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There are lots of reasons for companies to track employee attendance, such as:
- Accurate payroll process
- Fair earnings for employees
- Accurate labor costs
- Accurate project estimations
- Streamlined staff hiring and scheduling process
- Clean records for the time spent at work
How Do Companies Track Employee Attendance?
Initially, companies used pen-and-paper timesheets, time clocks, and similar manual tools to record employee attendance. Employees would use these attendance methods by clocking in and out each day when they started and finished work and marking their breaks and other absences. These methods are tried and proven, but they also have weaknesses, such as calculation inaccuracies and a great deal of manual input, resulting in long processing periods that require plenty of employee resources.
Today, the most effective type of attendance tracking comes in the form of time tracking software, and most of them combine time tracking and attendance tracking in a single software app.
The software is designed to be very easy to use to cater to older and/or tech illiterate employees, as clock-ins and clock-outs for attendance tracking can be completed in a few seconds. Employees also receive reminders to clock in and out on a daily basis, which means tardiness and forgetfulness are eliminated as well.
The Advantages of Attendance Tracking Using Software
Beyond simplicity and efficiency, there are a couple more benefits that come with attendance tracking using software:
Law Compliance
Different states usually have their own time tracking laws and regulations. With paper attendance sheets, managers or employers would have to check with their local Department of Labor to get up to speed on local timekeeping laws.
On the other hand, companies that use specialized software can easily stay on top of different state regulations. This is because some of the high-end attendance software automatically notifies management of the attendance tracking regulations and laws of the state it operates in.
Reducing Costs
Mistakes cost companies money. This can also apply to manual attendance tracking and tracking work hours for payroll. The attendance tracking software can greatly reduce the element of human error by reducing the manual input to a minimum and allowing HR teams to dedicate their time to other more productive tasks instead of calculating workplace data.
Accuracy
The software accurately tracks employee attendance to the last work hour and allows managers to create reports on employee attendance and use the data when creating progress or activity reports. The reports help avoid mix-ups when it’s time for client billing and payroll.
Time Fraud
Project management software provides employees with their own individual user accounts to log in and out of and track their attendance and work hours. Moreover, the software eliminates the buddy-punching factor and discourages long lunch breaks during work hours.
