Employee lateness can chip away at your profitability. Here are 3 easy steps to reduce employee tardiness with an automated employee attendance tracker.

First, let’s look at the top reasons why employee tardiness will hurt your small business time and attendance:

Late employees…

1. are less productive,
2. lower customer satisfaction, and
3. tarnish your brand.

We may as well call that list “how to ruin a small business.”

Why You Want to Solve This Problem

Unfortunately, when employees are late, they miss critical startup time. They must jump into the workflow without proper preparation. Late employees hold up critical-path processes and cause more mistakes.

Of course, your small business can’t afford more mistakes. Inefficiency, therefore, is money down the drain. Clearly, you need an employee attendance tracker.

It’s no surprise that customers don’t want to wait longer for service. Late employees hold up a checkout line, keep customers on hold, or miss service opportunities. Furthermore, employee morale suffers when others have to pick up the slack.

Chronic tardiness will hurt your business, and tarnish your brand because employees are the face of your brand. Ultimately, your company will suffer the consequences in the form of lower repeat business.

That, in turn, will prevent your business from gaining momentum.

Three Steps to Reduce Employee Tardiness

Here are three easy steps to reduce employee tardiness with an automated attendance tracker. These steps will also help reduce early punch-ins and buddy punching.

Follow these steps as a best practice for improving your time and attendance:

1. Instruct

The first step is to instruct your employees. You can’t expect them to play by the rules if they don’t know the rules.

Onboarding Policies and Procedures

Communicate the time and attendance rules you expect employees to follow. Make this part of your onboarding process. Check off their progress through the employee handbook. Make sure they understand policies and procedures and be clear about consequences. Establish that you take time and attendance seriously.

WorkforceHub™ from Swipeclock enables you to deliver onboarding materials to your employees online. You can also track their progress and check off milestones to make sure they are completely on board.

Set deadlines and follow up to make sure employees know you care about procedure. WorkforceHub will help you confirm employee understanding of policy.

Software Training

Make sure employees understand how to use the employee attendance tracker software. A quick orientation will assure that employees have no excuse when it comes to clock-in.

Next, educate them on break policies and scheduling. Walk them through the process of clocking in to reduce mistakes. Show them how to interact with scheduling and the virtual swap board. Empower them to take part in self-service scheduling.

WorkforceHub makes it easy for employees to track time and attendance and scheduling. Help them learn to use the software to ensure your business is running with efficiency.

Employee Accountability

Make sure employees understand that you hold them accountable.

Set deadlines for completing the employee handbook and other onboarding documents. Define the rules for clocking-in, breaks, and clocking out.

Define the consequences of late clock-ins or missed punches. Be clear that your workforce management system will track and report problems. Outline the basic steps for solving these problems.

WorkforceHub will help you manage employee time and attendance tracking. It can also confirm employee engagement with your online employee manual.

Hold employees accountable with WorkforceHub. Managers see progress reports on reading. Alerts warn of missed punches or potential overtime problems. Schedule changes and shift swapping are self-service with manager approvals. Automated employee time and attendance tracking is built in.

2. Track

You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

After instructing employees and setting the expectation, it’s time to track performance.

Time Tracking With Software Makes It Easy

If you aren’t already tracking time and attendance with software, it’s time to get on that train. WorkforceHub from Swipeclock includes a wide range of employee time and attendance tracking options.

Tracking employee time has never been easier or more effective.

There are several options for tracking employee time with punch clocks. Biometric clocks offer personalized security. Card-based clocks are convenient and inexpensive. WorkforceHub includes web-based clocks and mobile solutions, too.

Regardless of which clock strategy you choose, measurement is your goal. Tracking employee time and attendance is the foundation of your workforce strategy.

What To Watch For

WorkforceHub will allow you to watch and track employee clocking. You’ll be able to see early punches, late punches, and missed punches.

Everyone makes forgivable mistakes; you want to watch for chronic problems.

Watch your WorkforceHub reports and pay attention to automated alerts. Look for outliers and address employees early in the process. Catching problems early means following up and correcting action before a problem begins.

Streamlining and Optimization

You can’t improve what you don’t measure, either. Another key point is that tracking time and attendance will reveal potential optimizations. For example, you’ll be able to see which employees are performing better. This will help you determine who is eligible for advancements.

Similarly, you will see which employees are underperforming. Take time to meet with underperforming employees one-on-one to encourage improvement. Track progress, and respond according to predefined consequences.

At the same time, you may also discover process problems. For example, chronic tardiness in a specific area may be a sign of poor working conditions. Look for opportunities to make improvements that translate to more motivated employees.

WorkforceHub provides management oversight that translates into actionable results.

3. Enforce

Enforcing rules will streamline performance and optimize efficiency. As you learn more about workforce behavior, make adjustments to enforcement. Automated restrictions like punch lockout will ensure employees are working to plan.

…and you never thought of Human Resources (HR) as a profit center.

Schedule Enforcement Reduces Tardiness

As mentioned, with WorkforceHub you can set schedule enforcement that prohibits early or late clock-in. It doesn’t take long for employees to realize they are on a schedule with punch lockout.

Punch lockout means that employees have a narrow window during which they can clock in or clock out. If an employee misses a punch, their manager will talk to them about it. Your managers are the frontline in time and attendance management.

In addition, intelligent clocks help reduce errors by presenting only the options that are relevant. For example, when an employee is out on a break, their only option upon return is to clock in.

With Intelligent Clock, you will better enforce your work schedule. Together with punch lockout, you’ll operate at peak efficiency.

Focus On Chronic Tardiness

Furthermore, reports will alert you to employees with chronic tardiness. With time and labor metrics, you can focus on the bigger problems first. Based on your company protocol, confront chronic offenders as early as possible.

Set goals and a timeline for correction. This will help you steer chronic offenders in the right direction. It also signals other employees that you are serious about time and attendance.

Rely on automated recordkeeping in WorkforceHub to support your action. Of course, be fair to employees but remain stern and follow protocol.

Moreover, share tardiness data with chronic offenders to assure them you are paying attention. Data will reinforce your position. In the event of an employee dispute, it will provide a paper trail.

Consistent Enforcement

Apply rules and consequences with consistency; stick to the policies and procedures. Importantly, this removes the politics of favoritism.

Employee Self-Service

Because it’s important for employees to see their work data, WorkforceHub provides 24/7 access to timecards, pay stubs, and shift schedules. In addition, they can see benefits details and PTO accruals.

Equally important, with process tracking, administrators can see if an employee has reviewed the employee handbook. Indeed, employees who have access to policies and procedures are more likely to follow them. Employers who track engagement are more proficient, and less likely to have problems.

WorkforceHub is the key to building an efficient workforce.

In conclusion, we encourage you to follow these three steps to reduce employee tardiness and improve your small business. We wish you luck with your efforts!