Running a shift-based business keeps you busy. It’s easy to miss the latest trends and innovations that can make your life easier. But don’t worry — we've got you covered.
Let’s discuss the latest innovations in time and attendance systems for shift-based businesses.
1. Biometric clock-ins
While this may sound like something from Star Trek, biometric attendance systems are rising in popularity. These attendance systems use facial, vocal, or fingerprint recognition to mark an employee as present for their shift.
Why this matters for shift-based businesses
Accurate clock-in and clock-out records are essential for shift-based businesses. The standard methods can be clunky.
Maybe staff members forget to punch in or out. Maybe you’re in the middle of a rush so they’re encouraged to jump right in before clocking in. Maybe the staff member had a tough shift, so clocking out slips their mind.
Inaccuracy in attendance records leads to payroll confusion. HR needs to chase down the employee and hope they remember their shift accurately.
Biometric attendance tracking devices fix all that.
Staff can clock in and out with a quick fingerprint scan or by saying their name. It only takes seconds. It’s also helpful if any staff members work at multiple locations. The biometric system will accurately record when and where they worked.
Bonus! Biometric systems also prevent “buddy punching” and time theft. Staff members can’t clock in and out for each other — and they don’t need to.
Learn more about Deputy’s biometric clock-in system.
2. Geofenced clock in
Another shift punch system gaining traction in shift work is geofencing attendance. Geofencing uses GPS technology to create virtual boundaries around your business. Once an employee is within the boundary, they can clock in from a mobile app.
Why this matters for shift-based businesses
If your business struggles with inaccurate mobile punch-ins or staff attributing shifts to the wrong location, geofencing time and attendance hardware can help. They will only be able to clock in once they are within the invisible boundaries that you set.
Learn more about Deputy’s geofencing capabilities.
3. Self-service for staff
For a long time, shift workers didn’t have much autonomy regarding their attendance records. When they had concerns about inaccuracies, they had to go to their manager to request a copy.
This could lead to distrust between staff and managers or business owners because employees felt micromanaged when it came to clocking in and out and swapping shifts. Everything they did was monitored, contributing to lowered morale and increased turnover.
Shift-based businesses can address this by trusting their employees to record their shifts through self-service software.
Why this matters for shift-based businesses
Using mobile apps to clock in and out, view timesheets, and communicate with other employees allows staff to take control of their schedules. From their phones or wearable tech (Deputy works on Apple Watches!), employees can look at their schedules and ask coworkers for coverage if needed.
Timesheet concerns are easy to verify with an app, allowing workers to view their records and either solve the problem or present it to their manager. They may also be able to edit their timesheet before it hits payroll, ensuring they get paid correctly.
Empowering employees can increase loyalty, leading to greater engagement at work.
Learn more about Deputy’s mobile app.
4. An active focus on compliance
While all businesses focus on compliance, it can too often be treated as a secondary concern due to daily operations and only be addressed once it is broken. With multiple labour laws to follow, a passive approach just isn’t enough.
Why this matters for shift-based businesses
A proactive approach to compliance actually saves businesses time. The right attendance tools offer compliance assistance even while juggling numerous employees over multiple shifts — for example, sending reminders to employees who haven’t taken breaks yet.
This type of software will also consider breaks and other compliance needs when generating schedules. Whether you do it yourself or let the software make the schedule, you can rely on reminders about scheduling breaks.
5. Increased Use of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been incorporated into shiftworker over the past few years. Many HR software programs offer some form of automation. AI can be used for scheduling, enhancing communication, and catching mistakes.
Why this matters for shift-based businesses
With so many variables involved with shift work management, why not have a virtual assistant checking your work and saving you from unintended mistakes? AI helps reduce human error, preventing daily frustrations for your staff.
It’s especially important when creating schedules. It can be hard to juggle availability with scheduling needs, and human errors can result in missed shifts if employees aren’t available when they’re scheduled. AI can handle all these considerations with ease, making sure schedules match availability and offering across-the-board visibility so no one’s confused about who’s scheduled and whether any given shift has sufficient staffing.
Learn more about Deputy’s smart scheduling.
6. Predictive scheduling
Businesses always want to predict the future. Retailers want to anticipate how busy the holiday season will be and how many staff they’ll need. Hospitals need to know how bad the flu season will be and how many nurses they need to prevent burnout.
Gathering real-time data and analysing it with AI assistance can yield labour forecasts that provide accurate projections.
Why this matters for shift-based businesses
Shiftwork is unpredictable even on the best of days. An attendance tracker for employees with predictive scheduling looks at the past and creates a schedule based on data-driven predictions. It will identify likely busy times during the day and week and anticipate how many staff members are needed.
Data-informed labour forecasting can also create a longer view and help you right-size your staff in advance of busy seasons so you avoid understaffed and overworked days.
Learn more about Deputy’s labour forecasting tools.
Deputy is full of innovation
If you’re searching for a new time and attendance system to make running your business easier, look no further. Deputy is an all-encompassing HR software that addresses common concerns such as compliance, attendance, and scheduling in one program.
We also integrate with other programs so you can smoothly connect attendance to payroll.
Try our time and attendance tools for free!
