It can be difficult to track employee work time if you have no official method of tracking the time they start working and the time they stop working. Once of the best methods of tracking time worked is using a time clock.

A time clock gives you an accurate way to monitor employee's work time. Through the use of a time clock you get to see exactly when an employee is cloaking into work and when they are clocking out. You can monitor attendance easily through using a time clock, too. A time clock can help you to identify attendance issues while also giving you a simple way to figure hours worked for payroll.

There are different types of time clocks that you can use. The simplest form of time clock is a punch style where employees use a card that is stamped with the time. While this is simple it is not the most effective system. The best systems available today are computerized systems.

A computerized system uses codes for each employee. An employee enters their code to clock in and out. The program records the code and calculates the number of hours worked automatically. Most programs will also produce records that can then be used to complete payroll. These programs are also designed to track tardiness, vacation, sick time and to track trends in an employee's attendance.

With a computerized system you can avoid some of the common issues that plague manual style time clock systems. Employees are not able to alter their times so you get a completely accurate record of when they are starting and ending their work day. Most systems also have security features that makes it impossible for anyone other than the employee to clock in or out for them.

Using a time clock will help your human resources department to maintain a better record of attendance. You will be able to create reports, address issues and handle attendance problems with ease because you have a record of attendance for each employee that is accurate. A time clock will also make the job of human resources easier since it acts as a tracking and record system. Human resources only needs to print out reports to be able to calculate payroll, vacation time, sick time and manage overall employee expenses.

When using a time clock system of any kind you have to put some rules in place. You also need to train all employees how to use the time clock. While it is not difficult to use a time clock, training employees ensures that they know how to use it and prevents anyone from later saying they didn't know how to use it properly as a defense for discipline action based on the records from the time clock.

Rules about time clock use usually include that nobody but the employee make clock them in or out, there is no altering times and every employee must clock in or out as appropriate. Rules should also include what to do when an employee forgets to clock in or out, which happens and is something that will need to be fixed right away to avoid errors in the reports.

Overall, using a time clock system is a great idea to help you manage your employees. It can help save you money and hassle in the long run. You will find it makes everything easier, from being able to weed out employees who have bad attendance to better managing your overall employment costs.