Time and Attendance Software

What is the best Time and Attendance Software?

Time & Attendance software is a suite of tools for tracking employee hours, managing schedules, handling time off requests in one streamlined system that can be used by both employees and managers. 

Time and Attendance software is available as a stand alone system that can be used solely for logging employee hours with timeclocks, scheduling, and time off requests. However, these tools are also often incorporated into larger HR or Payroll software systems, particularly if companies have hourly employees.  

The top features of Time & Attendance software include:

  • Employee Time Tracking
  • Tracking of Overtime Hours
  • Scheduling (creating and managing employee schedules)
  • Attendance Tracking (clocking in and out, logging time)
  • Vacation and Time off Requests and Tracking
  • Dashboards
  • Employee Communication Portal
  • Employee Self-Service
  • Remote System Access
  • GPS Tracking and Biometrics
  • Document Management
  • Reporting and Analytics
  • Integrations 

The business benefits of Time & Attendance software are:

  • Enhanced cost savings through elimination of manual processes and minimized mistakes in tracking employee hours.
  • Increased productivity and efficiency in your teams.
  • Streamlined system with automations and tools to help make time tracking seamless.
  • Improved morale and employee satisfaction.
  • Enhanced scalability options as you grow your business.
  • Improved and simplified compliance with labor regulations.

While there are a variety of great time and attendance solutions that work as stand-alone offerings, many of the larger software companies that offer more robust Human Resources (HR) Management or Payroll tools have built time and attendance capabilities into their systems to provide businesses with a more streamlined approach to managing employee processes, in one centralized system. 

Companies that require physical clocking stations on-site at their work locations must implement hardware that gives employees a place to clock in and out as part of tracking their hours worked. There are various options for employee validation available, including unique PIN numbers or encoded cards that an employee must swipe in order to clock in or out. 

Many time and attendance software companies are also implementing tools for biometrics as an employee identification method to ensure that employees aren’t making mistakes or purposely clocking co-workers in and out. GPS tracking is another feature offered by many time and attendance software vendors to help identify where field employees are located and help track time spent on particular jobs or sites as part of their work each day. Biometric and GPS data can be analyzed and used to constantly improve service levels and keep employees accountable on the job. 

Choosing the right solution for your business is crucial to accurately tracking employee hours and ensuring your profitability and knowing exacting how you want to improve time tracking, schedule changes, and time off requests for hourly employees can help you identify which system will bring the most benefits for your budget. 

Top 10 Time and Attendance Software

NetSuite / Gusto / allGeo / APS / RUN / uAttend / isolved / Oracle ERP / Paylocity / Workday

WH Score
8.0
Workzoom
15reviews
Starting Price:$3.8 per employee / per month
Workzoom is a total HR management solution which offers different stakeholders a customized view of what matters most to them. While employees have the autonomy to collaborate via a self-service suite, managers can track performance with real-time dashboards.
WH Score
8.0
Tanda
6reviews
Starting Price:N/A
Put an end to wasteful, tedious paper timesheets with Tanda time and attendance software! Tanda is a cloud-based system that takes the time-consuming work of employee clock-in and attendance tracking and turns it into a seamless, automated, almost hands-free procedure.
WH Score
8.0
OpenTimeClock
11reviews
Starting Price:$0 per user / per year
When it comes to pricing, you can’t beat free!
WH Score
7.9
SumTotal
11reviews
Starting Price:N/A
SumTotal Learn is an evolution of the aging, one-size-fits-all approach to learning management systems (LMS). Rather than simply throwing every possible feature into a single solution, the SumTotal team chose to focus on connecting the skills that your employees need for their careers with the measu...
WH Score
7.9
Stratustime
7reviews
Starting Price:N/A
Employee time and attendance tracking is a crucial part of any organization’s plan for success. To ensure that your employees are able to work at their peak potential, your management team needs to be alerted of any red flag issues as soon as they appear.
WH Score
7.9
FreshBooks
11reviews
Starting Price:$205.2 per user / per year
FreshBooks is an online accounting and invoicing platform that saves you time, automates your admin, and keeps your books organized and your business looking professional. FreshBooks believes financial recordkeeping should be easy and fast, but still detailed enough to satisfy your accountant. 
WH Score
7.9
Odoo
0reviews
Starting Price:$0 per user / per month
Odoo is a flexible ERP software that provides a full array of tools, including CRM, accounting, inventory management, and project monitoring. It also provides businesses with the ability to expand through seamless integration, customizable features and an easy-to-use interface thanks to being open-s...
WH Score
7.9
SutiHR
0reviews
Starting Price:$4 per user / per month
SutiHR is a fully scalable and customizable HR platform that can help your business streamline operations and deliver payroll, benefits, and more for your employees. SutiHR offers a very affordable base package of HR tools and provides modules that can be added to create the HR system you need in yo...
WH Score
7.9
PeopleHR
0reviews
Starting Price:N/A
PeopleHR is a centralized workforce management system that automates repetitive tasks and leverages the power of data. Track leaves and monitor absentee patterns in one system, so that you can take appropriate action for maintaining better productivity. 
WH Score
7.9
Acrotime
0reviews
Starting Price:N/A
Acrotime is an anytime, anywhere time and labor management suite from Acropoint. The Acrotime Workforce Management Suite provides peace of mind and enterprise-level services at a fraction of enterprise-level costs.

