Biometric Fingerprint Time Attendance System

Companies can benefit from the system by preventing loss of wages while improving work productivity, since the employees work hour management solution of the fingerprint-based system eliminated the possibility of people coming to work as Buddy Punching, or asking for fabricated overtimes. Corporations and public and government institutions can also enjoy diverse work hour tracking and monitoring features in calculating compensations for business trips, special assignments, overtimes, and work-shifts, in addition to the employee's regular time of coming and leaving to work.

The accurate results can be easily and accurately reflected on the wage calculation and human resources management. The work hour solution is capable of speedy fingerprint authentication, thereby allowing the entry data to be recorded immediately as it is created without any delay, even during the busy morning rush hour. By computerizing the work hour data generated by the system, the human resources department can improve their work performance.

It also enables a centralized work hour management of employees working at multiple different locations, and the data necessary for various decision-making can be effectively collected and reflected. Any business or institutions can have the optimal system by connecting it to their own or other existing systems, enabling a management innovation that solves any possible work hour management problems, while saving the wage costs and structure.

Biometric Time Attendance technology offers advanced verification for employees in every industry. Because biometric time attendance systems identify people through physical measurements of unique human characteristics or behavior, they thwart attempts of time fraud, where one employee punches for another. Biometric systems do not require easily-lost or stolen badges, or other identifying objects. Employee attendance verification is a major use of biometrics today.

Biometric technology offers the promise of an easy, secure method to make highly accurate verifications of individuals. Not only does this technology make our lives easier by eliminating the need to carry badges and other identification, but it prevents the use of forged tickets, badges, or passports. These verifications have broad applicability, and people are already being verified by biometrics in airports, office buildings, manufacturing centers, hospitals, and even amusement parks. A biometric scan can provide security access to protected areas, serve as a day pass at an attraction, punch an employee in at the start of the work day, or allow an executive access to his laptop computer.

Take a moment to learn about biometric technology, and whether biometric time clocks are the right fit for your organization’s employee verification needs.

How Biometric Technologies Work

Biometric technologies capitalize upon unique, permanent, and scannable human characteristics. A unique characteristic is one that no other person shares. This characteristic should also remain the same over time, and be reliably collectable using a sensor. As much as possible, biometric technologies focus upon these types of human traits.

All biometric devices take a number of measurements from an individual then digitally process the result of these measurements and save this representation of the individual’s traits into a template. Templates are then stored in a database associated with the device or in a smartcard given to the individual. This is called enrollment.

When the individual attempts to identify himself by scanning a finger, hand, or eye, a biometric device compares the new scan to all available templates (in a process known as Identification) in order to find a match, or compares the new scan to a known template for the individual (in a process known as Verification). To be verified, a person must first claim an identity using a login name, smart card, or token. As the individual continues to use the technology, the template continually is refined, perfected, and adjusted for slight changes in the employee’s characteristics.

Different biometric technologies measure diverse aspects of the human anatomy. Finger readers measure the space between the forks of the ridges in a fingerprint. Hand Readers can measure the orientation of veins in the hand, or the shape, length, and width of the fingers. Eye readers measure the veins in the retina or the texture of the iris. Some biometric measurements can be taken in even more innovative ways. For example, the shape, acceleration, and speed of a person’s signature can be used for biometric identification.

Return on Investment in Biometric Time Clock Installations

In service environments where employees punch in and out to work, return on investment can be considerable because biometric devices virtually eliminate the ability of employees to “buddy punch.”

In buddy punching, an employee either types a tardy employee’s PIN or swipes the tardy employee’s badge earlier than he arrives to work or after he leaves work. The organizational costs of this kind of time theft can be enormous. The company loses money a few minutes at a time compounded across departments and locations. Biometrics makes it almost impossible for employees to defraud a time and attendance system.

Is Biometric Attendance Verification Right for your Organization?

Several factors can help you determine whether to invest in biometric time recorders. First determine whether there is a need for biometric technology in the workplace. Then consider the potential return on investment. Finally, make sure that the work environment is physically suitable for biometric devices, and that employees can accept and use the technology.

Evaluate the need for authentication or identification. As mentioned earlier, a workplace with employee time fraud problems, like buddy punching, can benefit greatly from the use of biometric time recorders. A need to control security access to portions of a building can be answered with biometrics, as well. Alternately, a workplace with no ecurity concerns or hourly workers may not need biometrics to maintain accurate employee time and attendance records.

Consider the cost/benefit ratio. If there is a need for biometrics, consider the cost. For a smaller organization, the cost of biometric equipment may be greater than any gains from the elimination of time theft. However, the price for biometric technology is dropping as technological advances are made and adoption becomes more widespread. Economies of scale and sophisticated engineering continue to lower the cost of biometric devices. Lower cost biometric time clocks have begun to enter the market, and may be an option for many organizations. Your time and attendance provider can help you weigh the benefits of installing biometric time clocks.

Persons being scanned with the biometric device can also impact the suitability of that device. For example, a retinal scan requires that a person gaze into an eyepiece. Without cooperation, this type of scan could be difficult. Individuals with worn finger whorls and ridges, due to years of welding or other occupations, may not be able to successfully use a finger reader.

Be Sensitive to the Concerns of Employees.

When considering the purchase of biometric time recorders it is important to address the privacy concerns of employees. For example, explain to employees that a finger or hand reader does not store or recognize employee fingerprints—it uses hand or finger measurements to create a template for the employee. These measurements are used only for in-company authentication and security access. They cannot be used to recreate biometric data such as a person’s actual fingerprint.

What Does the Future Hold for Biometrics in Time and Attendance?

Improvements are in sight for the feasibility, consumer acceptance, and price of biometric identification. The possibilities of biometrics for employee authentication are endless. Experts attest that biometric technology is likely to be used in “almost every transaction needing authentication of personal identity.” Biometrics is in all our futures, and they stand to improve the ease-of-use of time and attendance systems, while bolstering corporate security and enhancing employee privacy.