Track hours per client, retainers and creative work without the guesswork
Mera Work records the hours your team spends on clients and tasks as they work, so retainers are checked against their estimates while the month is still running. Designers, writers and marketers are measured by the tools of their own craft, and the hours export ready for client reports and your billing tool.
Mera Work by industry
What Mera Work gives an agency
The numbers account managers, finance and agency owners ask for, without chasing timesheets.
Hours per client and task
Set up clients as projects and deliverables as tasks. Tracked time lands against them as the team works.
Retainers checked while the month runs
The Project Report puts estimated and logged hours side by side by client, so an overrun shows before the month closes.
Creative work measured fairly
Design, writing and social tools count as productive for the teams that use them, and the idle interval can be set longer for teams that need it.
Hours ready for client reports
Daily Time Entries and User Task export to Excel for client reports and for your billing tool.
Common problems in agencies and what changes with Mera Work
Most agencies come to Mera Work with these needs. A setting or a report you already have covers them.
- Retainers overrun before anyone notices
- The Project Report compares estimated and logged hours for retainer clients, so the account manager sees an overrun while there is time to act.
- Client reports need hours nobody wrote down
- Time is logged against the client and task a person selects, and Daily Time Entries builds the record through the month.
- Designers and writers look idle while they think
- Give creative teams a longer idle interval, up to 30 minutes, and mark the Design & Creative category productive for them.
- Social media is work for a team and a distraction for others
- Set the Social Media category productive for the social team and unproductive for the rest, by department or by person.
- Pitch and new business time disappears
- Set up pitches as their own project, so the hours that go into winning work are visible next to client work.
- Client workshops happen away from the computer
- Time in a workshop or a shoot is added through a time claim, approved by the manager, so it counts in the day's record.
- Freelancers and remote staff work across time zones
- People work in their own time zones, and you can start with two people and add more as the team grows.
- Licences for design, SEO and AI tools pile up
- Search any tool in Application Usage to see who used it and for how long, and see time in AI tools through the built in AI & Machine Learning category.
A campaign launch day at a digital agency, and how Mera Work records it
A marketing agency launching a client campaign. Here is who is working and what Mera Work records, step by step.
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09:30
Campaign team
The team logs in for the launch
Attendance starts with a person's first activity, wherever they work from.
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10:15
Designer
Final creative in Figma
The designer selects the client and the campaign task, and time in design tools is recorded against it.
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12:00
Social media team
The posts are scheduled
Social platforms are labelled productive for the social team only, and other teams keep their own labels.
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15:30
Account manager
The retainer check
The Project Report shows hours logged against the month's estimate for the client.
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17:30
Account manager
Hours for the client report
User Task and Daily Time Entries export the campaign hours for the client report and the invoice.
The features agencies rely on
These features cover client hours, retainers and creative work. Select any card to see how that feature works.
Project and Task Tracking
Clients as projects and deliverables as tasks, with estimated, logged and final hours in the Project Report.
Learn more →Time Tracking
Automatic time from the first activity to the last, with Daily Time Entries as the timesheet.
Learn more →App and Website Monitoring
Design, writing, social and SEO tools marked productive for the teams that use them, by department or person.
Learn more →Productivity Reports
Project Report, User Task and Time Tracker, exported to Excel for client reports.
Learn more →Activity Monitoring
Active and idle time by person, with a longer idle interval for creative work.
Learn more →Screenshot Monitoring
Screenshots at your interval, blurred or switched off for client work you prefer to keep off screen.
Learn more →All features are included in the free trial. Start free →
How Mera Work fits different kinds of agency
A marketing agency, a design studio, an ad agency and a web studio set Mera Work up in their own way.
Digital marketing and SEO
Retainer clients as projects, SEO and analytics tools marked productive, and monthly hours exported for client reports.
Design and creative studios
The Design & Creative category productive, a longer idle interval for thinking time, and hours per brief and client.
Advertising and performance marketing
Ad platforms and marketplaces marked productive for campaign teams, with hours per account and campaign.
Web, app and white label studios
Builds as projects and sprints as tasks, development tools productive, and screenshots blurred for white label client work.
How Mera Work supports agencies
Clients and deliverables go in once, teams are measured by their own tools, and the hours for client reports build as the team works.
Hours by client and deliverable
Add clients as projects and deliverables as tasks, allocated to people with start and end dates, or in bulk from a spreadsheet. People select the task they are working on and tracked time is logged against it. The Project Report compares estimated, logged and final hours by client, and User Task shows a person's hours across clients.
