Effective workforce management is the solution to a host of different organizational problems. Apart from solving problems in the workplace, it also prevents the same from spawning in the first place. Effective workforce management can improve productivity, punctuality, and overall satisfaction for both the employers and the employees.
One vital element of effective workforce management is employee attendance. Properly checking and managing employee attendance can encourage punctuality and time-management skills while also providing performance insights to the management. These insights can help management take better actions regarding their human resources.
Tracking employee attendance can become tricky when it comes to remote or hybrid jobs. In on-site jobs, the employees are physically present, and the employer can easily verify their attendance. However, in remote settings, it doesn’t remain as easy.
In this post, we’re going to talk about modern tools that can be used for smarter and more efficient attendance tracking. Let’s get started.
Modern Tools for Smart Employee Management
Biometric attendance systems
Biometric attendance systems are a modern solution for smarter and more effective attendance tracking. They can be set up for both on-site employees as well as remote workers.
The main benefit of using biometric attendance systems is that they require the employee to be physically present in order to clock in their working hours. In other words, the employees have to be physically available to mark themselves present.
This can prevent employees from “buddy punching,” a practice in which one person clocks in or out for another so that they don’t show up as late. With a biometric system in place, only the specific employee can clock themselves in and out.
The most common method of biometric attendance used nowadays is fingerprint scanning. Many organizations and offices have fingerprint scanners installed near the entrances and exits of the building. The employees can simply place their thumb (or any other finger) on the scanner on their way in and out of the building. This clocks them in and out, making the process quick yet fool-proof.
A similar system can be set up for remote employees, which allows them to scan their fingerprints via their phone or via a dedicated scanner attached to their computer.
What are the benefits of biometric attendance systems?
- They are quick and convenient to use
- They help prevent buddy-punching, and they make sure that the person is actually present
- They are affordable and easy to set up
Cloud-Based Attendance Systems
Even if the method of clocking in and out is simplified, which is the goal of biometric verification mentioned above, there still is the matter of checking and managing the attendance information.
Streamlining this process, i.e., effectively viewing and compiling employee attendance information, is also important for smarter workforce management.
For this purpose, cloud-based attendance systems can be used. These systems serve to track the hours clocked by each individual employee, along with the details about when the time was initiated, where it was initiated from, and whether or not there were any breaks in between.
Platforms like Time Doctor are used to track employee attendance via the cloud. Employees can clock in, work, and then clock out, leaving the details of their shift viewable by the management.
How can cloud-based attendance systems help improve workforce management?
Cloud-based attendance systems give the management a central point where they can view and manage the details of their employees’ clocked hours.
Mobile Attendance Apps
Using mobile attendance apps is also a good way to improve employee attendance. It can help employees clock in and clock out in a quicker and more efficient way. In contrast to physically checking in and checking out, doing the same thing via a mobile app makes things easier.
With mobile attendance apps, organizations can create specific rules and regulations for clocking in and clocking out. For example, an office can demarcate a certain area in and around the office as a geofence for marking attendance. Any attempts to mark attendance beyond that point can be ignored (and, if needed, reported).
These types of measures can help ensure that the employees are physically present on the premises before checking in. For remote employees, the geofence can be used as a way to ensure that they are near their home office where they are expected to work.
You can also make use of specific Wi-Fi connectivity to make sure employees check in from the office and not from someplace else. For example, you can set up the attendance app to only accept “clock in” requests when the device is connected to a specific Wi-Fi access point.
QR Code-Based Attendance Systems
Making the checking-in process quicker and easier for employees is key to streamlining the attendance system. If the process is quick and easy, employees can clock in without wasting time and have their hours measured properly, making them eligible for the proper remuneration.
Apart from the methods mentioned above (such as biometric verification and mobile apps), another way of doing this is to use a QR code-based attendance system.
QR codes are quite prevalent nowadays, thanks to their simple design and vast combination pool. They can be generated and scanned quickly and are able to contain information such as text, phone numbers, and even URLs.
