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Category: Time and Attendance

Posted on November 9, 2021November 9, 2021

Choosing the right attendance system for your business

If you found out a core part of your business relies on systems over 100 years old, you’d probably be shocked — and more than a little concerned. Yet more than a third of U.S. businesses are doing exactly that every single day as their shift workers clock in and out using manual time cards.

Recording time and attendance is a crucial part of any shift-based business — but switching attendance systems is expensive and complex, so many businesses avoid it entirely. If you’re thinking it’s time your business got its attendance system fit for the 21st century, this overview of the current options will steer you in the right direction.

Time card attendance systems

Using manual time cards to punch in and out of work is a system that goes back over a century. That doesn’t mean it’s the wrong choice for tracking time and attendance in your business, but the drawbacks drastically outweigh the benefits.

Benefits of manual time cards

  • Familiarity: The chief benefit of manual time cards in the modern day is that they’ve been around so long that almost everybody understands how to use them. For companies with an older workforce, in particular, the prospect of switching to a more high-tech attendance solution can be off-putting for employees and HR alike.

Drawbacks of manual time cards

  • Inefficiency: Manually recording crucial timesheet data for dozens or hundreds of employees is very prone to errors. In fact, 80% of manual timesheets have to be corrected, an administrative burden few businesses can afford.
  • Time-consuming: Turning all those manual time cards into usable digital data for your business eats up hours of work, pulling staff away from other duties or requiring additional data entry.
  • Unreliable: Manual attendance systems offer employers very little protection from practices like “buddy punching,” where employees clock in for absent colleagues.

Key card and entry code attendance systems

Requiring employees to swipe themselves in using a magnetic card reader, key fob, or electronic entry code is a step up from physical time cards but is still severely limited compared to more modern systems.

Benefits of key cards and codes

  • Accuracy: The system logs the exact time the employee clocks in, and the data is stored electronically, meaning no more laborious data entry.
  • Security: Not only do you know employees are arriving on time, but you also get peace of mind that only people with the right card or code can enter your premises.
  • Internal tracking: Key cards and codes can be used to restrict or monitor staff movements inside the business, such as secure areas or breakrooms.

Drawbacks of key cards and codes

  • Easily lost or forgotten: Replacing or resetting lost cards or codes can become a frustrating distraction for admin staff.
  • Outdated software: If your business has an older card or code-based entry system, it may still be running on easily hacked HTTP protocols or defunct Windows platforms, creating a potential security vulnerability.
  • Scalability: Managing cards and codes across more than one building can be a problem. Buildings often rely on local networks for authentication, making them less than ideal for multi-location businesses.

Biometric attendance systems

Biometric attendance systems, including technology such as facial recognition, fingerprint ID, and retinal scans, are fast becoming normalized. However, just because some people are happy to use biometrics to access their smartphones doesn’t mean they’ll welcome it in the workplace, regardless of how many attendance issues it streamlines for the company.

Benefits of biometrics

  • Accuracy: Using biometrics nearly eliminates the practice of buddy punching — employees can only be clocked in if they’re at work.
  • Time-saving: Biometric access is much faster than other methods, removing bottlenecks at shift changes as staff no longer need to retrieve key cards from their wallets or key in codes.
  • Greater security: By making sure the person clocking in is who they’re supposed to be, biometric access is even more secure than key cards and codes.

Drawbacks of biometrics

  • Controversial: Tread carefully during the so-called Great Resignation as employees are less likely to accept workplace changes they strongly disagree with. Biometrics are unpopular at work, and if employees feel railroaded into handing over more personal data than they’re comfortable with, they’ll leave.
  • Accessibility: Biometric attendance systems raise more questions over usage and access, especially for those with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide everyone with equal access to the workplace, and anything that prevents the blind or people in wheelchairs from doing so could expose you to legal fallout.
  • Legislation: The U.S. is ranked as one of the worst countries for biometric security as there are no federal laws governing how such data is collected, stored, and used. This means employers introducing biometric attendance systems now should prepare for potential rule changes.

Mobile attendance systems

One thing all the previous attendance systems have in common is that they involve some kind of physical device on your premises where all staff must register their attendance. That’s no longer necessary as the latest time and attendance systems can clock employees in using their own smartphones.

