Monday, 18 December 2017

How Biometric Door Access System Encourages Adherence to Workplace Rules

The use of biometrics is increasingly becoming a leading tool in workforce management in Singaporean organisations. Many companies in Singapore are shifting towards a biometric door access system, and the main reason behind this is to eliminate time theft by employees and increase security and accuracy.

Any workplace that requires employees to be physically present at the location is the best candidate for biometric door access system or attendance technology. Construction sites, retail stores, industries, manufacturing units, or private organisations, these are just some of the workplaces where employees need to work according to a set schedule. From multiple overlapping shifts to payroll disputes, there are many problems that can arise when you use a manual process to record employee attendance. There is where can biometric technology make a difference in improving workplace rules.

Automated Workplace Rules

If your organisation needs to monitor entry and exit of workers in order to restrict unauthorized access by other people, then a biometric door access system can help you do so. If the nature of the workplace is such that it requires high levels of security because it contains sensitive information, then a biometric system can be considered to help secure the premise. Biometric access control security system verifies the unique data associated with the biometric features of a person, such as iris, facial recognition or fingerprint scan.

If your company that uses flexible time schedules for employees, then the biometric system can automatically record entry and exit timings of employees and help the HR department to monitor employee attendance. Since buddy punching is not possible with such systems, so you can rest assured that employees cannot do time theft with you.

A biometric system accurately records employees’ arrival and exit times, so they will be paid accurately. Not only will there be a reduction in overpayments, but your payroll department will also have a solid paper trail of log in and log out times and never have difficult disputes over these times again.

Companies in Singapore that installed biometric door access system have found their employees to be more accountable and responsible. They have even noticed further benefits like reduced absenteeism, break timings and tardiness among their employees.

To put it simply, by implementing a biometric door access control system, businesses in Singapore can encourage greater adherence to workplace rules among their employees and also reduce unnecessary administration costs. It will also eliminate employee time theft, buddy punching, and other payroll problems, thereby enhancing bottom line.

How a Biometric Time Attendance Machine Can Reduce Time Theft

Time theft is a big issue for employers today costing nearly $400 billion annually in lost productivity. But what exactly is time theft? It occurs when employees are paid for the time they have not actually worked. Time theft is not limited to any specific person or industry; it can be found in any business and industry. Though time theft was difficult to deal with in the past, requiring last amounts of physical manpower to prevent it, advancements in technology have provided ways to eliminate it. Things like biometric time attendance machines have allowed a reduction in the manpower required by using sophisticated new technology to track employee productivity.

Methods of Time Theft and How to Prevent Them

1. Buddy Punching– Buddy punching is a real problem for many employers. It happens when one employee punches in for another on his or her behalf. When you track employee attendance via time sheets or papers, it becomes too easy for one employee to sign in or punch ID card for a friend. But buddy punching can be prevented with the advancement of biometrics. You can deploy a biometric machine for attendance that will read individual faces, scan fingerprints and irises to help you keep track of employees.

2. Beating the Time Clock– It’s not uncommon for employees to fudge their time when completing paper attendance sheets. It probably happens more often than you can imagine. In this case, employers cannot even track properly when employees are leaving early or coming late. With biometric systems, you can easily get attendance reports and automate calculation of work hours. It will also prevent employees from beating time clock, as they know they are being monitored continuously with a biometric time attendance machine.

3. Unauthorized or extended breaks – Since employees face a wide variety of temptations throughout the workday, they often tend to take unauthorized or extended breaks. Time and attendance software that uses biometric clocks is the most effective method for preventing extended breaks as you can easily check through the software to determine employees practicing such things.

Several surveys have found that employees indulge in time theft activities. They have done so at least once. Time stealing can severely impact the bottom line of companies due to lost productivity and payroll loss. But if you are able to install and use a biometric time attendance machine, it will become more difficult for employees to cheat the system. A Biometric machine for attendance can help eliminate buddy punching, time clock cheating and extended breaks, and save companies a lot of money.

