Tag: Time and Attendance

It’s vital for every organization to accurately manage employee time and attendance. Tracking time off is a key function of every HR department. It ensures that all employees are fulfilling their obligations, and that the employer is accurately compensating them in accordance with the law.  

To help you go about it the right way, we have identified the following tips to manage employee time and attendance.

Know the Law

The first step in managing employee time and attendance is creating a compliant workplace policy. To do so, you need to be proficient in the laws that govern time off.

This can be challenging considering the complexities of ever-changing employment law, yet it’s imperative. Failure to do so can have costly consequences. In fiscal year 2023, The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division recovered over $274 million in back wages and damages for more than 163,000 workers nationwide.

Where your company is headquartered, where your employees work, whether they are exempt, non-exempt, full- or part-time, all have an impact. Familiarize yourself with the laws that affect your organization. New Jersey employers should pay particular attention to the following laws governing the state:

• Earned Sick Leave
• Worker Classification
• Wage and Hour
• Wage Payment
• Family Leave

Create and Communicate Your Policy

Creating a time and attendance policy is just the beginning. You need to ensure that it’s clear and effectively communicated to your team through your employee handbook. State your expectations for attendance in it, and the procedures that employees need to follow to use their time off. Include the potential consequences for those who violate the policy.

You also need documentation that the information was received by your employees. An important step is requesting that all employees sign an acknowledgment that the handbook has been received and read. In the event of an audit, your handbook and these acknowledgements could serve as crucial documentation to protect your organization. An HR Information System (HRIS) is a valuable tool for collecting this information.

Utilize a Reliable Time and Labor Management Solution

The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) offers advice for avoiding costly penalties related to wage and hour violations. In addition to training managers and conducting periodic wage and hour audits, SHRM recommends maintaining accurate timekeeping and record keeping practices through robust time and labor management technology.

According to federal law, employers are required to retain specific records containing timekeeping data, and payroll information. With cloud-based time and labor management solutions important records are readily available, should you be called upon to produce them.

Relying on manual processes and spreadsheets to calculate employee time and attendance is not only inefficient, it puts your organization at risk. A fully integrated solution helps you collect, manage, and process your employee’s time data with ease while safeguarding your organization from litigation.

Discover Counter Point’s Solution

Find out how your company could benefit from a fully integrated time and attendance solution. Request a call today!

Creating an attendance policy is essential for every business. It establishes expectations for working hours, attendance, and paid time off. It’s easier to uphold such a policy when you’re able to see the productivity within the office. But what about when you now have a remote team?

A remote working option can be beneficial to employees as much as employers, as long as there are clear expectations and guidelines. Which is why having a solid attendance policy is key to success. 

Flexible schedules and a greater work-life balance is very appealing. For managers however, it comes with its own set of challenges. Monitoring if schedules are being followed, if remote employees are “showing up” during the workday, and if productivity is high are all crucial assessments for success. 

In this article we address the importance of creating an attendance policy for your remote team. 

Tips For a Time & Attendance Policy for Remote Teams

As flexibility within the workplace continues to increase, your workforce may contain a mix of in-person and hybrid teams. Strict adherence to attendance policies will help enable communication between co-workers, as well as efficient productivity.

Clearly outlining what’s expected of your employees will better equip managers for handling situations when employees fail to adhere to these guidelines.  

Detailing everything related from:

• Working hours
• Attendance
• Paid time off
• Time tracking

Establish Clear Working Hours and Expectations

Remote employees are said to work 1.4 more days per month than in-person employees.  This can lead to an overworked and burnt-out team. Clear expectations of working hours should be set not just to make sure employees are working enough but to make sure they aren’t overworking themselves either.

A best practice is to mirror the regular in-office work day, which is typically 9am-5pm. If you value work-life balance, there should be an expectation of a set number of hours employees are expected to work. 

Maintain An Attendance Policy

Managers do not have the option to pop into someone’s office and inquire about projects when working with remote teams. It is important to implement an attendance and availability policy. 

You shouldn’t feel like you’re hunting down employees by sending numerous emails and messages, waiting for replies and updates. Make sure everyone knows when to be available and how to communicate. Additionally, employees should be aware of the approval process for taking time off from work. Employees can’t simply use a slow day “working from home” to disappear for the day. 

When working from home, employees should still be entitled to personal and sick days, but an approval process should be in place. The ability to prepare for when an employee will be absent from the day will help others to fill in the gaps. 

Provide Time Tracking Guidelines

All employees should understand how to track their working hours and guidelines should be given for:

• How employees should track their time
• When employees should submit their tracked time
• What to do if employees are working outside of their scheduled working hours
• Employees should be made aware of any repercussions due to falsified information

Time and labor management technology allows for accurate payroll, ensuring employees are correctly paid for the time they work.

Avoid Workforce Management Problems

Businesses have been using time and attendance policies for years and implementing such guidelines are essential for employee and companywide success. Streamlining these processes, even if they need to be updated, will help remote employees manage their time and productivity. Managers can eliminate any confusion or problems within the workforce by enforcing these policies and ensuring everyone understands the requirements. 

Need Help with Time and Attendance Within Your Business? Request a call today!