New Meaning to “Punching the Clock”

Last week, a convenience store employee clocked out of work and walked outside to punch a customer and then clocked back in. Those of us in the time and attendance industry are marveling at the intelligence of the employee in an obviously emotional moment. As an employer, you know that you are liable for your employee’s behavior while they are on the clock and you know that you can be sued for an employee’s actions.

Unfortunately, employees are not always aware of this fact. Employees are also not necessarily aware that they can be made liable for their own actions depending on the state they reside in. Yes, in a world where people can get a little “suit happy,” understanding the limitations of liability can help you and your employees create boundaries and guidelines for behavior. Given that the little altercation happened in New Mexico, why don’t we take a look at what New Mexico law has to say on the subject?

New Mexico law states that an employer will be held liable for the acts of its employees when those acts are within the course and scope of employment. Acts are defined as falling within the scope of employment if:

1) “It was fairly and naturally incidental to the employer’s business assigned to the employee; and

2) It was done while the employee was engaged in the employer’s business with the view of furthering the employer’s interest and did not arise entirely from some external, independent and personal motive on the part of the employee.”

New Mexico has also found that not every employee’s act is necessarily taken in the course and scope of his or her employment. “For example, a hotel escaped liability when an on-duty employee sexually assaulted a child on the hotel premises. The New Mexico Court of Appeals recognized that an innkeeper/employer was not an insurer of a patron for injuries inflicted by an employee. In that case, it was clear that the employee had acted outside the scope of his employment, so the employer could not be held liable for the employee’s wrongful acts.”

The New Mexico Tort Claims Act does however require public employers to provide a defense including attorney’s fees, for any public employee whose liability is sought for a tort or constitutional violation committed by the public employee while acting within the scope of his duty. The same act applies to a governing agency. Though in the private sector, the question that will mostly arise is whether or not the employee was acting within the scope of their duty.

So, pretty much, if it is within the scope of their duty you’re liable for it. Everything else is a gray area and a toss up. How do you protect yourself? A good job description. Back to original story, was the employer liable? While technically the employee was off the clock, it is likely that had she been on the clock the employer wouldn’t have been responsible. Punching a customer isn’t generally on a job description.

Service, Support and Selecting Your Time and Attendance System

Let’s talk about service, support and selecting your time and attendance system. As we’ve recommended before, shopping around and being an informed buyer is paramount before making any decisions. But when all things are equal, how should you make your decision? Sales pitch? Not so much. Hardware? Again, probably not. Software? Good, but not the gravy. Service and support are the gravy.

At the end of the day, our hardware terminals all do the same thing. The log attendance with the swipe of a card, the wave of a badge, the touch of a finger or the scan of a hand. And when software features are identical, you need to fall back on the service and support of a company. In other words, you need to know how they will keep their promise to you.

How do you measure service and support? How do you get beyond the smoke and mirrors of the sales pitch to determine what the real story is? You ask. How many people do they have on staff? What is the average time for a phone call? What will they do to solve your problem and how far will they go to do it. Quality questions separate the men from the boys and will help you find the right time and attendance provider for your company. Happy hunting!

Evaluating a Time & Attendance System by Price Point

Sometimes I am completely amazed at the tactics a salesman will try! Last Friday, I was speaking with a small business owner who had been doing her research on which biometric time and attendance system would best meet the needs of her company. The salesman was promoting a $1500 fingerprint attendance system and when she asked while it was so expensive, the response was that any biometric attendance system less than $500 is junk. Wow, what a blanket statement! While this can be true in some cases, it has more to do with who you are doing business with than the price of the actual attendance system.

Given this business owner’s experience, it has come to my attention that many businesses who are looking for a time and attendance system don’t really have enough information to make a purchase decision. You have to rely on the word of a salesman or on the marketing of a company which may or may not be fully truthful. So, let’s evaluate pricing in the time and attendance market.

When you are evaluating your time and attendance needs, good research is important. Any good time and attendance expert will at least be able to point you in the right direction. Generally, they’ll ask you how many employees you have, the type of industry you are in, problems that you’ve had with managing attendance, any features that you are looking for, and if you have specific payroll compatibility needs. I’ve written a previous post that can help you identify your general needs as well.

Once you’ve got your search parameters, you’re going to start looking at two general types of businesses: manufacturers and resellers. Manufacturers either produce or import their own product line and market directly to customers or to distributors. Resellers (or distributors) sell another manufacturer’s product line. In general, manufacturers will have higher costs than resellers who purchase in bulk at a discount. So, when looking at resellers, you need to carefully go over the following:

1) How long has the company been in business?

