The Most Reliable Way To Track Time

Keeping a record of employee working hours is essential – but how accurate are your time entries? Employees forgetting to clock in and mistakes in data entry or calculation can quickly lead to inaccurate records and incorrect payroll.

This guide presents effective solutions for time tracking based on actual employee presence. It covers:

• The cost of inefficient time tracking

• 3 methods of physical time tracking

• The benefits of using an integrated solution for physical time tracking

What's inside

This fact sheet covers physical time tracking: hardware devices for clocking in, combined with software that stores and analyzes the data. It has four parts:

• The cost of inefficient time tracking: manual methods such as spreadsheets, punch cards and paper lead to
  • human error – forgotten breaks and miscalculated hours; surveys cited in the sheet found 49% of employees would leave after only two payroll mistakes (HR Daily Advisor),
  • time theft – rounding up hours, skipping break entries or "buddy punching", which can cost companies up to 7% of gross annual profit (Workpuls),
  • lost productivity – 50% of professionals find manual data input and adjustments the most time-consuming part of time tracking (Deloitte),
  • limited transparency – hours are hard to assign to clients or projects.
• Three methods of physical time tracking:
  • RFID: employees clock in and out by scanning a key fob, badge or card.
  • Biometric: fingerprint scanning or facial recognition, very difficult to manipulate.
  • Touchscreen kiosks: employees enter a PIN on a tablet at the workplace entrance.
• Four key benefits: more reliable records because the employee must be present, no manual data entry, easier proof of compliance with working-hours and break rules, and integration with attendance, shift schedules and payroll export.
• Combining methods: how browser, mobile app and project-based tracking can sit alongside fingerprint, RFID and kiosk clock-ins for office, remote and hybrid staff.

Key takeaways

• Spreadsheets are cheap to set up but get costly and unreliable as teams grow.
• Physical clock-ins tie time entries to actual presence.
• Integration with shifts and payroll is where most of the admin time is saved.

Download the full fact sheet below for a closer look at each physical time-tracking method.