Tracking labor costs is critical for any business, and a construction site is no different. Time and attendance systems typically need
electricity. A construction site needs a portable solution that is accurate and which can reduce labor cost by maintaining accurate information.
Something as insignificant as misreporting by 10 minutes each day will add up over time to a week of lost productivity per year! Not to mention higher labor costs!
Automated time and attendance tracking can be implemented with a portable solution on the job site. These systems have greater accuracy and can save time by compiling the detailed information that is needed for accurate payroll.
Mistakes happen, and employees sometimes make mistakes when filing in timesheets. This is especially a symptom when tasked with trying to remember when they went to lunch a week ago, or how long they were on site.
Efficiencies in payroll processing and greater accuracy can be the result of using a portable time and attendance system. Inefficiency due to inability to deciphering handwriting and errors resulting from manually typing in data can be eliminated or reduced.
Concise, and accurate executive summaries of hours worked by work location, employee and cost code result in better information for decision making as well as better human resource management.
Most portable time and attendance systems can be uploaded to a real time server. The result is that the IT team can integrate the portables with the in-house team to create consistent reporting. By having the information on a timely basis, cost controls can be implemented in real time.
F and E TimeSystems has portable solutions that translate to many industries in addition to construction, including:
- Time and attendance systems for contractors
- Cleaning companies requiring time and attendance for offsite workers
- Portable attendance units for landscaping companies
- Snow removal teams time accounting
- Janitorial services time and attendance and check-in
- Catering services and labor management
- Pest control services and human resources attendance systems
- Time and attendance for parking companies
- Attendance for transportation companies
- School bus companies and human resource attendance
- Events organizations with multiple employee checkin times
In the economic situation of a possible double dip downturn, every
business must look for ways to improve the bottom line. One sure way to improve the margin between income and expense is to reduce expenses.
There are three areas that many managers overlook in their quest to eliminate expense from the budget.
1. Reduce Telecom expense. By evaluating contracts and comparing rates and programs, there could potentially be an opportunity to lower the contract rates for wireless services. Especially due to the influence of new smart phones such as the iPhone OS4, there is a battle for customers. Even customer retention has become a popular program with incentives and offers. If you are ready to pull the rug, you can negotiate with the cellular carriers to get a better program and rate.
2. Explore alternative energy plans. In some areas, there are incentives for reducing power consumption if and when there is a call from a third party to do so. In return, a quarterly reward is paid, regardless if the need arises to reduce power consumption. Based upon the size of the company and the carbon foot print, this could be a great way to reduce power consumption as well as lower the cost of doing business.
3. Monitor and enforce time and attendance system. With an old paper time card and punch clock, there are many inefficiencies that can cause extra expense. For example, the manual process of reviewing time cards and collating information is time consuming an costly. Newer time and attendance systems have built-in metrics that can highlight inconsistencies easily. Plus the automatic calculations based upon pre-set rules can save processing time, creating a more efficient and more accurate reporting environment. Workforce management technology results in reduced overtime pay and could potentially avoid wage theft situations. Saving money means upgrading to a new system and replacing old technology.
Overall there are great ways to improve efficiency and reduce wasted time by evaluating your business and streamlining efforts.
New ways of thinking about time and attendance as workforce management technology have resulted in monitoring the workforce as a strategy instead of a tactic. 
Scheduling and time and attendance have historically been a tactical issue to be dealt with. Collecting the time cards and processing the information for payroll has primarily been a tedious manual function. Time cards and time clocks were physically collected and manually compiled to create a statement of the workforce's activities. Reports were cumbersome, gathering stats unwieldy - overall, it was a murky and underdefined opportunity.
Companies that recognize that techological advances have created a situation for companies to be in control of their destiny. By having better, more accurate and faster information, companies can react by making decisions that lead to greater efficiency, better decision making, as well as adding real value to the bottom line of the company.
Powerful immediate productivity results can be seen when a comprehensive automated solution for time and attendance is implemented. The result can be obtained without a huge capital expense. Robust time and attendance systems with biometrics can be implemented for companies with up to 50 employees for less than $1,600. For such a minor outlay, the value to the company in terms of controlled labor expense, reduced compliance exposure and productivity improvements will more than compensate.
Reduced Labor Expense:
Companies typically see cost savings in inefficient processes almost immediate when they automate scheduling and time and attendance. Ineffective and time consuming manual processes are replaced with a streamlined and automated system which result in saved time as well as money.
With automated time and attendance, data can be collected and analyzed at a deeper level, leading to additional streamlining, and greater cost saving over time.
