Best-in-Class Workforce Management Software from Industry Experts
Header

Tracking employee time with biometrics is nothing new. In fact, it has becoming ubiquitous with many companies adopting the technology as a way to streamline payroll costs and increase workforce productive. And since biometric technology, can be used for different purposes, Amazon will soon add it to their Whole Foods grocery chain as a way for customers to pay.

In a recent article by Courtney Linder for Popular Mechanics titled Why Amazon Wants to Scan Your Hands’. Here is an excerpt from the article:

https://youtu.be/-kpwiTZr53Y

“Amazon is testing out a new payment method at its New York offices: hand scanning.

Here’s how it works: Users hold their hands over a special scanner that uses computer vision and depth geometry to identify each hand’s unique shape and size, per the report. Amazon Prime customers must go into stores for their hands to be captured and linked to their account before they can begin using the payment method.

The new payment method will also help to process transactions more quickly. While a typical card transaction takes three or four seconds, Amazon’s new tech can process the charge in less than 300 milliseconds, says the report.

It’s not a new concept by any means. Hand geometry, as the biometric is called, was used to protect access to the residential Olympic Village at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

The concept of hand geometry was developed and patented in 1985, according to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The first commercial product using the tech came out the following year, but it wasn’t widely adopted. However, many companies do use hand geometry for time and attendance purposes. Walt Disney World has used “finger geometry” for years to expedite entrance to parks, for example.

Systems that measure hand geometry use a digital camera and light to take a scan. When you use one, you simply place your hand on a flat surface and line your fingers up for an accurate reading. A camera takes several photos of your hand and the shadows that it casts. That data is used to determine the length, width, thickness, and curvature of your fingers and hand. Then, it’s translated into a numerical template through an algorithm.”

ATS biometric clocks are used in a variety of companies and industries from healthcare to food manufacturing, grocery retail, shipping & logistics, government entities and construction.  With ATS biometric time clocks, employees can clock in with a quick scan of their hand, and are instantly verified for accuracy. And, with biometric identification capabilities, “buddy punching” can be prevented to help control labour costs associated with inflated payroll.

To view a demonstration of ATS biometric time clocks or cloud computing time and attendance application, go to our website.

Employees using their face to record their hours of work is becoming quite common in time and attendance world. And, now it appears that the use of this technology, albeit slowing, is also being adopted at some airports according to a recent article, by Stuart Emmrich titled Will Your Face Be Enough to Get You on a Plane? for The New York Times, and reads in part;

“Earlier this week, the Transportation Security Administration released a 23-page report outlining changes it is proposing on how passengers are screened before boarding their flights. Key among those changes is the proposal that passports and other forms of identification will eventually be replaced by biometric technology.

Early this year, the agency began testing facial recognition technology for international travelers at Los Angeles International Airport. The biometric technology matches facial images to photos in government databases, such as photos obtained from passports or visa applications.

And in 2017, the T.S.A. tested fingerprint technology at the T.S.A. PreCheck lanes at the Atlanta and Denver airports. The technology matches passenger fingerprints provided at the checkpoint to those provided to the T.S.A. by travelers who have enrolled in the PreCheck program.

Biometric technology is also being evaluated by individual airlines. Delta Air Lines announced in September that it is building a dedicated biometric terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The technology, to be installed at Terminal F, would allow passengers to check-in at the self-service kiosks, drop off their checked baggage at the counter and then be used as identification at the terminal’s T.S.A. checkpoint”.

 If you are unfamiliar with ATS biometric time clocks, these data collectors includes the latest in technology and works, in tandem with our time and attendance application, to deliver exceptional value – helping organizations control labour costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity.

Using ATS biometric technology, your organization can expect:

Options
A variety of biometric data collectors to choose from that include: fingerprint, hand geometric face recognition and a variety of biometric features, and mobile capabilities. ATS biometric data collectors, offers enhanced technology, thus allowing employees to easily and more accurately enroll on the time clock’s controlled finger, hand geometry or face recognition template– which reduces, read error rates for a more accurate biometric enrollment, and protect employees’ personal information and eliminate costly buddy punching.

