Time Tracking Apps

Here’s a brief description of each time tracking app to showcase each tool’s best use case, and their noteworthy features. I’ve also included screenshots to give you a snapshot of their user interface too.

Best time tracking app with additional employee monitoring capabilities

  • 7-day free trial
  • From $8/employee/month
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Rating: 4.8/5

Insightful is a workforce analytics suite with separate modules for employee time-tracking, automatic time-mapping, and employee monitoring. It's user-friendly and has a broad set of features that can help organizations manage and monitor growing remote teams.

Why I picked Insightful: It's a great time-tracking solution for organizations with remote employees since it includes additional features to monitor employee activity, including time spent on specific projects and tasks, or on third-party websites or apps. It strikes a great balance between being easy to use and offering advanced features that make it great for scaling a remote business.

Insightful Standout Features & Integrations:

Features include project or task-specific time tracking, automatic or manual time entries, real-time monitoring, attendance tracking, productivity tracking, productivity labels for tasks, time & labor budgeting tools, and detailed reports to help organizations improve their productivity and optimize their workflows. There's also a set of features for remote monitoring—activity tracking, web usage tracking, and screenshot auto-grabs.

Integrations are available with various project management tools including Asana, Google Docs, Google Hangouts, Jira, Slack, Trello, and others.

Best time tracking app for managing hourly workforces

  • Free plan available (unlimited employees)
  • From $20/month (payroll add-on is $6/user/month + $39/month)
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Rating: 4.2/5

Homebase is a time-tracking solution tailored for small and midsize businesses that work for remote and hybrid teams. It has an intuitive user interface (UI) with drag-and-drop functionality, which is a good option if you’re looking for a feature-rich employee scheduling and time-tracking platform that has a relatively short learning curve.

Why I picked Homebase: With Homebase’s scheduling and time tracking app, you can easily drag and drop shifts, make duplicates of employee schedules, and copy current shift schedules to other days with just a click. You can also easily group your employees into teams or departments and view their schedules at a glance, based on their roles. This is useful for businesses like restaurants or organizations with hourly employees, especially those that manage remote or hybrid teams.

Homebase Standout Features & Integrations:

Homebase allows you to create custom schedules, assign shifts, and approve or deny time-off requests. Managers gain real-time insights into the daily activities of their staff, allowing them to effortlessly track daily clock-ins, breaks, and clock-outs regardless of where their employees are working from. Homebase also allows them to keep track of their labor expenses and monitor their schedule to ensure adherence with labor compliance rules and regulations too.

Integrations are available with point-of-sale systems like Clover, Lightspeed, Shopify, Square, Toast, Upserve, and with numerous payroll systems such as ADP, Gusto, Heartland, Paychex, Rippling, SurePayroll, Square Payroll, and others.

Best for its payroll integrations

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing upon request

TimeClock Plus is a time and attendance software designed to automate the time-keeping process so you can proactively manage your employees.

Why I picked TimeClock Plus: This software has so many configuration options. From having varied thresholds that can help you set different overtime rules for weekly, bi-weekly, daily, and other periods to receiving alerts when someone has exceeded their shift and break management.

TimeClock Plus Standout Features & Integrations

Features include the dynamic labor calculations and anomaly tracking. Dynamic labor calculations let you attach premiums and rate changes to shifts worked at specific times and set up floating pay periods so you can deal with different period schedules. Additionally, reporting within the tool will help you find anomalies such as people who missed to clock in on certain days, giving you the opportunity to correct them.

Integrations include over a hundred payroll solutions like ADP, BAI, Ascentis, Accra, Casamba, Cayenne, Ceridian, and Epicure. Also Quickbooks, Paychex, or even payroll modules from ERP systems like SAP, Sage, and NetSuite.

Best time tracking app for organizations that charge out billable hours

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $6.99/user/month
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Rating: 4.5/5

Beebole provides powerful, reliable, and secure project time tracking to companies of all sizes and is currently used by well-known companies like Michelin, Investcloud, Maersk, and Hitachi.

