Biometric timeclocks: Worth it for your company?
October 13, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Payroll software, Time and attendance
Some companies are turning to electronic fingerprint scanners to keep track of when workers come and go. Is this the future of payroll, or a system that’s too high-tech for its own good?
Basically, the technology replaces the old punch clocks (and even older paper time sheets). Instead of inserting a card, employees press a finger or palm to a scanner when they come to work or leave for the day. The system keeps track of the time for payroll.
The point is to streamline the timekeeping process, and to keep employees honest (since there are no time sheets to falsify and no way of having a co-worker punch in for you if you’re late).
Apparently, some big companies like Dunkin Donuts and Hilton hotels are already on board.
But will it catch on? Who knows. First of all, it probably doesn’t need to be mentioned that these systems are expensive. It might be worth it if you’re keeping track of a lot of employees who commit a lot of timekeeping fraud, but at most places, things may not be that complex.
Also, there’s already been a backlash from employees at companies where these systems have been implemented. Installing such an extreme fraud-proof system certainly sends a message of mistrust, and firms may find that the negative psychological effects outweigh other benefits.
What do you think? Does your company use biometric devices, or are you thinking about using them? Give your opinion in the comment box below.
View all the Latest StoriesTags: biometrics, timeclock
October 14th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
We installed Kronos at 18 facilities across North America and Mexico, and it is certainly expensive. Close to half a million USD by the time we are done. Will it ever pay for itself? I doubt it, but it is a very slick system. We did have some initial “you don’t trust us” backlash, but the honest ones have never had an issue with it.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
We are a medium sized company (about 1000 associates.) We recently moved to a bio-metric system-along with a new payroll/HR and T&A system. We have found a number of changes that have made the system pay for itself, and not all of them just time keeping fraud. We found that we had over paid out perfect attendance bonus by well into 6 digits over the prior 3 years, primarily because it was a manual system, and people make mistakes, especially as people move on and off bonus status for each weekly payroll. We also saved a lot of time in our administration department because of the lost/forgotten badge issue is no longer a problem. Some people “forgot” their badge because they were late and didn’t want to clock in and get points for being late, and others really did forget their badges. The time taken to post all the manual punches, and validate the correct time was quite a savings.
October 14th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
First of all, fingerprint biometric devices don’t capture and store fingerprints so that should allay the fears of “big brother” or identity theft. Furthermore, the readers are expensvie BUT, the prices have been falling steadily. And, most importantly, Time and Attendance systems do prevent time theft and fraud (budding punching) from occurring. Most clients utilizing Time and attendance systems will see a positive R.O.I. in a very short period of time.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
We purchased the Jantek Jupiter system 2 years ago. Expensive-yes. Worth it-yes. Aside from the areas that Andy A. mentioned it also saved us in payroll costs in the PAYROLL dept. Salary savings for the employees involved with payroll production saved us a ton. Also bio-metric systems have built in audit trails and other fail safe systems that eliminate data entry errors as well as establishing inputting securities. Payroll audits are a breeze with this system.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
We changed from a manual system (cards) about 5 years ago and went to a card reader system. It worked OK for a few years then we added more shifts, changed rounding rules, etc, etc. the system couldn’t handle the 300+ employees with all he different start/stop times. Now during this “employment downturn” were somewhere around 110 employees. I’d like to changover to something different now before we get into a growth spurt and start recalling people and adding shifts, but I’m not sure which way to go. The plant environment is such that dust and debris accumulate in the track or slot where the card is swiped and this causes missed punches. Weknow this because we have a camera at the time clock station and can review who accesses the clock. We don’t need to interface with any payroll entity like ADP because we do our own payroll and send the information to an independent agent. If anyone out there has any suggestions on which way to go, PLEASE REPLY. Like what system you have and how it works for you,or other recommendations.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Are there any “NEW” systems in the Reading, PA area that someone is using now or is aware of?
October 14th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
To Ed Blumberg-We purchased Time Clock Plus. It reads the top of your hand. We currently have over 100 employees on the system. We have two clocks that read the employee hand. A few quirks at the beginning but with the support from the company we have it running pretty smoothly now. We’ve been using it about 6 months now and we will be interfacing it with our payroll soon. The only thing I would be aware of is if you start adding employees you may need to get more clocks. We previously tried a fingerprint system and that did not work for us at all. The hand system seems much better. Hope this will help.
October 14th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
We had a lot of issues with employees either not clocking in correctly or clocking in too early and so issues of trust were raised. As a large restaurant with 200+ employees, we really needed a system that could accurately track who is here and what time they arrive. People would often clock in for other people and the honor system was not working. We installed the fingerprinting system and it’s been much better. It’s fast, easy, and while it can be expensive, it really does help with preventing people from clocking in for others. It also allows management to access the restaurant computers with their fingers, which is much easier and faster than carrying around a card (plus, you can’t lose your finger!). All in all, it benefits us greatly.
October 14th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
We have looked into purchasing such a system, but we have an unusual (or maybe not) situation. We are a roofing company and I’m not sure the machine would be able to read our guys’ palm or fingerprints when they return from the field each day. I guess we could have some handi-wipes next to the clock before the punch out, but I think the system might get old before its time. I also worry about the backlash of our employees feeling as though we don’t trust them. As the price goes down, we’ll probably consider it more seriously.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:18 am
We installed 11 biometric clocks from TimeForce earlier this year. The clocks are located all around the country and feed directly into our server. This setup enables us to download the hours directly into Quickbooks and process paychecks from our home office. The setup took some doing, but it is working very well and was well worth the money spent because the various timecard clocks we previously used had to be manually checked over and recalculated if a person forgot to punch in or out. This is much better.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:12 pm
We looked at the biometric timeclocks recently and decided against them. We work in an industry where people work with saws and drills so unfortunately, some of them loose fingers. We felt if someone had a handicap (no fingers or such) the biometric timeclock could become a legal issue. Also, the price of the biometric timeclocks was amazingly more than using a proximety badge time clock reader.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I wish we could afford a biometric system. The trust issue is not a big one for us, but employees losing or forgetting their cards is all too common. Not having to keep track of the cards would be a huge timesaver in and of itself.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Debbie B.
Are you in the Reading area? I would like to see one of these systems first hand. No pun intended.
Ed