Time and attendance software is a great management system that all businesses should consider employing to manage their staff’s work hours. There are many different types of time-tracking systems on the market today, but not all of them may be best suited to your business requirements.
If you’re in need of a new system, it’s important to know what to look for when shopping around. Here we will discuss ten things that should be considered when choosing a time and attendance software provider.
What Are the Benefits of Having Time and Attendance Software?
Before delving into the features to look out for, you may want to consider the numerous benefits of implementing time and attendance software in the workplace, especially if you’re currently manually recording employee hours.
The most significant benefit of switching over to an automated management system is the ability to meet all your compliance obligations without having to manually check paper time sheets and keep accurate records; the automated solution does all of that for you.
Other benefits include:
- Improved workforce management
- Increased productivity
- Compliance with payroll regulations
- Efficient recordkeeping
10 Features You Should Look Out for When Choosing Time and Attendance Software
It’s important to remember that not all time and attendance solutions will have exactly what your business needs. Perhaps you’re simply looking to implement the very basics, or you may want to implement software that automates everything and seamlessly integrates with systems you already have in place.
Either way, you’ll need to consider the following features in the context of what your business needs and then find a software provider that can offer those features.
Here is a list of 10 features you may want to consider when shopping around for time and attendance software solutions:
1. Cloud-Based
With a cloud-based solution, employers and employees can access their systems from wherever they are. This eliminates the need for constant updates as new versions become available.
2. Biometrics
Biometrics is a useful feature to monitor who’s clocking in and out to avoid time-theft risks such as buddy punching.
3. No-Touch Biometrics
Facial recognition solutions are far more favorable than fingerprint biometric access control solutions because they minimize the risk of spreading infectious diseases such as COVID-19.
4. Payroll Integration Support
One of the ways to increase efficiency is by integrating your time and attendance systems with a payroll system. This can be achieved using an attendance system that works in tandem with your existing cloud payroll software.
5. Workforce Management
The best way to manage employees is by having a system that can help employers keep track of their team and view their information in one place.
6. Electronic Timesheets
Traditional paper spreadsheets may do the basic trick, but more often than not, they’re not accurate in tracking holidays, overtime, and other complex time sheets circumstances. Electronic time sheets are accessible and make employee attendance reporting far simpler.
7. Overtime Tracking
Having an overtime tracking feature will make it easier to comply with the latest guidelines on how much you need to pay your employees who work more than the ordinary weekly hours.
8. Shift Schedules
Most attendance solutions offer scheduling flexibility that allows employees and employers to give their input and make changes on the go.
9. Easy-To-Use Interface
There’s no need to spend hours teaching your staff how to use the system. An easy-to-use interface makes navigating the system and data entry quicker and more efficient.
10. Reporting Functionalities
One of the most important functions of a good attendance system is creating automated reports based on date ranges. This will make tracking employees’ schedules easier and simplify payroll calculations for employers.
Key Takeaways
When choosing the best time and attendance software for your business, you want to be sure the system will work with your business processes, so it needs to be flexible enough to adapt as your company grows or changes its policies.
It also needs to have all the functionality you need now—but if it can grow with your business, too, even better!
The best systems offer great customer support and training options so they can grow with you over time. And finally, good systems should provide accurate data without wasting valuable resources—both yours and theirs!
And time and attendance software in conjunction with a cloud payroll solution allows employers to automate payroll compliance by setting up in-built rules for modern awards and recordkeeping.
We know that choosing time and attendance software can be overwhelming, so we suggest reaching out to a payroll specialist that can help you choose which solution will work best for your business.
Garth Belic is the General Manager of Pay Cat, an independent payroll consulting firm designed to diagnose, scope, source and implement the best cloud payroll solution for business. He’s a cloud payroll expert and technology enthusiast.