It's a fact. Hourly employees have to log in and out of work. People don't usually work for free, right? On the accounting end, this time has to be added, calculated and used for creating paychecks. Keeping track of employee time can be complex, time consuming and tricky. Employee time clocks help save money and time by keeping track of time worked, with many able to export data for use with QuickBooks and other payroll software.
Employee time clocks can be broken down into several categories. Figuring out what type of time clock does what can be a little confusing. This article will break down the four most common types of time clocks and explain exactly what they do.
The first most commonly used time clock is the punch card system. Employees write their name on a card and insert it when punching in and out of work. Some higher end punch card systems will even add up the time. Although these types of employee time clocks are far better than nothing, time clocks have come a long way.
Card swipe time clocks are one of the fastest growing employee time clock systems used today. An employee can use an ID card or PVC card, encoded with their information, to log in and out of work. These card swipe time clocks look very similar to credit card machines in appearance. They can be carried in a wallet, on a lanyard or be clipped to a shirt by using a badge holder. As the card is swiped, time worked is automatically added up and calculated. Most card swipe time clocks allow data to be exported for use with various payroll programs.
Software-based time clocks are also growing in popularity, along with technology, and allow the employee to log in and out of work from a computer. Depending on the software being used, this can be from a single computer or from any computer on a network. The computer acts like a time clock, and like the swipe card systems, tally data and hours. Most software-based time clocks will also export data for use with payroll software.
Biometric time clocks are also growing in popularity. Biometric time clocks allow employees to log in and out of work by using a hand or finger. This is a huge advantage over other systems because it eliminates the need to re-print time cards or IDs. This type of system also eliminates the possibility of buddy punching, which occurs when one employee punches in and out on behalf of another employee. This saves businesses money by cutting down on fraud. Biometric time clocks are easy to set up and only requires the employee to be scanned and set up in the system once prior to use. Data can then be compiled, tracked and exported as needed.
Any business can benefit from a employee time clock. The type of time clock a business uses will depend entirely on the size of the company and the preferences of the people gathering employee payroll data.
About the Author:
Dave Stuart is an industry expert on
employee time clocks. Contact
http://www.OfficeZone.com for more information about employee time clocks.
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300
Date Published :
Oct 19 2009