Biometric time and attendance systems have revolutionised the way in which organisations both keep their site secure and monitor employee attendance. No longer a means of simply restricting access to high security areas of an organisation; businesses are now integrating biometric access control with time and attendance software as they strive for enhanced productivity and profitability.
Here are a number of reasons why biometric time and attendance systems are rapidly becoming an indispensable tool for organisations:
Increased Accuracy – Reduction in Human Error
Despite the growing popularity of time and attendance software, many organisations still rely on their employees to track their own hours using time sheets or punch cards for example. Unfortunately, we’re all human at the end of the day and mistakes do happen. Calculation errors regarding hours worked, breaks and overtime etc can be costly to organisations. In addition, taking the time out to calculate hours recorded on time sheets, reduces the time that employees are working thus having a detrimental effect on productivity. By investing in time and attendance systems, companies can eradicate the threat of human error. Basic and overtime hours worked by employees, flexi-time hours and any other bespoke calculations can be performed instantly, to the highest degree of accuracy.
Reduced Burden on Payroll Department
Collecting, processing and storing employee attendance records have historically proven to be unenviable tasks for payroll departments. Through the implementation of biometric time and attendance systems, organisations can streamline payroll processes effectively. When employees clock in or clock out, real-time information will be produced, readily accessible for managers, supervisors or the payroll department. Clerical efficiency will improve drastically through the swift generation of payroll reports, significantly reducing administration time. The mountains of paper work compiled by payroll and human resource management departments can also be wiped out. By integrating time and attendance with human resource management software modules, personnel records are available at the touch of a button. In addition, if organisations choose to introduce an employee self-service software module, payroll and human resource management staff will no longer need to sift through a sea of personnel records. Individual employees will be able to access their own records through a communal kiosk, on their PC’s or using smart phones or tablets.
Elimination of Time Theft and Buddy Clocking
According to findings published by the Harvard Business Review, ‘Time Theft’ seriously damages an organisation’s profitability. ‘Time Theft’ occurs when employees deliberately manipulate or steal company time. Examples of employees stealing company time include: taking additional or extended breaks or logging that they left work later than they actually did. Manipulation of company time involves clocking in and clocking out before and after shift changes to gain payable time in each payroll period. Employees clocking in and out on the behalf of their colleagues or ‘Buddy Clocking’ has also been a major problem, particularly for manufacturing and warehousing organisations.
Through biometric time and attendance systems, organisations can eliminate the threat of ‘Time Theft’ and ‘Buddy Clocking’. Biometric data capture terminals identify each employee based on specific physical characteristics such as fingerprints or facial recognition, rendering ‘Buddy Clocking’ impossible. Once employees have clocked in or clocked out, real-time data is gathered and processed by the time and attendance software, ensuring that employees are unable to falsify their attendance information.
Developed by ELF Productivity, the award-winning Ceequel® Software Suite delivers a true one-stop employee management solution. Our Time and Attendance, Access Control, Human Resource Management and Shop Floor Data Capture modules share the same database, eliminating the need for duplicate entries. For more information, please contact ELF Productivity.