The longer the better. It demonstrates a reseller’s ability to consistently meet the needs of their customers over time. In the case of Time Masters, we’ve been in business for more than 15 years and didn’t begin offering our own product line until we found an unfulfilled hole in the market: quality, economic time and attendance systems for small businesses.

2) Do they have one core competency or are they more like an office product super market?

Staples and Office Depot are resellers of time and attendance systems. While they do in some cases offer convenience, they don’t necessarily offer a wealth of information or support in specific time and attendance. They’ll have you lean on the manufacturer for support.  If a reseller does offer support, ask about wait times and additional fees. What is their policy on returns, warranties, etc.? Also, see if it is possible to get a customer referral.

3) If they are suggesting their own brand, how long have they been selling it?

Some manufacturers have been around for decades; others have not been around as long. If a manufacturer hasn’t been selling their product long, ask why they developed it and how many customers are currently using it.

4) What is their rationale behind their pricing?

“Any biometric system that costs less than $500 is junk and will break in a couple of months.” This was the rationale of the salesman who was attempting justify a $1500 price point. How did Time Masters justify our low price point? We’re meeting the price and quality needs of small businesses. We’ve kept our margins thin to help small businesses. Find out what their rationale is and see if it resonates with you or makes sense.

5) What value do they bring to the table?

How is their support? What type of features? Are they able to create software that meets your needs? Can their system be tailored and scaled? In other words, what is the value in purchasing from them.

6) What is their online reputation like?

Finally, the internet has given businesses a tremendous advantage. Look around the web to see what type of reputation a company has. Their online footprint will tell you a lot.

In sum, purchasing a time and attendance system for your business involves asking a lot of questions and determining which are the best answers. The process also requires you to get to know your supplier. Ask good questions, get good answers and get what you need. For more information on finding the right time and attendance system for your company, feel free to give us a call at (800) 960-3735.

Let’s Talk Inaccurate Employee Time and Attendance Records!

Inaccurate employee records- they can absolutely be the bane of a HR

How accurate are your timekeeping records?

department’s existence. Other than the term “inaccurate” not being a word that you would like associated with any aspect of your business, what is the risk? With the regulations put forth by the Department of Labor inaccurate employee time and attendance records can also be a death sentence to your business. In fact most of the common problems cited by the DOL is linked to employers not maintaining adequate records. Inaccurate records are a big deal.

In the event that you’re judged to have misclassified any employees, most courts will use your time and attendance records to calculate the amount of back pay you’ll need to pay. Thus, many experts contend that you have all employees record their work time regardless of classification. However, without records, the courts tend to side with the employee’s recollections of hours worked which can be over exaggerated. Basically, without accurate, detailed records you can end up paying a significant amount of money that you do not necessarily owe.

The act of having employee records is a simple one. You just have to create them. Accuracy is another matter entirely. As a provider and expert in time and attendance management systems, we recommend automating your attendance records and recording the time of all of your employees as a part of your risk reduction strategy. Why do we recommend an automated attendance system? They take the human error element out of workforce management. Employee time is recorded accurately and hours paid are correct as well.

For more information on having and maintaining accurate employee records, please visit our website at www.time-masters.com.

Great resource!

Acroprint has written a nice blog post on “Risk Reduction.” Check it out here.

Thanksgiving & Punch Clocks

Thanksgiving and employee punch clocks go together like….well, they do actually go together. In the US, the two big holidays are Christmas and Thanksgiving. And if an employee isn’t receiving holiday pay for taking the day off, they are (more than likely) taking a vacation day(s) to spend with their family. So every HR department must prepare. You’ve got to check accruals, set the pay schedule and make sure that they payroll system properly accounts for the day(s). But, after the last employee punches out before the big turkey day, its time for giving thanks.

So, today as part of that Thanksgiving tradition, we at Time Masters are writing a list of what we are thankful for (as it relates to time attendance of course).

We are thankful for Willard Bundy who created the first time clock.

We are thankful for Kronos Incorporated as they were the first company to link a punched card system to a Z80 microprocessor.

We are thankful for John R. Wiegand who invented the proximity card.

We are thankful for automated attendance systems that (naturally) automate attendance and make our lives easier and run more efficient.

We are thankful for biometric attendance systems that keep our honest employees honest about their time sheets.

We are thankful for biometric attendance systems that are secure and keep our records accurate.

We are thankful for attendance management software because it now only takes only minutes to do what used to take us days.

