How Do I Enforce Clock Ins and Clock Outs?

TimeForge is a powerful labor management platform, and is capable of meeting all of your workforce management needs. In many businesses with hourly wage workers, staff members need to arrive at work on time. Four clock in and clock out scenarios will create problems for your business:

1. Arriving earlier than scheduled will destroy business profits, as employees will be at work before they are needed, but will need to be paid for their time.

2. Arriving later than scheduled for work will cause problems with customers, as employees may not be available to service the customer’s needs.

3. Leaving earlier than scheduled can cause similar problems as clocking in late. Customers may not be serviced properly.

4. Leaving later than scheduled will increase payroll costs for the business, decreasing profits.

TimeForge offers a number of technology enhancements that can enforce your labor schedule, ensuring that staff show up on time.

Enforcing clock in and clock out time periods can reduce your payroll expenses by 2 – 4% with the click of a button!

Navigate to the Attendance Options

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Locate the Attendance Options link or sub-tab (inside of the Attendance tab).

Locate the Enforcement Options for Clocking In and Out

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TimeForge includes two primary options which will enable, or disable, attendance (time card) enforcement.

1. By default, TimeForge allows employees to clock in at any time that they would like. If you are using TimeForge for scheduling, you can enforce the schedule, requiring employees to clock in on time.

2. By default, TimeForge allows employees to clock out at any time that they would like. If you are using TimeForge for scheduling, you can enforce the schedule, requiring employees to clock out on time.

TimeForge provides two configurations for clocking in or clocking out. You can require staff members to clock in or out using grace periods, or using the scheduled time. Please check your local labor regulations to see which ones are applicable (and legal) for your business.

Enforce the Schedule with Grace Periods

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To require that staff members clock in and out with a grace period, based on their scheduled shift, set the options as follows:

For clocking in:

1. Switch this option from Yes, to No, requiring that employees must clock in at a predefined time.

2. Enter an appropriate grace period in minutes. This will allow employees to clock in prior to their shift starting.

Staff members who clock in too early will need a manager to approve their clock in.

For clocking out:

3. Switch this option from Yes, to No, requiring that employees must clock out at a predefined time.

4. Enter an appropriate grace period in minutes. This will allow employees to clock out after their shift ends.

Staff members who clock out too late will need a manager to approve their clock out.

Example:

Using the above options, a staff member who is scheduled from 10:00am – 4:00pm would be allowed to clock in after 9:50am, and must clock out no later than 4:20pm. Earlier than 9:50am or later than 4:20pm will require a manager override.

Enforce the Schedule by the Scheduled Time

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To require that employees clock in and out based on the scheduled time, without providing a grace period, set the options as follows:

For clocking in:

1. Leave this option set to Yes, allowing employees to clock in at any time.

2. Switch this option from No, to Yes, requiring that staff members acknowledge that their clock in times will not show the actual clock in time, but will instead show the scheduled start time.

TimeForge will record the scheduled start time (not the real time), unless overridden by a manager.

For clocking out:

1. Leave this option set to Yes, allowing employees to clock out at any time.

2. Switch this option from No, to Yes, requiring that staff members acknowledge that their clock out times will not show the actual clock out time, but will instead show the scheduled end time.

TimeForge will record the scheduled end time (not the real time), unless overridden by a manager.

Example:

Using the above options, a staff member may be scheduled from 9:00am – 3:00pm. If the employee shows up at 8:30am, TimeForge will record a start time of 9:00am (not 8:30am). When leaving, if the staff member leaves after 3:00pm, TimeForge will record an end time of 3:00pm. A manager can override and change the behavior of TimeForge when the staff member clocks in or clocks out.

Posted in Attendance Tab / No Comments.

How Do I Allow Employees to Witness Time Punches?

TimeForge is a powerful labor management tool and includes a number of features not found in other comparable software programs. For example, TimeForge allows staff members to clock in before their scheduled start time, but can require that employees show up for work within a certain grace period of the scheduled start time.

