Biometrics are the most secure and accurate methods of collecting attendance data, be it any industry. Earlier, any other method of collecting attendance details of employees ended up in excessive time-consuming activities for the HR team. They would first have to verify, as best as they can, whether the data collected is accurate and then go through the painfully long process of distributing salary to employees. However, these were woes of the past when attendance was collected through manual methods. Manual collection of attendance also posed several challenges for enterprises like time theft, proxy punching, decreased and hampered productivity, etc.
The development of biometric attendance systems made a collection of accurate attendance data much easier. Enterprises breathed a sigh of relief with the implementation of these systems as it catered to many advantages. One of the most popular biometrics used as a means of employee identification is fingerprint. As we all know, fingerprints are unique to each individual, hence making it an infallible means of capturing an employees’ attendance data. Furthermore, it is an additional bonus for the HR team since they no longer have to spend long hours after attendance calculation and indulge in excruciating payroll processing for each employee. The biometric systems available today are automated, only adding to the benefits.
Benefits! Now, we have been talking a lot about the benefits of using a Biometric System for Attendance marking. So what are they?
Let us start with the most basic and important of all – Elimination of Time Theft.
A biometric fingerprint attendance system puts a stop to all possibilities of manipulating the time an employee has reached or left their work premises. Not just manual attendance marking but marking attendance through other methods such as a pin code or RFID card leave the data open to manipulation. If not themselves, employees may share their pin code or RFID cards and ask them to punch on their behalf, thus entering false attendance details. With manual marking, there’s just no saying at how easy it would be for employees to enter false details or change their records in order to cover up for their lost time. Hence, biometrics has become an important advantage for enterprises as it completely eliminates the time theft issue. More so because it cuts down on the excess payment costs organizations incurred due to false salary payment.
The second most important benefit is – Elimination of Proxy Punching, a topic we touched in the previous point.
Now, proxy punching basically means to have one person mark their attendance by another, which unfortunately is, or rather was, quite a common practice amongst employees. However, since biometrics like fingerprints are unique to each individual, they cannot be replicated. The implementation of biometric systems has hence, helped organizations overcome the issue of proxy punching effectively.
Smooth Payroll Processing is one of the advantages for the HR team of every organization.
As mentioned above, the fingerprint time-attendance systems are automated, which means that it is connected to a central server makes the availability of attendance data very easy. With the easy availability of data, the task of the HR team also becomes easy. Furthermore, these systems can be integrated with payroll processing software, which makes payroll processing a smooth task for the HR personnel. Most importantly, the accurate and timely payment of salary can greatly improve employee morale.
Connected with improved employee morale is the benefit of Increased Productivity.
Although a secondary effect, an increase in productivity is a major benefit for any organization. When employees develop a positive attitude towards their jobs, they tend to work better. This indirectly leads to a raise in their productive hours, in turn, the overall productivity of the organization. And the direct benefit to increased productivity is an increase in profits, which is again advantageous for the organization.
A fairly remote advantage of a biometric system is the Remote Monitoring of Employee Attendance. Since these technologically advanced systems can now be connected with mobile devices of the employees, their attendance can also be tracked remotely. This is especially beneficial for organizations that have employees working on the field. They can remotely check the movement of their employees while sitting in the office.
To conclude, Biometric Attendance Systems are a boon to the enterprises, especially the ones that have known the pain of facing attendance related challenges. However, if we are saying that organizations are benefiting from these systems it’s not entirely right, employees are too. Receiving accurate payment at every payday is obviously one of the greatest benefits.