Make Every Minute Count with a Clock in Machine for Your Small Business

If you are like most small businesses running on efficiency, you have considered implementing a workforce management solution that contributes to the profits you hope to achieve.

Typically, this type of solution, when properly selected, configured and used, will deliver measurable returns. Making the right investment now will keep your business ahead of time and attendance issues.

History of Time and Attendance Solutions

The long history of time and attendance solutions has experienced several iterations. In recent years, the traditional time clock consisted of a paper card and a time stamp. While this system gave employers some information about employees’ time, it also left room for errors.

Today, technology improvements are keeping pace with changes to workforce styles. More small businesses are hiring remote workers, which makes a paper card system obsolete. One of the newest trends is to have an app for mobile workers.

Systems such as a proximity time clock present a better way for employers to keep track of employee time. Configuration is simple and the heavy-duty structure makes it the perfect solution for demanding work environments such as construction sites.

Software-Based Clock in Machines Support Workforce Management Processes

Moving away from laborious systems toward more efficient ways of tracking employee time can save your small business a lot of time and money. Managing paper trails requires too much manual effort that is best served in other areas.

From transcribing hours worked from paper cards to calculating weekly payroll, continuing with systems of the past leaves your small business exposed to costly errors. Software systems can also provide detailed data on how employees are utilizing their workdays.

Capturing this type of information helps during workforce planning where you and your team can identify ways to improve operational efficiencies.

Expected Benefits to Having a Clock in Machine

As a small business, you deal with local, national and even international competitors. This increases the pressure to be profitable and efficient at the same time.

Using a computer-based clock in system as a solution to managing your workforce comes with multiple benefits towards these objectives.

• Reduce costly clerical errors – human mistakes are all too common in data manipulation exercises. However, a computer-based system to track employee clock ins and outs will perform calculations automatically and eliminate errors. Expect to see a positive ROI within a few months of implementation.
• Reduce costs of processing payroll – save when automating payroll processes by using an interface with third-party systems. Employee pay is prepared faster because less manual intervention is required. This produces more cost savings for your small business. Another way you can decrease payroll costs is by freeing your supervisors and managers from time-consuming clerical tasks. Their time is better focused on more productive work that is connected to business goals.
• Reduce issues with employee time theft – employees will admit in surveys that they cheat on their timesheets. However, you will hardly know it until it starts bleeding into your profits. With the right system, you could see up to a 90% reduction in time theft. Automatically tracking arrival and departure times via an electronic system eliminates the need to rely on handwritten time records.
• Increase security and eliminate buddy punching – the use of a biometric fingerprint device ensures the right employee checks in to work. Savings in payroll costs will improve significantly with a secure way of guaranteeing employees actually work. There are also time and attendance systems that connect with controlled access areas. This will limit who is allowed entry into areas where security concerns are linked to effective business operations.
• Reduce risking violating wage and hour rules – not only can you avoid violating wage and hour rules, but employee disputes about their pay can also be kept to a minimum. Few people can argue the accuracy of when they clocked in and clocked out. The machine electronically stores time and attendance in real-time. With this, you can feel confident in having highly accurate records if a dispute or lawsuit does arise.
• Increase revenue with improvements to job costing – if you rely on calculating labor hours with material costs to determine a final price for customers, you want to know the data used is accurate and reliable. Overbilling customers based on bloated labor hours is just as bad as employees being paid for hours they never worked. Avoid this with a time and attendance clock in system that is configured properly to track hours. Watch your revenues increase as a result.

Clock in machines for small businesses are economically priced to give you powerful control over employee time data. Advanced solutions use biometric technology and can connect to your network or allow remote logins.

With any form, having a newer solution for tracking time and attendance helps to measure business processes. Finding ways for continuous improvement will make sure every minute of the work day improves customer satisfaction, reduces costs and increases sales.