As part of any efficient workforce management strategy, gathering your employees’ attendance information is essential. In fact, it’s the glue that bind many other elements together. Without it, you cannot: keep track of absence; calculating holiday entitlement is chaos; you don’t know who’s in or out in case of a fire drill and as for payroll… well let’s just say, it would be messy, wrong and very costly for your business. But with so many work models, it can be hard knowing which clocking system is right for you. They all have advantages and disadvantages, and are all worth considering. But in terms of cost and convenience, one option in particular is more popular than ever right now – a clocking-in app.
Here are 7 reasons why our EAC clocking-in app makes sense. (But there are many, many more…)
- Your employees will love it – honestly. In fact, for many businesses introducing a cloud-based time and attendance system as part of their workforce management for the first time, this single factor has been both the biggest surprise and the single main advantage of using the clocking-in app: workers are really eager to use it. It’s easy to understand why they feel so positively towards the app – not only does it offer them a much greater sense of autonomy and control over their work lives, it also is a welcome show of transparency from you as an employer.
- It’s undeniably easy to use. When it comes to convenience, there’s just no comparison – no physical clocking machine, however impressive, comes even close to simply being able to take your smartphone and clock in and out using the clocking-in app. And employees always have it on them, wherever they are.
- It’s perfect for remote staff and site workers. Biometric clocking-in machines are great, but if you have to be on-site to use them, and you are one of the many businesses who have now adopted a much more flexible model that includes hybrid and remote workers, this presents obvious difficulties to gathering their clocking data. The clocking-in app is ideal for site workers, employees who travel from one location to another as part of their job and those working from home. The geolocation feature also allows you to see where they are clocking in and out – so you can rest assured they are where you need them to be – (or do something about it if they aren’t…)
- It’s so much more than just clocking in. This is another massive advantage of the app – it also lets employees view their timesheets. No wall-mounted clocking in machine does that, workers would have to log into the web portal. By allowing workers to use the app, you also grant them access to their timesheets and calendar, which means that wherever they are, they can easily see when and where they’re programmed to work.
- It makes Holiday Tracking easier than ever before. Say “Good Riddance!” to piles of illegible holiday request forms, unexpected clashes and a host of other human error-induced nightmares when it comes to staff holidays. The EAC clocking-in app allows employees to request time off, see their used days and check their remaining balance, all form the comfort of their phone. This way, their supervisor or line manager can easily check to see who else has already booked the same dates off, before deciding whether to approve or deny the request. In this way, you never need to find yourselves missing an essential skill (the only two people with a forklift licence are off at the same time, for example) and also won’t need to suddenly take on agency staff to cover unexpected staff shortages.
- It transforms your life as an employer. Granting your employees more autonomy and control really is a win-win. They can access their timesheets and holiday requests/balance freely, and, more importantly for you, the knock-on effect of this is that neither you or your line managers will be bombarded with an overwhelming number of queries as to when their shifts are, how many days’ holiday they have left, etc etc.
- It’s free. And who isn’t struggling with the cost of, well, pretty much everything, right now? The EAC clocking-in app is offered free of charge with every account, and you as an employer can add as many or your employees as you want or need to for app clocking. If you operate on several sites or are just trying to find a way to keep within budget, the clocking-in app is a really cost-effective solution that, better still, works almost immediately as soon as your EAC account has been activated.
Find out more about our fantastic clocking-in app or check out our other clocking systems for more options to see which best suits your business – and budget.