When an employee is too early to clock in, or too late to clock out, TimeForge will require that a manager become involved to allow the employee to clock in or out. More specifically, in these cases, the staff member must get permission from a manager before clocking in or out. Please note: Most of the clock in and clock out configuration settings can be enabled or disabled with a few clicks within TimeForge.

In some businesses, managers do not want to be interrupted with employees who are showing up early or late, and rely on a buddy system to allow employees to keep track of each other. To keep management from being frustrated by early and late staff members, TimeForge allows employees to work as a witness for each others early clock in and late clock out times.

Navigate to the Attendance Options

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Locate the Attendance Options tab inside of TimeForge.

Set Up Grace Periods for Staff Members

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Make sure to set up the correct grace periods for staff members who clock in early and clock out late.

Allow Employees to Witness Each Others Clock In and Clock Out

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Make sure that the Allow other employees to witness an employee clock in option is set to Yes.

Other Staff Members Can Override the Early Clock In

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When a staff member is too early to work, they will receive a pop-up window similar to the above image.

A manager can allow the staff member to clock in, or another employee can provide their own credentials (username and password, or fingerprint) to allow the employee to clock in.

Posted in Attendance Tab / No Comments.

How Do I Create Daily Labor Templates By Employee?

Schedule Templates are 24-hour periods of time that reflect a single day of a schedule. In some industries, these are called “Master Schedules“, or “Master Work Schedules“.

You can use templates to organize your staffing requirements in advance of making the actual schedule, allowing you to easily and quickly build a staff schedule. Templates can be created for any number of scenarios, and there are no limits on the number of templates in your account.

Templates allow you to rapidly build a schedule by spending some time in advance, thinking about your labor requirements.

In this lesson, we will build schedule templates for two staff members, and then use these templates to build a schedule.

Navigate to the Schedules Tab

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To manage templates, navigate to the Schedules tab, and then the Templates sub-tab, where you will see a list of templates for your location and/or departments.

Edit Schedule Templates

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Choose the Edit Schedule Templates link.

Add a New Schedule Template

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You can add a new template by clicking on the “Add a New Schedule Template” button, and then enter a name or description, and click “Save” to continue.

Add Shifts to the Daily Template

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Editing a template is similar to working with a staff schedule in the TimeForge Daily View.

Select the start time, end time, and position for each shift, and then choose the employee you would like to have work the shift. Just like the schedule Daily View, templates can be built by position or by employee, based on your business needs.

You can also build Templates using Work Periods (commonly called Day Parts), if you would like, by clicking on the Work Period icon, next to the start time.

Employee Staffing with Schedule Templates

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Shifts on a template can be assigned to an employee, to the TimeForge AutoScheduler, or as a Bid or Open shift.

- AutoSchedule shifts allow the TimeForge AutoScheduler to choose the best fitting staff member, and will replace the AutoSchedule employee with the best fitting staff member when building the schedule.
- Open shifts will allow a manager to specify the assigned employee when building the schedule.
- Bid shifts can be requested by multiple employees, and the manager can choose the best staff member for the job.

There are several options that can be chosen for each shift by clicking on the Properties link, the small pencil, next to the shift. Options include whether the staff member is an Extra or is On Call, the Skill Level necessary to work the shift, and the number of staff members required for the shift.

In this case, we have built a very simple template with a single shift.

We will Save this template, and create a new template for another staff member.

Build a Schedule Template for Another Staff Member

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Just like the previous template, we are creating a template with a single shift for another staff member.

Save this template, and then go build an actual schedule.

Navigate to the Schedules Page

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Go to the Schedules page and build a schedule.

Create a New Schedule

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Click on “Add A New Schedule“.

Choose Dates for the Schedule

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Choose the date range for the Schedule, and name the schedule to continue.

Choose One or More Schedule Templates

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When building your schedule, you can choose one or more schedule templates for each day.

