Cheyney Group Accounting: 6 Pros of Time and Attendance Systems

Time and attendance systems do a lot more than just track how many hours your employees log each day.

These systems also keep employees informed of how much paid time off they have left, help streamline the payroll process, cut down on overtime costs and let managers easily create work schedules.

Additionally, time and attendance systems give businesses added financial insight into their companies by churning out a variety of reports on employee hours and provide an audit trail for all daily time entries, timesheet corrections and approvals.

To highlight the benefits of these tools, several time and attendance experts offer some specific plusses of using such a system.

Improve workforce productivity

In a business environment, where people are asked to do more with less, repetitive manual and administrative tasks strain resources and slow down day-to-day operations, said Frank Moreno, director of product marketing at Kronos Incorporated, which offers its own time and attendance system. Without automated time and attendance systems, he said, employees often have to fill out time sheets that managers or payroll departments must then re-key in a different system so employees can get paid.

"With a time and attendance system, you can manage by exception instead of having to review every timecard," Moreno said. "In a matter of minutes, you can find and correct missed punches, respond to time-off requests, and even access and react to labor data in real-time to have a positive effect on your business."

Extra insight

Digital time and attendance systems give a business added financial insight into how the company is being run, said Matt Rissell, CEO of TSheets Time Tracking, a time and attendance system.

"The insight into labor expenses, project costs and overall financial analysis are true benefits to businesses using a quality time and attendance system," Risell told Business News Daily. "Compiling time-tracking data in real time is critical to payroll reporting, invoicing and job-costing accuracy."

Saves money

Moving from a manual system to a digital time and attendance solution will save businesses money, which is one of the biggest reasons to make the change, said Jim Wacek, president of the time and attendance division for Insperity, which offers TimeStar, a time and attendance solution.

"Organizations that implement time and attendance systems typically save 3 to five 5 of payroll costs, because the system automates time tracking processes and increases payroll accuracy," Wacek said.

Lowers frustration

Using a time and attendance system that makes sure employees are getting paid on time and properly helps keep frustration at low levels for everyone in a company, Rissell said. That includes hourly employees, managers, payroll staff, human resources professionals and the owner.

"Inaccurate and slow payroll, manual and error-prone duplicate entry, and the inability to track performance, labor costs, job costing and financials is frustrating for everyone within the company," Rissell said.

Minimize compliance risk

Businesses that use time and attendance systems benefit from ensuring they are complying with the numerous labor laws and regulations that apply to them, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act and Family Medical Leave Act, as well as any union regulations and company-specific work and pay rules, Moreno said.

"Maintaining compliance can be time-consuming, costly and sometimes lead to morale-busting employee grievances," Moreno said. "Automation also helps ensure you create a culture of compliance with centralized labor policies that keep pace with changing regulations, while ensuring compliance by taking work rule interpretation out of the hands of local managers and administrators."

Higher employee morale

Time and attendance systems can also boost morale by giving employees the ability to clock in and out, request vacation days and monitor how much time off they have left, Rissell said.

"A boost in productivity, a mutual respect between managers and employees with realistic expectations, and workplace flexibility are just three of the major contributing factors to employees experiencing an increase in morale when given control over tracking their time," Rissell said.

Originally published on Business News Daily