Employee Time Clock Systems

1. What is Employee Time Clock and Why Do you Need One ?

2. What are the Types of Employee Time Clock Systems?

3. On Premises or Cloud Based Time Clock Systems?

4. Is it Safe to Use Cloud Based Time Clock Software ?

5. Are Biometric Fingerprint Scanners Secure to Track Time?

 

What is Employee Time Clock and Why Do you Need One ?

Employee Time Clock  is the system designed to track and manage the total number of clock in/clock out hours during which an employee was on duty at  employer’s workplace or onsite premises to perform  job responsibilities as required during a specific time period.

Employee Time is a complex concept since workers may have flexible schedules and different day/night shifts, hourly paid jobs, certain number of hours they can work per week, paid or non-paid lunch breaks, work on remote sites and at different locations performing different types of job.

According to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) every employer is required to keep records for  non exempt workers. These records must show  accurate data  about workers, hours worked and the wages earned.

Usually, full time salaried workers have 9-5 work schedule and  no  additional time tracking tools are required, although some organizations would still want to see how many hours full time workers really spend at work to get more transparency and more accurate and centralized data in company’s workforce management.

There are many companies that use contract labor and hourly paid employees. Mostly, these are manufacturing, construction, retail, health care organizations, hotels or restaurants, productions sites, various  professional services. The management usually needs a better control and more accurate way to track time and attendance of all employees, create flexible schedules and shifts, manage sick and vacation days and have automatic customized reports on all data set to eliminate manual time calculation errors and streamline payroll process.
By using smart automatic time and attendance systems, managers will be quickly alerted once any overtime case will be recorded and noticed. They can easily track lunch breaks on remote job sites or be in control of employees who work from home or travel to different locations. It keeps operations costs as low as possible to make sure working hours are being used by employees in the most efficient way.

There are several types of Time Clocks available that allow to register time workers started to work and time they finished the work.

 

What are the Types of Employee Time Clock Systems?

1. Paper Timesheets – one of the oldest way to keep employee data records using paper sheets. This way each employee logs hours manually by hand. The main disadvantage of using paper methods is that it takes much more time to collect all the data, create Excel or Access spreadsheets and process payroll correctly and most of the paper reports can be lost or contain wrong data and errors which is not efficient at all.
2. Biometric or Fingerprint Time Clocks – are special devices that scan employees fingerprints as a unique digital representation of the employees to record time when they clock in or clock out from the machine. Exact time is shown on the display at the moment of scanning. It’s very accurate and reliable method and reduces time to process data on all employees. Electronic reports are easily created and give total control on HR management, Payroll, Employees Time and Attendance. Also, Biometric systems naturally prevent employees from so-called “buddy punching” when workers punch clocks for one another and there could be times when some employees are not actually at work. It dramatically improves Absence Management and increases employees’ accountability. They become more punctual and responsible.
3. Desktop Biometric Readers – are more affordable options to clock in using computer desktops and USB ports. They are more suitable for small businesses and limited budgets.
4. Phone Time Clocks – allows workers to clock in using land lines, with no additional devices required.
5. Web Based Online Clock In Systems – work on computers to enable online registration to log hours. All you need is a web based employee self service application to manage time and absence.
6. Mobile Time Clock/ Text Alert System – these clocking in options use mobile phones to send texts or clock in. Work perfect for remote locations or different job sites.
7. GPS Tracking Time Clock – A modern way to track employee’s hours and location. Once they log in into the system, their location and hours will be automatically tracked using GPS and Google Maps features. Works well with any GPS enabled device- laptop, smartphone or tablet.

On Premises or Cloud Based ?

Employee Time Clocks can be integrated as Cloud Based, On Premises or Hybrid Solutions.

If you need a time tracking tool that will work across multiple buildings and sites, different locations and even countries or time zones, then you should choose Cloud Based Time Clock Software.

If you need onsite solution and want to be able to configure it according to your company’s infrastructure and IT solutions, then you should go with On Premises Server Based Time Clock Software.

If you want to have a combination of Cloud Based and On Premises Solution, you can choose a Hybrid System and get the best convenient use of the software no matter where and when you need it.

 

Is it Safe to Use Cloud Based Systems Time Clock Software ?

There are many ways to ensure data security when using Cloud Based Systems. Here are some of them:

1. Approved IP – the access to the system will be limited only to those IP addresses that have been provided by a company.
2. User Login – each user can be assigned a unique username/password to login into the system and Active Directory of the computer. The access will be granted only to users from approved IP and with correct Login credentials
3. Easy Audit – This way all access logs can be tracked and be audited to determine who and when had an access to the system.
4. Encryption and Secure Database – all transfer data between end user and hosting can be encrypted by known protocols
5. DDos attacks prevention – partnering with hosting provider, additional IT security tools can be used to anticipate any possible threat or brute-force attacks
6. Daily backups will help keep the system data in a safe place making sure no data is lost for any reason
7. Higher Network Security and Monitoring will prevent penetration by any unauthorized user

Are Biometric Fingerprint Scanners Secure for Employees ?

While fingerprint scanners can read employee’s biometrics every time they clock in and clock out, these devices don’t store any real fingerprint, only a digital representation or “template”, so copies of fingerprints are not stored and  cannot be retrieved from scanning terminals which guarantees employee’s privacy and security.

 

Implementation of modern Employee Time Clock System will help companies automate time tracking methods, better manage working hours, reduce human errors and manual calculations, achieve accurate results with electronic payroll reports, assign staff to fixed and flexible shifts knowing who and when will be available at any given time and focus on more efficient HR Management and make improvements on time.