Whether you like it or not, biometrics at the workplace helps you catch the slackers. A workforce management system that uses biometrics is, in my opinion, most needed at places of employment where employees are hourly-waged. I've worked in the past at retail stores like Toys R Us and I saw a lot of inefficiency in the employees that were hired. In an idealistic world, the employees hired would all be mature, responsible adults but we all know life doesn't work that way. You will always have the slackers slip through the cracks. The only way you can catch them slacking is by tracking their activities while on the clock as best you can. If you are on a 9 am to 5:30 pm shift, you better clock in at 9 am and clock out 5:30 pm, not clock in at 8:30 am and clock out at 7:00 pm unless that overtime was approved by your manager. Every department/branch of a company is allotted a budget and that budget has to be maintained as best as the employer can.
Companies like Timera have developed incredible workforce management systems that use biometric devices (currently fingerprint scanners) to discourage bad clocking in/clocking out behavior from employees (e.g., clocking in too early, clocking out too late, taking too long of breaks) and thereby increasing the efficiency of their workforce and weeding out the slackers. HEB (grocery store chain) utilizes the Timera EWM system and I am very curious as to how much money they have saved thanks to this system.
Before any of you start whining about loss of privacy or how companies don't trust their employees enough, put yourselves in the employers' shoes and think how you would feel if you were losing money due to employees claiming more time on the clock than they were allowed, or if they were not actually going to work and were instead having their friends clock in for them.
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Whether you like it or not, biometrics at the workplace helps you catch the slackers. A workforce management system that uses biometrics is, in my opinion, most needed at places of employment where employees are hourly-waged. I've worked in the past at retail stores like Toys R Us and I saw a lot of inefficiency in the employees that were hired. In an idealistic world, the employees hired would all be mature, responsible adults but we all know life doesn't work that way. You will always have the slackers slip through the cracks. The only way you can catch them slacking is by tracking their activities while on the clock as best you can. If you are on a 9 am to 5:30 pm shift, you better clock in at 9 am and clock out 5:30 pm, not clock in at 8:30 am and clock out at 7:00 pm unless that overtime was approved by your manager. Every department/branch of a company is allotted a budget and that budget has to be maintained as best as the employer can.
Companies like Timera have developed incredible workforce management systems that use biometric devices (currently fingerprint scanners) to discourage bad clocking in/clocking out behavior from employees (e.g., clocking in too early, clocking out too late, taking too long of breaks) and thereby increasing the efficiency of their workforce and weeding out the slackers. HEB (grocery store chain) utilizes the Timera EWM system and I am very curious as to how much money they have saved thanks to this system.
Before any of you start whining about loss of privacy or how companies don't trust their employees enough, put yourselves in the employers' shoes and think how you would feel if you were losing money due to employees claiming more time on the clock than they were allowed, or if they were not actually going to work and were instead having their friends clock in for them.