Updated April 9, 2024
What is employee time clock hardware?
An employee time clock is a hardware device for tracking work time. To use it, employees ‘punch’ in/out or ‘clock’ in/out. The term ‘punch in’ stems from early employee time clock hardware that required a physical card.
With a traditional mechanical time clock, the process from clocking to paycheck works as follows: First, at the beginning and ending of each shift, the employee inserts the card into the device which punches the card with a timestamp.
At the end of the pay period, employees add up work hours based on the timestamps. Following that, each employee submits their timecard to their manager. If an employee forgets, the manager has to remind the employee. A manager with a forgetful team might spend time every payroll tracking down timesheets.
When all employees have submitted their timesheets, a manager approves hours for those under their supervision. If the manager finds a mistake, like a missing punch, for example, they have to investigate and correct the error. As part of the process, the manager may have to manually enter the hours data into a spreadsheet.
Following that, the manager sends the time data to the payroll department. The payroll department uses the time card data to calculate withholdings, overtime if necessary, and issue a paycheck. In addition, the HR team uses the data to calculate accruals and do compliance reporting.
Why Small Businesses Should Invest in Time Clock Hardware
Employee time clock systems provide the following benefits:
Increased Payroll Accuracy
Automated time clock systems capture punches and track hours in real time. This eliminates the errors inherent with paper timecards. Your payroll process won’t be compromised by illegible writing, faulty memory, addition errors, and intentional timecard fraud. In addition, you can import hours directly into your payroll system without manual data entry, thereby preventing further errors.
HR Metrics for Time and Labor Management
Time clock hardware integrated with timekeeping software tracks key metrics that include employee hours by team, overtime, leave hours, and hours by job code. Small business owners can use these metrics to make data-informed decisions about scheduling, project management, staffing and job bidding.
Prevention of Unauthorized Overtime
Time clock hardware and software track hours by employee. Managers can set threshold alerts which allow them to adjust staffing before time and half kicks in.
Employee Hours Theft Prevention
As mentioned previously, automated time collection eliminates timecard fraud. Another expensive form of employee time theft is buddy punching. With a biometric time clock, an employee cannot punch in for a co-worker. A time clock app with geofencing allows a supervisor to see the location of mobile punches – thereby improving oversight for mobile and remote employees.