How Can Businesses Prevent Buddy Punching?

Under federal law, employers must pay their employees for all the time they have worked. The problem is that the employee hours logged into the system aren’t always the same as the hours employees worked. Employees often use buddy punching to get wages that they don’t deserve.

Read on to learn more about this behavior and how you can stop it.

What Is Buddy Punching?

Do you have a system where employees are clocking in and out? Then your workplace may have experienced “buddy punching”. This is a form of time theft where a worker’s colleague is clocking out or in for them.

For example, one of your employees may be running late for his or her shift. They may call up a close colleague of theirs and ask them to clock in for them. That close colleague does so.

Why It’s an Issue

If the employee isn’t there when they “clock in”, they aren’t working. This extra time shouldn’t count toward employee wages. Even if it’s just a few minutes, that’s still time employees have stolen from the company.

And a few minutes can quickly grow into a few hours. If you notice this behavior occurring, you need to put a stop to it. Even if you don’t notice it occurring, you need to make sure that it doesn’t happen at all.

How to Prevent Buddy Punching

Having a non-tolerance policy for buddy punching can help. You can lay out everything that you expect in your employee handbook. Then you can punish employees according to this policy.

But certain technologies can also help you prevent buddy punching. Consider using the following software and systems.

Biometric Security Features

Biometrics are physical characteristics that machines can use to identify individuals. Examples include retina scans, fingerprint mapping, and facial recognition.

Using this technology can make buddy punching impossible. Coworkers don’t have the same physical features as their colleagues.

Employee GPS Time Tracking

With this software, you can tell where your employees are while clocking in. In addition, they will only be able to clock in when they’re at a certain place.

But you don’t have to limit your employees to the office. You can also have them clock in from wherever they are. This feature is useful if you have remote employees.

Tracking for Employee Schedules

Going through tons of non-connected spreadsheets can be time-consuming. Employee scheduling software can help you see all your employee hours in one place.

You can then use this information to notice oddities in clocking in or out. If it’s buddy punching, you can approach the employee you’re questioning about it.

Try Our Time-Tracking Software

Employees are smart, but you can be smarter. With the right technology, you can ensure that you eliminate buddy punching. That way, your employees will only get the wages they deserve.

Also, if you need help tracking your employee’s schedules, try our time-tracking software. It’s a web-based software that is simple and easy to use.

Get a free trial by filling out the form on this page.