The UK’s workplace environment has undergone radical change in recent years. The ‘9 to 5’ culture of most companies has long gone, flexible work patterns ‘flexitime’ are now a feature of many companies and more and more people are choosing to work remotely or from home as they seek an improved work-life balance With a lot of companies supporting family life this has shown an improvement in workers motivation and quality to work ‘a happy employee is a good employee’.
Add to this increased employment legislation with the European working time directive employers have had to provide information of employee hours. This is where an employer will turn to Time and Attendance systems. There are two separate parts in this sector, Time and Attendance and payroll they are commonly linked but one can work without the other depending on the size of your organization. The Time and Attendance system predominately logs start time, breaks, overtime, and end time, employee rules are setup, shift patterns are created and the gathering of all the information regarding hours worked. It is the job of the Time and Attendance system to collate these times using the rules and present an hours worked for each employee. A payroll system has the job of taking the data from the Time and Attendance and calculating the pay for each employee. In the payroll system each employee will have a ‘pay rate, overtime rates double time etc. Payroll systems can even send the information to banks to deposit wages into employee’s accounts. With these two parts a fully automated clocking system can be set-up this will result in reduced overheads more accurate information and a lot less manual data entry from everyday work life.
With the more people working ‘flex-time’ hours clocking systems have become more sophisticated and require more security features.
That’s why a modern, efficient time and attendance system has become such an important management tool. In any manufacturing environment it can now be relied upon to deliver accurate, real-time business critical information, however complex a company’s shift patterns are.
Sophisticated payroll systems are not only for collecting data to calculate wages they are more than often used to identify repeat lateness or illness. This can provide management with efficiency reports and how to improve productivity in the workplace. As well as doing the obvious tasks the spin off application from clocking systems can have there advantages in the modern workplace such as fire report list’s (who’s in the building today) providing holiday planning making sure key personnel are not of at the same time.
In today’s business if you employee more than 5 people then a clocking system can save you time and ultimately money. The requirement for a full Clocking System Time and Attendance and Payroll is not necessary if you only employee a few people most Time and Attendance systems allow the exportation of the data into various formats so it is possible to import into a spreadsheet and do calculations and produce reports within a simple spreadsheet. So for very little cost rewards can be seen after just a few months.
Related Articles
Biometric Technology in Today’s Clocking and Access Systems
By: Andy McSaint | 28/04/2008 | Information Technology
Biometric Fingerprint, Face recognition, Iris Scanning and older technologies in today’s Time and Attendance Industry.
Biometrics: The Future Is Here, Biometric Technology Has Arrived In The Security Industry
By: Ralph Winn | 21/09/2006 | Advertising
The future is here. Biometric technology has arrived in the home security industry, and we are excited to offer you the innovative Access Control biometric reader. In the old days, access to restricted areas was granted by metal keys and locks.
How Your Business Can Save $6500/Year.
By: Mike Benoit | 09/04/2007 | Business
If you run a small business, you probably have a hidden expense that's eating your time, and your business's money: Tracking employee time and productivity.
When businesses are small, traditional practice is to use some sort of manual time keeping system to log employee hours. Each employee fills out a paper...
Biometric Door Locks for Increased Security, Control and Convenience
By: Michael Primero | 02/06/2008 | Home Security
Information on Biometric Locks and specifically the Nordic Biometric Mermaid, a state-of-the-art fingerprint scanning door lock. The Mermaid is an access solution that does away with the need for keys, and gives you much more control over your precious personal or corporate space.
All About Biometric Door Locks for Home and Corporate Use
By: Michael Primero | 02/06/2008 | Gadgets and Gizmos
A general introduction to the use of biometric (in this case, fingerprint-scanning) door locks for use in residential and commercial applications. A good summary of things to watch out for!
Product Review DIY Accounting Payroll Software
By: Terry Cartwright | 01/11/2007 | Business
DIY Accounting Payroll Software is unusually written on a series of excel spreadsheet templates, Three versions of the small business payroll system are available dependent upon the number of employees, being a payroll solution for up to 5 employees, up to 10 employees and up to 20 employees.
Why Should You Outsource Your Business Payroll
By: Danny Bee | 27/11/2007 | Management
There are many advantages and disadvantages when it comes to outsourcing your company's payroll systems. These depend on the size and nature of your company. However, for most small to medium sized companies it can prove beneficial to make use of a completely outsourced payroll service. This article will outline...
Access Control: What is Access Control?
By: Roy Buckingham | 04/07/2006 | Technology
An overview of Access Control Systems. What they are, who needs them, the different technology options and types of reader.
Latest Human Resources Articles
Develop Skills to Beat Recession
By: Gary Howes | 24/07/2008
Business leaders offer start-ups advice on how to ride through the slowdown.
Preparing for Disclosures Under New Form 990 - are You Ready?
By: Paul R. Dorf, Ph.D., APD | 24/07/2008
Many not-for-profit organizations will be utilizing the new Form 990 for filing tax information this year. The recent issuance of these "final" regulations on financial reporting for tax-exempt organizations is a long-awaited reaction to misfilings that have occurred over the years, whether intentional or not. Reporting under the new Form 990 is an outcome to actions caused by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Securities and Exchange Commission relative to good governance and disclosure of execut
Workers Compensation Insurance as Employee Benefit
By: PeterSam | 24/07/2008
Employers have a legal and a moral responsibility to provide their employees safety at their workplaces. But despite the best of safety measures in place, accidents cannot be totally eliminated and they can, at best, be minimized. It is the responsibility of an employer to maintain a safe workplace, have workers compensation insurance covering his employees and protect the workers from financial hardship in the event of a workplace injury. Workers compensation insurance covers workers injured no
Building Your Credit From No Credit or Bad Credit
By: Shyr Miles | 23/07/2008
For those who want to open a business but is apprehensive about their credit scores should not dismay. Fortunately, there are ways to break into building your credit score, even if you have no history or bad credit history. The secret is to start small and stay responsible.
Lyons & Wolivar, Inc. (l&w Investigations) Offers Tips on Workers Comp Claim Abuse
By: Steve Dubin | 22/07/2008
Lyons & Wolivar Inc. (L&W Investigations), the foremost private investigations firm specializing in insurance claims, offers tips or red flags on how to spot possible abuses of a workers comp claim.
Utilise Space With Office Plants
By: PaulZ | 22/07/2008
Specialist office plant suppliers will be able to help you make use of any awkward spaces by utilising planted office displays
Stylish Office Plants Need Stylish Containers
By: PaulZ | 22/07/2008
Getting the right office plants and containers is essential for creating the right impression.
Office Plants for a Stress Free You
By: PaulZ | 22/07/2008
Office plants can help improve work related stress alongside generally improving employee moods and emotional well being in the workplace
Business 
