3 Reasons to Stop Using Paper Time Cards

MISC_blurclckManaging employee time and attendance can be time-consuming and fraught with errors. Temporary workers are often spread out at multiple locations, sometimes in the same city, and many times throughout multiple states, making it difficult to track hourly employees. Many companies still use paper time cards that often lead to manual mistakes and can take hours to tabulate.

To combat these challenges, many staffing companies are investing in new technology to automate their business processes, including employee timekeeping. In fact, staffing industry software is on the rise by 10.2 percent through 2018. Today, more and more businesses are turning to cloud-based employee time and attendance management software, reducing errors, and saving time and money. Some use employee time clocks with their cloud-based systems, while others simply have employees clock in and out on computers or mobile devices. Why modernize your timekeeping system? Here are a few reasons:

1. Clients are Asking for It. Before switching to an automated cloud-based solution, Burnett Specialists, Texas’ largest employee-owned staffing and placement firm, would fax paper time cards to and from clients each payroll period. Not only was the process time-consuming, clients requested an easier way.

“The client wanted our staffing managers to administer time and attendance from an electronic time clock, rather than faxing us time sheets,” said Scott Hoffman, Burnett Specialists’ IT director. “We’re now able to update timesheets directly online and run customized reports that integrate with our payroll system and applicant tracking software. The client then approves the employees’ time from our candidate portal on our website.”

Burnett’s employees now clock in with touch screen and badge reader time clocks, which transmit employee time data to the cloud-based timekeeping system, enabling the company to review employee hours in real-time and quickly make adjustments.Instead of payroll taking several hours every two weeks, Burnett cut payroll processing time by 50 percent.

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2. Saves Time and Money. When time and attendance management is manual, mistakes can occur. Typing in data from a time card into payroll software opens the door for many costly clerical errors. Digits are misread or entered wrong, and fixing each error comes with its own set of challenges. The errors not only cost the company money, but also waste time trying to correct the same issues over and over again.

Trevor Knauss, payroll/billing coordinator at The Protocall Group in Cherry Hill, N.J., said, “At some customer locations, temp employees were using old-school punch clocks with paper time cards. There was the potential for missed punches and incorrect totals.”

Protocall upgraded to a cloud-based system that provides anytime, anywhere access and easily integrates with its payroll processing software, reducing time and mistakes. At one time, they spent five hours a week on time and attendance; today, it takes about two hours, a 60 percent reduction.

3. Anytime, Anywhere Access. One of the key benefits of the cloud is the ability to access information anytime, anywhere.  Managers that use manual systems gather physical time cards, then input the data manually. With a cloud-based solution, managers can process payroll from the road, a coffee shop, or their home. All employees’ time records are immediately updated in the system in real-time, so managers always have access to the most up-to-date information.

Remote employees can take advantage of this feature as well. Spectra Personnel, with offices in Texas and Florida, uses the cloud to track time for field-based construction and landscaping employees that clock in with smartphones. Employees don’t waste company time traveling to an office to clock in first, and managers know exactly when they clock in and out based on location using the smartphone GPS tracking features.

Paper time cards waste time and cause errors. Leveraging the cloud will help you better manage time and attendance records for all your employees, whether they’re in your office or across the country. The time savings gained from automated employee time and attendance management enables you to focus on other areas of the business, get more done, and be more effective. It’s time to take the leap to the cloud.

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Scott Mulka

Scott Mulka
Scott Mulka is marketing manager at Lathem, a provider of durable and affordable timekeeping products and cloud-based employee time and attendance solutions. He can be reached at smulka (at) lathem (dot) com.

Scott Mulka

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