The Best Time Clock for a Payroll Software Vendor

What is the best time clock for a payroll software vendor? Well, it depends- not so much on the specific payroll software vendor, but on its customers. What are their business needs and priorities? What do they want to accomplish with the payroll solution? What kind of data do they need to collect and share with your solution?Customers can choose from a variety of terminals with different functionality, data capacity, and performance capabilities. VARs should approach the question of which time clock is best to integrate with their solution by focusing on what their customer needs it to do.

Time In – Time Out

For some customers, having their time clocks feed only time-in and time-out data to their payroll solution is enough. Perhaps it’s a small business with only a handful of employees. Perhaps it’s a large business that collects and manages data regarding schedules, tasks, and skills through other interfaces for its workforce management or human capital management software solutions.

In these cases, a simple terminal with only a few function keys and limited display features meets the narrow data collection needs. Or one that has a few extra, customizable keys and biometric options for enhanced security, like the Accu-Time Maximus.

Enabling VARS to deliver a Communication tool for managers

Some of your customers may be looking for solutions that reduce the administrative load on their managers, freeing up more of their time to manage and mentor employees. Recommending a time clock that can also function as a communication tool helps your customers reach this goal.

Terminals with a widescreen touch display can provide an array of active and passive communication opportunities for managers and employees. For example, instead of having to check with managers about schedules or how much vacation time they have available, employees can look that information up through the time clock. Managers could also use such time clocks to push out team messages or short training videos. A time clock with a camera and microphone, like our PeoplePoint Plus and  PeoplePoint Premium™, enables video chat, eliminating time wasted by employees or managers trying to track each other down to get a quick question answered.

Using a time clock terminal to empower employees may not be obvious to some customers, but a widescreen terminal with the capacity to update back-end systems in near real-time can optimize the functionality of the payroll software.

Attestations to document compliance

Companies eager to improve their documentation showing labor law and contract compliance can use the higher performance, widescreen terminals to collect employee attestations in real time. Meaning, employees can attest each day via the timekeeping system that they were able to take the lunch or other breaks to which they’re entitled. They can attest their work hours for the day or week are accurate.  All of these attestations provide contemporaneous documentation that can be used to verify accurate payroll and help defend against a wage and hour lawsuit. With employee plaintiffs winning 76% of wage and hour class actions suits filed, companies are looking for additional means to document their compliance and protect their bottom line.

Payroll software vendors have a range of time clock integration options, which means they can support customers with a range of different business needs and priorities. You can schedule a personalized briefing with one of our consultants to explore our variety of time clock terminals.