Friday, 1 December 2017

Using Biometric Time Attendance System to Prevent Time Theft at Office

Time theft is considered a great barrier to employee productivity as it has direct and indirect costs. Time theft can occur in many different ways: proxy attendance, buddy punching, time clock theft, over extended breaks are just some of the ways this can happen.

According to a recent survey, it has been found that nearly half of all employees engage in time theft and they do it on over 75 percent of their shift timings. In contrast, employers in Singapore who are using biometric time attendance system experienced a scant three percent of their employees engaging in time fraud. Biometric identification technology is now taking a permanent place in most Singaporean organisations to combat time theft and increase employee productivity.

How do biometric time attendance system works?

Companies in Singapore with the help of biometric time attendance system can check employee clock in and clock out time. Biometric technology has automated methods of recognising a person based on physiological characteristics such as face, fingerprints, hand geometry, iris, retinal, vein, and voice. Each employee is enrolled in the biometric device using specific employee pins made by providing the specific biometric characteristic, which is saved in the form of a biometric encryption key. Employees need to punch in and out either by placing their finger or hand on the scanner or standing in front of the scanner for facial or eye recognition. The scan is then converted and compared to the enrollment sample.

Biometric attendance software can manage a lot of employee attendance data and is easily scalable to store more employees as manpower requirements rise.

Advantages of using Biometric Attendance System

A biometric time attendance system will help employers in Singapore to control time theft by employees. The system will stop buddy punching as biometric credentials cannot be duplicated or forged. Biometric technology is the most accurate system to identify any individual which can prevent time theft issues such as early departures and unauthorized overtime. Eliminating the time theft issues, biometric system saves employers from paying false wages by preventing time fraud and providing accurate attendance data.

Conclusion

It is highly recommended for organisations in Singapore to install biometric time attendance system to prevent buddy punching and other time fraud ways to increase employee productivity and profits. Moreover, a biometric attendance system integrated with payroll and workforce management system improves the ease-of-use, efficiency, and accuracy of timekeeping systems.

Fingerprint Scanner vs. Face Recognition Attendance System: Which one is better?

Biometric technology has greatly reduced the possibilities of time theft and buddy punching, thereby increasing efficiency and accuracy of attendance data. Employers are constantly seeking software solutions which can help them improve employee productivity, eliminate employee time theft and create more accountability. Employee time theft can cost employers billions of dollars each year. That’s why biometric time attendance systems are increasing in Singapore. But there are different types of biometric technology on the market. The most used biometric systems are fingerprint scanner and facial recognition system. Which one is better?

Face Recognition Attendance System

Face recognition is one of the most flexible attendance management systems. Face recognition systems work by analyzing specific features of a person’s face in the form of numerical quantities such as distance between eyes, width of the nose, position of cheekbones and jaw line. These specifications are then saved in a single biometric encrypt code that uniquely identifies each person.

Fingerprint-based Attendance System

Fingerprints of a person remain constant throughout his or her life. No two persons in the world have same fingerprints, not even those of identical twins. Biometric fingerprint identification involves scanning the unique pattern of ridges and valleys in one’s fingertips. These fingerprints are then used to match with ones that are on file in the system to identify an employee.

How to choose the right biometric attendance system?

Fingerprint and facial recognition attendance systems have their own advantages and disadvantages. For instance, fingerprint scanning system is not suitable for manufacturing and industrial facilities as it requires clean hands for accurate scanning. In some corporate sectors, employees may deny using facial recognition system for entry and exit verification citing privacy concerns, but they might feel comfortable using fingerprint scanners. Facial recognition systems are costlier than fingerprint scanners. To decide which biometric authentication system to choose, you must identify:

• Which biometric system is suitable for your - facial recognition or fingerprint system?
• How many biometric identification systems will your facility need?
• How much can you invest in biometric attendance management system?
• What environmental issues may affect the biometric system operations?

