Your average logistics workforce contains a wide variety of job roles. Pickers, packers, sorters and technicians will join delivery drivers, large goods vehicles drivers and office staff. When it comes to clocking in and recording hours worked, there is no one-size-fits-all for a workforce with such differing day-to-day habits and locations. Do not be stymied by a time and attendance solution that locks you in to only one method for clocking in, and instead consider tweaking your methods for different job roles.
Drivers: Clock in on-the-go
You will be using digital tachographs to record data on your drivers and vehicles, as has been a legal requirement in the UK since 2006. Whilst some logistics firms will choose to pay drivers based on the tachograph, also known as “paying off the chart”, others might consider a supplementary method of time tracking to feed into payroll. This is likely when drivers carry out a variety of duties, only one of which is driving.
When opting for time tracking software for drivers, a time and attendance solution that operates remotely eliminates the need to report to a single physical location to clock in. Choose a solution where drivers can clock time using their own smartphone or a handheld device provided by the company, to build in flexibility and suit a distributed workforce. It’s also important that functionality continues even when out of service – smart solutions will store clock-in and outs and synchronise with the server when it becomes available.
Warehouse workers: Biometric clocks
For the staff working solely onsite, however, clocking in on their own devices might not be the optimum solution. Allowing workers to use their own devices to clock in has a greater risk of inaccuracy and false reporting – and gives a daily admin task to the worker that can be avoided.
For onsite frontline workers, biometric clocking makes starting and finishing work more efficient. Employees can self-enroll in a few seconds via facial or fingerprint recognition, making the process smooth and accurate. This also eliminates the chance of buddy clocking – where one colleague checks another in, to disguise lateness and skew pay.
Although biometric clocking is a great choice for people managers, it is important to allow staff to opt out of offering up their biometric data. Without an alternative, companies are at risk of prosecution. A strong time and attendance solution will also have functionality for clocking in via ID card or fob.
Office workers: Timesheets
For office workers, time tracking needs are yet again different. They should be able to allocate time to specific projects, update hours worked all at once (for example, at the end of a week), and modify a working record in a visual and intuitive manner. For this, it is useful to have editable digital timesheets, where complex workdays can be divided into multiple tasks and sent to supervisors to be approved. In light of hybrid working, these should be accessible both onsite and via the web.
In your modern, complex logistics workforce, it does not make sense to mandate that all workers track time in the same way. However, having different workforce management providers introduces unnecessary admin and room for error. Choose a time and attendance solution that offers a wide variety of clocking in options, to ensure you can meet the myriad needs of your workforce.
OneAdvanced’s Time and Attendance solution for time tracking and workforce management operates with a choice of biometric clocking, ID card or fob recognition, and self-service timesheeting via mobile devices and the web. People managers can let workers choose how they clock in, or enforce different methods for different sections of the workforce. All clocking in methods feed into a single system, which can be integrated with Payroll, to eliminate payment errors. Start a conversation with us to find out more.