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Anybody Using Time Clocks
- Thread starter juan45215
- Start date
Christian @ 2CT Media
Active Member
We use square time cards, it works pretty well.
GaSouthpaw
Profane and profane accessories.
I would absolutely go with a time clock, requiring them to punch in and out- not something that allows them to log their own time, unless you trust them 100% to be honest. I'm guessing that's not the case, though, or you wouldn't have asked.
Based on experience, if there's trouble, it will to continue until there are repercussions. I've worked for a couple of places that had written policies regarding this sort of thing- yet they'd do zip about infractions. The problems always got worse- not better- and, because they were generally ignored, whenever anything was mentioned people would "get the redass" about it (no matter how much they were in the wrong).
Yes, it sucks to have to treat adults like children, but I think it sucks more to be losing money because people are stealing time from you. If you have a policy in place, you absolutely cannot ignore it. If you don't have a policy in place already, make one- and stick to it!
My suggestions for you:
- Block out some time for yourself to watch them. Do it for, say, a week.
- Make note of the offenders- and the ones who follow the rules.
- Have a company wide meeting that reiterates expectations, and outlines penalties for further violations. (The ones who bitch the most are (most likely) going to be the ones abusing your trust.)
- A couple of weeks later, block out some more time and take notes again.
- Address each violator individually. Follow through on penalties.
- Get a time clock and require punching in, out for lunch, in when they come back, and out at the end of the day. Pay only for time worked.
- If the problems with the breaks being too long are ongoing, require punching in/out for them, too. Pay only for allotted time and deduct any extra.
My .02. Good luck!
Based on experience, if there's trouble, it will to continue until there are repercussions. I've worked for a couple of places that had written policies regarding this sort of thing- yet they'd do zip about infractions. The problems always got worse- not better- and, because they were generally ignored, whenever anything was mentioned people would "get the redass" about it (no matter how much they were in the wrong).
Yes, it sucks to have to treat adults like children, but I think it sucks more to be losing money because people are stealing time from you. If you have a policy in place, you absolutely cannot ignore it. If you don't have a policy in place already, make one- and stick to it!
My suggestions for you:
- Block out some time for yourself to watch them. Do it for, say, a week.
- Make note of the offenders- and the ones who follow the rules.
- Have a company wide meeting that reiterates expectations, and outlines penalties for further violations. (The ones who bitch the most are (most likely) going to be the ones abusing your trust.)
- A couple of weeks later, block out some more time and take notes again.
- Address each violator individually. Follow through on penalties.
- Get a time clock and require punching in, out for lunch, in when they come back, and out at the end of the day. Pay only for time worked.
- If the problems with the breaks being too long are ongoing, require punching in/out for them, too. Pay only for allotted time and deduct any extra.
My .02. Good luck!
equippaint
Active Member
Gasouth you stole my story!
We had a pyramid 5000 auto totalling clock and it was a pita then finally broke in less than a year. Its in a very dusty shop which probably didnt help. Bought a different auto totalling clock and was broke right out of the box. After the first year with the clock though, the seemingly extended lunches and other time eating things went away or were never actually there. The worst thing with an auto total is when people miss punches, or the machine doesnt register and it throws everything off.
We dont have a wireless network so many of the other options arent practical. We did look at some old school mechanical clocks and will probably add this again.
If youre looking for one, check ebay too, most of the electronic ones are all from the same mfg and are overpriced at other websites.
We had a pyramid 5000 auto totalling clock and it was a pita then finally broke in less than a year. Its in a very dusty shop which probably didnt help. Bought a different auto totalling clock and was broke right out of the box. After the first year with the clock though, the seemingly extended lunches and other time eating things went away or were never actually there. The worst thing with an auto total is when people miss punches, or the machine doesnt register and it throws everything off.
We dont have a wireless network so many of the other options arent practical. We did look at some old school mechanical clocks and will probably add this again.
If youre looking for one, check ebay too, most of the electronic ones are all from the same mfg and are overpriced at other websites.
equippaint
Active Member
Tell your employees to add up their hours at the end of the pay period. Even if someone steals an hour its well worth you not having to spend the time adding up each minute.
ThinkRight
New Member
You Cheap greedy bastard ! Part of the 1 % . Just pay the 40 hours a week regardless of what they work ! They are entitled ya know ! .../ Sarc
It would be easier to use a payroll service such as ADP. Makes taxes easier and w-2's are done automatically and there is almost never mistakes . There are others also .
. ADP Payroll Services for Businesses of all Sizes
Gusto
ChicagoGraphics
New Member
What's a time clock....
GaSouthpaw
Profane and profane accessories.
Use a spreadsheet to do it for you.
Google Docs has them if you want to keep it where you can look at it everywhere- or use Excel or OpenOffice or Apple Numbers to do it. You can set up a formula to automatically calculate the hours for the day, week, etc.
I think, in the OP's place, the employees are already stealing from them. Certainly no reason to give them another opportunity to do so.
toomeycustoms
New Member
We used to do it manually, but finally invested in a digital time clock. We use this system RTC-1000 2.0 Time Clock | Icon Time Systems | Universal Time Clocks but we don't use the badges.
I would recommend it as it saves so much time not having to manually add up hours or enter them into a spreadsheet. We just download and print a report for each employee every 2 weeks.