Benefits of mobile attendance systems

  • Convenience: Staff can clock in as soon as they arrive using their own phone, so there’s no bottleneck of people waiting to use a physical time clock. This also means your business avoids the expense and hassle of installing physical time clocks on the premises.
  • Accuracy: Mobile attendance apps use GPS tracking to prevent employees from clocking in while still on the bus or at home. Managers can see exactly where people are when they clock in.
  • Oversight: Often, employees are required to take a selfie when clocking in – it’s a fun and easy way for managers to manually double-check for buddy punching. Since the photos aren’t automatically scanned by a third party database or run through facial recognition algorithms, staff can rest assured that their biometric information is not being used.
  • Efficient: The same app that employees use to clock in at work is also the app they use to request time off, check or change their shifts and receive their digital payslips. Unlike other systems which are only concerned with clocking in and out, mobile attendance systems bring all aspects of staff management together in one place for both managers and employees.

Drawbacks of mobile attendance systems

  • Access: Not everyone has a smartphone, which would exclude them from being able to use mobile attendance systems. Hardly a deal breaker from an employer point of view, but worth bearing in mind.

Mobile attendance systems are the future

As attendance systems become more sophisticated and effective, staff concerns about privacy become more pressing. Choosing the best attendance system for your business means finding a workable balance between the administrative benefits for your company and peace of mind for your employees.

Mobile attendance systems offer the best of both worlds right now, and will only improve as the technology evolves. That’s why Workforce.com puts mobile at the heart of its time and attendance software, with an app for both managers and staff. If your company is still using timecards, keycards or other outdated attendance systems, book a demo today and see how we can streamline your business.

Posted on October 26, 2021October 31, 2023

Timekeeping Systems: Pros, Cons, & Best Options

According to Workforce.com’s 2021 survey of US businesses, 1 in 10 companies still rely on manual timekeeping systems such as printed timesheets or offline spreadsheets. At the same time, over half of the companies say their biggest problems are manual errors in their time and attendance data and integrating that data with their other HR systems. The connection is clear: companies still relying on outdated solutions for time and attendance are causing unnecessary harm to their business through inefficiency.

Paper timekeeping systems are simple but outdated

Lots of companies stick with pen-and-paper timesheets out of habit, but while they may be familiar and cheap, they are very inefficient and actually end up costing you money in the long term.

Benefits of paper timekeeping systems

  • Low-cost: Paper timesheets are cheap to produce and implement. All you need is a blank template and a standard office printer or photocopier, making it accessible to even the most cash-strapped employer.
  • Accessible: Pen-and-paper systems require no specialist knowledge or training to use—staff of all levels know how to fill in a sheet.
  • Best for small staff: They’re best suited to small businesses with fewer staff—a local café, for example, with a handful of shift staff coming and going throughout the day.

Drawbacks of paper timekeeping systems

  • Inefficient: Paper timesheets are incredibly inefficient. Processing them each day is laborious and will either take valuable time away from admin staff or require the hiring of data entry staff specifically for this purpose.
  • Prone to error: Pen-and-paper systems have two critical weak points for data mistakes. Errors are easily made both when the sheets are being filled out and when the data is transcribed into payroll.
  • Easily lost: Information gathered and stored on paper is particularly vulnerable to loss, damage, or misfiling. Should you be faced with an audit, the penalties for that missing information can be steep.
  • Hard to share: Paper records are also hard to share by nature. Robust record keeping is more important than ever, and files full of paper are harder and more expensive to deliver to the relevant authorities than digital records.

Spreadsheets are convenient but prone to errors

Spreadsheets are a sensible step up from pen and paper and reduce some of the more pressing problems of rudimentary print-based timekeeping systems. Lots of businesses manage to make spreadsheets work, but they are still far from ideal.

Benefits of spreadsheet timekeeping systems

  • Ease of use: Spreadsheets are easy to set up and use—Microsoft Excel even offers a generic timesheet template that can get you started in a few minutes.
  • Affordable: Spreadsheets are a low-investment solution to time and attendance tracking. There’s a strong chance that you already have and use the office software needed.
  • Less work: A properly configured spreadsheet will calculate hours worked as each day’s shifts are logged, removing at least one time-consuming task from your admin load.
  • Fast and shareable: As a digital solution, spreadsheets are by nature quicker to process than stacks of hand-written timesheets. It’s also much easier to share a spreadsheet or export the data for tax and accounting purposes.

