We have one timeclock onsite, not super old fashioned, but not the new web subscription. Employees have a pin, they press their pin and then IN or OUT. Simple as that.
Still, every week there are multiple employees that consistently just can’t get it right. Sometimes I can see it and correct it before payroll, even though I have nothing to go off of for corrections other than their memory, which we’ve proven is bad.
Worse is when I can’t tell there’s a problem, and I have people coming into my office on Friday at 4:52 while I’m packing up complaining that they were shorted hours on their paycheck. Hours for which there was no record, and they’ve informed zero people. (I guess it’s assumed I’m omniscient?)
We have a QR code posted next to the timeclock for when someone realizes they’ve made a mistake. They can scan it and within about 15 seconds shoot a message to the office so we have it on file and correct it. I’d say the use rate of that is mid single digits and dropping weekly.
Does anyone else have tips/tricks on how to keep timeclocks accurate and to keep employees accountable for keeping their own time? Is there a better timeclock tool, or location, or standard use procedure?
Any ideas are appreciated. Probably not switching to a cloud managed monthly subscription where I still have to buy my own device though.
I’m not trying to punish people or get away with not paying them. I want my employees to get paid correctly, and to get paid on time. I just need to accomplish that without adding to my workload every week by having to redo stuff at the last possible minute.
I would pay what the timeclock says. If that’s not correct, then the employee can fill out paperwork showing where and why the mistake was made. It will be reviewed by management the following week and adjusted at the following pay period.
I bet their ability to follow the process will improve if you aren’t jumping through hoops to fix their mistakes immediately.
It also creates a paper trail you can use for employee evaluation.
This opens you up to legal liability: if you have actual knowledge that the time record is incorrect it is not a defense that you followed the record. When you have knowledge of an incorrect entry, you must still pay correctly.
So for example if there is no out punch on Tuesday, you can’t pay nothing for Tuesday until the employee complains in writing.
Ultimately OP has an old system; he could either have employees review their time card before payroll, or manually review himself, but any punishment based on bad punches could easily lead to fines or turnover.
That said, it’s totally fine to let people go for tjme keeping problems.
IMO this creates more beaucracy for the employee and payroll processing.
Hand on heart the problem is old time clock hardware not being smart enough to pick up on missed clock-ins and creating extra work and increased labor cost (tracking early but not late clock-ins) for OP instead of being able to put it on the employees to fill out and incentivise accuracy.
Not sure how… but I’ve spent 10 years of my life thinking and building solutions to this exact problem. I’d be happy to set up OP with a years free use of https://workforce.com/software/timeclock-app
If it’s something OP would want to revert I’ll personally fly and work for free in his business for a solid month. People that know me know that I’m only good for two things, specialized attendance problems and sweeping floors.
If it’s not the first I’ll take the broom
This won’t fly in CA.