Mastering Time and Attendance: 4 Best Practices

Attendance management and time recording are often considered a tedious task.

But at the same time, it is a critical function for all organizations, and it must be performed effectively. There is also a high risk of inaccuracies and fraud if attendance is recorded manually. Not to mention the frustration that comes with it.

Here we present some of the best methods for recording employees' time and attendance in a simple way:

1. Ditch the paperwork and Excel sheets

Gone are the days when you had to manage and store all information about your employees' attendance and wages in Excel sheets or files. The number of documents for each individual employee in an organization can be enormous, and when it comes to hundreds of employees, it increases geometrically.

Even before the actual paperwork begins, going through, organizing and processing the paperwork itself can be extremely time-consuming. There is a high probability that inaccuracies will occur due to human error in the handling of such registers. It can also create conflicts between teams and individuals if the way it is done over- or understates the actual salary.

The first step to avoid miscalculations can be to acquire a biometric device that suits your organization and that records the employees' time in and out accurately. One must also ensure that the biometric devices are placed at the entrance, so that they can track the total time the employees spend in the workplace, and not somewhere else, for example in the cafeteria.

2. Get a cloud solution for higher efficiency

The best way to organize is to integrate the biometric system with an HRMS software. Among the wide variety of software available on the market, you need to choose the HR software that best suits your organizational needs. The best and most advanced software on the market offers complete HR solutions with outstanding customer support.

A complete HR solution includes functions such as time and attendance tracking, leave management and salary administration in one and the same system. It saves you a lot of time and increases overall productivity. If you belong to a small or medium-sized company, it is therefore not certain that outsourcing payroll processing is an advantage for you, as you then lose control over important data.

3. Ensure that your employees' data is secured

The bank account information you provide for full payroll processing should be well secured. Use an HR and payroll software that provides 100% security and peace of mind for your data. Payrolls themselves contain very sensitive and confidential information about the employees and the company's guidelines, and it is therefore important to secure these. This should be one of the highest priority product features and organizations need to invest in a software that boasts the highest levels of security for advanced protection.

4. Use an app that makes your work easy

Use a SaaS software that also has a mobile application to make your work available on the go. With such software, administrators can assign tasks and manage employees directly from the mobile application, regardless of their location. User experience is one of the most important elements to consider when purchasing software. The biggest companies are those that offer applications and services that are easy to use for everyone, regardless of background.

A simple, yet highly intelligent flow that contributes to a positive user experience is what must be strived for. A software that the employees do not find intuitive and easy to use will end up as a failed experiment. Give your employees a positive user experience and help them reward the brand with trust and long-term agreements. Use an attendance management software with GPS tracking.

Even if you have external employees, that doesn't mean you don't need to keep an eye on their whereabouts. Not knowing how productive your employees are can actually be a big cost for the company. Smart devices such as tablets and mobile phones, together with services such as the cloud and unfettered access to high-speed internet, have helped to create a new type of employee who works in different locations.

Invest in attendance management software that allows you to automatically track the geographic location and time of your employees in the field via a GPS-enabled application on your phone or web. Smart attendance management like this also enables seamless and problem-free integration and bookkeeping of time and attendance data in connection with salary payments.

Incorporating efficient time and attendance tracking practices is crucial for organizational success. By leveraging biometric systems, cloud-based solutions, data security measures, and user-friendly apps like IceHrm, businesses can streamline operations and enhance productivity.