Time tracking and attendance systems play an important role in the operations of businesses. A business that needs its employees to operate must be able to track the productivity and work that is being performed.

The biggest asset for most businesses is its workforce and it is essential to manage that efficiently.
Companies must realize that a time and attendance system is beneficial. Listed below are 7 reasons you should track time and attendance:

1. Reduces time spent on payroll

 

The first and foremost reason you need to upgrade to a time and attendance system is because it saves time.Your HR and employees otherwise spend time in calculating the number of hours they have worked.

Some organizations can even cut down their payroll management time by 70%. When employees don’t need to record, track, and process the time they’ve spent working every day, week and month, they have more time to concentrate on their respective tasks.

2. Avoid time theft and buddy punching

 

Some employees enjoy a lunch that is for longer than the allotted time. This fraud can be expensive since you are paying for hours that are wasted. Additionally, employees could be clocking in for a coworker who is late,also known as ‘buddy punching’.

An automated time and attendance system can prevent these situations because the unique fingerprint of each employee is matched.

3. Access to Employee Information

 

Employees commonly have questions with respect to the time off they have for the year or the number of sick days they have banked. The HR struggles to share this information and discrepancies generally arise.

A time and attendance software provide employees with easy access to this information. The time they spend on particular projects can also be judged giving them an understanding of how they can get rid of their inefficiencies.

4. Improve departmental performance

 

Managers prepare work schedules to ensure that there is effective staff for the execution of department tasks. Workload must be directly proportional to the manpower allotted. There are three aspects that the schedule must focus on to achieve this:
• Optimum coverage
• Lowered labour costs
• Improved employee satisfaction
If any of these three is not appropriately achieved, the department can go off balance. In the presence of a time and attendance tracking system, managers have instant updates and can appropriately fill in gaps and empty shifts.

5. Reduce resource and time spent on paperwork

 

Flipping through several papers and maintaining them can take a lot of your time. You also need to constantly get resources such as paper, pen, printer ink, files, stapler, etc.

With a time and attendance tracking system, you can avoid such challenges.

6. Ensures policy adherence and discipline

 

Attendance patterns give managers an insight into the working habits of employees. They understand which employee fall behind and which ones have a stellar performance. Managers can then identify the best performers and recognize them with rewards.

This can lead to motivation and increased efficiency. In fact, it can also boost the morale of other employees to start focusing on their timings and hours.

7. The system can upgrade with your business

 

A paper-based system will not last for long. When your business is small with limited number of people, you can record and track the time manually. However, when you expand, your system needs to upgrade with you. You will have more information to monitor, process, and track.

Instead of spending time identifying a system at that time when you grow big, do it now when your timekeeping needs are manageable. You’ll also get used to the system before it’s time for you to actually make use of it.

Time and attendance systems help to improve overall financial conditions. This means there’s more money available for acquiring customers and improving relations with the existing ones.

In fact, for a lot of small businesses, a time tracking and attendance system can make the difference between being successful or failing.