Buddy punching costs UK businesses millions annually. Cards get shared, PINs get passed around, and payroll ends up paying for hours not worked. Meanwhile, shared touchscreens and fingerprint sensors raise hygiene concerns in food production and healthcare. Traditional clocking methods create queues at shift changes, wasting productive time.
The reality today
Buddy punching costs UK businesses millions annually. Cards get shared, PINs get passed around, and payroll ends up paying for hours not worked. Meanwhile, shared touchscreens and fingerprint sensors raise hygiene concerns in food production and healthcare. Traditional clocking methods create queues at shift changes, wasting productive time.
The Solution
Facial recognition time clocks from Synel authenticate employees without contact or credentials. Identity is confirmed as people move naturally through clocking points, attendance is recorded instantly, and hygiene risks associated with shared surfaces are removed.
Facial recognition ensures only the actual employee can clock in—no more buddy punching, no more paying for hours not worked.
Zero-touch authentication means no shared surfaces, making it ideal for food production, healthcare, and manufacturing environments.
Sub-second recognition keeps queues down and productivity up, even during the busiest shift changes.
GDPR-compliant by design. No photographs stored, just encrypted mathematical templates that can't be reverse-engineered.
Everything you need, built in.
From clocking in to payroll-ready data in a few simple steps.
The terminal detects a face within 2 metres using dual IR and white lighting sensors.
The face is matched against stored templates in under one second, even in complete darkness.
Time, location, and employee ID are logged instantly to the Synergy software.
UK-installed and supported by Synel engineers
5" touchscreen biometric terminal with facial recognition for time & attendance
5" touchscreen terminal with both fingerprint and facial recognition for maximum security
10" touchscreen biometric terminal with facial recognition for time & attendance
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Book a Free Site SurveyFacial recognition brings touchless biometric authentication to time and attendance, combining speed, accuracy, and hygiene in a single solution. Our Synergy Face terminals use dual IR and white lighting for reliable recognition even in challenging lighting conditions—including complete darkness.
The authentication process involves three steps: the terminal detects a face within 2 metres, matches it against stored templates in under one second, then logs the time, location, and employee ID to the Synergy software. Enrolment takes seconds and templates automatically sync across all devices on your network—enrol once, clock anywhere.
Unlike cards or PINs that can be shared, facial recognition ensures only the actual employee can clock in. This eliminates time theft and the payroll errors that come with it. For organisations losing money to buddy punching, biometric authentication delivers immediate ROI.
Synergy Face terminals can be configured so users never touch the device at all. This makes facial recognition ideal for food production, healthcare, manufacturing, and any environment where hygiene is critical. No shared surfaces means no cross-contamination risk.
A common misconception is that facial recognition stores photographs. The reality: Synel devices convert biometric data into encrypted mathematical templates that cannot be reverse-engineered into an image. No photographs are captured during enrolment or authentication. This methodology ensures compliance with GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Authentication is performed on the device itself, so if network connectivity is lost it continues operating normally and uploads captured data once connection is restored. In the event of a power outage, the backup battery keeps the device operational for up to 2 hours.
Facial recognition terminals integrate seamlessly with Synergy Workforce, your complete workforce management solution from Synel. They're also compatible with a growing list of third-party platforms. With Synel's Synergy Connect service, integration with new platforms can be achieved quickly with minimal effort.
4,000+
Employees managed
£40 million
Facility investment
UK's largest kitchen manufacturer consolidated HR reporting with facial recognition for production and fingerprint for offices.
Discover the full results Wren Kitchens achieved with Synel's solution.
Explore more solutions that work together.
Flexible clocking systems that match your environment and keep attendance data reliable.
Hygiene-first attendance tracking using touchless facial recognition or RFID.
Biometric fingerprint clocking that prevents buddy punching and secures attendance data.
Common questions about time & attendance answered.
Facial recognition terminals use multi-dimensional facial analysis to identify employees in under one second. The employee simply approaches the terminal with no touching required.
During enrolment, the system creates an encrypted mathematical template of the face. No photographs are stored. This template is matched each time the employee clocks.
Dual IR and white lighting ensures accurate recognition even in low light or complete darkness. Templates sync across all devices on your network, so employees can clock at any authorised terminal.
Yes. Facial recognition is completely touchless. Employees clock by simply looking at the terminal without touching any surface or removing gloves.
This makes it ideal for food production, healthcare, pharmaceutical manufacturing and any environment with strict hygiene standards.
For even more demanding environments, Synel also offers RFID necklace solutions where workers walk through readers without any interaction at all.
Buddy punching is where one employee clocks in for another. It is eliminated using biometric authentication.
Synel offers facial recognition and fingerprint terminals that verify the actual identity of the person clocking, not just possession of a card or knowledge of a PIN.
Because biometrics cannot be shared, borrowed or forgotten, you only pay for employees who are physically present. This delivers immediate ROI for organisations experiencing time theft.
Yes, when implemented correctly. Biometric data is classified as special category data under GDPR, requiring explicit consent and a lawful basis for processing.
Synel systems use encrypted templates rather than storing actual fingerprint images or photographs. These templates cannot be reverse-engineered to create an image.
Clear retention policies ensure data is deleted when employees leave, and the system supports the right to erasure.
Yes. Synel's data capture devices feature offline mode. If network connectivity is lost, terminals continue to verify users and store clocking data locally using their built-in memory.
Once connection is restored, data automatically uploads to the central server. No records are lost.
Devices also include battery backup to maintain operation during power outages, typically for up to two hours.
Book a demo to see how Synel can streamline your operations and deliver measurable ROI.
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