Learn More About Time & Attendance Software
What is Time & Attendance Software?
The times of manual punch card systems are long outdated thanks to time & attendance software. Currently, time & attendance tools help monitor logged employee hours, time off, sick days, and breaks, which helps reduce unnecessary labor costs like overpaying workers who are not actually clocked in. It also helps businesses follow labor regulations compliance by providing proof of attendance. All of this is done digitally, improving accuracy and ease of use, while also streamlining payroll tasks and scheduling tasks.
Time & attendance software delivers a few key features. One of the core features includes employee hour tracking. Employees have the ability to clock in and out when their work shift begins and ends, logging the number of hours each designated employee works each day. These systems also have the capability of tracking employee breaks and absenteeism when an employee fails to clock in on a scheduled work day. In addition to tracking absenteeism, these tools track planned days off and provide a visual schedule that managers and other employees can reference to note which employees will and won’t be working on a specific day.
Key Benefits of Time & Attendance Software
- Easy and transparent employee scheduling
- Time theft prevention
- Improved regulatory compliance
- Fewer timekeeping errors
Why Use Time & Attendance Software?
Time & attendance software helps businesses ensure properly tracked billable hours. This proves to be an asset for many reasons:
Visibility and transparency — Managers that monitor the metrics within their solution are able to identify potential overtime hours, attendance issues, and other discrepancies that would normally be hard to pin down. Employees and managers can also view which employees are designated to work during a certain day and time, as well as see who plans on taking time off in the future.
Workforce metrics — Time & attendance software delivers key insights into the performance and billable hours worked for each employee. This is especially helpful when reviewing employee performance and pinpointing successful employees.
Improved payroll accuracy — By allowing employees to track their hours, payroll is much more precise. With time clocks, employees clock in the moment they begin work, and clock out the moment they leave work. The billable hours are precise to the minute, preventing overpayment.
Who Uses Time & Attendance Software?
The benefits provided by time & attendance software mostly cater to businesses that employ hourly employees and are required to track their billable hours to pay them correctly. Freelancers and human resources departments also both benefit from time & attendance software. Freelancers can track their own billable hours and human resources departments can track paid time off requests.
Businesses with hourly employees — Any business that solely employes hourly employees, or even employs some hourly employees, can use time & attendance software as a way for employees to clock in and out, track their hours, and schedule days off.
Businesses that track billable hours — Even if a business only employs salaried employees, time & attendance software can still prove useful in some cases. For example, a business that needs to track billable hours to make an accurate invoice or track the amount of time spent on a project benefits from the features time & attendance software provides.
Freelancers — Self-employed workers greatly benefit from time & attendance software as it’s their primary way of tracking their own work and payroll. While many freelance platforms include built-in time tracking solutions, many freelancers opt for time & attendance software to ensure they are accurately tracking and billing clients.
Human resources departments — HR departments often rely on time & attendance software to track paid time off requests and scheduled days off for their employees. These tools can automate schedule-related tasks, which can be useful for companies with a large workforce.
Time & Attendance Software Features
Time & attendance software features a vast variety of benefits that relate to timekeeping, scheduling, and tracking.
Time clock — One of the main features that caters to businesses with hourly employees is the time clock feature. Hourly employees can use this feature to clock in and out on a scheduled work day. Employees clock in at the start and end of their scheduled work day, as well as for unpaid breaks. This tracks the exact amount of hours each employee has submitted each day. Many time clocks require a password or identification check before the employee is able to clock in or out.
Time tracking — The time tracking feature highlights the amount of time an employee spends on a particular task or project. This gives managers an idea of where time is being spent and how long certain tasks take. This feature also helps freelancers record and gauge the billable hours for a job or project.
Employee time off — Time & attendance software offers employees the ability to submit time off requests that can later be approved by a manager or human resources department. In addition, this feature allows businesses to track time off requests to plan ahead for employee absence. Managers can also check the available amount of time off an employee has and accept or reject requests when necessary.
Scheduling — Alongside the time clock feature, businesses can showcase the employees scheduled to work on a designated day. Businesses can use this schedule to plan out the day and assign projects and tasks to specific employees.
Reports — Many tools feature reporting capabilities that highlight employee work hours, absences, and tardiness. Other reports may include financial summaries and time off summaries. These metrics can also be used for performance management.
Automation — A useful feature that helps managers and human resources departments is the automation feature. Automation helps streamline manual tasks associated with tracking employee hours.
Potential Issues with Time & Attendance Software
The potential issues related to time & attendance software involve the employees using the software, and not the software itself. Employers or administrators should take time theft and time clock adjustment incidents seriously and communicate the consequences to employees or users clearly.
Time theft — One drawback involving time & attendance software is that it’s possible for someone to be able to clock in for another employee. Most tools offer password protection or require at least one form of identification before the employee is able to clock in. Enhanced biometric security is trending, which will help improve this issue.
Time clock adjustments — It’s common for employees to forget to clock in and out. Businesses should be prepared to occasionally adjust employee hours when this happens.