Learn more about Time and Attendance Software

What is Time & Attendance Software?

Time and attendance software is business tool to help track employee hours, measure how long employees spend on a job, and store data about the payments sent to employees for the work they’ve done and logged in the time and attendance system.   

How Does a Time and Attendance System Work?

Time and attendance systems work by providing modern, digital tools for tracking when employees clock in and out for their shifts. Time & Attendance software typically provide mobile apps so that remote employees, contractors, or gig workers can log hours accurately through the easy-to-use systems and tools. Time and attendance software offer different types of clocking options and are often integrated with payroll software or HR software suites to centralize all the time & attendance data along with payroll processing, benefits, time off requests, and more.  

What is the Meaning of Time and Attendance?

Time and attendance means tracking and monitoring employee hours worked, shift start and end times, breaks, missed shifts in a software system where all these details can be analyzed or integrated with other systems like Payroll software or Accounting software. 

What are the Common Features of Time & Attendance Software?

The common features of Time & Attendance software include:

  • Digital Time Clocks
  • Biometric Options for Clocking In and Out
  • Alerts for Late Clock-Ins or Missed Shifts
  • Mobile Apps
  • Calendar Integration
  • Reporting & Analytics
  • Payroll And/Or HR software Integrations
  • Overtime Tracking and Calculations
  • Scheduling and Shift Exchanges
  • Project Hour Tracking
  • Leave Management
  • Self-Service Tools

What is the Purpose of an Attendance Monitoring System?

The purpose of an attendance monitoring system to to accurately track when employees are working and how many hours they’ve worked each shift. Attendance tracking systems have tools for tracking clock-in and clock-out times, breaks, time off requests, and project or job hours worked. Accurately tracking hours and employee payments streamlines processes and gives companies insight into all of their labor costs and how employees are performing against agreed upon hours or contracts. 

What are the Benefits of Time and Attendance Software?

The benefits of time and attendance software include:

  • Enhanced cost savings through elimination of manual processes and minimized mistakes in tracking employee hours.
  • Increased productivity and efficiency in your teams.
  • Streamlined system with automations and tools to help make time tracking seamless.
  • Improved morale and employee satisfaction.
  • Enhanced scalability options as you grow your business.
  • Improved and simplified compliance with labor regulations.
  • Reduced labor costs.
  • Reduced absences and tardiness.

Who Uses Time & Attendance Software?

Those who use time and attendance software within an organization can include:

  • HR
  • Employees
  • Managers
  • Team Leaders
  • Executives
  • Hourly Employees
  • Companies with Billable Hours
  • Freelancer, Contractors, and Gig Workers

What are the Challenges with Time & Attendance?

The challenges with Time & Attendance include:

  • Manual errors
  • Inaccurate tracking of hours worked
  • Failed integrations with other business systems like Payroll and HR 
  • Noncompliance with wage and hours laws

What Do You Look for in a Time and Attendance System?

You should look for the below features and functions in a time and attendance system:

  • Employee Time Tracking
  • Tracking of Overtime Hours
  • Scheduling (creating and managing employee schedules)
  • Attendance Tracking (clocking in and out, logging time)
  • Vacation and Time off Requests and Tracking
  • Dashboards
  • Employee Communication Portal
  • Employee Self-Service
  • Remote System Access
  • GPS Tracking
  • Document Management
  • Reporting and Analytics
  • Integrations 

How Much Does Time & Attendance Software Cost?

The basic time & attendance software costs anywhere from $2 to $12 per employee each month. Time & Attendance software costs tend to vary quite a bit depending on the features and integrations included in various systems, which can all impact the pricing. 

How to Buy Time & Attendance Software

You can determine how to buy the best time and attendance software for your business by using the following checklist.

  • Focus on business needs and growth goals driving the decision to get a new or upgraded time and attendance system.
  • Plan for integrations, implementation costs, IT involvement, and any downtime that may impact ongoing employee time tracking, hours, and scheduling.
  • Make a plan to support user adoption through training.
  • Understand the time tracking and clocking processes you’re looking to streamline and automate.
  • Don’t skip the product demos offered by time and attendance software vendors to show features and functionality.
  • Understand reporting and analytics needs for monitoring time tracking in your business.
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