Struggling with Salary Processing for Off-Site Employees: How Do You Track Attendance Effectively?

Dear All,

I am working in a Software Testing Company as an HR. As part of my role, I have to handle the salaries of over 200 employees, most of whom are at client sites. As our company specializes in software testing, I encounter significant challenges in processing salaries due to the difficulty in tracking the attendance of employees working at client locations.

We have implemented a Management Information System (MIS) where employees are required to input their in and out times for the work done at client sites. However, this system has not been effective in resolving the issue. Can anybody provide guidance on how I can overcome this problem?

Regards,
SJ

Hi Sreeram, you can implement timesheets for people working onsite. You can implement that at the end of each week they have to get the form signed by the reporting manager (client's) for each day's number of hours worked onsite. You can create it in Excel and email it to your employees in a simple format: your company name, name of employee, employee code, department worked, dates, number of hours, total number of hours, and signed by the client's manager they are reporting to. This way, you can also track people working overtime and charge the client in case overtime is paid by them. Regards, Sourabh

Dear Saurabh,

Thank you very much for your guidance. Could you please advise me on how to keep track of people who are at the client site when the client is based in another city or country? Should I consider the soft copy sent by the employee as valid proof?

Regards,
SJ

Hi SJ,

I wouldn't advise you that there will be a loophole if every employee sends his own timesheet. You will never be sure that they were really present at the site for the mentioned number of hours as per the timesheet.

It has to be cross-verified by someone senior whom you can rely on to ensure they will not mislead the company. Isn't there anyone they are reporting to at the site?

If there is no one else present at the site who can verify their presence, then there is a system to install an electronic time entry system. Every employee has to swipe his card and give his thumb impression every time they come in and go out of the premises. This will be a bit expensive.

At the end of each day, a report is generated from the server calculating the exact number of hours the employee was present inside the premises.

Alternatively, you can put in charge anyone from the team members (preferably the team lead) with an additional responsibility to send you an email stating the presence of all the employees at a particular time every day. For example, if the reporting time is 9:30, you can ask him to provide you an email every day by 9:45, giving a grace period of 15 minutes.

If you have doubts regarding their total number of working hours, you can ask for the report in the evening instead of the morning, prepared by the team lead. Only he should mention the time in and out of every team member.

You can provide him with an Excel sheet with everyone's name and codes working at the site.

Regards,

Sourabh