Investing in the right time and attendance solution, particularly in an organisation with complex work patterns such as shifts, overtime, time off in lieu etc, is one of the best ways to gain insight and a benchmark for your employee costs.
In order to help you choose with more confidence a system that delivers all you need, here are our six tips for what to look for in a new time and attendance (T&A) system.
Employee costs are rising
The cost of employing people, while varying from organisation to organisation, is usually its single largest overhead, and with the Office for National Statistics reporting growth in annual pay at 6% between June and August 2022, staff costs are only going in one direction.
Payroll costs are brought more sharply into focus during economically challenging times and organisations must look for new ways to manage workforces more effectively so that they operate more efficiently and profitably.
Putting an effective T&A system in place will help to deliver this. It’s important to consider six key features of an effective solution:
- How much money can you save?
The best T&A solutions deliver cost savings in two ways: by ensuring employees are only paid for the time they work; and by improving the efficiency of administration across HR and payroll. It also introduces fairness and consistency across an organisation, ensuring compliance with policy – such as automatically applying overtime rates at the correct time of day, adding time off-in-lieu, and a host of other configurable work rules that relate specifically to your organisation.
They are so effective at identifying costs they provide an average return on investment from our customers is under six months. Why not use our RoI Calculator and see how much you could be saving?
- How will your employees clock in and out?
Modern clocking-in terminals are accurate and secure, making use of biometric terminals such as the Synergy range of data capture terminals, which can authenticate employees by:
- Fingerprint: Suitable for even the largest scale of application with up to 25,000 fingerprint templates.
- Face: Facial recognition is highly accurate and enables a host of time and attendance functions. These terminals can also be configured to eliminate physical contact.
The highly secure nature of biometric terminals eliminates issues such as ‘buddy punching’, where a colleague clocks in for somebody else, as the employee has to be physically present at the terminal to use it.
Modern clocking terminals also enable self-service functionality, for example requesting holidays and checking balances. Furthermore, mobile apps and internet-browser based portals simplify clocking in and out, no matter where you are, reflecting today’s flexible working patterns.
- Keep all your employee data in one place for easier administration
Integral to any effective T&A system is the way data is stored and managed, which is particularly important when managing a workforce.
Cloud hosting T&A solutions gives access to data via an internet browser, putting the information you need at your fingertips so long as you have an internet connection.
However, access to information is only half the story; you then need a system that provides that information in a clear and concise way for all users.
As such, modern systems allow you to view key data at a glance about trends in attendance and associated costs across your organisation through dashboards and reports.
- Flexibility that matches your work patterns and rules
The functionality of any T&A system must embrace the complexity of the organisation deploying it.
Solutions need to match the workflows and work rules that you want to implement, while also taking into account many other aspects:
- Overtime calculations at multiple rates
- Automated rounding of lateness or early arrival
- Automatic changes of rate for overtime or working statutory holidays
- Overnight time changes, configurable to enable changes between statutory holiday and standard rates
- Custom SQL scripting for complex arrangements
- Template-driven for easier customisation and review
- Templates for variable, fixed, split and flexitime shifts and contracts
- Integration with payroll solutions and other technologies
T&A solutions can make a real difference when integrated into your payroll and accounting software by automating pay calculations, and even payment itself.
Choose a solution that can be integrated with the payroll solution that you want to use. Not only does this save line managers, HR and payroll teams a significant amount of time, it also reduces the risk of human error.
In addition to payroll, the eco-system of software within modern organisations cis varied, so interoperability and scalability is a major consideration to further reduce administration and offer better insight. Some vendors, like Synel, offer additional modules that tie in closely with T&A – such as activity/time costing – and also have readily available APIs to integrate with third-party software.
- Consultation and ongoing support
Change affects how an organisation’s people work, so systems and T&A solutions must evolve with them.
If the customer care you receive from your provider stops short at simple query support and resolving system errors, then you need more.
Your next T&A system partner should also be able to offer guidance to help you choose the right solutions and gain the most from the tools available. They should then continue to work with you so that your system delivers such a significant change in your operation that it becomes integral to your overall business efficiency.
Synergy Time and Attendance can help make savings across the board
Synel’s workforce management solutions are designed to increase productivity, reduce administration, and save you both management time and money. These include Synergy Time & Attendance which has been designed to reflect the realities of today’s working world and the need of customers to adapt systems in order to optimise their effectiveness.
With more than 30 years’ experience in time and attendance systems, thousands of customers around the globe have benefitted from working with us as their partner.
We offer a free, no obligation consultation, so contact us today and we can work with you in designing a T&A solution that matches your requirements. Then you can start making noticeable savings sooner.