Peace of Mind
Backup battery protects employee information against power outages and flash memory backs up data. And, with open standards, field upgradeability and keypad functions, these time and attendance biometric time clocks are —ideal blend of performance, function, style, and affordability designed for essential workforce management functionality.

Accuracy and Productivity
No more manual data entry which is always prone to errors and, instead can look forward to a best-of-breed application that will enforce pay and attendance policies at the time of an employee recorded hours. An application that will improve workforce productivity by giving employees intuitive self-service access to scheduled hours and time-off balances from any device, from anywhere.

ATS advance biometric time clocks are designed for today’s advanced cloud computing workforce and provides state-of-art, touch-screen functionality and accurate, up-to-the-minute analytics data your company can rely on.

To learn more, register for one of our weekly webinars, or download brochures or a pre-recorded demonstration go to our website. And, to speak to an account executive, call 866.294.2468.

Keep current with ATS:

 

There was a time when biometrics was seen as futuristic and, too intrusive to ever be accepted by the general public. Many of today’s smart phones, tablets and laptops are equipped with biometrics. As part of its security protocols airports around the world, have installed fingerprint readers and voice recognition technologies and Disney World have installed biometrics that enables its visitors to gain access to theme parks.

Biometric Technology Is Shaping The Future Of Time And Attendance

If your company is an early adopter of biometric time and attendance, you are likely the beneficiary of a productive workforce, and at the same time are saving hundreds of dollars on payroll costs.

If you are considering a biometric time and attendance system to enhance your company’s HR process and workflows, here are three types of the most common biometric technologies for recording and tracking employee time.

Hand Geometry: Hand recognition is the most common employee biometric time clock technology. The method uses 3D analysis of the hand for tracking and identification purposes. An individual places their hand (palm down) onto a special plate. A camera takes a picture of it and analyzes the length, width, thickness and surface area of the hand. This recorded biostatistics information is then stored for future use. Companies have used this type of biometrics for attendance tracking and accessing secure entrances.

Facial Recognition: ATS FaceScan Time Clocks, uses algorithms to analyze features. These include the position/size/shape of the eyes, nose, cheekbones and jaw line. Initially, this process was known as 2D facial recognition. The 2D images were typically taken from security cameras that have integrated facial recognition technology. For the best results, face images needed to be looking directly at the camera with enough lighting. After analysis, they could be compared to other face images for identification purposes. Employee Time clocks that use facial recognition are growing in popularity— it’s as simple as snapping a photo; the time clocks are equipped with HD cameras. This type of technology is now readily available on ATS TimeWork OnDemand mobile time tracking apps as well.

Fingerprint Identification:This type of biometrics compares either one or two fingerprints (depending on the type of time clock selected) to determine identification. It analyzes the ridges and valleys patterns on the fingertip for differences. The process involves measuring and comparing employee fingerprints against data stored in the time and attendance system. It is fast and easy to use— the employee simply presses a fingertip against the time clock screen for a moment as part of the clock in/out process. Some laptop computers and smart phones, utilize fingerprint biometrics for authorizations purposes such as logging in and entering website passwords.

Other biometrics include voice authentication, which is the analysis of vocal behavior by matching it to a voice model template (that was previously recorded). Since every voice is unique, the physical characteristics of the speaker’s voice can be measured. Retinal and iris scanning is employed by different industries.

Bottom-line:

Companies deploy biometric time and attendance systems to ensure the person/s clocking in, are who they say they are. Biometric time clocks helps prevent employee time theft, ensures workforce compliance, and helps employers collect accurate time and attendance information. In short, it makes life easier for payroll and HR practitioners.

To arrange a demonstration of ATS TimeWork OnDemand and our array of biometric time clocks, go to our website or call, 866.294.2467.

Managing paid time off can be a difficult undertaking, for companies who are tracking it the old fashion way through; a variety of spreadsheets and disparate systems used by different supervisors who each have their own method of tracking time off.

