Control your employees' time with these 3 methods of clocking in and out

How does employee timekeeping work?

Companies have everything to gain from good working time management: it ensures better monitoring of hours worked, which facilitates certain operations such as optimising schedules.

But above all, it is a legal obligation that must be respected!

What exactly is required by law in this area? What systems and tools should be put in place to clock employees in and out efficiently? Should you use software, a time clock, or both?

Here's the lowdown.

See all software Attendance Tracking

When do you have to clock in and out at work? Legal obligations

Legal obligations for employers

Time recording is compulsory for all employers covered by the Labour Code. It makes it possible to record precisely :

• employees' working hours, in accordance with the initial terms of their contract,
• their absences
• late arrivals
• their leave
• their overtime hours, or additional hours in the case of a part-time contract.

Thanks to this monitoring, the company is then in a position to justify the periods worked by employees in the event of an inspection by URSSAF or the Labour Inspectorate, which generally takes place in order to check :

• compliance with maximum working hours ,
• payment of overtime,
• the correct calculation of RTT days, etc.

☝️ Warning: if employees' working hours are not counted, the employer is liable to fines of up to :

• 750 euros for an individual,
• 3750 euros for a legal entity.

Legal obligations on the employee side

While employers are obliged to clock in and out, employees must comply with any time-counting system set up by their company (e.g. signing in at the time clock when they arrive at work in the morning). If the employee forgets, refuses or cheats, the employer has the right to punish or even dismiss them.

Furthermore, if the employee clocks in before the time initially stipulated in his contract, this action will not have any consequences for his working time. On the other hand, if the employee clocks in after the time stipulated in the contract, this will result in a loss of actual working time.

☝️ Note that employees can only object to the clocking-in of their hours if the system chosen proves to be disproportionate to the simple need to monitor working time. By way of illustration, biometric time clocks, which use personal data (photographs of employees), are reserved for very specific uses and contexts (hazardous areas, nuclear activities, etc.).

Who is affected by staff clocking in and out?

All employees are concerned, regardless of

• the type of working hours (night shifts, part-time, staggered working hours, etc.),
• the system adopted. In other words, even managerial staff on a fixed working day are subject to these rules. The only difference is that the number of days worked is counted against the terms of the fixed-rate agreement.

☝️ There are, however, two exceptions to this obligation to clock staff in and out: the agriculture and transport sectors, which are subject to their own regulations (Code rural and Code des transports).

However, hours are counted differently depending on the type of timetable:

• in the case of collective working hours: posting these collective hours is sufficient;
• for individual working hours: the employer will draw up an individual daily statement and a weekly summary. Failure to do so may result in a fine of up to €3,750 for each employee concerned.

The advantages of clocking in and out

While clocking in and out of working hours is a legal obligation, there are other advantages to the practice.

• For the employer:
  • It' s easier to keep track of team working hours, so you can optimise them and manage schedules more effectively;
  • reliable data in the event of a dispute with an employee.
    
    
• For employees:
  • Overtime is calculated as accurately as possible;
  • all employees are on an equal footing when it comes to working hours.

How do you keep track of hours worked? Legal obligations

There are no legal obligations regarding the method chosen for clocking in and out employees. This is left to the discretion of the employer.

However, when the system used makes it possible to determine the identity and time of arrival of employees, certain rules must be observed:

• a data processing register must be kept
• consultation with staff representative bodies.

If the company does not comply with these rules, any time-clock records produced cannot be presented in court, for example in the event of dismissal.

Furthermore, the employer is perfectly entitled to ask employees to record some or all of their working hours themselves. If they refuse to do so, sanctions may be taken against them.

💡 Good to know: data relating to the clocking-in and clocking-out of employees must be kept for a minimum of 5 years. This information must be available to the employee on request, or to any public body in the event of an inspection.

See all software Attendance Tracking

Which time recording system should I choose?

Clocking in hours "by hand

It is perfectly possible to keep track of working hours "by hand":

• recording hours worked in Excel,
• filling in a book of daily entries and exits,
• keeping a summary of hours worked, etc.

💡 To help you keep track of your employees' hours, Appvizer provides you with an activity monitoring table in Excel format, which you can download free of charge.

☝️ Although manual clocking is still the system most companies use (because it's the most economical), bear in mind that it is often time-consuming and a source of errors.

Using a manual time clock, or badgeuse

With a manual time clock, employees declare their hours automatically, by signing in at the start of their working day or shift, for example.

This system reduces the risk of errors and enables data to be collected quickly and accurately so that it can be entered into a software application for processing (calculation of absences, leave, reduced working hours, etc.).

Using time and attendance software

Most working time management software has time and attendance functions. Companies are increasingly using these tools because they :

• they are easier to deploy than a time clock, and better suited to certain professions (e.g. office work),
• can be used on the move, for field sales staff for example,
• enable automatic data management for HR processing.

For example :

• Combo (formerly Snapshift) is a connected time clock that enables you to monitor your employees' arrival and departure times live, while measuring their attendance time. Simple, efficient and intuitive, it is directly linked to a staff planning and payroll preparation module, so there's no need to double-enter data and check it every week!
  
  
• Eurécia Time Tracking, a module of the all-in-one Eurécia HRIS, enables your employees to clock in and out using a virtual time clock. All time data is centralised in the tool to simplify real-time monitoring of attendance, so you can react more quickly in the event of unforeseen circumstances (absence, lateness, etc.). This information is also used to automate subsequent payroll calculations.
  
  
• Factorial Gestion du Temps, time management software for SMEs and growing businesses, has a modern digital time clock system : all employees have to do is scan a QR code from their mobile phone. Using geolocation, you can check whether the time clock is being used from a location other than the office. All the data is then centralised in the tool to make it easier to control and monitor working hours.
  
  
• MOZAIK Clean has been developed to manage and monitor cleaning sites. Using their mobile application and/or a fixed or mobile box, operatives can easily clock up their hours when they are on site at a customer's premises.
  
  
• Traxxeo is a mobile resource management platform with expertise in construction and related trades. Its features include a site clocking application that makes it quick and easy to enter working hours, with no risk of errors. The data is fed back in real time and can be integrated into your HR software to simplify payroll processing and absence management.
  
  
• UKG offers both HR administrative management and time and labour management solutions . Thanks to the publisher, time recording is simplified: it can be done directly on a smartphone or via a time and attendance terminal, online or offline. What's more, time sheet approval and production are automated. This saves HR time and ensures that they remain in line with current regulations.
  
  
• ZEUS is positioned as a comprehensive, feature-rich time and activity management solution. It offers a range of devices for automating clocking-in and clocking-out (badge readers and mobile applications), making it easier and more flexible to record working hours. All the data collected is centralised within the tool to optimise operations, in particular payroll preparation.

In the final analysis, while time recording remains compulsory, there are various ways of going about it. Employers therefore have many options for monitoring and reporting working hours, using a system tailored to their organisation and the type of activities carried out.