What Are the Tools for Employee Control | HRMS

Organizations have different alternatives when it comes to monitoring the work activity of their employees, but not all of them adapt to all job profiles or offer the same reliability of data. 

The effectiveness of the chosen systems should not be at odds with the satisfaction of the employees who are going to be exposed to them, since, if so, their motivation would be affected and their productivity could suffer the consequences.

Time control systems

Basically, a time control system is anyone with which the entry and exit times of the employees of a company are monitored. But why is this schedule control useful? Its objective is to evaluate the number of hours they work, the punctuality, or the incidents that may occur throughout the day.

When choosing a time control system, you have to take into account all the possibilities available today on the market, their pros and cons. Among the most used methods are the following.

1) Multipurpose systems: 

An agile and flexible system that adapts adaptable to different work situations and types of workers (teleworking, flexible hours, staff who carry out their working hours at clients' headquarters, etc.) and usable from various devices such as computers or mobile phones. In short, systems that allow entry and exit times to be collected through the manual reporting of the employees themselves or fully automatically and in real-time, facilitating the obtaining of reports per day. Time control software, such as Time @ Work, allows comprehensive control of the working day as required by the new time control law and is a versatile system that allows both registrations through its mobile application and a Time registration @Work 100% automatic via computer. It allows you to record and document break times or other interruptions so that you can define the effective daily work time.

2: The signing systems:

These employee control systems are incompatible with new work environments (telecommuting, flexible hours, etc.).

• Cards with magnetic stripe: Its operation is simple, each employee must pass his card through the reader both at the entrance and at the exit. The card has a magnetic strip that can be read by an electronic device and that is where the employee's information is recorded in each case.
• Card control systems: These systems are surely the most widely used and their common characteristic is the presence of magnetic stripes, bar codes, etc. The information is collected through a reader authorized to do so at the place of access to the company or the position. 
• Proximity cards: This type of card uses RFID technology (Radio Frequency IDentification, in Spanish, radio frequency identification). A proximity card is a plastic card that has an integrated circuit and a communication antenna embedded in its core. Each copy contains a serial number that is read by radio frequency, typically 125kHz. Proximity cards are capable of transmitting when a unique code, of more than 1 billion possible combinations, is brought to the proper reader. Its durability is superior to those of band since the reading takes place without physical contact, the reason why the deterioration is minimal.

3) Biometric systems: 

They are very sophisticated and very interesting systems because they eliminate the most common frauds. They are the result of the application of mathematical and statistical techniques on the physical or behavioral traits of a person to verify identities or identify people. An example of physical characteristics would be fingerprints, facial patterns, retinas, the iris, or the geometry of the palm of the hand. Their main disadvantage is their high implantation price, due to the cost of the technology they use.

• Fingerprint identification: It works by recognizing the fingerprint of any of the fingers of the hand. The automated fingerprint identification system has a security index of 99.9%.
• Identification by vascular biometry: Read the pattern of the veins of the hands. The most reliable and secure technology in the field of hand biometrics is that which consists of a scanner that captures an image of the screening of the veins in the palm of the hand through the reflection of short frequency waves (very similar to infrared).
• Identification by facial biometry: Recognition by facial biometry is a technology that requires very specific conditions, especially light, so its performance can be affected by circumstances beyond human control.
• Identification by iris or eye scanner: This system is technologically very safe but is currently also quite an expensive technique. It is usually used to protect rooms that require a high-security index.
• Hand profile biometry: It works by recognition of the morphology of the hand.
• Signature sheets: It involves manually recording the inputs and outputs, reporting them in spreadsheets. Microsoft Office itself has different templates in its catalog.

4) Activity control systems

To control work activity, companies have different methods and control systems. Mainly, what companies are looking for is to block access to certain web pages, such as social networks, or the downloads of programs, music, movies, etc. Among the most used methods are the following:

• Blocking proxies: a proxy is a tool that acts as an intermediary between a computer and a web address. In other words, through a proxy server, a computer on the corporate network will be connected directly to the Internet, filtering and distributing access to the rest of the computer in the organization. It works by establishing "Whitelist" systems, where a list of permitted web addresses is set, which will be the only ones that can be accessed; or "Blacklist", where the list includes the not allowed web addresses so that only that group of pages would be restricted, all the others being accessible.

In addition to URLs corresponding to social networks, messaging services or download programs can also be blocked. The advantage of this method is that it allows the lock to be adjusted to a certain time, being possible to schedule it to be released during staff breaks.

• Firewalls or firewalls: these are the systems that, by default, are included in the computer's operating system. Its main advantage is the simplicity that allows blocking any type of program or website from the same computer, but this benefit has a drawback. The disadvantage is that the computer user could modify the configuration of the firewall itself to bypass the restrictions established by the organization, depending on their computer knowledge and the level of access they have, so it is recommended not to enable it as an administrator.
• Geolocation using GPS: some companies adopt geolocation systems to know, at all times, where the employees are (inside and outside the company). This system is indicated for fleets and commercial vehicles, mobile sales points, transporters, and delivery men in general.

Of course, it is important to clarify that all the systems proposed can be perceived in an invasive and aggressive way by the workers, having a totally negative effect on them and causing:

1. Rare work environment.
2. Job demotivation.
3. Little involvement by human resources.

The consequences of such an action can even lead to the flight of talents with the consequent loss of competitiveness of the company in the market. Something that no company can afford in these times.

The perfect combination: HRMS

With the current global situation of health crisis generated by the coronavirus, many companies began to adopt the remote work model, in order to guarantee safety and tranquility to their employees. Now the challenge for companies, in addition to keeping time control of their professionals, is to measure and know their productivity level teleworking. For this reason, at WorkMeter we have HRMS, a human resource management solution that seeks to help companies and their workers by measuring productivity levels during their working hours to optimize time management. In addition, it details the start and end times of the day, the actual activity, time of breaks, and overtime.