But this type of tracking can only take you so far. Because when it comes to proper compliance of labour laws in many jurisdictions, those spreadsheets and the archaic methods of tracking paid time off (PTO) won’t help. Why? Because many provinces and states throughout Canada and the US have stepped up their compliance investigations and, as such, many organizations have found themselves facing increased risk of scrutiny and financial fallout.

how-to-effectively-manage-paid-time-off-and-increase-employee-morale

Here are three ways to effectively track and manage your workforce paid time off policies:

 Automate the Process
Instead of manually tracking employee time off requests through spreadsheets and other outdated processes, you should think about deploying a time and attendance solution. ATS time and attendance will become an important part of protecting your business from penalties. ATS TimeWork will help your company stay on track, and stores the documentation you will need in case of a payroll or attendance audit.

Intuitive Absence Tracking
ATS Absence Request is fully configurable tool accompanied by full complement of analytic reporting that can be assigned to any type of absence including; family leave, (maternity and paternity) long and short term disability, jury duty, sick days, vacation and unlimited flexibility and code options that can be tailored to any company regardless of industry. And best of all your employees can punch in and out through a mobile device, kiosk/touch screens and/or biometric time clocks.

 Integrate to Payroll, Human Resources or Enterprise Resource Planning
ATS Absence Request can be easily exported and imported into many existing management systems. Data can be imported into payroll to ensure proper payroll tracking for personal time off (PTO) days are taken in accordance with correct payouts for those days. By deploying ATS Time and Attendance and taking advantage of the Absence Request module, you immediately eliminate human error that comes with tracking employee absence manually.

With ATS Absence Request you can transform tedious, time consuming everyday tasks into intelligent, efficient processes that drive business insight.

To learn more go to our website and download a demonstration. To reach an account executive by phone, call: 866.294.2467.

Infractions: Poor Record-Keeping, Unpaid Overtime and Holiday Pay

January 26th, 2016 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Benefit Accruals | Biometric Time Clocks | Collective Bargaining | Labour Analytics | Labour Costs | Leave Management | Overtime - (Comments Off on Infractions: Poor Record-Keeping, Unpaid Overtime and Holiday Pay)

A recent article in the Toronto Star newspaper, based, on a blitz by the Ontario Ministry of Labour into workplace violations by some companies, revealed, that a staggering number of these violations had to do with poor record-keeping, unpaid overtime and holiday pay. The issue of unpaid overtime is one that has lingered over some companies for the past several years. ATS cloud-based time and attendance was designed with built-in Canadian work-rules, can be deployed in only a matter of weeks and will help your company eradicate manual paper-based time tracking. And the best part, overtime is tracked and paid in accordance with jurisdictional pay policies.

If your company is considering deploying a time and attendance solution but remain ambivalent about its advantages, below, is a list of the three top benefits of an ATS time and attendance solution:

Infractions: Poor Record Keeping, Unpaid Overtime and Holiday Pay

Labour
Reducing costly calculation errors is just one reason to consider automating time and attendance management. Recent surveys from Aberdeen, Canadian Payroll (CPA) and American Payroll Association (APA), report that human error in manual time-card calculations is likely to cost a business between one and one-half to eight percent of its gross annual payroll. The manual calculation of employee time sheets takes an average of five minutes of administrative time per time sheet, equating to a loss of more than eight hours of productive time per pay period for an organization with 100 employees. These are alarming statistics, and frankly, not many companies would want to use valuable resources to track employee time manually, when this time could be spent with their customers, generating revenue.

Reduce Compliance Risk
ATS Time and Attendance has a set of built-in Canadian work rules to ensure pay compliance through automated wage and hour rules. ATS time and attendance will improve transaction times and information access through an intuitive user experience, thus, increasing profit margins while enhancing employee productivity. In other words, the tracking and paying of the appropriate; overtime, vacation, and other time-off request can be managed by our cloud-based time and attendance with ease.

