Struggling with Remote Attendance Tracking: How Do You Ensure Accurate Records?

Hi Seniors,

We have a major problem with attendance as we are SAP B1 Channel Partners. Most of our employees work from the client side. The issue is that they do not send their attendance on a daily basis and do not inform us of their leaves. Employees on the client side help each other with this, making it impractical for me to call all the employees for attendance. We have tried various methods, such as asking them to email their attendance daily and calling from the client's phone when they arrive on-site. However, they only follow through for a few days before the same issues arise. They claim they do not always have access to the internet due to slow or malfunctioning networks, busy LAN lines at the client's site, and other reasons.

Could you please suggest a reliable way for us to record attendance and resolve this issue?

Thank you,
Pooja

Hi,

Following is the format of a Termination Letter:

Date:

To,
Name:
Employee no.:
Address:

Kind attention:

Dear Mr./Ms.,

Further to our meeting on (date), I regret to confirm that your employment with (company name) is terminated with effect from (date)/ with immediate effect.

We have hoped that numerous verbal and written warnings have already been given to you from time to time.

As stated at our meeting, the reason(s) for terminating your employment with us is/are as follows:

(reasons)

For and On behalf of-
Company's name
Concern Person's Name
Designation

Hi Pooja,

Basically, we also have our accountants at the client's place. When they arrive there, they either call me, or if they don't call, I ensure that they are present. As for your issue, you can implement a policy of deducting salary for such instances or simply warn them.

Thank you!

Hi Harshada,

Thank you for your reply, but then we tried this, and they only do it for a few days before forgetting again. Additionally, most of the people are on the client end, around 45... so receiving calls from 45 people every morning is, again, a challenging task for me. If you can think of another alternative, please let me know.

Pooja

User Input:
See pooja this or that you have to do that or tell them to mail you the same. Or tell your receptionist to take the attendance daily and report you the details.
Corrected Text:
See Pooja, this or that you have to do, or tell them to email you the same. Alternatively, instruct your receptionist to take attendance daily and report the details.

I don't think it is that complicated. Link the attendance with the HR site. Ask these employees to go online every day and mark their attendance online by clicking on a tab. For one month, take that attendance as final and calculate their attendance accordingly. If they receive less salary for that month, then starting from the next month, they will likely start submitting their attendance diligently and sincerely, without any issues. Try this approach; it should work.

Thanks and Regards,

Sanjeev

Dear Pooja,

This is not a big problem. You can simply start deducting their salary, and after one month, they will automatically start reporting you for their attendance. It's not a big deal. You must have heard about this - "Laato ke bhoot, baato se nahi mante".

Suddenly, I have got one more point in my mind - First of all, just ask them why they do not inform you. Are they careless/irresponsible or what? Are they really having any problem in informing you? If they have genuine reasons, then try to sort it out. If they are irresponsible, then warn them once for their salary deductions. If they still do not get ready to inform you, then you can take the above-mentioned action.

Hope it would work. 🌟

Hi Pooja,

Maybe I can give you a little bit of help, and you can link this with your problem. When I was working in a pharmaceutical company, we had Medical Representatives who worked on sales. We used to hand over the DCR, which stands for Daily Calling Report. We made sure that they wrote the names of the doctors they had visited. At the end of the month, they would email us the DCR and mark their attendance.

Here, you can create a sheet with the name of Daily Reports (DRs) and ensure that each employee gets it signed by the HR and their immediate supervisor. At the end of the month, you can mark their attendance.

I hope this will help you to some extent.

Cheers

Hi Pooja,

I look at it in two ways:

1. In the scenario of client-based project work, if the work is well done to suit the client's requirements, then attendance is not an issue. A call of attendance from the client's side does not ensure performance. For all you know, he/she can call you in the morning and then leave! So, I think for this kind of issue, it needs to be more performance-based and adult treatment.

(or)

2. Link up their attendance for the project duration with the Client's HR. I am sure they will help you with this.

Cheers!! Geetha

Dear Sir,

I am currently working in a mid-large FMCG firm with branches in many locations. In regard to the daily follow-up of time attendance, I would like to offer the following suggestions:

1. You can conduct a site visit for the first time.
2. Purchase a fingerprint machine and install it on-site to collect fingerprints from all employees.
3. Issue a circular note outlining the responsibility of using the fingerprint for clocking in and out.
4. Connect the fingerprint machine to a computer to generate daily reports. Based on these reports, address situations, issue warnings, or make salary deductions.
5. It is crucial to emphasize the importance of punctuality and attendance and how it impacts the organization.
6. Delegate the task of daily time attendance follow-up to a trusted and competent individual.
7. Lastly, measure the team's goal achievement regularly.

