{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-blog-post-jsx","path":"/blog/integrated-time-attendance","result":{"data":{"post":{"title":"Click, clock… getting time & attendance right","excerpt":"

Time & attendance (“T&A”) – capturing and processing staff clock ins and outs – has been one of our most in-demand features in recent months. In this article I’ll take you through the importance of getting T&A right, how we selected our approach, and why T&A’s real value lies in integration with the other facets of workforce […]

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Time & attendance (“T&A”) – capturing and processing staff clock ins and outs – has been one of our most in-demand features in recent months. In this article I’ll take you through the importance of getting T&A right, how we selected our approach, and why T&A’s real value lies in integration with the other facets of workforce management.

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Why bother capturing T&A?

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Monitoring the exact times staff come and go may seem draconian. But doing it properly will benefit your staff as well as your business. At a basic level, there are 2 key functions:

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We’ve met a number of businesses which rely on scheduled data (i.e. the hours on someone’s rota), rather than actual data (i.e. the exact amount of time they were on shift) for the above functions. Of course, different businesses have different requirements, but usually this approach will result in inaccuracies – with either the business or the staff being worse off than they should be.

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What’s wrong with just using pen & paper?

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Tracking T&A on paper = huge manual overheads

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Many businesses we speak to still capture T&A by relying on their staff to scribble in a book to sign in and out. So before I get started on what makes Rotaready’s T&A so great: what’s wrong with this approach?

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Of course, some businesses are a few steps ahead, using spreadsheets or basic clocking-in machines, but they’ll fall short on at least one of the above points.

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How does Rotaready’s T&A work?

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In my first job, I was given a swipe card to use every day. In fact, there are loads of T&A options on the market, which authenticate (i.e. securely identify staff) in different ways. Swipe cards are the obvious example, but you’ll come across RFID badges, biometrics (typically fingerprint readers) or simply password / PIN-code driven solutions.

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Swipe cards present their own problems…

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Clearly, these options are better than relying on paper / spreadsheets, but they have their own drawbacks. Swipe cards / RFID badges are an administrative overhead (distributing to new joiners, collecting for leavers, replacing lost ones, replacing / reconfiguring broken ones). Fingerprint readers typically have to be pretty expensive to be much good (and even then often don’t work accurately, especially for kitchen staff who can burn thumbs!)

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Furthermore, there are scenarios where you’d want more than one set of hardware (e.g. if you typically have a large number of staff arriving / leaving at the same time or if you wanted, in a pub for example, your kitchen staff to clock in / out separately from your bar staff). Many systems out there won’t aggregate data from numerous devices.

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On top of all that, buddy clocking isn’t eliminated. Passwords / PIN codes can be shared and fingerprint readers often allow several fingerprints to be registered against one account.

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We wanted to find a solution that would address these issues and work across all industries (healthcare providers, for example, won’t have their staff on tills).

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Rotaready’s T&A is a doddle…

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After months of planning, development and testing, we released Rotaready T&A. Staff clock in and out through a wall-mounted tablet, which takes a photo from the front-facing camera at each interaction. Easy, quick (and, in the advent of selfies, actually quite fun) to use. Inexpensive to deploy. No administrative overhead. Easily scalable if you need more than one. Buddy-clocking thwarted, simply by taking photos (we offer facial recognition as an optional extra for extra peace of mind).

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All that’s needed is good lighting, a nearby plug and connectivity (wired or wireless). Problem solved.

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Oh, and for scenarios where staff don’t work from a base office (e.g. healthcare visits), we support clocking in/out from a mobile device. More on that another time.

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So what’s the game-changer?

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There are loads of T&A providers out there. What makes Rotaready special?

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One word: integration. Handling T&A alongside Rotaready’s other core modules of scheduling and staff management brings about a huge range of benefits.

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The above benefits simply wouldn’t be possible with a standalone T&A system. Integration with the other facets of workforce management is where the real value lies.

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How long do you spend managing all aspects of T&A? Let us know what you think.

\n","slug":"integrated-time-attendance","date":"03 January 2016","author":{"node":{"name":"Jamie Harvey","avatar":{"url":"http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/5a7094755acbd89eb2d68c28a3b06537?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"description":"Founder"}},"categories":{"nodes":[{"name":"Technology","id":"dGVybToz","slug":"tech"}]},"rotaready":{"readingTime":3,"metaDescription":null,"featureImage":null}},"prevPost":{"id":"cG9zdDoxNDI=","title":"Rota management software: the leap of faith","excerpt":"

Adopting new software can be a worry. Especially adopting software that directly impacts something as important as managing your workforce. We get that. That’s why we go the extra mile to ensure your transition on to Rotaready goes as smoothly as possible. In this blog I’ll explain some of what we do behind the scenes to help with the […]

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