What is attendance management ?
According to Wikipedia, " Attendance Management is an act of managing attendance or presence in a work setting to minimize loss due to employee downtime. " This track traditionally was usually kept with the help of time clocks, time sheets, time tracking software and registers.
What is Attendance Management Software
Attendance Management Software helps in keeping track of the employee working hours. It is a software that helps in keeping a systematic track of how many hour does an employee works and the time he / she takes off. The usage of this type of software is common in businesses of all sizes.
This type of attendance software helps the management personnel with diverse tools to help maximize cash flow and minimize waste. These software generate, maintain, and archive important payroll as well as tax information.
Types of Attendance Management Systems
Bio-Metric Attendance Software
This is how it works, employees scan their fingerprints on the terminals. After that, the terminal verifies the identity of the user. This system is also used to clock in and out employees and even restrict their access to certain rooms. These systems have become very popular and trendy for such reasons. This prevents employees from ' buddy punching ' which can immensely effect the working of entire organization and it's productivity. Under this, even the data wavelengths are high since the quality of reporting is really good.
Bio-Metric System has 2 main components of the sensor.
One, the Light Source, it provides light that illuminates the finger. Second, an Imaging System, it creates digital imaging array that stores the fingerprint in the computer algorithm.
It is then combined with the those systems that convert this data into various reports. In addition to this, they are a cost effective solution to the attendance problems as the only cost which is incurred is setting up the bio-Metric system itself. This brings another level of convenience as adding and removing the employees can be done so easily. And also, with attendance management out of the way, people can focus on other important things like the working of entire organization.
To add more security to the system, you can explore the following options:
- PIN Entry
- Key Fobs
- ID Badges
- Swipe Cards
Break - Time tracking software
These software are used in those companies where ' time ' is most crucial and it is essential to use it efficiently. Those organizations feel the need to track the duration of breaks taken by employees. When such a software is installed and put into use, employees can punch in and punch out many times throughout the day. So, each and every single punch out and subsequent punch in re treated as ' taking a break.' And the time phase between each punch in and punch out is treated as a break.
Online attendance management software
" A time keeping system that offers a web facility is generally known as an online attendance management software. " This type of system facilitates ensuring through the internet connection to access attendance data i.e. login and logouts using cloud technology. In 2020, this system has come in handy since all the markets & offices are closed and people have been working remotely since last 6 months. This provides employees the ease to register login and logout through just a simple click. This system can go wonders if the employee works remotely, when he / she is at a client location and in outbound sales route.
Features of Attendance Management Software
It helps in :
- Increase accuracy
- Ensure data integrity
- Improve employee productivity
- Reduce administrative work
- Lower admin costs and
- Enhance the efficiency of HR staff
Clocking in and out
The most essential feature of an attendance management system is to allow the employees an option of clocking in and out. This reduces the risk of other people clocking in the attendance of their friends which is also called ' proxy '. There are many options available to make this even more efficient such as PIN Numbers, Bio-Metric Scanners which help identify finger prints, magnetic cards etc. This helps in keeping a proper record of the working hours.
Flexible Employee Scheduling
Many businesses has a proper time set for example, an employee is required to work 8 hours a day. They can start working any time of the day they prefer. This type of work environment is referred to as Flexible Employee Scheduling. Others like keeping their workday more synchronized with a proper schedule set into place.
A good attendance management goes beyond just monitoring and maintaining the punctuality of the employees. An exceptional software will help you in creating and managing multiple schedules and rosters. The system should also allow you to alert and point out tardy employees.
Leave Management
Managing leave of the employees is another task that comes under the umbrella of attendance management system. A missed day shouldn’t automatically register as “absent”; instead, the employee should be alerted to apply for leave or make any special attendance requests (such as half-day).
Payroll Integration
A seamless and convenient system must integrate attendance data with the payroll cycle. It will help in rapidly calculating salary and other benefits. Without a fully proper HRMS system in place, essential data is bound to get lost in between many steps.
Reporting
This software will be of no use if they do not provide tailored reports and analytics. It must be able to give you attendance related reports, offering insights into hours worked. shift partners etc. that induces productivity.
Comprehensive Policy Configuration
As regulated under Part IV of Employment Act, the employees should be paid breaks, overtime pay and rest day. A good attendance manager should be able to cater to such scenarios.
Elimination of Missed Punches
Imagine a scenario, employee went out for lunch and punched out, he / she came back and started working. The employee forgot to punch back in and by the time it was realized, it was too late. This was how errors occurred earlier. A manager was required to correct the error after seeing the required evidence. This consumed a lot of time and energy. Modernized management systems overcame such hurdles and tried to provide a more efficient work environment. They alert the people of a missed punch in and such errors are easily corrected and eliminates the chance of a missed punch in.
Mobile
With the fast atmosphere these days and now a pandemic being set upon us, people used to work from different places and now are working from home. Amidst employees being scattered, a mobile version of an attendance software would work wonders. This will provide an ease and a definite record of working hours of the employees.
Calendar Integration
You can integrate your attendance software with digital calendars like Google Calendar, Outlook etc. These work great as you can set foot notes on which employees will be on leave at what time, so you can manage your work accordingly. These are especially relevant to remote working people or those who are on sales calls.
Mobile and Cloud Support
A cloud based attendance is integrated with the initial software. It is accessible from any device and does not require installation of an app. This help in increasing the output of the field workers as it enables accurate location as well as attendance.
Employee Self Service
Without the intervention of an HR Manager or any other superior, this system facilitates self reliance. The employees can sit laid back at their seats and log in / out using a browser. They themselves can enter leave records, corrections in attendance and their record,
Benefits of Attendance Management Systems
Accuracy
The main reason why people have been transforming every single business model into computer devices using technology as humans lack the surety of accuracy. Automated attendance management systems ensure accurate time records and decreases the room of making errors. This system provides accurate data.
It Provides various insights
Within a few minutes only you can generate accurate reports for anything you want which falls under the umbrella of attendance management. It registers a centralized data which improves visibility as well as transparency in the organization. They can make accurate reports on hours worked, absences, overtime, get a monthly summary report for any of the data/groups within the organization. With having an access to such environment, it creates a healthy atmosphere.
Hassle Free Workflow Management
It provides a hassle free and smooth working in the organization. Without any specific need for communication or following a chain of command, you can have access to good visibility of data and can ease workflow of payrolls, leaves and performance reviews.
It removes the task of manually scheduling and eliminates the risk of making mistakes.
Flexibility
It provides another level of flexibility in today's global environment since every person is working flexibly according to their ease. People are working from home that is remotely and some work
Integration / Configuration
You can choose attendance management systems to suit your needs based on the nature of work and policies. There are systems available which can be integrated with any third-party attendance hardware (swipe, biometric), and which can capture GPS-based attendance with mobile applications.