They can be integrated into attendance systems in a way that upon scanning them, employees can clock in and out. A simple QR code scanner can help in this task and make the entire process smooth and easy.
What are the benefits of using QR-code-based attendance systems?
With a QR-code-based attendance system, you can enjoy the following benefits:
- The QR scanning is a quick process, and your employees can quickly clock in and clock out
- The QR code (for clocking in/out) can be easily generated, creating less hassle for the management
GPS Tracking Tools
This point is similar to the “geofencing” we referenced earlier. Just as geofencing is a feature that relies on GPS to ensure attendance, other special GPS-based tools can also be used in a similar manner.
For an organization that has field agents who are constantly on the move, a GPS tracking tool can be quite useful. It can help the organization make sure that the workers are in the area where they’re supposed to be and that they are physically present at the location to carry out the job.
An application or software can be installed on a device that the workers will be required to constantly wear/keep on their person. This app or software could help the organization keep track of the exact locations of each worker, thus streamlining the process of tracking employee attendance.
AI-Powered Attendance Analysis
AI-Powered Attendance Analysis is also a useful tool that can be used to streamline employee attendance. Although it is not as commonly used and ubiquitous as some of the other things that we’ve mentioned, it is quite handy in theory and can work excellently for organizations that implement them correctly.
With AI-powered attendance analysis, organizations can easily see trends in the attendance patterns of their employees. They view the general performance of individual employees based on their attendance. The AI-powered system can also project and predict the performance of the employees based on past behavior.
These types of tools can help the organization better understand and gauge the performance of their workers, allowing them to take the right actions in the future.
Integration with Payroll Systems
One of the main reasons why attendance has to be meticulously tracked and measured is for accurate payroll processing. You need to make sure that the employees clock in their hours properly and get the due remuneration.
To streamline this process, you can integrate your attendance system with your company’s payroll system. This technique is an effective tool that you can utilize to perform smarter workforce management.
The benefit of integrating the attendance portal with the payroll system is that you’ll be able to import the data from the former to the latter directly. This will help the payroll system accurately calculate the monthly/weekly wages.
Time Zone Management Tools
For companies and organizations that have remote team members found in different parts of the world, time zone management tools are a must. According to Simpalm, an IT staffing company in Maryland, time zone management tools help teams coordinate across different time zones by automating scheduling, reducing the risk of missed meetings, and improving overall productivity.
What are these tools exactly? Time zone management tools are tools that can track employee hours across different time zones by individualizing each person. This helps to ensure that each person’s time is duly noted and that they receive the remuneration that they rightfully deserve.
Why are these tools important? Because when people are working from multiple time zones, their clocked hours can be difficult to track due to the difference in the clock times. A certain employee may clock in at 8 PM while another may log in at 7 PM, but they both could be on time according to their employer’s time zone.
Employee Self-Service Portals
Employee self-service portals are a great tool that can help optimize employee attendance. Unlike other types of attendance systems, such as biometric scanners, self-service portals (such as Bamboo HR) allow employees to log into their accounts and clock in/out.
There are many benefits to using portals like this:
- Employees are able to clock in and out themselves, giving them the assurance that their hours are being properly clocked.
- Employees are able to see the details of their attendance. This helps them know what to expect when they get paid and when to improve their performance.
- Employees can also raise any problems or errors with their attendance with the HR department and have them resolved before payday.
Compliance Management Tools
Compliance management tools help to make sure that the time clocked in by the employees is in compliance with the labor laws of your country/city. These tools help make sure that the employees are paid properly for all their hours. They also help to make sure that the employees are not overworked.
Incorporating compliance assurance tools in your attendance tracking arsenal helps improve workforce performance.
This brings to an end our post on streamlining employee attendance using modern tools. The tools and techniques that we’ve mentioned in this post can help you improve the efficiency of your organization. You can have your employees easily clock their hours using tools like biometric scanners and QR code-based attendance systems. Once the attendance information is entered, you can view and track it all easily using the cloud-based attendance system.