- Clients as projects, deliverables as tasks
- Task allocation with dates, or bulk upload
- Estimated, logged and final hours per client
- Time claims for workshops and shoots
Teams measured by their own tools
Built in categories cover Design & Creative, Marketing & Advertising, Social Media and AI & Machine Learning. Set them productive or unproductive for the whole agency, a department or a person, and give creative teams a longer idle interval so thinking and sketching time is counted fairly.
- Categories set per department or person
- Social Media productive for the social team only
- Idle interval up to 30 minutes per person
- Your own categories for client tools
Active categorySocial MediaOrganizationProductiveBack to List
Platforms focused on social networking, content sharing, community participation, discussions, professional networking, user generated content and social interaction.
Configuring for: Global Organization
Tool spend and remote teams in view
Search any design, SEO or AI tool in Application Usage to see who used it and for how long before a licence renews. Freelancers and remote staff work in their own time zones, and a person's day shows in the Time Tracker wherever they are.
- Application Usage search for any tool
- AI & Machine Learning category
- Time zone per person
- Start with two people
Showing 2 of 2 entries
Set up fairly for the roles in your agency
Designers, writers, marketers, developers, account managers and owners need something different from the same record.
- Designers
- Design tools counted as productive, a longer idle interval for thinking time, and hours logged against the brief they select.
- Writers and content teams
- Writing tools and research time counted as productive, with their own record visible where you allow it.
- SEO and performance marketers
- SEO, analytics and ad platforms counted as productive, with hours per client account.
- Developers
- Development tools counted as productive, and hours per build and sprint for fixed price work.
- Account managers
- Retainer hours against the estimate for their clients, and exports for the monthly client report.
- Agency owners
- Hours across clients, pitch time next to client work, and tool usage before licences renew.
Set up an agency in four steps
Most of it is set once per client and per team. The first hours appear the day you install.
Add clients and deliverables
Create clients as projects and deliverables as tasks, with an estimate for retainers.
Set rules by team
Mark categories productive by team, and give creative teams a longer idle interval.
Invite the team
Install the agent on work computers, including freelancers and remote staff in their own time zones.
Send the reports
Export the Project Report for account managers, and User Task and Daily Time Entries for client reports.
Ready to see hours by client? Start your free trial →
A user friendly platform that provides valuable real time insights into team productivity, helping managers optimise workflows and enhance performance.
All features, simple pricing, real people on support
Your subscription covers all that an agency needs. Here is the rest of what you get.
Priced per user, all features included
Billed monthly or yearly, with nothing extra to buy. Start with two users.
PrivacyPrivacy settings you control
You choose who is captured, who can view and who can download. Mera Work records time, apps and activity levels, and what people type stays private.
HostingCloud, private cloud or on premise
Cloud hosted by default, with private cloud and on premise options for enterprise customers.
SupportCritical issues answered within the hour
Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 22:00 IST, by portal, email and phone.
Results our clients report
What agencies and studios changed after rolling out Mera Work.
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Everyday use
After a careful rollout
A design agency that took its time over the rollout and kept sharing feedback.
Read the story
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14 day trial
Chose Mera Work over another solution
A US architectural firm that compared two solutions in a trial and chose Mera Work.
Read the story
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25%+
Productivity gain, as reported
A distributed research firm that ran a proof of concept and moved its analysts across.
Read the story
Explore further
Client hours in detail, how tools are labelled, and the other ways teams use Mera Work.
Common questions about Mera Work for agencies
Can we track hours per client for billing?
Yes. Add clients as projects and deliverables as tasks, and tracked time is logged against them. The Project Report, User Task and Daily Time Entries export to Excel for your billing tool.
Does Mera Work send invoices?
No. It records the hours, and the exports go into the billing or accounting tool you already use. Data can also be shared through the API.
How do we keep client work and internal work apart?
Set up internal work, such as pitches, training and admin, as its own projects. The reports then show client hours and internal hours side by side.
Will designers look idle while they are thinking?
Not if you set it up for them. Give creative teams a longer idle interval, up to 30 minutes, and mark the Design & Creative category productive for them.
Can social media count as work for our social team?
Yes. Set the Social Media category productive for the social team's department and unproductive for the rest.
Does it work for freelancers and remote staff?
Yes. Anyone with the agent on their computer is tracked in their own time zone, and you can add or remove people as projects start and end.
How do we count time in client workshops?
The person adds it through a time claim, and the manager approves it before it counts in the day's record.
See hours by client
Install the agent on two computers, add a client as a project, and the Project Report fills from the first task.
