Time Clock Software - Can You Afford Not To Have It?

If you own a business with employees, then chances are you've considered buying some type of time clock software.  Time keeping software vendors offer a range of packages designed to suit businesses of all sizes.  If you have less than 40 employees, you can get basic time and attendance software, with basic reporting and the ability to connect into your payroll system, for under $500.  Buying a new time clock can easily cost that much, without all the same features.

Many businesses are concerned with time theft, and time clock software is a great way to minimize this.  Time theft is generally defined as employees over-reporting how much time they've actually spent at work.  Sometimes it's innocent, such as when an employee rounds their time to the nearest quarter hour, or has a slightly longer break than they should.  But when you consider that 5 to 10 minutes a day can easily add up to almost an hour a week, or the equivalent of a week's pay over a year, then time theft needs to be dealt with.  One person might not matter, but if you have a large staff, all doing the same thing, it can add up to a very large sum indeed.

The main purpose of time clock software is to eliminate time wasting when it comes to keeping track of your employees' hours. On payday, your payroll employees won't have to work hours out manually anymore. Instead, they just need to look at the software reports and write checks for your employees. You can throw your old, noisy mechanical clock away and recycle all the paper time cards you don't need any more.

If you have a bigger company, with hundreds or even thousands of employees, then you can expect to pay a few thousand dollars minimum for your time and attendance software.  Generally, however, you get more features, more robust reporting, and you have the ability to extensively customize the software to suit your business needs.

Once you've experienced modern time and attendance software in your own business, you'll probably wonder how on earth you ever got by with an old fashioned time clock.  It's very common for companies to report a positive return on investment within only a few months of their initial purchase.