Thank you.

If you can, introduce an SMS reporting system where an employee needs to send a daily SMS of their work report, such as meeting clients, service calls, and installations if any. Every employee has a cell phone, so 2-3 minutes is enough to send an SMS. This system would be really helpful in tracking the attendance of outstation employees.

Hi Pooja,

What I think before deducting their salary for not informing about the attendance is not fair on HR's part. You can try following steps:

1) Give this responsibility to their Project Manager, since he is a senior employee, he will definitely take it seriously.

2) Send a blank attendance sheet to their P.M. and ask him to send it at the end of the month.

3) If you need to maintain daily attendance, then you have to send a warning email to individuals, stating that they have to send the attendance on a daily basis. If not received the same day, it will be considered as an absence for them.

Try this......

Thanks,
Amit

Hi Pooja,

You can create an Excel sheet that will include the In-time and Out-time of the concerned person on a regular basis. They will update it and send it to you. Once you start receiving that, you can keep track of it.

Another option would be that once they complete one week at the client site, they should obtain a signed copy from their respective reporting manager regarding their In & Out times for the working days in that week.

Thanks,
Lucky

Pooja,

Yours is an SAP-based organization. Whenever employees open their system, it automatically generates their attendance details. Developing this kind of program will solve your problem. Alternatively, you could choose not to pay for days when employees are absent in a month. For the next month, they can send their attendance details themselves without fail.

Regards,
R. Palaniswamy

Dear Pooja,

First, I want to know what is your designation and authority details. Whether you have full power related to your attendance muster or not. If you have, just do a simple thing - circulate the circular in your office or inform all your employees by SMS or email, etc., that if they do not send their attendance details, mark them absent. Be very strict regarding their attendance details, no excuses at all. Simply do not listen to anything; otherwise, you will be in a fix. This really works; I applied the same for my organization. It is a prime duty of employees, and they have to follow this. Try this, and you will find success in this matter.

Thank you.

Subject: Reminder Regarding Timely Submission of Timesheets and Leave Forms

Dear Team,

This is a gentle reminder to all concerned about the importance of submitting timesheets and leave forms on time. Any missing or delayed submissions can lead to a delay in processing salaries.

Your prompt attention to this matter is greatly appreciated. Remember, completing these tasks accurately and in a timely manner makes a significant difference in ensuring smooth payroll processing.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best regards
[Your Position]
[Company Name]

Dear Pooja,

Why don't you assign these responsibilities to one of your executives who is already at the customer site? Let him gather all the necessary details and provide you with the attendance information of all the executives on a daily or weekly basis. Instead of communicating with each individual, you can centralize the employee details at one point.

Regards,
Kishor

You may designate one person responsible for attendance-related issues and motivate them by mentioning that you are assessing or aiding them in improving their management skills. Provide this opportunity to each team member in rotation. This way, you will only have one individual to communicate with. Does this streamline your work?

Regards,
Toolika

Hi Pooja,

Even I feel the same thing. You can give them a warning about the same. You can tell them that if they don't give you attendance every day, then they will be marked absent for that day and even for the next day as unapproved leave, and their salary will be calculated accordingly.

Hope this works out for you.

Regards,
Shorabh Sharma

Hi,

Have an e-muster in place. People not signing into the muster on a daily basis get paid for only the days they have signed the muster. I am sure if you have an IT department, they should be able to help you on this.

Good luck :-)

Hi Pooja,

What is the size of your company in terms of headcount? We had faced the same problem in the past. We have around 600 employees, around 500 of them are in the field.

Please create an attendance format and send it to the team leaders. Ask them to fill out the attendance status of their team members and send it to you on a weekly basis (on a designated day). Clearly communicate that failure to submit the attendance sheet on time will result in the entire team being marked as absent.

Ashish

Hi Pooja,

They have to feel responsible, and they have to send a daily report of attendance. If they are not sending it properly, you have to deduct their salary. As HR professionals, we must maintain good relationships, and sometimes we have to adhere to rules and regulations.