We are thankful for businesses around the world (our customers) who give us a means to provide service and solutions.

We are thankful for our employees who provide those services and solutions.

And finally, we are thankful for our readers who give us a reason to create good content.

Happy (early) Thanksgiving everyone!

Making the Most of Your Seasonal Workforce

Today is the first day of November which means that the holiday season is no longer just around the corner – it is upon us. And along with the holidays (and Black Friday) comes the hiring of a seasonal workforce for the retail industry. For most seasoned retail managers, the process comes easy, but for those new or just entering the process a good amount of stress can ensue.

In an established retail environment, a manager knows what to look for in prospective employees. They look for good “people” people who can help customers find what they are looking for, provide a good customer experience and expedite the buying process. But aside from hiring the right employee, managing them to their fullest potential is critical as well.

With a seasonal workforce, there are three crucial aspects in managing a seasonal workforce: training, setting the right expect expectations, and time and attendance management.

Step 1: Training

Training is of course the first step with any workforce (and not just seasonal). Making sure that your employees have the right tools to give your customers the right experience is essential. In your training, you should include a healthy section of product knowledge, proper protocols for using cash registers, POS systems, etc., and how to escalate situations to the right authority. When your customers have the right tools in their tool box, then their potential will shine through.

Step 2: Setting the Right Expectations

Once seasonal employees know what to do, they need to know how well they are expected to do it. Expectations are one of the most important elements in managing a seasonal workforce. What are their sales goals, customer satisfaction rating requirements, etc.? Setting the bar and holding them to it will bring out the best in your employees (both seasonal and non-seasonal).

Step 3: Time and Attendance Management

The third and final component is managing an employee’s time and attendance. While attendance management is something you do with all your employees, seasonal employees should be managed with a watchful eye. Holiday employees are there for just that, the holidays. So, if they are running late, taking long breaks or missing work, they aren’t serving their purpose. You also run the risk of pushing your regular employees into overtime. So, it is important to watch the clock and monitor their behavior.

Finally, if you hire a seasonal employee that hits all three steps out of the park, you’ve got a real gem and a gem that might be worth bringing on to a regular status. Welcome to the holiday season everyone!

5 Reasons to Get a Biometric Time and Attendance System for Your Business

With the myriad of attendance management solutions on the market, there are reasons to not select a biometric time and attendance management system for your company. But, in this blog post, we’re putting forth five reasons why a fingerprint attendance solution might be right for your business.

1) Security. Biometric systems are the most secure attendance management systems on the market. They have no rival and no equal. With increased security, your employees have to be at work to punch in. This means an elimination of buddy punching and a reduction of time theft. Moreover, the improved security means a savings of hundreds or thousands of dollars in labor costs for your business. What’s not to love?

2) Accuracy. With increased security comes increased accuracy. Aside from buddy punching and time theft, mistakes in calculating hours worked can be costly as well. The automation and reporting provided in the software component of a biometric system brings a level of unparalleled accuracy to your workforce and payroll management. You’ll be able to monitor tardiness, breaks, overtime, vacation, and holiday hours and your employees will be able to trust that their work is being recorded correctly and fairly.

3) Efficiency. We’ve spoken to companies who spend hours (or even days) calculating their hours worked manually. Even with calculating time recorders, a company can only become so efficient while doing any form of manual calculation. Most software programs complete hour, wage and benefit calculations in less than 15 minutes. Imagine what your HR department will be able to do with the time!

4) Easy to Use. Automated biometric attendance systems are both easy to implement and easy to manage. Employees can log their attendance with just the touch of a finger and managers can pull attendance reports with just the touch of a button. Does it get any easier?

5) Compliance.  Finally, the fifth reason is a combined benefit of the four previous. Ultimately, compliance is why we manage and maintain records of attendance at all. One false move and you’ll end up slapped with a DOL wage and hour suit that could cost your business its very existence. When you combine security, accuracy, efficiency and ease of use, your company becomes fully compliant mitigating your risk of wage and hour suits.

For more information on biometric time and attendance management options, please visit the Time Masters website.

An Honest Question…

This might seem like an odd title for a time and attendance blog, but it has its merit. Running and managing any business should begin and end with just that: an honest question. As a friend of mine once said, “How many times have you asked an honest question and listened for the honest answer?”

There is of course the standard question: “Have I done my very best today for my company?” .

But is that “the” question? Hard to say. “The” question depends on the moment, the context and the truth that needs to be uncovered. But all of this truth finding is all created by the simple process of asking a question.

