If you are considering upgrading the time and attendance system you use for your business, there’s just one thing to say: It’s about time! Literally!
Today’s web-based time and attendance software programs are more affordable and do more than what systems offered just a few years ago. Now there’s no excuse for just about any company – no matter how small – to upgrade its time clock system.
There are many compelling reasons to make the switch to a newer, more efficient system. They typically can record your worker’s time punches and track their work time more cheaply than you can do it manually with a time clock. They often essentially replace the need for a payroll department because they can make the necessary calculations automatically. And they cut down on payroll fraud, inaccurate punches, and other common problems with manual systems that can cost your business real money.
Many Types of Systems
Today, there are a wide variety of automated time and attendance systems to choose from, some of which are quite sophisticated.
For example, there are systems that use employee biometrics to accurately assure that the employee punching in or out is the one who should be. These include such things as fingerprint scans, facial recognition programs, and even retinal scans. While these may seem like science fiction concepts, they actually are widely used and available for a fraction of what they used to cost. In fact, your current Smart Phone can do pretty much all of these things already.
But before you start researching a new automated time and attendance system for your business, you need to do a brief inventory of your current payroll needs as well as consider what you would like to be able to do in the future.
To help you with this, we have put together this list of five essential questions to consider before looking at new web-based time and attendance systems.
How Big Is Your Business?
The bigger your company, the more you can benefit from an automated time and attendance system. Conversely, the small you are, the less of a need you may have for such a software. For example, if you are a one-person operation or have only a handful of employees, it may not make sense to invest in such a system right now.
But another thing to consider is how big you want your business to grow in the future. If you are planning on expanding to new locations, increasing the size of your current operations, or building the size and scope of your business in the coming years, then investing now in a high-quality time and attendance system that can help facilitate that growth may make economic sense – even if you don’t strictly need it in the short-term.
How Do You Track Time Now?
What sort of time and attendance tracking does your business use now? Is it a time clock? A sign in sheet? Do you or your managers simply keep track of everybody’s time and attendance manually? If so, you’ve probably got more problems than you realise.
Manual tracking of time may have worked well in the (first half) of the 20th Century, but for 21st Century businesses with more than, say, four or five employees it probably is costing you more money than you can afford. That’s because such systems are not only highly inaccurate, but they lead to such intrinsic problems as low employee morale, payroll abuse, favouritism, and other problems.
How Accurate Is Your Payroll Right Now?
How often do employees complain about being shorted pay? How often do your bookkeepers discover clerical errors in which employees have been overpaid? What about late punches or early outs? Do you have a system in place to track these and is it reliable enough to support disciplinary action? If not, you may not be able to hold any employee accountable and may have a free for all on your hands.
What Type of Payroll Analytics Do You Use?
Most businesses have discovered that the data they capture with their time and attendance systems not only helps them accurately calculate payroll, but also assists them in efficiently managing their business to achieve both their short- and long-term profit objectives.
What about your company? Can you rely on the information you collect through your time clock or other system to consistently make decisions about scheduling, productivity, and other issues that are critical for the success (or failure) of your business?
How Much Do You Pay for Payroll Services?
If you handle payroll in-house, how much do you pay each week to somebody whose job it is to calculate your payroll? Or, you may be paying an outside service to handle your payroll for you. In either case, you probably are paying more right now for the same services automated time and attendance systems can do for you for a fraction of the price.
Once you have made an honest assessment of your current practices based on these five questions, you can then move forward to start considering the type of time and attendance software offered by us at Advance Systems. To learn more, click here now.