Savings
An ATS time and attendance solution provides both direct and indirect investment returns. Automating your time and attendance process results in ongoing cost savings, such as a reduction in human-generated payroll errors, elimination of time theft from “buddy punching” through the use of biometric time clocks and overtime costs, as saved wages from enhanced productivity.

For example, when tracking time manually through spreadsheets or outdated methods, it’s not unusual to have employees claiming missed overtime and hours worked on their pay. Attempting to rectify this issue by counting hours collected on paper time-sheets can lead to additional errors. Perhaps the answer to this prevailing issue; is to automate the collection of employee hours, thereby gaining valuable data analytics, to help your organization, make effective business decisions that impacts, payroll cost and the bottom- line.

Infractions: Poor Record Keeping, Unpaid Overtime and Holiday Pay

Through the use of an ATS robust time and attendance solution, organizations are able to fully automate pay rules, work rules and benefit accrual rules as well as leave management, collective bargaining agreements (CBA), and exception-time (such as overtime) reporting. By having up-to-the-minute access to this information, organizations will gain complete and accurate visibility into their operations, thus, enabling them to meet production, forecasting and scheduling demands and stay compliant with the many federal and provincial, municipal and state laws, as well as company policies.

To learn how ATS time and attendance solution can help your organization keep accurate records of employee hours, pay overtime hours based on company’s pay policies and assign the requisite statutory holiday, you can download the white paper titled “Benefits of an ATS Automated Time and Attendance Solution”. And to view a demonstration, go to our website. To reach one of our account executives, call: (866) 294-2467.

 

Whether your company is a mid-size or enterprise, you can enjoy many benefits by deploying a time and attendance solution from ATS. ATS TimeWork On-Demand automates time, processes the hours and improves overall payroll accuracy. ATS time and attendance is a best-of-breed employee time management solution that allows for the setting up of complex work-rules, based on company policies, including overtime and shift premiums.

ATS TimeWork On-Demand provides:

Anytime Access- ATS TimeWork On-Demand can be accessed through Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer or Opera browsers and is available through company-specific created user sign-on user interface. It’s easy to use and can be integrated with payroll and other third-party applications.

Flexibility at your Fingertips- With ATS TimeWork On-Demand you can configure multiple work and pay policies to accommodate your specific business requirements for employee attendance, grace, rounding, overtime, lunches, breaks, and a great deal more. ATS time and attendance software configurator is a powerful application, backed by rapid implementation tools to get you up and running quickly and reliably.

Job Costing Capabilities- You can extrapolate a raft of innovation job costing reports at a time so you can monitor current job activities while controlling costs, and increasing overall productivity. ATS TimeWork definable grouping levels provides the system with automatic records and calculates employee attendance for payroll processing and tracks all job costs to the minute. It tracks job performance for review and compensation planning, provides visibility to actual costs for accurate quoting and job estimation, and tracks detail for lead-time improvement.

Self-Service Portability- Employees can view their schedules and request time off.Managers canapprove personal time off (PTO) and edit time cards quickly and accurately from any mobile or workstation that has access to the Internet.

Instant Alerts-ATS TimeWork On-Demand allows for set up intuitive workforce analytics to notify HR and payroll practitioners of employee who are approaching overtime, attendance, and other exceptions.

Up-To-The-Minute-Status- ATS time and attendance analytics dashboard provides supervisors with up-to-the-minute visibility of daily, weekly and monthly activities and other work related data.

Data Collection Options-The range of employee time clocks include: biometric time clocks, Web-Punch, Online Timesheets, proximity, magnetic and barcode time clocks.

With ATS TimeWork On-Demand, you get the full benefits of cloud computing and take advantage of seamless integration from a company that provides best-of-breed solutions, and exceptionally service.

Want to learn how ATS TimeWork On-Demand can help your business grow? Call us at 866.294.2467. You can also view demonstration from our website.

Keep Your Focus On Your Business, We Will Handle The Time And Attendance

 

Talk to any payroll practitioner on a day they are processing employee pay and you might come away thinking that person was curt.  Now try to imagine manually calculating the hours of 175 employees and then keying that data into payroll software, you would be curt and with good reason. Through automation, that same payroll practitioner can process employee pay in quarter of the time. Now that’s the power of technology and how it can enable businesses to achieve more with less.

