Peter Drucker once wrote: Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else. He also pointed out that out of three major resources - money, people and time, ime is the only one we cannot rent, hire, buy or obtain in any other way.

These statements are terrifyingly true, which is probably why there are so many tools on the market that help us manage our time better. One of many is our software.

So far, you’ve probably used Insightful to monitor what your employees are doing during working hours, or as a remote employee management software, or even to measure and analyze your team’s overall productivity and performance. But, Insightful can give you even more than that, helping you track time and attendance as well.

This option will give you insight into your employees’ working hours - when they clock in, out, and when they take breaks. Yet, there are several ways Insightful tracks attendance:

• Unlimited tracking - the software works constantly, on selected days and counts clock in as the time when the computer turned on, and clock out when computer is turned off;
• Fixed - Insightful tracks your employees between set hours, but only if the computer is turned on;
• Network based - tracker works when the computer is connected to a specified network;
• Manual clock in - employees click the clock in button when they start working, and clock out when they’re done

Besides, if you have a fixed break time policy, you can set up the option of tracking break time of all of your employees.

Such a system is way more accurate than the traditional card-checking method, and there are four reasons why you should switch to it right away. So, without further ado here’s the list of benefits you’ll yield with an automated time and attendance tracking system.

Preventing Time Theft and Buddy Punching

Whether intentional or not, time theft at work costs US employers more than $400 billion per year, in lost productivity. Time theft is best described as the time between when the employee clocks in and when they actually start working, or taking a longer break than allotted, etc. 

A software which automatically tracks time and attendance tracks what someone is doing, instead of tracking where they are, like more traditional methods do.

Additionally, there’s the issue of buddy punching which is when someone clocks in a coworker even though they aren’t at work yet. Even if it seems like you might be overdoing it with monitoring this, keep in mind that up to 7% of a company’s gross payroll gets lost due to time theft.

And it’s not just about the money - hard workers usually resent coworkers who cut out early, or those who are late but have others covering for them. An automated time and attendance system will help you keep everyone’s activity transparent.

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Saving Time and Resources on Payroll Calculations

With a time and attendance software, you’ll spend less time tracking, recording, and processing employees’ time spent at work. Organizing and processing payroll related paperwork surely takes a lot of time for your accountants, but filling out manual timesheets takes a lot of time for your employees as well.

An automated time and attendance tracking solution allows you to approach this process in an easy, organized way. Some of our clients reported that this feature cut their payroll processing time down by 70%.

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Minimizing Human Error and Staying Compliant With Local  Labor Laws

Manual timesheets and manual payroll calculations aren’t just time consuming - they’re prone to errors. Even just one misplaced digit or decimal can lead to accounting errors that could cause major issues for your company. 

Most countries have labor laws which clearly state how long is the workweek, how much break time should employees have during the day, as well as what is the rest time between two shifts. An automated time and attendance system will help you stay compliant with those laws, and keep a record of everyone’s working hours in case of an audit.

You’ll Have a Company-Wide Database

This is especially useful if your company is spread across multiple offices, or if your teams work remotely. By using our time and attendance feature, your accounting department will be able to access data related to all employees no matter where they’re located.

The central database can be accessed from any device, your employees would just need their manager or admin logins.

Wrap Up

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The benefits of an automatic time and attendance system are numerous. It helps you manage your workforce and process payroll quickly, but it provides you with most accurate data about your employees’ attendance.

The solution really pays for itself after a few months, because you’re not only using it to track time and attendance; you can also use it to monitor your employees’ computer activities, track time on projects and tasks, and measure and analyze productivity.

All of this leads to a strong return on investment, and creates a positive effect on overall business results of your team.

This article was originally written on October 13th, 2016 by Gina Ora. It was updated on March 10th, 2020 by Bojana Djordjevic.