Thursday, June 11, 2009

Benefits of a Telephone Time Clock

The first employee time clock was invented more than 100 years ago and since that time, there have been many advances made in the world of time keeping.  Is your business still using a time clock method that is dated and antiquated?  Are you losing valuable time trying to track and verify employee time cards and records?  If so, why? Why not graduate into the newest technology and update your ability to easily and accurately handle time card issues?  There are more than a few reasons why manual time cards are a thing of the past and time attendance tracking time clock systems are now used more than ever.

The original time clock was born out of the need the Industrial Revolution created to keep accurate time records for paying countless numbers of workers.  The concept from its inception was simple, a clock was attached to a mechanical stamp which recorded times a worker arrived and left on a card, which in essence created the first payroll record. Now, think about the world as it currently is, think about all the larger corporations that employee hundreds, if not thousands of workers.  Can the same thing be done today to effectively manage a payroll of 5,000 employees? Probably not, this is why a phone time clock system is so invaluable for businesses today.

You may be wondering how an automated telephone time clock works and the answers are very simple.  Employees are simply required to call one phone number to log into work for the day and once the work day has been completed, the employee calls back to the same phone number, enters log in information and the stop time is tracked for the day.  Instead of swiping a badge, at the end of the pay period all the hours worked are automatically reported to the payroll department which drastically reduces errors and reduces hours spent combining paperwork.  phone time clock is one of the best ideas ever created for businesses that have remote employees, there is no way any time can be altered or forged, which results in no errors or mistakes of any type.

If you don’t already have one, a telephone time clock should be something you give serious consideration to, it is money well spent and a decision you will never regret.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

What a difference Chronotek makes

As the owner of a business that employs more than 100 people, many working from their homes and others working from one of our seven locations, I was looking for the right timekeeping method for all situations. Obviously I cannot be every place at every time. Often I wondered about some of my employees and the hours they actually work, versus the hours they report working. When I implemented Chronotek, it really forced my employees to be more accountable, which has helped increase overall productivity and reduce the expense of overtime. The use of Chronotek has really paid for itself. In these tough economic times, that is more important than ever. The telephone timekeeping system is easy, accurate and costs less than paying payroll staff to give out timecards, gather them and calculate them, and keep track of staff. I have found this system to be a valuable tool in helping management personnel communicate more effectively with their direct reports.

Because it is web based, you can access your Chronotek Administrative account from anywhere, on any computer, any time of day. I have been able to check up on employees at any time of the day or night. Chronotek’s system is very easy to use to add employees or include new job locations. I have been able to use the company’s text message alerts quite effectively to keep tabs on my employees. The system works by requiring employees to call a toll-free number for the purposes of clocking in and out. The data is immediately provided in real time. So you do not have to wait for a week or two to find out how many absences an employee has had, or how many times he or she has been late during a given week. It makes tracking trends very easy and simple. I use the Random Voice Verification feature so that I know for certain it is the correct employee using the system. Also, I know where my employees are calling from at any given time, thanks to patented caller-ID technology. And with the daily internal clock synchronization system, I know with absolute certainty that the times reflected are completely accurate for all my locations and for all my employees. Since we began using Chronotek, I have been able to put employee time card issues virtually out of my mind and focus on the reason I started my company in the first place—running my business.