What’s time and attendance in HR? and what does a non-desk-worker business need?

Tracking time and attendance accurately is essential for the success of small businesses, as it helps streamline workforce management. This post provides elaborate information on how using an automated time and attendance system can improve greater efficiency, boost employee engagement, and ensure compliance with labor laws.

In human resource parlance, time and attendance is the process of tracking and managing employee work hours, attendance, and leave for efficient workforce management, accurate payroll and withholdings, and legal compliance. It allows businesses to streamline scheduling, ensure adequate coverage across shifts or locations, and guarantee fair wage practices in compliance with prevailing labor laws. It also helps identify and mitigate practices like willful delays, absenteeism, and buddy pinching.

The key components of time and attendance include:

• Time Tracking: Monitoring when employees clock in and out to record the total hours worked, overtime, and breaks.
• Attendance Management: Tracking the days when the workers are present, absent, and on leave to manage schedules and shifts.
• Leave Management: Handling employee leave requests for consistent application of leave policies.
• Compliance: Complying with labor laws to avoid penalties or legal action.
• Integration with Payroll: Providing accurate data to reduce payroll errors.

Designing an effective time and attendance policy

Non-desk worker businesses, like construction, real estate, and field service industries, must design time and attendance policies that are tailored to their unique operational challenges and improve employee efficiency, while also ensuring legal compliance. Steps to create an effective time and attendance policy typically include:

• Clearly outlining work hours, overtime rules, break times, and attendance requirements in simple language.
• Implementing mobile-friendly tracking methods to accommodate employees working across multiple sites or in remote locations.
• Setting up a transparent process for request and approval of leave or absences.
• Aligning the time and attendance policy with applicable regulations to ensure compliance with labor laws.
• Using automated time and attendance systems to minimize manual errors, provide real-time data, and integrate attendance records directly with payroll.
• Establishing a system for employees to report issues or disputes for timely resolution.
• Regularly assessing the policy’s effectiveness and adapting it to the changing workforce needs, industry standards, or legal requirements.

Opt for automated time and attendance solutions

Manual time and attendance tracking involves using paper logs or spreadsheets. It is not only prone to errors but is also time-consuming and harder to scale up to match business growth. On the other hand, automated solutions can easily integrate with payroll systems, minimize errors in wage calculations, and help address compliance needs of a growing business.

Moreover, with mobile apps, these solutions allow field employees or those in remote locations to check in or out from their respective locations.

Therefore, it is recommended that businesses use automated tools that leverage technology like biometrics (fingerprint, facial recognition, or retina scans) or cloud-based systems (that automate timekeeping, attendance, and reporting) to improve accuracy and efficiency, save time, reduce administrative burden, and gain real-time insights on employee productivity.

Features to look for

Selecting an automated time and attendance solution for improved operational efficiency, accuracy, and scalability requires careful consideration of key features, including those described below:

• Seamless integration with payroll, HR, and scheduling software.
• Cloud-based access for secure, remote data storage with anytime, anywhere accessibility.
• Multi-device support to allow access via mobile apps, desktops, and biometric devices.
• Easy-to-use, intuitive interface, and auto alerts for both employees and administrators.
• Real-time tracking for instant updates on employee check-ins, check-outs, and locations.
• Geolocation features such as GPS tracking and geofencing, for non-desk or field employees.
• Customizable policies and flexible settings to match specific business rules for overtime, shifts, and leave.
• Ability to scale up or down according to business needs.
• Reporting and analytics features providing detailed insights into attendance trends and workforce productivity.
• In-built compliance tools to facilitate automatic tracking of labor law requirements like breaks and overtime limits.

Get an integrated Time and attendance experience with Fingercheck’s all-in-one platform

Fingercheck seamlessly integrates payroll, HR, and scheduling into a single platform to simplify workforce management for small businesses, while also minimizing errors and maintaining compliance with evolving labor laws. With a user-friendly interface, biometric and geofencing capabilities, and accessibility through a mobile app, it allows businesses to accurately track attendance and manage schedules.

Designed for scalability, Fingercheck’s automated time and attendance solution allows businesses to easily customize settings to accommodate shifts, overtime rules, and leave policies.

Streamline the time and attendance process, save time, and enhance transparency with Fingercheck. Chat now!