Why I picked Beebole: Their user-friendly interface makes it easy for teams to track time worked for an unlimited number of clients, projects, and tasks. Users can track and manage overtime, time off, work schedules, budgets, costs, and billing, all in one place. In addition, Beebole allows users to configure rates and costs for team members, clients, projects, and tasks right into their app — a very useful feature for organizations that charge their billable hours to clients.

Beebole Standout Features & Integrations:

Features include streamlined client billing tools, unlimited projects and tasks, and configurable reports that help companies control costs, reduce burnout, enhance budgeting, and identify trends and opportunities. You can also easily export their reports, share them, and link real-time data through Excel and Google sheets using Beebole’s add-ons.

Their free mobile app is compatible with any device with a recent web browser, has optional geo-tracking, and works without an internet connection. Their time tracking system also includes flexible roles and permissions, unlimited data retention, single sign-on, automated reminders, audit trails, and multilingual live support. It's available in 11 languages and is compliant with GDPR, DCAA, and most labor regulations worldwide.

Integrations are available with third-party apps like Azure, Excel, Google Sheets, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and more.

Best time tracking app with an integrated AI-powered chatbot

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $6/user/month
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Rating: 4.3/5

Replicon's suite of products are all about tracking time, including on iOS and Android mobile devices. Their software is designed to work for remote or hybrid teams, making it a workable option for businesses that have employees scattered across different locations. It's not just a basic time tracker, though. Replicon is a full-blown intelligent time capture app that offers a lot more than just clocking in and out.

Why I picked Replicon: I included Replicon in this list because, in addition to their mobile time-tracking app, their platform can also help with project management, payroll, and even compliance. It's like a Swiss Army knife for time management. Plus, it's super user-friendly, meaning you won't have to spend hours figuring out how to use it either.

Replicon Standout Features & Integrations:

I really like Replicon's 'intelligent time capture' feature, which uses AI to automatically capture time data from different sources, including GPS tracking and geofencing data. Replicon also includes an AI-powered chatbot that can help enter, approve, and edit time entries without requiring employees, or managers, to enter the information manually.

Other advanced features in Replicon's time-tracking app including Face ID, Touch ID, and EMM (enterprise mobility management), which enable employees to quickly clock-in and out with ease, while keeping their data secure and protected.

Integrations include ADP, Asana, Atlassian Jira, Microsoft Project, Salesforce, SAP Concur, SAP ERP, Sage, Servicenow, Slack, Quickbooks, Xero, Workday, and others.

Best time tracking app that tracks mileage for field workers

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $8/user/month + $10/month base fee
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Rating: 5/5

QuickBooks Time is a popular time tracking app that works well for mobile workforces. Their software can be accessed through their mobile apps, web dashboard, or even a clock in/out kiosk placed in a central work location like a warehouse or job site entranceway.

Why I picked QuickBooks Time: Their time tracking app is an excellent choice if you have employees working in the field because of its mileage tracking functionality. It uses GPS tracking to monitor how far employees travel while they’re on the clock and in the field. QuickBooks Time’s mileage tracking feature also provides employees with accurate mileage data for reimbursement and tax-filing purposes.

QuickBooks Time Standout Features & Integrations:

Features include mobile time tracking, employee scheduling and team management functions, plus tools to help you control business expenses by automatically importing income and expenses data from your bank account, credit cards, POS machines, and others. Its dashboard can help you track your business' profitability by helping you keep a tab of your income and expenses. Their time tracking app also works on iOS and Android mobile devices, letting employees track work hours and submit them for approval no matter where they are working from.

Integrations are available with other apps, including ADP, Microsoft Excel, FreshBooks, Tax Planner Pro, and other QuickBooks products.

Best time tracking app that allows unlimited users within their freemium plan

  • 7-day free trial + free plan available
  • From $4.99/user/month
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Rating: 4.5/5

Clockify is a time tracking app with a long list of features included in their freemium plan, plus more advanced options for a very reasonable price.