Today’s fast-paced corporate landscape leaves little room for error. And, when it comes to streamlining costs and increasing productivity, ATS TimeWork has it all; scheduling, overtime equalization, benefit accruals, job costing, employee self-service, workforce analytics, incidents and points and a great deal more.

ATS TimeWork benefits will benefit your business through:

Workforce Analytics
Real-time workforce reporting that ensures your company has the most up to date information on improving performance in all departments.

Cost Efficiency
The words “cost efficiencies” tends to bring a smile to faces of shareholders and senior executives alike. ATS TimeWork is scalable, will add value to your business operations and will also lower the costs of doing business through efficiency gains.

Data Collection
Our range of time clocks includes; hand punch readers, fingerprint readers, facescan biometric time clocks which all eliminates ‘buddy-punching’. Other data collection methods; web-time entry, smart-phone time tracking, proximity and bar code badge readers. When used with ATS TimeWork On-Demand, it enhances payroll processing, minimizes compliance risk and improves workforce productivity.

Rapid Deployment
Because ATS TimeWork On-Demand is cloud-based, there is no software to install or server to maintain. You can gain access to your employee attendance in weeks not months through any workstation with Internet access. Now, that’s the beauty of a cloud-based solution.

Reports at your Fingertips
ATS Attendance On-Demand will deliver superior departmental visibility while streamlining payroll costs. Real-time workforce reporting that ensures your company has the most up to date information on improving performance in all departments.

In closing, we advocate that companies should give strong consideration to the deployment of a time tracking solution, because the benefits far outweigh the manual process. Not convinced? Ask our customers. Now image your payroll practitioner using an automated time and attendance system instead of antiquated paper time sheets? You might get a smile instead of a frown next time you pay a visit to their office.

To download a return on investment calculator, go to our website. You can follow up on LinkedIn, Twitter or Google Plus.

Technology Can Be A Great Enabler For Payroll Practitioners

 

 

3 Ways to Alleviate the Burden of Time Tracking for HR and Payroll

January 28th, 2014 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Biometric Time Clocks | Employee Scheduling | Employee Self Service | Time and Attendance On-Demand | Workforce Management Software - (Comments Off on 3 Ways to Alleviate the Burden of Time Tracking for HR and Payroll)

All Canadian provinces require that employers document hours of work, overtime, breaks, and leave time. A reliable time and attendance system helps payroll and HR departments manage employees hours, track attendance and remain compliant with work-rule policies of each province. ATS workforce management solution include: biometric time clocks, workforce analytics, employee self-service, forecasting and budgeting, business intelligence, swipe and proximity time clocks and workforce scheduling.

Here are 3 ways to help your payroll and HR department:

Enhance Productivity: Companies that use an employee time and attendance solution report an increase in productivity among workers. ATS timekeeping system transfers collected data to payroll and HR applications electronically. This automated process helps further reduce errors and allows payroll and HR managers to spend time working on other important task, instead of wasting time manually calculating employee time.

Accuracy is Improved: Handwritten timesheets are often difficult to read and contain numerous calculation mistakes. Manual timesheets also pose the risk for record abuse whether from simple mistakes when this system heavily relies on the “honour” system. By automating the collection of employee time companies can ensure calculation policies are applied correctly and consistently across all employees.

Increase Employee Engagement: ATS TimeWork time and attendance provides companies with an effective tool for track and measure the performance of their workforce. With the employee self-service module HR departments or managers can be alerted when an employee request a time-off. The ATS time and attendance typically delivers an 80% reduction in time and attendance administration. ATS TimeWork On-Demand employee time tracking solution can add hours of productivity, improve overall payroll processes and slash administrative expenses.

So, if your payroll and HR department is spending upwards of a day to process employee time, it’s a sign that you need to automate your time keeping process.