So, what questions have you asked today? Conversely, what answers have you assumed?

Time and attendance management is often about asking questions. Even with the right data and attendance management systems, you’ll only have the “what” of what is happening. You don’t have the “why” which can mean everything.

The other side of time and attendance management is using a system as a gauge for honesty. Buddy punching. Time theft. Twitter is littered with admissions. Those admissions are costing businesses thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars each year.

So, our honest question to you: “What is the best decision you could make for your company today?”

If you don’t already have a workforce management system, you should consider it. It could be one of the smartest business decisions you’ll ever make.

What to Expect from a Workforce Management System (Part 2)

In Part One of this series, we glossed over some of the predominant findings in the Axsium white paper. In this post, we’ll delve a bit more deeply into Axsium’s finding regarding how attendance management systems protect the bottom line of a business.

Reduction in Overpayments

Axsium found in their study that while most employees will report when they have been underpaid, very few will report when they have been overpaid. Overpayments may seem unimportant or you may believe that it is unlikely that any overpayment has occurred within your company. And, if you’re thinking of each case in isolation, it is indeed a small cost. However, when taken into consideration in companies of 100 or more employees, the costs can be rather significant.

Automated Time Capture

Automated time and attendance systems record and pay by the minute or pay by the schedule and have been shown to greatly reduce the payment for time not worked. Automated time capture also records meal and break times which can reduce the amount of paid non-work time for longer than scheduled meal and break periods. By reducing payment by a few minutes each day for each employee, can translate into thousands (in larger companies, millions) of dollars each year. It also allows for greater DOL compliance.

Proactive Management of Labor

Real-time reports, dashboards, alerts and line management allow for more insight and effectiveness in labor deployment. Proactive management gives managers the ability to adjust staffing levels in real time making the most effective use of a company’s workforce.

Managing Overtime Wage Costs

A workforce management system provides an effective an accurate method of tracking hours worked so there aren’t any “accidental” payments of overtime. For many companies, overtime is necessary evil in order to meet unexpected levels of workload. Instead of hiring additional part-time or temporary staff to make up the difference, paying overtime is often an easier alternative. For short term increases in work load, this strategy has shown to be effective. Over the long term, not so much. Without a proper workforce management system companies will experience chronic and abnormally high levels of overtime. Conversely, companies with a proper management system will see improved ability to match labor supply with labor demand, an improved accuracy in pay calculations and improved accuracy of time captured.

Managing Holiday Wage Costs

It should come as no surprise that the Axsium study found that manual workforce management systems produced higher incidence of holiday overpayment. Automated systems more accurately determine eligibility, hours and rate saving companies on labor costs.

In sum, automating your company’s workforce does indeed protect the bottom line of your company and it uses multiple approaches. It proactively manages labor, automatically captures attendance, and effectively manages schedules, holiday and overtime payment. For more information on employee time and attendance systems, please visit our website at www.time-masters.com.

What to Expect from a Workforce Management System (Part I)

In our last blog post, “October 1, 2010 – The Week in Time Attendance,” we posted a link to a white paper put out by Axsium that details the benefits and satisfaction of four companies that had implemented workforce management systems (WFM). In this post, we’ll extrapolate on the findings of the Axsium White Paper and provide greater insight as to what you can expect from a workforce management system.

When implementing a workforce management system, the chief benefits touted by providers are increased labor cost savings, enhanced productivity and faster payback periods. In their white paper, Axsium evaluated the weekly payroll data of four companies with the number of managed employees ranging from 1,200 all the way up to 61,700. Granted, each of these companies can be considered as large organizations comparatively speaking, but their size also magnifies any inefficiencies in their management system and approach. Ultimately, despite the small sample size, the Axsium study found that system usability and reporting capabilities were the largest sources of complaints- a statistic that Time Masters has seen across the board when identifying time and attendance management systems over the past 15 years. Furthermore, at the HR Tech Conference held in Chicago last week, “product features, ease of use, ease of integration and security” were key factors in a business’ decision as to which system would best fit its needs.

Other findings in the Axsium report included that companies saved an average of roughly $1600 per employee in the year immediately following the implementation of a WFM system. While the dollar amount may not be representative of small companies, the concept does represent the value that an employee attendance system brings to businesses. Traditionally, a business would see this as a cost reduction in labor expenses (typically in the 1-2% range), but from time to time a company will actually see an increase in their costs as a result of greater compliance (a small cost when compared to the costs of litigation). We’ve said it over and over in our blog. Time and attendance management systems protect the bottom line of a business.