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How to pick the right time attendance software
Certain things in life are timeless. Classical music, good food and fantastic natural sceneries. But there are many things that you just have to evolve to keep up, especially when the change comes quicker than another movie from the Fast and Furious franchise. One of them would be in the realm of time attendance, given how COVID-19 has almost entirely upended the whole process.
What is time attendance
Time and attendance is the act of capturing the time-in and time-out of people or employees to facilitate tabulation of payments or simply to ensure they are at the designated site over the given period. Time and attendance software supports this activity and makes it easier to monitor and optimise employee work hours and keep track of wages and salaries paid. This type of software is widely used in organisations of all sizes. The records can also be precious in the event of a tax audit. A well-designed time and attendance software suite will remain functional as an organisation grows.
The COVID-19 spanner
No other event has had such a profound effect on the lives of every human being on the planet – and on every organisation – as the COVID-19 global pandemic. Additionally, it has become clear that the world will be forever changed when we emerge from this crisis. Employers’ priorities are shifting to recognise the critical importance of supporting health and safety among their populations, whether they have closed or relocated during the pandemic or have remained open throughout.
As the economy prepares for a post-COVID era, businesses, schools, and offices will reopen, security professionals, management, and human resources departments are implementing new stringent personal and workplace hygiene rules and processes for their organisations. To address these concerns further, organisations have prioritised the search for technology solutions that can assist in containing the spread of viruses and microbes. From doors to sinks and elevators, these new technologies will prioritise a touchless experience. These are not transient changes. After witnessing the devastation that a pandemic can cause, business owners and other leaders will make permanent changes to avoid a recurrence and avert any new health threats to the population.
The new time attendance
As the new normal becomes just ‘normal’, you need a new checklist to help you identify the right Time Attendance software that will fit your organisation’s future. Before you sign off on that next purchase, you may wish to consider the following:
1. Does the software facilitate a no-contact capture?
A better way to prevent contracting COVID-19 and beyond is to reduce the number of physical interactions. Traditionally, time attendance software requires either a card or fingerprint access. Both would come in contact with the surface that many others have already touched. And if you are looking at rush hour, you can imagine the long lines queuing up shoulder to shoulder to gain access. Another potential scenario to become a COVID-19 hot spot. An excellent time attendance software should provide contactless and queueless capture. In addition, it must not be dependent on access to the Internet since there might be worksites that do not come with easy wifi access.
2. Does the software come with free upgrades?
In some cases, the software requires additional hardware to function properly. For example, some businesses must invest in iPads in order to operate facial recognition technologies at the point of entry into their facilities. As a result, not only do you have another piece of gear to maintain, but you also have an additional cost to contend with. A preferable approach would be to concentrate on providing a software-only solution on the consumers’ mobile phones. Furthermore, it allows for a queueless method, with any upgrades being as simple as pressing the Update button.
3. Does it provide real-time information?
Capturing data is one thing; however, the worth of that data is only realized when you need to retrieve it later on in time. In addition, if you require it on an urgent basis, you don’t want to waste time and sleep because the data across platforms has not yet been synchronised due to the fact that the batch upload has not yet been completed. That will only result in the loss of valuable working hours and the delaying of operational decisions.
4. Does it integrate with your HRMS?
Even if the data can be retrieved in real-time, importing them into your HR or payroll system is a mundane activity that is not just adding no value but is susceptible to human errors. You want to find software seamlessly integrated with the popular HRMS, such as SAP SuccessFactors.
Rolling Arrays CICO is a time attendance software that checks all the boxes, combining the attributes of lagless, seamless, internetless and queueless within an Add-On that work seamlessly with SAP SuccessFactors.
