These are good points. I've worked in this space and it's a huge time sink. And you can't afford to get it wrong because you're dealing with people's livelihood.
I'm currently working on a time attendance solution with an emphasis on usability for non technical users. You'd be amazed at how much paper / friction still exists in this domain.
Funny I was working on the same thing (time/attendance solution). Square has timekeeping using mobile app...punch in your ID, clock in. It had more features than I needed...I also have volunteers so they don't get paid but need to keep track of their time. I don't think it was the best solution for me.
I ended up just having a sign in sheet....It works.
(For project/job costing, we can do it, but it's definitely a premium feature which we don't support by default.)