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5 secrets, successful HR teams share about Digital time clock
Time and the team are the most important resources that organizations have. These resources have to be used efficiently. Here we present 5 secrets successful HR teams share on ‘Why a digital time clock is a better alternative to traditional or electronic time recording‘ in any organization.
The method for time tracking and recording have evolved with time and technology. For many decades it was considered a permanent practice in British companies: at the time clock, the workers greeted each other in the morning, at the time clock, they said goodbye in the evening. In recent years, time recording using a stamp card and later a magnetic card was in practice. It became outdated and antiquated. Contemporarily, HR teams have adopted ‘trust-based’ working hours replacing the rigid electronic time clock in modern companies.
Today, however, electronic time recording is experiencing a digital makeover. Firmly advocated due to the recent decision by the European Court of Justice to document working times. In the course of this decision, the documentation of working times may become a general obligation for EU employers in the future.
Time tracking apps on smartphones and tablets replace the time clock and punch card system. Successful HR teams have been early adopters of this method. Electronic time tracking offers both employees and companies a number of advantages.
Fairness – equity and equality
The trust-based working system, which was much praised at the beginning of the 2000s, had a downside. Companies and HR teams identified that it resulted in some employees having worked much more than they had to or more than their colleagues. Even though the overtime hours not recorded were more or less voluntary, this practice was certainly not fair. Nor was it beneficial to the health of the overworked employees. This affected the workplace morale and in turn, affects the companies performance.
Digital time recording provides a remedy. With it, every employee receives the hours credited to his or her working time account that he or she actually spent at the workplace. Not more nor less. This way HR teams ensure employees are happier and efficient.
Transparent – clarity instead of confusion
One of the things that modern companies and HR teams focus at is – transparency in the workplace. The digital time clock system serves the purpose of transparency in the company. Thanks to the digital time clock, each employee can independently see what his/her hourly account and balances look like. They can check if they have accumulated a lot of overtime or even slipped into the minus zone. Employees can also check whether all-time tracking, including their breaks, have been recorded correctly and correct errors if necessary.
Digital time clock serves as a self-service tool to pave the way for well-informed employees.
Legal compliance – safe and automated
Companies can use the digital time clock to quickly and easily monitor compliance with working hours and break times. This is in accordance with the Employee Protection Act and the Working Hours Act. Also, produce as proof when requested to legislators.
Addendum: On 14.05.2019, the EU Court of Justice (EUJ) ruled that EU Member States must oblige employers to set up a system for measuring daily working hours ( to the press release of the EUJ ). As part of this decision, the documentation of working hours for EU employers may become a general obligation.
With the electronic time clock, you can also prove compliance with the minimum wage law. Especially with part-time employees. It can happen that overtime hours that are not compensated by free time with a fixed salary lead to a reduction in the hourly wage that falls below the minimum wage threshold. Companies and HR teams are warned automatically when they reach a certain number of overtime hours, thanks to digital and intelligent time recording programs, this danger is also banned. So companies and employees are always on the safe side.
Accurate recording – avoid redundant check on irregularities
As the testimony of our customer mymuesli shows, the Papershift time clock app makes time recording a child’s play. But it’s not just the employees who benefit from digital time tracking. When it comes to saving time, we have three advantages that we can summarize here.
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- The time that employees save to store or correct their recorded time.
- The time the HR teams or team administrators save to check the time of the employees because the system automatically detects irregularities.
- The time that the HR teams/payroll department saves to collect all data and transfer them to a payroll system. Added to this the system generates all data automatically and transmits data to common payroll systems or the tax consultant.
Digital – embrace the new age
No more mountains of paper and timesheets to collect. With a digital time tracking system, you always have all data centrally recorded in real-time and can process them further.
Interested in more?
- Clock in and out from browser
- Time tracking via Phone & Tablet app
- View & approve time records online
- Export timesheets to payroll
- View & approve staff vacation requests
- Overview of employee availability & absences
If you are interested in digitizing time recording in your organization, you can make a free demo appointment now: www.papershift.com/demo