With Regards,

Hi Pooja,

They have to feel responsible, and they have to send a daily report of attendance. If they are not sending it properly, you have to deduct their salary. As HR professionals, we have to maintain good relations, and sometimes we have to adhere to rules and regulations.

With Regards,
Ramesh

Hi Dear,

This is the format we use in our company. You can change it as per your requirement.

Date: -

To,
Name ----
Address------

Subject: Termination of your services with immediate effect

This is to inform you that your services have been terminated with immediate effect due to your indulgence in anti-organizational activities, non-performance, or misconduct.

Authorized signatory

Hi, Shiela...

The format for the termination letter is as follows:

Date: -

To,
Name:
Address:

Subject: Termination of your services with immediate effect

This is to inform you that your services have been terminated with immediate effect due to your indulgence in anti-organizational activities, non-performance, or misconduct.

Authorized signatory
Reema

Dear Forum Members,

I recently joined this group and am happy to say that it is very useful for HR professionals. I have recently joined a hospital and would like to know if anybody knows about the general responsibilities of employees to run a hospital efficiently so that performance and output can improve. I am also interested in how to manage attendance considering there is a three-shift system as well as contract and daily wage workers.

I would be highly thankful for any insights.

Warm Regards,
Anamika

Pooja, I think a written warning notice will work very well. I have implemented this in my company. Employees who were late to work were issued warning notices, and since then, they have been coming on time. You can follow a similar approach by issuing strict warning letters to request their attendance records. This should help in getting everyone to fall in line.

Regards,
Geeta

Hi all,

This is really once again a great challenge to manage as we have around 3500 employees across the nation, and a lot of attendance issues are arising every month. Even though we deduct salaries, keep track, offer incentives, and do whatever we can, there seems to be a loophole in attendance. Please suggest some ideas.

Regards,
Ram

Hi Seniors,

We have a major problem with attendance as we are SAP B1 Channel Partners. Most of our employees work from the client's side. The issue is that they do not send their attendance on a daily basis and do not inform us about their leaves. The employees at the client's side help each other with this, making it impractical for me to call each employee for attendance. We have tried various methods, such as asking them to email their attendance daily and calling them from the client's phone when they arrive on-site. However, these methods only work for a few days before the same issues arise. They claim that they do not always have access to the internet due to slow or non-functional connections, busy LAN lines at the client's site, and other reasons.

Can you please suggest a reliable way for us to record attendance and resolve this issue?

Thanks,
Pooja

---

Hi Pooja,

1. As you explained, they are unable to email their attendance daily, you can request them to inform only when an employee takes leave or is absent. For the remaining days, you can assume they are present.

2. Alternatively, for the benefit of both parties, you can send an email stating that failure to send daily attendance on time will result in that day being marked as an absence.

3. Another simple solution is to request monthly attendance instead of daily, which may reduce confusion and the need for daily follow-ups.

I hope these suggestions help address the attendance recording issue.

When the employees are working from the client's place, what is the necessity to take the attendance? The client asks for human capital, and we provide them. When our employees work there, the client will have better monitoring of them. If your client is not doing so, just call the client and inquire about the work status and performance feedback of each individual employee. Don't ask about the employees whether they are coming daily. This may spoil employee morale. If the work is not progressing well, the client will complain to us. If no such complaint is lodged, it's not very necessary to concentrate on attendance. In the present scenario, it's better to monitor whether the work is completed rather than how regularly the work is attempted.

For the formality, all employees should be asked to send their attendance on a weekly basis. Employees should be educated about the leave structure and leave rules of the company.

Hi Pooja,

This problem can be resolved with the help of the Finance Team & the Reporting Manager (client's side). The reporting Manager has to maintain his project costs (which include the cost of contract resources as well). The contract rates for resources are on a per day basis * total working days (22/23) for 8/9 hrs each day. The Payments are made monthly for these contract employees to your organization.

1- In the IT sector, you have web-based attendance systems that track your logging in/out timings, which gives you the total number of hours an employee was present at his desk.
2- The Reporting Managers can be given an attendance sheet for each contract employee. The employee needs to get his attendance sheet approved by the manager at the end of the month and submit it to you so that you can raise the invoice accordingly. Also, if an employee is regularly late or absent for more than 2 days, your client company needs to inform you. (In such cases, the employee can be withdrawn and kept on the bench without pay.)
3- In case of any absenteeism, automatically the billing amount is reduced, and so are the salaries. All contract employees are clearly explained their salary disbursement terms & conditions and sign on the dotted line for agreement. You can put this clause in the letter.
4- Lastly, the finance departments can strictly double-check for irregularities and not release payments until the attendance sheets are signed by both parties and accompanied by the invoice.

