How easy is it to switch from traditional time recording systems to biometric clocking in machines?

What happens when you decide to make the switch from traditional time recording systems or swipe card systems to biometric scanners or fingerprint readers? We asked our customers…

There are lots of reasons to make the switch to biometric clocking in machines:

• Hand scanners and fingerprint readers are far more secure
• They eliminate the ‘buddy punching’ that’s easier to get away with using a traditional clocking machine
• You can’t lose a fingerprint
• There are fewer clocking errors; and
• Unlike swipe card systems, you can’t hand your fingerprint to someone else to clock in for you

And although it’s not a reason we’d encountered before, Baa Bar’s Jayne Dunne told us: “[Hand scanners] looked and felt a bit trendier, which was probably a good thing for a bar like ours!”

From Traditional time recording systems to fingerprint readers. Getting used to biometric clocking.

But is there a major change – culturally or to the way your people clock in and out – involved in making the switch to biometric clocking in machines?

Martin Lynch of C-Tec told us that switching to handscanners was more a case of minor adjustment than major upheaval: “It took the staff a little bit of getting used to as they were used to more traditional time recording systems. They used to swipe in in a fraction of a second and suddenly they were having to position their hand correctly on a hand scanner. So for a couple of weeks things took just a little longer, but they quickly got the hang of it and now it works really well.”

Jayne Dunne agrees: “We’d already had the clock cards so it wasn’t a great change for the staff.”

The security question

If there’s one issue that does get raised whenever an employer considers introducing biometric systems/hand scanners, it’s the question of security. “When we said we were planning to change to handscanners I think there were a few people who felt ‘we don’t want our fingerprints being stored in any system,’” Janet Newell of Redwood TTM told us.

We’re always happy to address these (entirely reasonable) concerns, and whether we chat to staff directly (as with C-Tec) or provide your managers with the information to allay fears (as with Redwood TTM), issues don’t tend to stay issues for long.

That’s because biometric systems/scanners store data (ie numbers) not images of fingerprints, so it’s impossible to reconstitute a fingerprint from the data.

As Janet said, “Since we explained how it really worked everyone’s been fine with it and it’s worked well.”
Also, our Platinum+ system now uses the very latest technology from SecuGen Corporation – the world’s leading provider of advanced, optical fingerprint recognition technology, products, tools and platforms. The hardware has been tested and proven in more than 7000 organisations globally.

You can read more of our clients’ comments in our Case Studies section.

Discover the difference biometric hand scanners and fingerprint readers can make to your time and attendance. Talk to us here.