Time and Attendance Today

Using biometrics to collect time and attendance information can save your company a bundle. A new report from Nucleus Research found that using biometrics actually reduces payroll error, because it lessens the need for manual review and reduces correction time by HR personnel. It also completely stops the practise known as “buddy punching,” when one employee helpfully signs another one in, leading to inaccurate time reporting and creating false conclusions when doing workflow analysis.

Between error and fraud, research has found that the average payroll error rate is 1.2 percent of a company’s total payroll! By moving to an automated time and attendance system, companies can save a bundle. Although RFID tag readers and card-based security have been used in the industry for years, biometrics can provide another layer of security. For companies that charge out employee time, biometrics is attendance and trackable, which can go a long way toward reducing liability - because it is impossible to forge, a biometrics audit trail will stand up in court, or during arbitration. And in regulated industries such as airlines and trucking, where time on the road or in the air is a matter of possible legal action, biometrics are a fool-proof and may well become an essential attendance management tool.

“Companies should consider investments in time and attendance applications as a low-risk, low-cost way to reduce payroll costs and improve productivity,” said Rebecca Wettemann, VP of Research for Nucleus Research. “Advanced biometrics, such as those that use hand geometry, can greatly improve accuracy and virtually eliminate ‘buddy punching’ for even greater ROI.”

Leading companies like Kronos, one of the best-known HR payroll solutions providers, can already incorporate various biometric devices into their time and attendance software workflows. Along with powerful analytics engines that can analyze efficiency and suggest improvements in workforce deployment, an automated system is the fastest way to ensure productivity.

There are some cases, however, where biometrics are harder to implement. Telecommuting workers, for instance, can’t sign into a biometric device without being issued one - but they are decreasing in cost every day. And devices such as fingerprint readers are being increasingly included on laptops for data security. Dropping prices and new technology should make it possible for an employee to sign in remotely from anywhere in the world, and companies can rest assured in the knowledge that they’re getting quality, accurate payroll data.