Did moving off manual timesheets actually make payroll and scheduling easier for your business?

For a long time we handled time tracking pretty manually, and it always seemed manageable until payroll week came around. Then it turned into chasing missing hours, checking PTO, fixing mistakes, and hoping nothing slipped through. It wasn’t one huge issue so much as a bunch of small ones that kept eating up time.

Lately I’ve been looking at lower-cost time tracking options to clean that up a bit, and Buddy Punch is one of the tools I’ve been considering since it seems aimed more at small teams than enterprise setups. I can see the appeal if it actually helps with scheduling, PTO, and getting cleaner hours into payroll, but I’m also wary of adding another system that sounds good upfront and then creates more admin work.

For other small business owners, did switching from manual tracking to a tool like Buddy Punch actually make things easier day to day? Or did you find the real issue was more about process and manager follow-up than the software itself?