If you want something for free, then you will probably be looking to replace it in the short term. So how much is your time worth to keep changing around your payroll records? If you ever have any state agency or workers comp audit you will find out how important it is to have accurate records and if it looks like you are constantly changing how you record time they could think that you are trying to cover something?? Just a thought for you to consider. Do you give away great signs with 10 year UV vinyl or do you give away the cheap 1 year UV grade??
I bought a biometric fingerprint scanner on ebay 4 years ago. It was less than $200 with some software and it has been perfect. We have employees scan in and out and it made payroll so easy. There are some employees that forget to scan in or out every so often, but for the most part it is a breeze to get the hours calculated. It was only an hour or so to read through the setup on the scanner and you can set the parameters for how to calculate overtime (over 8 or over 40), you can set up each employee with their own profile to accumulate sick time or vacation based on hours worked, ect...
I can't say enough about how much time it saved over our old method of calculating time cards from a punch machine. We just download the scans and review them, then they are approved and that's it. Since we switched to this system we have only one employee ever question the hours that they were paid for and when we pulled up the record on the computer they realized that they actually weren't there on the days in question.
The scanner is great because it has to be THEIR finger that scans them in and out, not just entering a code or swiping a card that anyone can do for another person. Not saying everyone is dishonest, but this eliminates any of those temptations.
Just my 2.5 cents,
Carl