Regards, Preeti

The best way is to ask the client or some reporting person there to update you on their attendance on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis - simply as P or A (Present or Absent). This acts as a sort of customer feedback from there on whether your employees are on time or not. Even when we have some of our people working at the client site, we receive regular attendance updates from the client's secretary, who marks them as Present, Absent, or on Leave. Accordingly, designate someone responsible at the client site - if possible, or maybe the receptionist or anyone else.

Dear Pooja,

You could also consider the option of having a manual attendance register at each of your client's places in coordination with their HR. The in and out time can be captured, and the register could be checked by you on a weekly or monthly basis.

Regards,
Suja

My Experience -

As your business is client-based, clients are important. Ask the client to manage the attendance and request them to send you the monthly report, including attendance details, time in, late stays, and their rating for the present. Be friendly with your employee who is far from your office and working on the client side because they are representing your company.

Dear All,

As Pooja, I am facing the same problem. Our company is involved in the manufacturing and marketing of computers. Most of the time, our employees are out on fieldwork directly from their locations without informing us, making it challenging for us to track their activities.

Kindly suggest how to address this issue.

Regards,
Ramya

Hi Pooja,

The rule is simple: reward for the outcome you want from your employees. With the consent of management, you can make the pay of the employees linked to the timely reporting of attendance. For continuous three months of timely reporting, give the employee 20% of the saving of the value of time cost that the organization saved as a result of timely reporting of attendance. Alternatively, make timely reporting of salary one of their key performance targets.

Regards,
Ashish Saxena

Hi,

Please get the attendance sheet on a daily basis. Otherwise, you may deduct the salary initially because you have to handle the issue carefully. You need to send many emails or letters asking for attendance particulars, and after sending several reminders, only then can we make a decision.

Regards,
K. Packiarajan

Dear Pooja,

Please find the attachment for the monthly attendance format. Kindly ask your client's HR to sign it daily or monthly. If your employee does not submit the attendance sheet with the client HR signature by the last day of the month, please do not consider it for salary processing. It is the duty of your employee to get the signature from the client's HR and submit it to you. They can send the signed copy to you via mail, fax, in person, scanning, etc.

Firstly, communicate the same to your employees and clients, and then implement the procedure. We have been following this procedure, and it has been working fine.

Thank you.

Dear Pooja,

Even, despite repeated requests, if they are not responding, cut their salary. Automatically, they will update their records. Keep doing it for a few months, and the system will be in place.

Regards,
Arasu

Hi Pooja,

Many companies whose employees work at client locations follow a timesheet system for attendance on a monthly basis.

It is an MS-Excel sheet with details of employees on the first sheet and on the remaining sheets, their attendance for a particular month (each sheet for each month).

Alternatively, at the beginning rows in each sheet, mention the employee details, and on the remaining rows, their attendance (Date, Day, Present/Absent, Hours of Work, Shift type, etc., on each column). Here also, each sheet is for each month.

Ask them to send this sheet to their reporting person at the client and ask him to mark his approval after checking the records of their attendance, which is maintained at his end, and then forward it to you.

Make month-end the date of submission for the same after getting necessary approval, and in case they are not sending it, it means they have not worked for that month. It's as simple as that.

But you have to communicate the procedure and the outcome, if not followed, to the employees well in advance.

This will be a better solution instead of trying to figure out their attendance on a daily basis, which will be hectic since they are not present at the location where you sit.

Revert if you require any more details regarding the same.

Sandeep

Dear Pooja,

I understand that some of your employees work on the client's side. In such cases, it is necessary to assign a supervisor to manage attendance and daily activities.

In situations where only one employee is at the client's place, you should gather details from the client's gate entry every fifteen days or once a month. If daily updates are required, tracking via phone or online will be necessary.

Regards,
Puttaraju.M

In my factory, there are more than 100 employees who are working outside the city as well as outside Maharashtra. I have asked their branch manager to send their attendance mail by 12:00 noon. For those to whom it's not feasible, they can send their attendance/daily reporting via SMS.

You can also implement the same procedure.

Regards,
Jyoti Bhosale