The Benefits of Biometric Clocks [Infographic]

Finger scanners. Facial recognition. Biometrics. Sounds like we are talking about a secret agent—right?

Wrong.

Though it’s very likely we could be referring to our favorite 007 agent or the FBI, these top of the line gadgets can actually save a business time, energy, and most importantly, money.

Every year, 75% of businesses in the United States experience “time theft,” which occurs when a business pays employees for work they simply didn’t do. Time theft could be anything from employees “buddy punching” (punching in a friend who’s running late) one another or filling out false information on a paper time card. Regardless of the methods, businesses across the country are being short-changed by their own employees.

However, it shouldn’t be assumed all employees committing time theft have negative intentions; it’s likely they think doing something like rounding their time card to an even number isn’t a big deal—five minutes extra doesn't seem like much to them. However, at a corporate level, if 100 employees each add on an extra five minutes to their timesheet, that’s 500 minutes of wages a company is paying for work that was never done!

With all the daily tasks necessary to keep a business going, managment doesn’t have the time or means to eradicate time theft—and the threat certainly isn’t going anywhere. Over 43% of hourly employees admit to exaggerating hours.

Thankfully, biometric technology has entered the business sector and is changing the world of timekeeping for the better. Biometric technology has the ability to fill in where management can’t; simply implementing biometrics into the office can reduce time theft in incidences by nearly 37%.

But exactly how do biometric clocks stop time theft in its tracks? By recording employee data in an efficient and effective manner. Biometric clocks make it pretty much impossible for someone to punch in for someone else. If fingerprints or a face are required to clock in, unless that face or finger is present, that person can’t be signed in. In addition, biometric technology records punches instantly, eliminating an employee’s ability to add-on an extra 5 or 10 minutes to a time sheet.

However, even though biometric technology has many benefits, there are some common misconceptions surrounding biometric clocks-- including the idea that they are unreliable and an expensive investment. 

Though there is always room for improvement, biometric read rates for facial recognition are in the 95th percentile, while finger scanners are in the 85-90. Though these statistics aren’t perfect, when saving thousands of dollars is on the line, having to spend a little extra time getting a few employees in the system certainly seems worth it.

And when it comes to cost, though initially investing in a biometric clock is somewhat costly, the amount saved by reducing time theft can quickly surpass the initial payment. Biometric time clocks remove the added costs of replacing lost or broken badges and buying paper, pens and ink for time cards. Additionally, it cuts down on the time it takes to make sure the time card stations are stocked, keep track of terminated employees who keeping “forgetting” to turn in their badge, and monitor employees who might be “buddy punching.”

Biometrics can also be manipulated to fulfill your business's needs. If you do allow your workers to round timecards, settings within the SaaS software can take the punches from the biometric time clocks and automatically round them for payroll purposes.

Biometrics are not a thing of the future—they are being utilized right now all across the country. Not only do they keep employees accountable, they create less paperwork and monitoring for the timekeeping process. There’s a lot more to biometrics than finger-scanners and facial recognition;
biometric clocks have the ability to potentially save your business thousands of dollars a year.

Check out the infographic below for more information!