To learn more, go our website to view a demonstration of our time and attendance solution.

hero-image-3 

 

Choosing a time and attendance solution is at best, a strategic decision for most businesses. Questions to consider include: can this system grow with our company? Should we start with the basics and add modules as we need them? Will the implementation fit within our timeframe? How robust is this application? Should we go for all the features of the system? All of these questions are normal when deciding which software application will best suit your organizational needs.

The true value of an employee time and attendance system lies in its integration across a company and the data gathered when using it. So why not start with a modern software solution that is able to meet your functional needs? It is a natural to want every conceivable feature and module when in actuality most companies only use a small percentage of the available features. Companies adopting a time and attendance for the first time would be wise to “crawl before you can walk”. If the right vendor is chosen, adding modules should be an easy process.

Here are the 5 strategies to use for getting the right system for your organization:

Stated Objectives- Companies should conduct an internal audit of all processes and policies before choosing a time and attendance system. If your company is small, this can be done by the project manager. For larger organizations, the steering committee can draft a plan.

Project Manager-The implementation of an employee time and attendance solution is as important as choosing the right solution and vendor. The importance of having someone within your organization spearhead the project should not be overlooked. If your company’s objectives are clear and all stakeholders are in agreement, the implementation will yield positive results.

Choosing the Data Collector-The common complaint we hear from some prospective customers, is that their time clock has never worked properly since it was installed.  Some companies are so dazzled by the latest features of a software application that they fail to ask the most basic question of a vendor; will this employee time clock work for us? Today, capturing employees’ data has expanded to include: smart-phones, tablets, biometric time clocks and swipe card technology to name a few. Consider your environment and whether your employees will use the technology before choosing an employee time clock.

Informing stakeholders- Some employees view the deployment of a time management system as intrusive. This is particularly true if a company has long tenured employees who might struggle to understand why their hours are being tracked all of sudden. This can be diffused quickly by letting them know the reasons and the enhanced benefits of the system.

Choosing a Vendor-You should have a separate list that contains the criteria your company will use to select a provider. While a vendor who has been around for 100 years sounds nice, that in and of itself, should not be the only criteria by which you choose a vendor. Request the names of at least three companies who you can contact to discuss the product’s functionality and challenges. And if all that matters to you is the cheapest solution, be prepared to deal with software inefficiencies, a lack luster implementation and inadequate after sales support.

Choosing a time and attendance software should be an important decision for your company. Go about the process by “starting small” with a standard software solution the meets your organizational goals. As time progresses and your supervisors get used to the software, add modules to complement your growing needs.

To download the full 13 steps to choosing a time and attendance go to our website. Join the conversation on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Since the invention of the mechanical time clock in 1888, companies have used various types of time clocks to track employee hours. While the changes in time clocks have not been as fast as smart phones and tablet PCs they have made significant strides.  There are still companies, today who use the traditional time clocks that come equipped with a paper time card. When these paper cards are inserted into the time clock, it punches a hole in the card that represents time in, out and other data that’s relevant to the company. Although the fundamentals of employee time tracking remain the same, time clocks have evolved.

Today, verifying employee record of work comes in several forms that include: barcode and proximity, hand geometry, fingerprint, facescan terminals, online/web timesheets, telephones and smart phones and magnetic badges. The functions performed by today’s time clocks range from job costing and schedule reviews to departmental transfers. When combined with labour management software, these clocks store data for the calculation of overtime, premiums and various work policies.

In some cases, time clocks may not be conducive to the needs of an organization.  For example, it might be easier for employees who travel frequently to punch in and out, check their schedules and request time off through their cell phone. A construction company might also find it easier to use a mobile time clock for employees that travel to different job sites.  Companies with remote health care workers might find it easier to use telephony. Phone punch or telephony allows employees to punch in and out from any telephone- all guided by voice prompts.

ATS time clocks facilitate complex attendance and job reporting, including hours worked, breaks, tardiness and absences. These time clocks provide real-time query capabilities and an accurate picture of your employees’ attendance and absences.

For more information on employee time clocks and workforce management software, visit our website.