How Can We Track Employee Attendance Without a Punching Card System? Seeking Ideas!

I am an HR professional at a company with 50 employees, and I lead the department. Currently, we do not have a punching card system in place to track the in and out times of employees. The main issue with implementing this system is the potential for malpractices among employees. They could misuse the system by carrying their colleagues' cards and punching in for them, even if they arrive late or leave early.

Seeking Alternative Solutions for Attendance Tracking

I am seeking alternative solutions for tracking employee attendance that do not involve a punching card system. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Regards,
Mini

You can use a manual register for attendance as per government law. This register has columns for In and Out times, allowing you to retrieve data from the register and update it in an Excel sheet. Please let me know if you need further assistance or clarification.

Biometric Machine Options

You can use the biometric machine, which has two options available: Punching Cards and Thumb Impression. You can use the thumb impression to avoid misuse.

Thank you, Naveen, Syed, and Vithica, for your kind replies. Yes, we are planning to have a biometric machine from the end of August as we are shifting to a new building and increasing the team size. However, for the remaining two months, I need to have some other solution!

Alternative Solution for Tracking Employee Attendance

Maintaining a register at your desk and asking everyone to mark their attendance in front of you might solve your problem.

You have implemented a signature register at the security gate where all employees are required to sign in and out in the presence of security personnel. I would like you to establish a policy concerning the timing of clocking in and out. This policy should specify a designated time limit for clocking in; any arrivals after this time may be considered as half-day absences. Similarly, employees who leave early may also be marked as half-day absentees.

Regards,
Devinder

Biometric Attendance System with Manual Register

A biometric attendance system combined with a manual attendance register is required as per government law. The signature and time in/out should be recorded in front of the security personnel at the gate.

Mr. Sathish is absolutely right. You can only use the thumb impression punching system to track in or out time. In that case, nobody can show the presence of another employee.

Recommendation for Attendance System

In reference to your query, don't go for any punching card system; opt for a Biometric Finger scan system instead. It will help you greatly in controlling employees, as there will be no chance of malpractices.

Regards,
Kumara A
Senior HR

Evaluating Your Company's Business Model for Attendance Tracking

What sort of business is your company in? Can you shift to a piece-rate system? What is really important is whether the employee is completing the work assigned to them in the assigned time or before the assigned time. You need to develop KRA accordingly. These "in...out" systems serve the purpose in a security agency kind of business where presence is the crux. Please decide for yourself if your company is attendance-driven or work-driven.

Implementing CCTV for Attendance Monitoring

All of a sudden, you cannot change the entire system. It is cost-effective to install one CCTV camera near the swiping machine to find out one case of malpractice and initiate disciplinary action against the perpetrator. This way, indirectly, everyone will be deterred from engaging in such activities since the CCTV surveillance camera can easily identify malpractice.

I am sure you can control it this way.

Regards,
Vinay V