Final thought


If you are looking for a truly comprehensive biometrics time and attendance monitoring system, then search for a reliable service provider and seek advice which identification system is best for your organization. With unmatched ease of use and accuracy, both biometric face recognition time attendance system and biometric fingerprint machine for attendance can help employers prevent time fraud and boost productivity. The only thing you need to know is which system is ideal for your facility.

Monday, 6 November 2017

Three Things about Biometrics You Must Know Before Installing in Your Workplace

The majority of Singapore’s companies have made significant structural changes to their workforce in order to implement emerging technologies and better manage their people and business. These technologies include advanced analytics, intelligent process automation, identity analytics, machine learning and biometrics systems. In workforce management, many Singaporean companies are considering the adoption of biometric machine for attendance to create efficiencies as well as to boost employee accountability, productivity and business profits. Are you also thinking about installing a biometric system at your workplace? Here are the three things that you must take into consideration while installing biometric identifier.

1. Consider employee privacy laws: Biometric identifiers mean getting personal data related to your employees’retina or iris scans, fingerprints, voiceprints or hand scans. That’s why you should review your country’s privacy laws and work with your IT security department to build a secure framework before installing biometrics systems. Educate your employees about the benefits of biometrics and automation of time and attendance management. Never surprise them or it may give rise to privacy concerns among your employees.

2. Biometric modality that suits your business:  Biometric modality is the physical hardware device that captures individual physiological or behavioral characteristics. The most common biometric modalities are iris recognition, fingerprint recognition, facial recognition and voice recognition. While selecting the right biometric modality, do consider its ease of use, security, usability, accuracy, user acceptance, infrastructure and cost. Keep these factors in mind while choosing the most effective modality for your business to get the most out of your deployment and better return on investment (ROI).

3. Benefits of automation of time attendance system: Prior installing a biometric system, you must know how the new technology will benefit both your organization and employees. Your HR department will be better able to know when people are coming late and leaving early, thus reducing time to manage attendance of employees. It will improve employee productivity and can also help your organisation to reduce your costs and become more efficient.

The most important thing to remember about using a time attendance system in Singapore is to know how biometric machine for attendance works for your organisation and why you are using it. This will help you boost employee productivity, maintain trust and ensure employees get paid accurately.


3 Factors That Will Help You Choose the Best Biometric Modality

Singapore is facing a rapid change in how businesses and industries engage with technology. With the advent of continuous technological innovation, companies are now integrating biometric time and attendance management systems to increase identification accuracy, employee accountability and enhance productivity. However, the success of a biometric system for your organisation depends on the modality you choose. Not all biometric modalities have the same ability to meet the requirements of every organisation. So what you have to consider before choosing a biometric modality? Here are the three factors that will help you choose the best biometric modality.

Factor #1 – Working environment

There are many modalities in biometric technology such as fingerprint, facial recognition, iris scan, voice recognition, signature and more. However, which one to choose will depend largely on the working condition of your organisation. Working environment involves the employees who are will use the system on a daily basis, user acceptance, ease of use, hygiene issue and feasibility.

Factor #2 –Biometric hardware cost

There exists a not insignificant cost difference between two biometric identification technologies. For example, vascular biometric technology requires greater financial commitment as compared to fingerprint biometric system. Cost of a biometric modality hardware device depends on the underlying technology and hardware characteristics. If you have limited budget, then consider modality that requires less hardware instalment and maintenance costs. If security and accuracy is more important to your organisation, then go for an advanced biometric time attendance system for higher return on investment.

Factor #3 –Security paradigm

If your biometric time attendance system lacks robust anti-spoofing capabilities, then it could compromise your security. Generally speaking, anti-spoofing is the process of creating a rules for the external interface of the firewall to examine the source address of all Internet Protocol (IP) packets crossing that interface. Ensuring security of employee data and company information is the most important part of IT department of any company. Make sure your IT department determines that the anti-spoofing capability of the biometric system is adequate prior installing it.

These are just some of the many factors that you need to consider when selecting the right biometric time and attendance management system and modality for your workplace. You should always consult a biometric systems provider to determine which biometric modality is best suited for your project.