Why I picked Clockify: Their time tracking app works well for companies with large workforces because you can use it to track an unlimited number of users working on an unlimited number of projects. Clockify also has a GPS tracking feature so you can track where employees are, and the amount of time they spend on off-site activities.

Clockify Standout Features & Integrations:

Features include tools to monitor and record employees' productivity, like time tracking, scheduling, and invoicing. It has a time-off functionality enabling you to track and manage your team's holiday and time-off requests so you can ensure adequate human resources to offset employees on paid time-offs. You can also set different hourly rates per user, ensuring accurate timesheets and preventing payroll disputes. In addition, you can assign user roles with varying degrees of permissions according to their roles and responsibilities.

Integrations are available natively with 80+ web applications, including Airtable, Asana, Azure DevOps, Basecamp, ClickUp, Jira, Microsoft Teams, monday.com, Salesforce, Trello, Todoist, Wrike, and many others. For additional custom integrations, you can use their API or connect Clockify to a paid Zapier account too.

Best time tracking app with a free forever plan for small teams

  • Freemium plan available
  • From $2/user/month
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Rating: 4.6/5

Jibble is an employee time tracking app with mobile time tracking capabilities, so you can track time and record attendance anywhere. Their app is a good choice for time tracking if your business requires your employees to move job sites frequently because you can use Jibble to turn any mobile device into a time clock for attendance tracking.

Why I picked Jibble: It has some really neat features that are surprisingly available in their freemium plan. Their app utilizes facial recognition and geolocation technology to ensure that employees are where they need to be and prevent time theft or buddy punching. Jibble also has a speed mode that utilizes facial recognition to help employees save time by automatically clocking in when they stand in front of the camera. On top of that, their portable kiosk also has an offline mode so you can record attendance without an internet connection and sync the data to your server when you’re back online.

Jibble Standout Features & Integrations:

Features include mobile + GPS time tracking, kiosk tracking, biometric facial recognition, automated timesheets and reports for payroll purposes, and the ability to pre-load your organization's time-tracking policies for your staff to review. Their app also includes automations to send employees alerts, reminding them when to start, end or break from work, ensuring schedule compliance, and sustaining service levels.

Integrations are available with ADP, Airtable, Asana, BambooHR, ClickUp, Deel, Evernote, Freshdesk, Freshteam, Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Gusto, Microsoft Office 365, monday.com, Oracle, Paychex, SAP SuccessFactors, Slack, and other popular tools.

Best time tracking app with resource and project management tools

  • Free trial available
  • From $370 /month (for up to 10 users)
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Rating: 4.5/5

Projectworks is a cloud-based project and resource management platform with built-in time tracking capabilities. It also has expense tracking and invoicing tools, making it a functional solution for professional services businesses.

Why I picked Projectworks: This software combines many core aspects of managing projects and the people who work on them, which is why I picked it for the list. It can be used to not only track employee time but also understand how you're allocating your resources, and spot over- and under-utilization. Employees use timesheets to log their hours worked on various projects, and those timesheets can be used to produce invoices for clients. You can also generate forecasts and reports to predict and understand how your staff is using their time, and what you can expect from the future.

Projectworks Standout Features & Integrations

Standout features I noticed when testing the software were the various options for customizing timesheets. You can set up your timesheets so they do not need to be submitted, so they need to be submitted only, or so they need to be submitted and approved. This gives you control over how you manage your time tracking depending on how you run your operations.

Integrations include QuickBooks, Xero, MYOB, Jira, Azure DevOps, and Hubspot. You can also connect it with a paid Zapier account to access additional integrations, or use its API to build custom integrations.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Connect timesheets with invoicing to reduce manual work
  • Centralize resource and project planning, invoicing, and expenses in one place
  • Capacity planning makes assigning work easier

Cons:

  • Tailored for professional services, may not be suitable for product companies
  • Takes time to get familiar with all the features and functionalities

Best time tracking app for Mac OS and iOS users

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $3.99/user/month

Tyme is a time tracking app you can use to track not just your time but those of your team members. It has a dashboard that provides an overview of your recorded times, budgets, and deadlines, so you're always aware of your and your team's productivity.

