Keeping track of the attendance time for employees is a time consuming task. Not only does this involve knowing how many hours each employee works, but it also requires allocating that time appropriately. It is extremely tedious when companies perform this essential duty manually.
The use of an electronic attendance management system can save time and money. Supervisors manage scheduling to ensure department duties are covered with the system. Additionally, it reduces errors made from manual calculations.
Get a handle on this common but costly issue with Mitrefinch Time and Attendance Software. As more states establish additional record keeping requirements for employers, Mitrefinch introduces its time attendance software as an easy, efficient way to adhere to requirements and reduce costly violations.All states have requirements regarding notices and wage statements. These requirements stipulate how often employees must be notified of things like rate of pay, overtime rate, basis of the employees pay, and allowances, as well as information required to be included on wage statements.
Employers who do not keep up with changing recordkeeping laws subject themselves to expensives penalties, fines, and legal fees. In New York, for example, an employer who does not keep payroll records may receive a misdemeanor conviction, a fine of up to $5,000, and one years imprisonment.
Not being aware of these laws, or not fully understanding them, is not an excuse. Fortunately, workforce management solutions like Mitrefinch Time and Attendance Software take the guesswork out of recordkeeping, allowing organizations the peace of mind of knowing they are meeting recordkeeping regulations.Time and attendance software helps with:
- Scheduling. Eliminate recordkeeping errors by accurately keeping track of regular time and overtime worked.
- Payroll. Download information from the workforce management database directly to payroll, completely eliminating manual mistakes.
- Compliance. Configure the system to send an alert when employment practices violate company, state, or federal legislation. The system is regularly updated by Advance Systems when recordkeeping regulations change, ensuring your recordkeeping practices are always up to par.
- Notices. Configure the system to send out payroll notices to new hires within the required time frame, as well as annual notices as required by law.
Mitrefinch’s team of experts is eager to share additional ways to use time and attendance management software to reduce record keeping violations.
Why an Electronic Attendance System is Important for Companies
The workforce is one of the most expensive line items that impacts growth and productivity. As a result, there are two paramount reasons companies should install a system to manage employee time.
First, an electronic system increases the chance for accurate and reliable information regarding employees’ work schedules. An accurate system tracks employee attendance easily. The alternative is costly missteps in regulatory compliance, among other things.
Second, tracking attendance electronically makes labor supervision more manageable. Many of the negative aspects that follow unreliable and inaccurate timekeeping are eliminated. Below are
4 Benefits to Having a System to Manage Employee Attendance
1. Reliable and Accurate Data
Manual timesheets were fraught with the potential of costly errors. Avoiding mistakes usually cost more in productivity when one employee was usually responsible for timekeeping. Calculating and allocating hours worked for an entire workforce required sacrificing productivity.
An electronic system addresses these issues. The importance of reliable and accurate data cannot be overemphasized. Not only are employees no longer manually recording their time, but an attendance management system helps eliminate time theft.
Supervisors make an accurate assessment of employee work hours. They have the ability to address any issues before the problem worsens. Each time an employee punches in or out, data is collected electronically. Whether a company uses a biometric electronic time clock, mobile device or web browser, attendance information transfers in real-time.
Supervisors and managers can gather insights about the true cost of labor. This gives them a clear view on the health of the business.
2. Increased Productivity among Employees
One thing that can quickly absorb company profits is low productivity. No one disputes manually entering hours worked each pay cycle is a laborious and tedious task. However, many companies continue to use this familiar process. On average, five hours per day is spent processing payroll in this manner.
Not only is this process prone to more errors, but a company experiences fewer financial successes. However, automating employee time with an effective system ensures time records are error-free.
An electronic format transfers data to outside payroll vendors. This gives employees more time to concentrate on their roles and responsibilities that produce results for the company. Manual reentry is eliminated. Time devoted to payroll decreases from five hours per day to less than 20 minutes per pay cycle.
3. Improve Performance Management and Job Costing
Companies that remain competitive are the ones actively pursuing growth strategies while balancing costs. Time tracking systems designed with job costing and performance management features make these goals easier.
Money coming into companies should cover total costs for processing products and services. This requires a system that tracks:
• Quantity
• Cost
• Projects
Performance management features enable managers to compare:
• Planned jobs
• Budgets
• Employee performance
Accessing this data in real-time gives managers the information they need to reduce costs, make improvements to budgets and boost employee performance.
4. Develop a Strong Company Culture
Usually, culture is not the first consideration when deciding to implement an attendance management system. Yet, employees appreciate having access to their own information. Time tracking software that includes an employee self-service feature does contribute to morale.
Self-service tools empower employees when they feel a shared control of their information with the employer. This level of engagement helps to prove employees are valuable assets. The positive reflection on the company’s culture presents it as a great place to work. The energy of employees cannot be denied and is reflected in productivity metrics.
Features of a time and attendance system with a self-service module allow employees to take control of their schedules. Additionally they can view hours from previous pay periods. Available vacation and sick time is also visible for them to submit time off requests. Managers can easily approve time off, shift swaps and hours worked.
In conclusion, an electronic system improves the entire payroll and management of attendance for many reasons. It reduces time and effort for tracking hours worked. This system significantly reduces how much time is spent on processing payroll. A simple click on a few buttons sends data to managers and payroll processing systems.
Shuffling spreadsheets and paper time cards are no longer an issue. Cost-savings occur without payroll errors associated with underpayments and overpayments. One department is not burdened with tedious, but necessary, payroll tasks. Instead, companies see a greater return on investing in an attendance system that improves overall business results.
