Time Clock and Attendance Systems

Businesses of all sizes need to use some type of time clock and attendance systems to record when employees start and stop work, and the departments where that work is performed.  Recently, it’s becoming more common to track meals and breaks, the type of work performed, and for whom.  In addition to tracking when employees work, businesses and organizations need to track when employees are not working.  Vacation time, Personal Time Off, Sick Time (mandated and not) FMLA time, and jury duty should be recorded.  Some organizations also keep detailed records of attendance issues such as who calls in sick and who comes in late.

A dedicated time clock and attendance system provides many benefits.  It enables an employer to have at their fingertips all of their employees working hours.  It helps control labor costs by reducing over-payments, which are often caused by transcription error, interpretation error and intentional error.  It is often difficult to comply with labor regulation, but a time and attendance system is invaluable for ensuring compliance with labor regulations regarding proof of attendance.

A time clock and attendance system also protects a company from payroll fraud and provides both employer and employees with confidence in the accuracy of their wage payments all while improving productivity.

So what is the best for you and your company?

Manual Systems

Manual systems rely on highly skilled people laboriously adding up paper time cards which have times stamped onto them using a time stamping machine, or simply hand written in by the employee.  Many times this is the owner who thinks if I do the work there is no cost.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The owner’s time is the most expensive time the company has or should have to spend.  The time you spend doing this is not spent in sales, development, production, shipping or any of the countless other revenue generating activates you should be involved in.

Hiring young minimum wage people to do this task is a receipt for disaster filled with inaccuracy, error and fraud!

Time stamping machines have been in use for over a century are still used by many organizations as a perceived cheaper alternative to time and attendance software.  But are they really a savings?  Although more accurate than hand written cards Time Stamping has many draw backs above and beyond the exorbitant labor cost and potential fraud.  The “data” still needs to be entered into the payroll system adding additional cost and chance for error or theft.

Automated Systems

Automated time and attendance systems such as HUB, SwipeClock and Attendance On Demand can provide Computer Logons, Key Fobs, expensive but “buddy punch” proof Bio-Metric clocks (vein reader, hand geometry, fingerprint, or facial).  The recorded information is then automatically transferred to payroll service like HR Ledger without the cost or risk of additional employee handling.  An automated system reduces the risk of errors that are common in a manual system, and allows the workforce to be more productive instead of wasting time and money on tedious administrative tasks thus saving cost, costly errors and downright stealing!

Whatever system you currently use, or don’t use, needs to be reviewed to determine if it is the best system for you and to see if a safer and more economical system should be installed.


Feel free to call your HR Ledger Payroll Consultant, Malcolm or Scott to discuss what system would be best for you.

Author: Scott Evers, VP of Sales at HR Ledger, Inc.
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