Why I picked Tyme: They're a solid time tracking app for any individual or team using Apple devices because their app works on Mac OS computers, iPhones, iPads, and iWatches. You can easily switch from one device to another so you can track time whether you're at the office working on your desktop or in the field and working remotely. Their subscription also includes iCloud data synchronization that automatically backs up your data too.

Tyme Standout Features & Integrations:

Features include project time-tracking tools, location-based clock in/out, data visualization dashboards, data import and export capabilities, reminders, shortcuts, and a mileage and expense tracking tool. It also has a calendar integration that allows you to view your recorded times as calendar entries that you can edit as needed.

Integrations include a handful of plugins for data import and export with systems like Billomat, Clockify, GrandTotal, lexoffice, mite, SevDesk, and Toggl.

10 Best Time Tracking Apps Comparison Chart

This comparison chart summarizes basic details about each of my top time tracking software selections. You can view pricing details and the availability of free trials or demos side-by-side to help you find the best app that works for your budget and business needs.

Tools Price
Insightful From $8/employee/month
Homebase From $20/month (payroll add-on is $6/user/month + $39/month)
TimeClock Plus Pricing upon request
Beebole From $6.99/user/month
Replicon From $6/user/month
QuickBooks Time From $8/user/month + $10/month base fee
Clockify From $4.99/user/month
Jibble From $2/user/month
Projectworks From $370 /month (for up to 10 users)
Tyme From $3.99/user/month
Preview Image - 
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	Compare Software Specs Side by Side</h2>

Compare Software Specs Side by Side

Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.

Compare Software

Other Time Tracking Options

Here are a few more options that didn’t make the best time tracking software list:

  1. Toggl Track

    Best time tracking app for monitoring personal website or app usage

  2. Nowsta

    Best time tracking app for organizations with event-based staffing needs

  3. Harvest

    Best time tracking app with an automatic invoicing feature

  4. monday.com

    Best time tracking app with additional productivity and team collaboration features

  5. Buddy Punch

    Best time tracking app for hybrid teams with integrated payroll processing

  6. 7shifts

    Best time tracking app for managing shift workers in the restaurant industry

  7. BambooHR

    Best time tracking app for automated timesheet approval processes

  8. Productive

    Best for time tracking within a complete agency management platform

  9. Factorial

    Best time tracking app for ease of use

  10. actiTIME

    Best time tracking app for customizability and flexibility

Selection Criteria for the Best Time-Tracking Apps

Wondering how I selected the best time-tracking apps for this list? To start off, I scoured the web for recent market data, then checked out the websites of the time-tracking apps that had the most positive user ratings. Next, I narrowed down my long list by using the selection criteria below to see how each time tracking system compared to the next one.

I also drew on my years of HR administration experience checking and approving (or often correcting) timesheets, to help me pinpoint the features that add a lot of value for HR admin staff and employees alike.

As you’re trying to determine the best time tracking app for your organization, you’ll need to first consider any unique challenges your business or workforce is faced with. Beyond that, you want to ensure the system you choose covers all the basic time-tracking needs.

Core Functionalities

Each time I create a new top 10 software list, I always start off by determining the core functionalities that the software needs to cover first. That way, I can ensure nothing crucial is missing.

For a product to join this list of the best time-tracker apps, first and foremost, it had to actually be an app, not just time-tracking software in general! To verify this, I visited the Google and Apple app stores to confirm whether an app existed for both iPhones (iOS) and Android mobile devices. This may sound basic (and I agree that it is) but some systems out there only offer web apps, browser extensions, or desktop apps, so those were automatically disqualified to keep this list purely focused on apps.

