Attendance data has exactly one serious consumer: payroll. If attendance does not flow cleanly into payroll, you have bought a monitoring tool and kept the monthly spreadsheet. Evaluate the handoff first and the hardware second.
Capture methods, honestly compared
Biometric — fingerprint. Low cost, hard to proxy, no card to lose. Struggles with worn fingerprints in manual trades, needs cleaning, and raises hygiene objections. Fixed location only.
Biometric — face recognition. Contactless and fast. Higher cost, sensitive to lighting, and carries the strongest privacy concerns — handle the consent and data-retention questions properly.
RFID or access cards. Cheap, fast, integrates with door access. Trivially proxied by passing a card to a colleague.
Mobile app with GPS. Essential for field staff and distributed teams. Requires a geofencing policy, drains battery, and depends on the employee's device. Expect pushback on location tracking unless you are clear about when it applies.
Web check-in. Fine for office and knowledge roles where trust is the norm and hours are not the output measure.
The policy decisions that cause disputes
Hardware rarely causes arguments. These do, and every one needs a documented answer before go-live:
- Grace period. How many minutes late is still on time, and how many such instances per month?
- Half-day threshold. Below how many hours does a day become half, and below what does it become absent?
- Missed punches. Who can regularise, with what approval, and by what deadline?
- Field work and client visits. How are they recorded when the employee never reaches an office?
- Work from home. Is attendance presumed, or does it need marking?
- Overtime authorisation. Does staying late automatically create an overtime claim, or does it need pre-approval?
- Shift handover and night shifts crossing midnight. Which day does the shift belong to?
The integration that determines value
Ask these questions specifically:
- Do LOP days flow into payroll automatically, or does someone export and paste?
- Are leave applications reconciled against attendance, so approved leave is not also marked absent?
- Does overtime flow through at the correct statutory rate?
- Can payroll be locked against attendance changes after the cut-off?
- Is there an audit trail of who changed which attendance record, and when?
That last point matters more than it sounds. Attendance edits change pay. Without an audit trail you cannot answer a dispute, and you cannot pass an inspection cleanly.
Statutory record-keeping
- Maintaining an attendance register is a statutory requirement under shops and establishments legislation in every state
- Working hours limits and mandatory rest intervals must be observable from your records
- Overtime must be recorded and paid at the prescribed rate, generally twice ordinary wages
- Records are typically required to be retained for three years
Electronic records are acceptable in most states, but check your state rules — some still expect a physical register or a specific format on inspection.
