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Every business has to plan their employee shift patterns to best suit their needs. But monitoring an employee’s time and attendance to ensure they are meeting their obligations can be tricky.
In this article, we will look at how a business can manage the time and attendance of their staff. We will also discuss the various tools that a company can employ to do so. Let’s get started.
What is Time and Attendance Management?
Time and attendance management is in basic terms the act of managing the attendance and timekeeping of staff. Rotas are a great way to designate shift patterns and ensure a business has staff cover when required. But employees become sick or book annual leave. They may be late to work or have to leave early because of an emergency. All these things need monitoring and recording to ensure staff are keeping their obligations.
Why Is Time Tracking Important?
As mentioned above, time logging needs monitoring and managing in any business. Most employees will try their best for the company they work for. Some, however, won’t and maybe are late or absent often. In large companies, spotting patterns in employee behaviour can be difficult. For this reason, they will need to employ a system of time and attendance staff management.
On top of this, a business may need to record when employees are actually working. This is important where shift patterns are piecemeal or overtime is common. It may also be necessary when working hours are flexible.
How Can I Track Employee Time and Attendance?
There are many systems for tracking employee attendance and timekeeping. The most basic systems include a simple register or clocking in/out system. The data from this can be input into office software like Excel for analysis. With a little knowledge of how spreadsheets work, you can often get the information you require. These systems are often most suitable for businesses with regular shift patterns.
If your business uses casual workers, remote workers, or unusual shift patterns then you may need an adaptable solution. This will often come in the form of software that can be purchased and installed on a workplace level. The software will monitor time and attendance and provide reports for analysis.
What Are the Different Types of Systems Available to Manage it?
As mentioned above, there are a number of different time and attendance management solutions available. Here are just a few:
- Microsoft Excel – Excel is a great tool for analyzing basic data. It requires little in the way of costs and is quick and easy to implement. The downside to using Excel is the need to understand how it works and the time to input data. Often Excel will require a manual form of monitoring attendance (time cards etc).
- Dedicated time and attendance management software – There are many attendance management software suites available. They come from basic clocking in/clocking off monitors to fully blown report generating systems. Most will perform time and attendance management processes with ease. The downside to these types of software is often the cost, with subscriptions often expensive.
Check out Papershift’s time tracking software to manage this with ease.
