Hey Alexa, do we need a biometric time clock?

Time clocks are an essential tool for most businesses – without accurate time records, employers risk paying hourly employees for hours they didn’t work or incurring costly audit fees due to non-compliant systems.

In today’s fast-paced work environment, paper timesheets, archaic punch clocks, or spreadsheets no longer meet employer or employee needs. Many organizations are moving to digital time and attendance solutions that allow them to streamline the time-tracking process. One innovative and efficient element within these systems is the option to use biometric time clocks. The benefits of biometric time clocks have made them a go-to solution for today’s top employers.

How Do Biometric Time Clocks Work?

You and your employees likely use some form of biometric data every day without even realizing it. Whether gathering data from a fingerprint, face, voice, or iris recognition, many of today’s systems (e.g., smartphones and smart speakers) use biometric technology. This approach authenticates someone’s identity using unique patterns and biometric identifiers, such as ridges on a finger or the sound waves in someone’s voice.

When it comes to biometric clocks, the options for gathering employee data apply the same methods. Some systems use fingerprints and handprints, while others use iris scans, facial recognition, or voice recognition. TCP specializes in providing industry-leading fingerprint biometric time clocks and biometric scanner devices to support employers’ needs for modern clocking in and out solutions.

What Are the Benefits of Biometric Time Clocks?

Numerous benefits make a biometric clock an essential solution for any employer with employees who clock in and out.

A biometric time clock solution helps organizations like yours:

Prevent buddy punching: Organizations lose money when workers ask other employees to clock in on their behalf. A biometric time clock solution will help you prevent these “buddy punching” issues because the system requires an individual’s biometric data to clock in.

Optimize employee productivity: Biometric time clocks are also convenient because employees always have their fingerprints with them. Passwords, badges, and ID cards aren’t required to clock in. Employees can quickly get to work without being delayed by finding what they need to clock in by using a fingerprint scanner.

Maintain compliance: When it comes to ensuring you have accurate ways to collect data for time worked, biometric time clocks are typically the best option. With a streamlined connection from an employee’s fingerprint to your time and attendance platform, there’s little room for errors and issues that come with manual processes.

Make the most of modern tech: Today’s systems are safe, easy to use, and installed quickly. As an alternative to standard biometric options, TCP’s BioScan 7 contains all the benefits of a larger clock in a simple USB. Because biometric solutions only require a scanner and a finger, very little training is required. These features all make implementation and user adoption turn-key.

Thermal sensors improve productivity by helping to limit the spread of illness. Biometric clocks with thermal sensors detect the temperature of employees clocking in and out, providing a seamless, non-invasive solution for regular health screening. Fewer sick employees mean improved productivity.

Introducing TCP’s Biometric Time Clock

TCP offers a “full-featured” biometric time clock that will help you gain greater control over productivity and provide the accuracy needed in your business operations. Our biometric time clocks, you can securely automate your company’s timekeeping, attendance tracking, job costing, benefit administration, labor scheduling, data collection, and access control with a quick scan of a fingerprint.

TimeClock Plus eliminates the need for paper timesheets, which are the root of most payroll nightmares. Employees enter data at an electronic data terminal using a magnetic stripe, bar code, or biometric technology. Optional PC entry is available, along with timesheet submittals for exempt employees. Its software collects these transactions, and your pay rules are applied automatically, consistently, and impartially.

The robust reporting system produces valuable management reports which help control the overpayment of employees and ensure proper distribution of labor costs.

Reports also help you avoid unauthorized overtime, track employee status, track benefit administration, control departmental costs, monitor staffing, perform job costing, and much more. It comes preloaded with valuable options available for direct connection into its system:

• WebClock,
• Job Costing & Validation,
• Telepunch,
• Access Control & Profile Lockout,
• Benefit Accruals
• Occurrence Ratings
• Bell Control

Based on what we hear from our clients, once you switch to biometric time clocks, you’ll likely wonder why you didn’t do so sooner.

What Are the Legal Considerations for Collecting Biometric Data?

Regardless of your methods, collecting sensitive employee data means you must ensure you comply with regulations around security, storage, and general use. If you don’t follow biometric privacy laws or have secure systems in place, you could be in serious trouble.

“Businesses must know the significant compliance requirements associated with implementing biometric time and attendance systems. An employer’s failure to have a proper compliance program in place can result in significant liability,” according to a report from Business News Daily.

In 2021, the state of Illinois passed the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

“Under BIPA, private entities that utilize biometric information must have a written policy, schedule, and guidelines for its collection, retention, and destruction. BIPA also requires advance disclosure and a written release from the subject or employee whose information will be collected. It also severely restricts the entity’s right to disseminate biometric information,” according to the National Law Review.

It’s not just Illinois that’s taking action on biometric data. The National Law Review also notes that five other states, including Texas, Washington, California, New York, and Arkansas, have adopted new or expanded laws to include biometric identifiers.

At a minimum, if you’re faced with an external audit, you want to be sure your system is SOC-2 compliant and that your workforce’s biometric data is secure. Fortunately, TCP’s time clocks meet or exceed biometric security and storage standards.

How To Manage Employee Concerns During Implementation

You may find that some employees are hesitant to use biometric time clocks. If that’s the case in your organization, make sure your communications include and address the following topics:

• Be transparent about how employee fingerprints or other biometric authentication data is used and why you decided to use biometrics.
• Communicate that your time and attendance software collects, stores, and uses biometric data only for identification and fraud prevention purposes.
• Emphasize the value biometric time clocks provide to employees. These clocks help streamline time and attendance approvals, allow employees to clock in and out without wasting time, and reduce the need for back-and-forth verification. These benefits mean more accurate payroll data and timely employee pay.
• Reassure employees of your commitment to security and your intentions for using the data by crafting and distributing a biometric policy. (Need help drafting a policy? Check out our sample biometric policy.)

Effective business operations require that you collect employee time in a way that is easy for employees to use, accurately captures the data, and prevents fraud. Each business has unique needs and requirements, which is why TCP offers a configurable biometric fingerprint scanner and customizable time clocks. For more strategies and tips about using biometric time clocks, read our Time Clock Selection Guide.