I would recommend it as it saves so much time not having to manually add up hours or enter them into a spreadsheet. We just download and print a report for each employee every 2 weeks.
bannertime
Active Member
Since there are only two-three, non-salary, full time people at a time, and occasionally three-six part timers we just use a manual clock. One of the uPunch clocks. It's pretty easy. You slide the card in and it puts the time in. The employee manual has rules regarding missed punches and scratch outs. Add up times with online calculator. Submit calculated times to the bank and get payroll the next day.
equippaint
Active Member
What do you do with missed punches? That was a constant battle for me and really didn't know of any good solutions to it. Labor markets too tight here to fire people over nitpicky things. Which uPunch do you have? That was our second clock and it crapped out the first day.
bannertime
Active Member
I'm not sure, it has the grey front and came with orange cards. We use green cards now. It's worked for about a year now.
The text is: "Failure to Clock In or Clock Out If an employee misses the window for clocking into the timekeeping system, the employee should notify the supervisor as soon as possible. The supervisor will manually adjust the employee’s work hours. Hand written times and double punches are considered a missed entry. Employees who repeatedly miss time clock entries will be subject to disciplinary action."
The disciplinary action is two incidents within a 30 day period results in a written warning. Two additional incidents within the following 30 days results in a termination. Pretty much a second written warning for the same violation is a review for termination. Pretty generous, honestly. I've never had to use it. it.
Youch... seems kind of harsh for a missed entry. Stuff happens...
I used to work in a warehouse, where for 8 years we didn't use a time clock. I was a lead hand, so I helped keep track of peoples time...Generally it was if your late a few minutes, and it doesn't happen often... No problem. If you're constantly late, you get docked. I switched careers to digital printing, and now we use a time clock.
For the first month, I forgot to clock in or out either at the start of the day, or at lunch, or end of the day a few times. Usually when I became really busy and rushed, and I ended up working into my break / or late, and was rushing out, it just slipped my mind. Manager signed my card, and that was that.
We since got rid of punching in / out at lunch... All it did was cause a line up of people 3-4 minutes before lunch, then people would come clock back in after lunch, and still spend 5-10 minutes doing nothing... didn't solve nothing, so the company removed it.
We still have a few people who take advantage of it, take longer lunches... But generally lunch is a set hour, if you're caught in the lunch room after that time, you better have a good reason.
I do think clocking in the morning / end of shift is acceptable, but I've always hated the lunch part, and I'm glad we've gone away with it.
If you're employees will be cheating the clock, either by coming in late or not... a time clock wont solve that. They'll just check in, then go hide on their phone, or in the washroom, or something else. You can't really fix a bad employee, you can try... and it may help, but in the long run.. if someone wants to cheat you, they will find a way. it's not worth it to punish the good employees for a few bad employees... instead deal with them specifically.
I used to work in a warehouse, where for 8 years we didn't use a time clock. I was a lead hand, so I helped keep track of peoples time...Generally it was if your late a few minutes, and it doesn't happen often... No problem. If you're constantly late, you get docked. I switched careers to digital printing, and now we use a time clock.
For the first month, I forgot to clock in or out either at the start of the day, or at lunch, or end of the day a few times. Usually when I became really busy and rushed, and I ended up working into my break / or late, and was rushing out, it just slipped my mind. Manager signed my card, and that was that.
We since got rid of punching in / out at lunch... All it did was cause a line up of people 3-4 minutes before lunch, then people would come clock back in after lunch, and still spend 5-10 minutes doing nothing... didn't solve nothing, so the company removed it.
We still have a few people who take advantage of it, take longer lunches... But generally lunch is a set hour, if you're caught in the lunch room after that time, you better have a good reason.
I do think clocking in the morning / end of shift is acceptable, but I've always hated the lunch part, and I'm glad we've gone away with it.
If you're employees will be cheating the clock, either by coming in late or not... a time clock wont solve that. They'll just check in, then go hide on their phone, or in the washroom, or something else. You can't really fix a bad employee, you can try... and it may help, but in the long run.. if someone wants to cheat you, they will find a way. it's not worth it to punish the good employees for a few bad employees... instead deal with them specifically.
ams
New Member
I have a very small shop with few employees and I use a timeclock. I got one on ebay for like $40 it's a finger print one, so the employees touch their finger on it and it clocks them in and out, it's very quick and easy. When it's time to check the records you pop in a usb and click two buttons and it downloads the attendance log, you pop it in your computer and it shows you everything. The log keeps everything even a couple years ago, the persons name, date, time in/out, etc. You can also bypass the touch and use a number clock in also. Also if the power goes out, it doesn't lose any of the information.
bannertime
Active Member
Believe me, I'm well aware mass punishment is ridiculous. Experienced too much of it during my military service to put it on my own guys. However, if you DON'T have policies in place, then you'll be fighting a loosing battle when it does come to handling bad employees. Like I said, I've never had to use it. There was one employee, last year, that would have been the first. Instead, he was terminated after taking a new employee into the back room and mouthing off for two hours.
As for the other issues, we generally don't have them because employees can take lunch and allotted breaks whenever they want, with caveats.
So, if you've got a time clock, you've got to have said policies in place or you might as well just pay for a full days work anyway.