Appropriate technology helps to create the reports necessary to analyze business patterns and determine appropriate staffing. This faciliates scheduling - with clearer relationship of staff to need.
New time and attendance technology enables real-time monitoring of labor spend; a tool to forecast and plan effectively. When labor suffers excessive overtime, unplanned absences or other issues, management can react.
In short, the outlay for a new time and attendance system will be justified due to the true benefits and cost reductions, which will recoup the cost of the system and result in greater profitablity.
The key saving money and more effectively deploying workforce management technology is utilizing an effective and efficient time tracking and management system for your
workplace.
A software-based time and attendance system enables accurate collection of data, robust reporting and facilitates organizing employee time data simply and accurately. With accurate reports, management can deploy the workforce more efficiently, resulting in greater productivity and lower labor expense.
In a difficult economy, it has become necessary to pay more attention to our methods of time and attendance management. The traditional time clock requires hours of manual compilation, enables time fraud and buddy punching, and does not meet the needs of the modern work environment. Couple this with the current trend toward litigation of "time theft", it makes prudent management to move toward a software solution that will include an audit trail.
There are many time and attendance software solutions that can add value to your company. The best and most comprehensive software solutions can effectively streamline your company's operations, simplify timekeeping, and reduce labor expenses by more effectively tracking and utilizing the workforce.
Most time and attendance systems enable you to:
- Easily and efficiently track your employee time.
- Manage your time and attendance data and employee profiles.
- Eliminate buddy punching.
- Make employee scheduling a breeze.
- Track employee time from home, the worksite,
multiple locations, and more.
- Reduce the headaches and time associated with payroll.
An appropriate time and attendance system will quickly pay for itself in time savings, reduction of time theft , and elimination of payroll errors.
F and E TimeSystems represents multiple time and attendance systems, and can recommend the system most suited to your company's needs. Based upon experience, customer feedback, and research in the time and attendance software market we can implement a best-in-class time and attendance solution you can rely on.
With increasing state and federal regulations—including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) compliance has become more complex and challenging to manage. 
Without an efficient employee time and attendance system, employers are now more at risk than ever.
Be warned - an increasing trend of “new” wage and hour legislation and enforcement is gaining momentum.
In the past year, multiple cities, counties, and states around the country have enacted their own laws against “wage theft”. Maryland, Iowa, New Mexico, and Delaware enacted “wage theft” laws in 2009, followed by Washington in 2010.
Miami-Dade County, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New Orleans, Austin, Houston and El Paso have or are considering local ordinances dealing with wage and hour provisions.
In New York State current law allows an employee to collect back wages and to recuperate an additional 25 percent of all wages lost. A proposed law would increase that amount to 200 percent. It would also protect workers from retaliation by employers by forcing companies to pay $10,000 for each retaliatory offense, and cases more than $25,000 in wages would be considered felony offenses.
What is “wage theft”? Wage Theft is the underpayment or non-payment of workers' wages, typically overtime pay It may also occur when employees who clock out, yet eat lunch at their desk as well as answer the phone during their lunch break.
The trend toward enforcing laws agains “wage theft” are targeted more to smaller employers that might not otherwise be subject to the requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
These state and local laws often impose wage and hour requirements that are more stringent than federal law.
As an employer, you should carefully review your pay practices and be sure that your classification of workers meets current legal requirements. Increased wage and hour enforcement from the federal government is already underway, and state and local governments are joining in by enacting their own wage theft laws.
Recent announcements from the IRS and Department of Labor indicate that these agencies also see wage and hour compliance as a significant problem. Both agencies are stepping-up enforcement of federal laws designed to protect workers.
Employers should be prepared for increased scrutiny of pay practices.
You may have a time and attendance system that has been working for your company for years. The time has come to evaluate whether a new system will provide the types of advantages that will streamline your Human Resources Payroll processes and will result in more effective time and attendance management for your company.
Especially in this economic time of finding greater efficiencies, an updated time and attendance system could potentially save your company thousands of dollars.
Attendance systems should be 
- flexible,
- reliable,
- easy-to-use,
- result in increased productivity,
- create a fair and unbiased work environment,
- reward positive attendance behavior, and
- be able to have various data capturing alternatives.
The ability to make better management decisions based upon reports and the information gathered in the attendance software can result in better HR allocation, and more effective and efficient personnel deployment.
The new breed of time and attendance software and solutions are either web- based or server based. The decision with regard to which system would work best for your company is dependent upon several factors. But the bottom line is that developing a new system that complements the way your business operates typically will result in reducing time accounting processing time by at least 3%.