No One Talks about Time Theft

When people think of theft in the office, they may consider taking home some paper or pens, or maybe using the copy machine. But theft by employees in the UK accounts for up to 40% of retail inventory loss each year, and other industries see losses each year due to theft. The one business theft that no one seems to talk about is "time" theft.

Time theft can include long lunch breaks, taking personal calls and using the internet at the office, or clocking in and out earlier or later than the hours worked. These small "thefts" over time can cost businesses thousands each year. How can you reduce time theft or alleviate time management issues in the workplace?

First, starting with a clear set of employee guidelines that dictate exactly what is expected of each employee, and consequences of not following the set rules. The second step that many companies take is procuring technology to solve time and attendance concerns. Time and attendance solutions have 2 main components; technology/software and devices/hardware.

Time and Attendance software provides automation of many administrative tasks like managing holiday leave and sickness requests, and can greatly reduce the manual time your HR team spends on tracking employee hours. It also greatly reduces payroll errors, due to issues with mismanaged timekeeping.

Time and Attendance hardware solutions offer unique products to capture clock-in/clock-out times for your workforce. They can include mobile devices with facial recognition, pin-based tracking tools, or keypad interfaces.

You can greatly reduce time "theft" in your office by utilising time and attendance software and hardware solutions together. You can also integrate these tools directly with your payroll software to ensure accurate, on-time payroll and get real-time reporting so you can quickly identify issues with time loss or "theft". To learn more about time management solutions, click here.