Is It Safe to Ditch Paper Attendance Records for Biometric Systems in Small ICT Firms?

Hi all, In our company (small-size ICT), we have a biometric attendance machine in which all of the employees' information is being stored: time of entrance, hours worked, etc. Also, we keep an attendance register (on paper, by hand).

In my opinion, we are doing the same thing twice; putting info on paper and having the same info through the biometric attendance machine. Can anyone inform me if we can stop with the attendance register and use the digital info? Is this allowed? For all I know, the law on this dates back to 1948 (before any software registration possibilities), but I do not wish for my company to get into any trouble when we will be checked by the government.

Looking forward to your replies!

Best regards, Petra

It is indeed great that you are using biometrics. In the court of law, only manual scripts are accepted as evidence and documentary proof.

Thanks

Thank you for your fast reply. Do I understand correctly that you advise keeping both types of records? So, the attendance record on paper as well as the digital one (by the biometric machine)? Actually, I was hoping we only had to use one as this double administration is taking up a lot of time.

Best regards,
Petra

Certification of Attendance Software

The attendance software needs to be certified by labor officials before it can be used officially as the only mode of recording the employee attendance system. Otherwise, the employee register obviously works. Maybe you can use the biometric attendance to track in-out timings, late marks, early goings, etc. Whereas the signature on the register would be evidence of employee presence (not timings).

Also, remember that biometric attendance software, like any other software, can fail to operate anytime and might have maintenance or operational issues due to power supply. In which case, your attendance register would come in handy for those emergency cases where the software was out of order. In such emergency cases, at least you would have your basic attendance on the register in place to calculate payroll.

Regards