Drawbacks of spreadsheet timekeeping systems

  • Still a timesink: While more convenient than a purely paper-based system, collating and processing each timesheet manually into a spreadsheet is still labor intensive. You’ll save time, but not much.
  • Formula mistakes: Spreadsheets are very prone to errors. In a 2019 academic study, over 90% of business spreadsheets contained at least one error, and about 50% of those used by big businesses had material defects.
  • Errors stack up over time: The big danger with spreadsheet errors is that if they’re not spotted, incorrect calculations start to pile up over time. One small formula mistake can result in payroll errors being made every month until spotted. Fixing this is expensive and potentially exposes the company to serious legal repercussions.
  • Data security: Spreadsheets can create additional security concerns, especially if the same templates are being duplicated, reused, and passed around. In 2016, Boeing hit the headlines with a data leak in which the personal data of 36,000 employees was left in a hidden column of a shared spreadsheet.
  • Poor fit: Spreadsheets are not the right tool for the job. They may be able to perform basic time and attendance functions, but it’s not their intended purpose. Using spreadsheets as a timekeeping system is like cooking a steak in a microwave. Yes, it will heat up the meat, but you’re not getting anything close to the best result.

Bespoke software will meet your needs, but the cost is high

Hiring an external company to develop a new timekeeping software package just for your business solves a lot of problems, but you can expect to pay a premium for the luxury.

Benefits of bespoke timekeeping systems

  • Made for you: This is software that has been developed with your specific business in mind so it will fit like a glove and do everything you need it to, the way you want it to.
  • Fits current processes: As it’s been developed with one company in mind, implementing bespoke software requires no changes to your existing processes. The software accommodates you rather than the other way around.
  • Ownership: Depending on the contract signed with the developer, you can own the software outright, making it a potentially valuable asset for the balance sheets.
  • Suited to large corporations: Bespoke software is a solution most likely to be used by multinational corporations that may prefer to have software unique to their internal structures and processes.

Drawbacks of bespoke timekeeping systems

  • Frontloaded cost: Bespoke software comes with a high upfront cost. On average, hiring developers to create a software solution specifically for your business requires you to set aside around 4.5 months and $36,000.
  • Updates must be paid for: Bespoke software solutions can be inflexible over time, locking you into the way things are done now. Changing any of the processes that tie into timekeeping, such as HR or payroll, down the line will mean changing the software to match.
  • Staying legal: Compliance will also go out of date. Employment law is always evolving, and while a bespoke solution may be compliant today, it will eventually need to change to reflect new legislation that affects your business.
  • Security: Third-party developers often use open source tools and components to solve common problems, and 84% of these free-to-use bits of code have been found to have security vulnerabilities.
  • Pay to improve: You’re on the hook for all of these necessary updates, improvements, and bug fixes, and so improving the software over the years incurs more costs as you pay the developers to patch it up. That’s if your original developers are still in business in 10 years’ time, of course.

Commercial time and attendance software grows with your company

Existing time and attendance software has the benefits of bespoke software, such as integration with your existing HR and payroll systems, but is also flexible enough to accommodate your changing needs as your business grows.

Benefits of vendor software timekeeping systems

  • Scalable: Unlike bespoke software, vendor-provided solutions are designed to work for customers ranging from small businesses to large corporations. This means these timekeeping systems are flexible from the start, with features that can be implemented as you need them.
  • Spread the cost: Using an established software timekeeping system means no huge upfront investment. Most offer rolling subscription prices that are scaled to your needs. Many also have a free trial period.
  • Getting set up: Integrating an existing staff-management software package into your business is quicker than you think. Companies can be onboarded to use Workforce.com in as little as four weeks, for example.
  • Data quality: Joined-up data from scheduling through to timekeeping and payroll also means greater accuracy. Electronic time and attendance data can be directly obtained from the point of entry to clocking out at the end of a shift, dramatically reducing the risk of manual entry errors.
  • Simple compliance: Tying all your employee data together also makes compliance easier, with constantly updated records for tax and accounting purposes. This can also be directly beneficial for internal troubleshooting, with most vendor-supplied software timekeeping systems able to produce reports that quickly reveal pain points in your business.
  • Support: Commercial software means you have an entire company monitoring and updating the security of your data, as well as pushing out updates and improvements to the system at no extra cost to your business.
  • Mobile friendly: Most vendor time and attendance systems feature an employee time clock app. These apps provide staff with more flexibility, while also increasing their engagement and accountability. What’s more, mobile time clock apps save employers money as they are typically free, unlike more expensive kiosk hardware.

Drawbacks of vendor software timekeeping systems

  • Change can seem daunting: If your company has grown used to using an older timekeeping system, the thought of changing to something more up to date can be intimidating. The benefits far outweigh the minimal disruption needed to switch things over.

Integrated timekeeping systems protect your business

Timekeeping systems are the central source of your company’s most important internal data. Inaccuracy here impacts everything from payroll to business taxes. The more outdated your timekeeping system, the more inefficient your business will be—and the unnecessary cost in time and money makes your company weaker and less competitive. If you’re still using those methods, the time to upgrade is now.

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