Workforce Management Blog
Track and Measure Employee Time & Attendance
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Don’t be deceived by the oh-so-innocent look on their face. Some of your employees may be guilty of having participated in what is commonly known as “Buddy Punching.”
What is buddy punching?
Buddy punching features an employee “punching” the time card on behalf of his buddy, another employee who is late arriving, early leaving or absent from work that day. This practice enables employee absence without consequence.
How does this affect your company?
- Productivity goes down
- Return on investment (ROI) is reduced
- Bottom line profits decrease
- Workforce Management becomes complicated
- Decrease in employee motivation
According to a study by Nucleus Research, a global provider of research and advisory services, 74 % of organizations experience payroll losses directly related to buddy punching. This amounts to billions of dollars in losses per year!
Is there a solution?
Fortunately, yes!
Nucleus Research found that organizations can save an average of 2.2% of gross payroll by eliminating buddy punching through the use of biometric time clocks. These terminals identify the employee by scanning their finger or hand as they are clocking in, thus making it impossible to get away with buddy punching. Organizations can contact workforce management software companies about investing in time clocks and other tools to optimize their business performance.
For more information on workforce management please visit our website
Accurate monitoring of employee time and attendance is becoming more and more important, across countries and industries. Implementing an automated system reduces errors and costs, as well as avoiding very common scenarios in companies that lead to misunderstandings about employee hours.
Have you ever had an employee come to you and say…
“I don’t think I got paid enough for the hours I worked.”
If an employee approaches you claiming that his or her paycheque is not adequate, you would probably give them the benefit of the doubt. The other alternative would be to cross reference old records, which would take up a whole lot of time and effort. If the employee is being dishonest though, it could wind up costing the company in wage expenses. Either way, organizational resources are being used up.
“I’m going on vacation from the 3rd to the 7th, I have an appointment on the 12th, and can I leave early on the 21st?”
As a busy manager, it is near impossible to keep track of all the requests that employees make for time off. If an individual were to tell you something like this is the passing, it is likely that you will forget. This can then lead to conflicts in terms of scheduling, and more importantly, employees not showing up for work on days that they have technically spoken to you about.
Or, on the other side of things, have you ever had a co-worker say to you…
“Hey, I’m going to be a tiny bit late, can you punch in for me?”
The practice of “Buddy Punching” is a lot more common than managers think. Your friend is going to be a tad bit late, so you say you’ll punch in for him or her; they’ll do it for you next time you’re in a bind. It’s harmless right? Wrong. Buddy Punching can lead to significant losses for companies, as it basically involves paying employees for time that they haven’t been on the job. In fact, studies have shown that the practice can account for up to 5% of payroll costs, which can add up to thousands or even millions of dollars annually.
“Don’t tell anyone, but check it out – I got paid an extra $300 this week!”
As dishonest as it may sound, there are many people out there who would not confess about being overpaid. Many employees attribute these mistakes as a “corporate error”, and do not feel the need to come clean. Again, mistakes like this can end up costing companies a great deal. They don’t even have to be as significant as receiving an extra $300 in a paycheque – paying every employee an extra two or three dollars every paycheque can add up quickly.
The Solution? An Automated System…
Implementing an automated time and attendance system can alleviate all of the above mentioned problems, and many more. Automation allows for accurate records of employee punch in and punch out, preventing any problems of over or under payment. Furthermore, by using different modules within automated systems, employees can request time off through an online self-service portal. A biometric system can also be installed, to ensure that employees are not punching in and out for each other.
There are many more benefits of using an automated time and attendance system, visit our website to find out more about your options for automation.
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In a world of evolving technology, biometric systems are really making a mark in security. For those of you who are unfamiliar with biometrics, it is basically technology that recognizes a specific feature on an individual to confirm the person’s identity. These features can range from an individual’s fingerprint, to their retina.
Biometrics were once seen as a cutting edge, revolutionary technological advancement, but the use of biometrics is becoming more and more common – as well as more and more important. The technology is often used for security purposes, but can also be transferred to daily activity in the world of commerce.
Using an automated, biometric system to track employee Time & Attendance is beneficial to organizations in a number of ways. Utilizing this technology allows companies to:
- Reduce payroll costs by 2-5%
- Eliminate the risk of “buddy punching”
- Reduce administrative errors and time spent calculating employee hours
Biometric technology is the ideal solution for busy work environments, allowing managers to ensure that individuals are working for their scheduled hours.
On top of all these benefits, installing a biometric solution guarantees a high return on investment. Implementing this technology does have higher initial costs, but provides companies with a stronger ROI than a standard time clock would.
Automating your Time & Attendance system by implementing a biometric solution is becoming the most effective alternative, and can provide savings all across the organizational chart.
Visit our website to find out more about biometric systems.
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As much as we would like to trust that our employees are being honest, in the back of our minds we are wondering if they are really being truthful when filling out their time sheets. Whether they are rounding their hours a few minutes in the morning, a few in the afternoon, or signing out a little earlier than scheduled, these minutes can quickly add up, and could end up costing organizations thousands of dollars in payroll costs.
Manual time sheets are very difficult to manage, even more so with the more employees you have … besides, you don’t have time to babysit your employees, especially in a busy working environment.
Avoid all the heartaches that come with manual time sheets by automating your time clocks. An automated time clock would solve this problem by accurately recording your employee’s time punches, and automating your rules and regulations resulting in a precise payroll process.
From swipe cards, NFC, RFID, Fingerprint, Hand Readers, Bar Code readers etc, there are several different time clocks to choose from to meet the specific needs of your business.
Organizations use biometric readers when they are concerned that employees are clocking in for their friends who are late, leaving early, absent, or not even scheduled to work that day. By using hand scanners or fingerprint clocks you can eliminate this risk of buddy punching and save your company unnecessary operational costs.
Not only does the company benefit from an automated time clock system, but the employees benefit too:
- Employees know that their hours are recorded accurately for correct pay
- There are no timesheets / paper work to fill in (less time consuming)
- Employees can access their time punch data online (request absences, book vacation time, check work schedules and more)
Most companies that integrate an automated time clock system see an ROI within a few months!
Visit our website to find out more about how your company and implement an automated biometric time clock!
Are you looking for ways to save your company time and money, while improving efficiency? With the proper Workforce Management Software this can all be possible for your organization.
Here are 4 reasons why your company can benefit from a Workforce Management Software:
Savings. Save up to 2-5% of your annual payroll costs through:
- Decreasing the amount of payroll errors and processing time
- Eliminating the risks of employee buddy punching or time fraud
- Improving labour reporting
- Eliminating costs associated with paper timecards
Solutions. Workforce Management Software serves as an effective tool to increase efficiency and productivity in the workplace. With the right vendor, solutions can be:
- Easily integrated into current operations
- Fully supported by experienced and well qualified support staff
- Easily integrated with payroll, HRIS and ERP systems
Selection. Workforce Management encompasses all the activities, processes, and tools needed to manage a workforce. There is a wide variety of fully-customizable solutions that can meet the demand of any business segment, which include:
- Time and Attendance – labour tracking, data collection, time tracking
- Absence Planning – managed leaves, unmanaged leaves, productivity
- Workforce Planning – long term forecasting, variance management
- Scheduling – optimizing, short term forecasting, shift tracking
Security. Have peace of mind with full system security and audit-trail reporting.
Save money and improve the way you manage your business by implementing Workforce Management Software.
Visit our website to learn more.
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