Payroll management can be a headache no matter what the size of your company. Recently, Kessler International published a survey which revealed almost 80 percent of all service industry and retail employees have ‘stolen time’ in one way or another. ‘Stealing time’ typically means the employees are misreporting hours, having colleagues clock them in or out, or are staying on the clock when they are not working. While you can track your employees’ time and attendance manually or via an automated system, both have their benefits and their drawbacks. Read on to see which system best meets your needs.
Pros and Cons of Automated Systems vs. Manual Attendance Systems
- Accuracy: With an automated system, there is no human error. When you manually track your employees’ time, your employees typically report their hours after they've worked them. This will often increase the likelihood of inaccurate reporting. An employee may not intend to misrepresent his hours, he may just forget what his actual in and out times were. Or, if an employee has illegible handwriting, it could make it difficult for payroll to determine actual hours worked. With manual reporting, your company is basically relying on the honor system. This system can be abused, which can lead to time theft.
- Increased Productivity: Companies who use a manual payroll process spend several hours each pay period collecting time cards, re-entering an illegible data by hand, faxing, phoning, and processing payroll. When you employ an automated time and attendance system, the payroll process takes just minutes each period.
- Savings: With an automated system, you’ll save payroll processing hours and eliminate time theft which means your bottom line will improve.
- Regulatory Compliance: An automated time and attendance system will not guarantee you’ll be compliant with all employment laws, the data that’s collected through the system can ensure you have the information at your fingertips you’ll need to comply with all labor regulations. With an automated timekeeping system, you’ll have the ability to pull up reports quickly. This will provide you with all of the information you’ll need if you’re ever subject to an audit from the Department of Labor.
HR Solutions
While automating your time and attendance will help save you time and money, there are some drawbacks. You will have to shop around to choose a system that best fits all of your needs. Every system is different, finding one with all the features that you need is important.
Additionally, you and your employees will need to buy-in to the new system. It can take time to get used to new processes, and some employees may be resistant to change.
However, once employees see how simple and easy it is to use the new system, and how much more information they have at their fingertips compared to a manual system, they’ll be happy to get on board.
An automated timekeeping solution is simple to use and simple to set up. They are user-friendly and will make your day-to-day tasks easier than a manual system ever did.