Key Features

I also assessed these additional key features when making my final selections for this list:

  • Automatic time tracking: Tools that record and track the time employees spend on tasks or projects, either automatically (using geofencing or GPS tracking when they enter a designated work zone) or with a simple one-click start function.
  • Timesheet management tools: These allow both employees and managers to edit and approve timesheets to ensure they’re accurate for payroll or billing purposes.
  • Billing and invoicing tools: Linking your timesheet system to your billing and invoicing system will save your HR and accounting teams a lot of hassle. Instead of having to transfer data from one system to another, integrated billing and invoicing tools will allow you to create invoices for billable hours and request payment promptly from your clients.
  • Offline mode: Since your employees might find themselves without internet connectivity at times, it’s important that your time tracking app can keep working in the meantime, and upload your employee’s work hours into the cloud once their connection is restored.
  • Reporting tools: A set of flexible and customizable tools that allow you to prepare reports and analyze employee work hours into different types of time spent, including admin tasks, project-specific tasks, billable and non-billable hours, and anything that might be miscellaneous.

On top of these details, I also always dig into the following categories in fine detail too.

Usability

Since time tracking is a never-ending necessity, it's important to pick an app that creates a positive and engaging user experience (UX) for users of all types. To assess an app's usability, I look at the organization of its user interface (UI), including the way its menus are organized and how easy it is to navigate between features or modules.

Mobile Accessibility

Time-tracking apps are not just for office-based employees. In fact, they're even more valuable for remote teams, deskless, and front-line workers, or field-based employees since they can track their hours on the go.

As previously mentioned, all the apps in this list are accessible from mobile devices or tablets (in most cases both Android and iOS), with cloud-based desktop versions available too. In addition, since sometimes your staff might be off the grid completely, offline time tracking is available in many systems too, as well as more advanced GPS and geofencing capabilities.

Software Integrations

Time-tracking data shouldn't live in a silo. It's a fundamental component of many internal accounting processes, including billing clients for billable hours worked, and paying your staff for their time. That's why it's important to take note of any system integrations, such as payroll systems or invoicing software. To save you time, I've noted key software integrations for each app in my list.

Value for Price

Sometimes it all comes down to cost. Depending on the nature of your business, you may be able to get away with a free plan with basic time-tracking features, especially if you're running a small team. In contrast, paid plans will include more features, and may give you a better return on your investment if you need something a little more advanced.

Before you commit to a contract, I recommend getting your hands on a free trial first. This will give you a first-hand experience of how the app functions before you roll it out to your entire workforce. To help you with this, I've included notes on free trials and freemium plans below.

People Also Ask

Here are some answers to commonly asked questions you may have about time tracking apps and how they can add value to your internal HR admin processes:

Why should I track my team's time?

Time tracking is important for many reasons, but the two biggest ones are accuracy and accountability.

Accuracy is important. If your workforce is paid hourly, you need a method of tracking when your staff actually worked so you can ensure they’re paid properly (rather than just relying on a spreadsheet of when they were supposed to be working. Accuracy is also crucial if you operate a professional service firm where some of your employee’s work hours can be billed directly to clients. In these cases, you’ll want a time tracking app that can easily distinguish tasks into different types of projects — some billable, some non-billable — to make your life easier.

The second reason you should track time is to create a level of employee accountability within your workforce. I have worked in numerous organizations — some that tracked time in great detail, and others that didn’t track a thing. When employees are responsible for recording their hours in detail, they become accountable for recording what they worked on each day. In an environment with no time tracking in place, you’ll find that employees seem to have a lot more free time for socializing and other non-work-related tasks during work hours. Even a simple time tracking app can help you reduce the number of non-productive work hours your employee rack up in a given day or week.

Unproductive employee work hours are considered a form of time theft, where employees are getting paid to be working even when they aren’t. In 2022, Finances Online estimated the annual cost of time theft at $11 billion, so it’s definitely a large problem to be aware of.

If this isn’t enough to convince you to invest in a time tracking tool, see below for a list of the other benefits you can expect to gain by using this type of software.

What are the main benefits of using time tracking software?

