For a successful business, workforce management is essential. Rising labor costs can be a trouble that can spiral out of control, fast eating up profits. How to track employee time and attendance to handle workforce expenses better?

You need reliable attendance tracking that can provide data to get an overview of the expenses to stay within budget, maintain accurate records, and remain compliant with labor laws. Whether a small business or an enterprise, there is a need for taking time and attendance for smooth workplace functioning.

We have put together this guide to give you an overview of available options to track employee time and attendance.

Five ways to track employee time and attendance

1. Paper-based attendance registers or timesheets

Attendance registers or timesheets are the oldest ways to track employee time and attendance. Evidently, with modern tools available, paper-based attendance recording is an outdated way that’s counter-productive. HR managers have to spend tedious hours maintaining attendance registers which is not a productive utilization of their time that could be better invested in action-oriented work.

With the changing work environment and various work modes, such as remote hybrid work culture becoming popular, paper-based timesheets are no longer relevant. Also, calculating employee working hours manually every day adds to the administrative burdens, which can be easily avoided with automated attendance systems.

2. Manually recording employee hours in a spreadsheet

Most small businesses use spreadsheet programs like Excel to manage employee attendance. While in comparison to paper systems, it is an upgrade, in 2022, the technology has become outdated. Compared to modern software tools, spreadsheets are categorized as manual entry systems.

The requirement is to manually enter employee time and attendance data, which is time-consuming and prone to errors. Manual attendance keeping is a repetitive task that can lead to employee burnout. Another issue with manually recording employee hours in the spreadsheet is no security is provided to keep the data safe.

With the rise of cybersecurity concerns, any online attendance tracking system implemented in an organization must be fully secured.

3. Swiping an employee ID card, key card, or badge

Another way to track employee time and attendance is with card swipe time clocks, key cards, and employee ID cards. Punch cards were popular to record employee time and attendance during the 80s. It is not difficult to imagine a line of workers queuing up at a manufacturing unit to start their workday.

Some industry is still using punch cards, but their drawbacks, like buddy punching and other time theft fraudulent behavior, cost employers too much money. A modern equivalent of punching card machines is the card swipe time clock. Such a time and attendance system require employees to swipe a scanned badge or employee ID card to automatically upload data into the system.

While these systems are not as secure as biometric time clocks, they still offer a level of automation and can be a feasible option for some companies.

4. Biometric time and attendance tracking systems

The most widely implemented attendance tracking hardware is the biometric system that recognizes and records attendance based on the employees’ biometric data. It significantly improves physical ID cards that can be lost or forgotten. These systems use employee fingerprints, retinal scans, or facial recognition to offer security and accurate attendance.

Biometric Time and attendance-keeping systems eliminate time fraud and human errors that can contribute to maintaining a safer work environment.

5. Software-based employee attendance systems

The pandemic forced companies to adopt attendance systems that are easy to manage and offer touch-free operation. The software-based employee attendance systems are designed to offer cloud-based centralized control over employee data. This provides them with unmatched security and scalability.

Today, software-based employee attendance systems are used in several industries for workforce management. Truein is one of the best software-based employee attendance systems. It is a hardware-less, cloud-based face recognition attendance system that offers exclusive features such as leave management, attendance policy implementation, geo-fencing and GPS tracking, and easy integration into most payroll systems.

Truein is a cloud-based application that employees and managers can use directly through their phones as an app. It uses AI-based technology for facial recognition, which makes it highly accurate. Industries like construction, manufacturing, and mining require Truein to easily record the attendance of workers without relying on biometric features like fingerprints that can be covered in dirt or smudged with oil, making recording attendance challenging.

Conclusion

For a profitable business, you need to manage your labor costs and other workforce expenses efficiently. A modern employee time and attendance tracking system like Truein can provide tools that help HR to make data-driven decisions. It is an essential step towards creating a workplace ecosystem where employees are satisfied and accurately paid while the company enjoys increased productivity and revenues.