Time Clock Software With Early Clock-In Prevention

Without early clock-in prevention, your business may suffer from two highly impactful problems: increased labor costs and overtime complications.

In the first, early clock-ins may result in the accumulation of time when your employees aren’t actually working. At the most basic, this results in your business paying higher labor costs, taxes, and benefits for time that was unproductive, to say the least.

In the second, early clock-ins may eventually result in the accumulation of unplanned-for — and unnecessary — overtime by one or more employees. If left unchecked, unnecessary overtime can lead to conflicts with local, state, and federal wage laws.

Keep a tight rein on labor costs and overtime with some form of early clock-in prevention to help your business maintain a healthy bottom line.

Early clock-in prevention is about more than just setting restrictions on when and where your team members can start tracking time.

A healthy clock-in/clock-out policy also includes:

• Leading by example
• Creating clear policies (and making them available to everyone)
• Including time-tracking tools in the workflow
• Keeping the lines of communication open with your employees
• Enforcing progressive discipline
• Setting standards of accountability
• Being flexible when it comes to special needs and circumstances
• Building morale
• Addressing early clocking-in (and all time theft) in your onboarding
• Training your team to understand how time theft impacts your business

Take the time to examine and address each of these points to build the best time-tracking process for your business.

For more on the topic of time theft and how to prevent it, take a few minutes to read this article from the Sling blog: Time Theft: What It Is And How To Prevent It.

Geofencing is a powerful tool when it comes to preventing early clock-ins. Apps with geofencing features let you set boundaries around locations and then control what the software will do when a device crosses those boundaries (either entering or exiting).

With Sling, for example, you can set a specific radius around any location — a worksite, an office, a supplier’s warehouse — and then set the software to:

• Only allow employees to start tracking time when they’re within that radius
• Automatically stop tracking time when the employee exceeds that radius
• Send notifications (to the employee and yourself) when they’re in the wrong location
• Remind employees to clock in or out depending on the parameters you set

For example, businesses with multiple locations (e.g., restaurants and retail establishments) can set up geofences to control who is allowed to clock in at one place or the other.

Putting geofences in place like that can help prevent employees from reporting to the wrong location, starting their time, and then having to travel to where they were originally assigned.

Sling combines all the tools you need to manage the clock-in/clock-out process for your entire business.

First and foremost, Sling comes with a built-in time clock and employee work tracker (including geofencing) that allows you to turn any smartphone, tablet, or computer into a data capture tool so you have all the information you need to monitor who works where and when.

Sling also includes other useful tools that make employee management, scheduling, and time tracking much easier, including:

• Customizable templates
• Drag-and-drop functionality
• Automated scheduling
• Recurring shifts
• Time-off notices
• Double-booking and overlapping shift notifications
• Cloud-based schedule distribution and communication
• Paid-time-off control to help you keep expenses low
• Powerful messaging and communication features
• Task lists for you and your employees

Right now, you can get started with the essentials to help you organize and optimize your team, handle internal communication, and manage labor costs with just one click.