Time tracking software — be they mobile apps or desktop applications — can help businesses in a number of ways. The main benefits you can expect to gain are:

  1. Automated timesheet workflows
  2. Automatic client invoicing for billable hours
  3. Improved productivity and profitability
  4. Streamlined project management through integrations
  5. Improved performance management due to higher employee accountability
  6. Advanced workforce analytics to spot trends in employee behaviour
  7. Integrations with payroll to ensure accurate employee payments (no more manual time adjustments)
  8. Tools to track other types of employee leaves (i.e., paid time-off and sick leave)
  9. Integrated employee engagement and communication features
  10. Employee monitoring tools that flag unproductive workers

For more on this topic, I recommend reading our article, What is Time Tracking and How Can it Benefit You, too.

How do time tracking apps help productivity?

According to a 2020 Forbes article, employees typically spend around five hours each week on their mobile phones on non-work-related activities. This translates into around 20 hours of non-productive paid time each month, or 260 non-productive hours by the end of a full year!

Since then, not much has changed. In fact, it’s become even more tricky to keep employees accountable with the rise of remote teams.

In 2022, Finances Online released an interesting breakdown of the employee work day spent in minutes. During an average day, they found employees spent roughly 65 minutes browsing news sites, 44 minutes checking social media accounts, and 40 minutes socializing with other workers. That’s a loss of nearly 2.5 working hours to non-productivity each day.

By instituting time tracking across your workforce, your employees will become much more aware of any non-productive hours they are accruing, since they will have no way of logging those hours into their tracking app. Instead, they will become more accountable and productive by reducing or eliminating any time-wasting activities during their working hours.

Are there any free time tracking apps?

Many time tracking app providers do offer free versions of their products, either as an initial trial run, or as a free plan that lasts forever. In the case of the latter, these freemium plans are a great choice for small businesses that have basic time tracking needs. However, it’s worth noting that freemium plans won’t include all the bells and whistles available in their paid plans, and often offer limited customer support.

If you’re running a small team or using freelancers and contractors, you can always test out an app that has a free trial or freemium plan first, so see if it will meet all your needs without stretching your budget. You might also pair your time tracking app up with a free employee scheduling software to align hours worked with hours scheduled when you’re processing payroll.

What other resources can help me manage a hybrid team?

Managing a hybrid team can be a little tricky at times, but it’s definitely becoming the mainstream. In addition to the many software systems noted below, we’ve got numerous other resources to help you level up your hybrid management game. Take a look at our articles covering the basics of hybrid working, plus more advanced tips for how to maximize your office space with staff coming to and fro more fluidly.

If you, yourself, are struggling to work from home more effectively, you’ll appreciate these 32 proven tips which we crowdsourced from industry experts. Or, if you’re more interested in how to improve your hybrid workplace culture, we can help with that too.

 

Other Software Reviews for Hybrid Teams

Looking for other types of software to get the best out of your remote or hybrid team? Here's a selection of my favorite employee management and productivity software to get you going:

Not sold on the options above? You might find what you're looking for in my list of the Best Time Tracking Software for Clocking Work Hours instead.

Final Thoughts

Tracking time apps simplify the time-tracking experience for employees and employers. They ensure that your employees are paid accurately for their work hours, and can help your company with billing clients for your services promptly. Even better, an automatic time tracking app will handle time management tasks for you, giving you more time back that you can devote to other important business concerns. 

Lastly, I also recommend subscribing to our free People Managing People newsletter. You'll stay up-to-date on our latest articles, podcasts, and more cutting-edge tool recommendations too.

By Kim Behnke

Kim Behnke is an HR Tool Expert & Writer for People Managing People. She draws on her 9 years of human resources experience and her keen eye for systematic processes to support her analyses of the top HR tools on the market. She is passionate about maximizing efficiencies and streamlining workflows to ensure internal systems run smoothly. Kim's HR experience includes recruitment, onboarding, performance management, training and development, policy development and enforcement, and HR analytics. She also has degrees in psychology, writing, publishing, and technical communication, and recently completed a Certified Digital HR Specialist program through the Academy to Innovate HR. When away from her desk, she can usually be found outside tending to her ever-expanding garden.