Employee Schedules Are Not Payroll Reports - Payroll Must Always Be Paid From Time and Attendance
The time and attendance system is another crucial aspect of managing labor.
This system tracks the "actual time" worked by staff members.
Each employee should have their own "timecard," although computer systems have improved these paper systems over the years.
At a bare minimum, this can be a paper card which has the time and date the employee arrived at the business and the time and date the employee left the business, printed or stamped on the card.
Time and Attendance is Part of the Regular Business Cycle At many foodservice, retail, and hospitality businesses, the Point Of Sale (POS) system or Property Management System (PMS) has a built-in time and attendance system which may be sufficient.
More sophisticated time and attendance systems are available from payroll vendors, Human Resource (HR) software vendors, and best-of-breed labor management providers.
As each day of the theoretical labor schedule progresses, the following cycle likely occurs: o An employee arrives at the business.
o Before beginning any work, the employee clocks-in (or punches-in) to a time and attendance system.
Management must be mindful of early and late clock-ins and buddy-punching for coworkers.
o The employee performs their work.
o The employee may be given break periods, or meal breaks, some of which may be paid or required by law.
These breaks should be recorded for Labor & Industries Audits (L&I Audits), corporate compliance, and to secure against potential labor lawsuits.
o The employee clocks-out (or punches-out), declaring any tips or mileage (if necessary), from a time and attendance system.
o The employee leaves the business for the day.
Example: Staff members at a local quick service restaurant are paid, on average, $8 per hour, and work an average of 25 hours per week.
The store employs about 30 team members.
The store uses a standard paper punchcard time clock system to allow the thirty employees to punch in and punch out.
On average, the employees clock in ten minutes early at least twice a week, and clock out eight minutes late at least twice per week.
The owner rounds paychecks to the nearest quarter hour, resulting in one extra hour per week for every staff member.
With thirty employees, the payroll should be about $6,000 per week.
However, the employees who are "gaming the system" have caused this restaurateur to pay $6,240 per week, an annual increase of more than $12,480! This money is no longer business profit, it has become employee profit! To limit early clock in's or employee's "riding the clock", use a labor management system with both employee scheduling and time and attendance features that can enforce your employee schedule.
These systems have an instant Return On Investment for your business.
This system tracks the "actual time" worked by staff members.
Each employee should have their own "timecard," although computer systems have improved these paper systems over the years.
At a bare minimum, this can be a paper card which has the time and date the employee arrived at the business and the time and date the employee left the business, printed or stamped on the card.
Time and Attendance is Part of the Regular Business Cycle At many foodservice, retail, and hospitality businesses, the Point Of Sale (POS) system or Property Management System (PMS) has a built-in time and attendance system which may be sufficient.
More sophisticated time and attendance systems are available from payroll vendors, Human Resource (HR) software vendors, and best-of-breed labor management providers.
As each day of the theoretical labor schedule progresses, the following cycle likely occurs: o An employee arrives at the business.
o Before beginning any work, the employee clocks-in (or punches-in) to a time and attendance system.
Management must be mindful of early and late clock-ins and buddy-punching for coworkers.
o The employee performs their work.
o The employee may be given break periods, or meal breaks, some of which may be paid or required by law.
These breaks should be recorded for Labor & Industries Audits (L&I Audits), corporate compliance, and to secure against potential labor lawsuits.
o The employee clocks-out (or punches-out), declaring any tips or mileage (if necessary), from a time and attendance system.
o The employee leaves the business for the day.
Example: Staff members at a local quick service restaurant are paid, on average, $8 per hour, and work an average of 25 hours per week.
The store employs about 30 team members.
The store uses a standard paper punchcard time clock system to allow the thirty employees to punch in and punch out.
On average, the employees clock in ten minutes early at least twice a week, and clock out eight minutes late at least twice per week.
The owner rounds paychecks to the nearest quarter hour, resulting in one extra hour per week for every staff member.
With thirty employees, the payroll should be about $6,000 per week.
However, the employees who are "gaming the system" have caused this restaurateur to pay $6,240 per week, an annual increase of more than $12,480! This money is no longer business profit, it has become employee profit! To limit early clock in's or employee's "riding the clock", use a labor management system with both employee scheduling and time and attendance features that can enforce your employee schedule.
These systems have an instant Return On Investment for your business.
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