In this case, we have chosen to schedule Anthony and Daniel on Sunday, using the templates we built previously.

When we are ready to have TimeForge build the schedule for us, simply click on Assign Employees. TimeForge will then copy the shifts inside of your templates to the schedule, and will assign staff members to work if necessary.

Posted in Schedules Tab / No Comments.

How can I be notified of open shifts from co-workers?

TimeForge makes it easy to swap shifts with your co-workers. You can Give Up or Pick Up shift swaps with only a few clicks by reviewing your Upcoming Schedule and Shift Swaps inside of TimeForge.

However, TimeForge goes one step further. TimeForge can send you daily shift swap digests (email notifications) of all upcoming shifts that are available for Pick Up. Just check your email and click on the shifts you would like to request!

Set Up Your Daily Email Alerts

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Login to TimeForge, and go to My Settings. Then, choose your Alerts tab. You will see the check box displayed above, make it is checked, and then Save your settings.

TimeForge won’t pester you with emails every time that another employee Gives Up their shift, but it will send you a daily digest, or summary, of all of the Shift Swaps that you are available to work.

For example, you will only be notified of shifts that are:

- In your department, and of a position that you can work

- At a location or store that you can work

- Do not overlap with a shift you are already working

- During times where you are currently available

Check your email on a daily basis for eligible shift swaps that TimeForge sends to you.

Of course, you can always go to the TimeForge website to search for upcoming shifts at your convenience!

Posted in Setup Tab / No Comments.

How Do I Register an Employee to Use the Fingerprint Scanner?

TimeForge Attendance allows employees to clock in and out using a fingerprint scanner, which is faster and more secure than a username and password combination.

Before an employee can log in to TimeForge using their fingerprint, a manager must first register their fingerprints inside of TimeForge.

Register Employee Fingerprints

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Navigate to the Employee List (in the Employees tab), and choose an employee to edit.

Scroll down toward the bottom of the staff member’s account, and you will see a “Register fingerprint data” button. Click on this button to begin registering this employee’s fingerprint.

Place the Employee’s Finger on the Scanner

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Have the staff member place their finger (usually the middle finger, or ring finger is best) properly on the fingerprint scanner.

The light will flash momentarily, to show a successful fingerprint scan.

Rescan the Staff Finger if Necessary

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In the case of a poor scan, you may be prompted to have the employee scan their finger again.

Successful Fingerprint Scan

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Once a successful fingerprint scan is complete, the employee’s page will refresh, and you will see a screen similar to the above, indicating success for the fingerprint scan.

Posted in Attendance Tab / No Comments.

How Do I Use the TimeForge Fingerprint Scanner?

Using TimeForge Attendance, employees can clock in and out of the software using their username (most commonly an email address) and password.

TimeForge also offers fingerprint scanning as a more secure and faster method for employees to clock in and out.

TimeForge has partnered with M2SYS to provide fingerprint scanning – delivering fast employee identification and eliminating buddy punching while reducing payroll costs.

Setting up the TimeForge Fingerprint Scanner is simple, easy, and pain-free!

Enable the Fingerprint Scanner in the Location Settings

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Before you can use your fingerprint scanner, you must first tell TimeForge that you will be using the M2SYS fingerprint scanner.

Sign into TimeForge, and go to the Location Settings (under the Setup tab). Change the above setting from “No” to “Yes“.

TimeForge will now show you additional options inside of each employee’s account.

Register Employee Fingerprints

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Navigate to the Employee List (in the Employees tab), and choose an employee to edit.

Scroll down toward the bottom of the staff member’s account, and you will see a “Register fingerprint data” button. Click on this button to begin registering this employee’s fingerprint.

Place the Employee’s Finger on the Scanner

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Have the staff member place their finger (usually the middle finger, or ring finger is best) properly on the fingerprint scanner.

The light will flash momentarily, to show a successful fingerprint scan.

Rescan the Staff Finger if Necessary

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In the case of a poor scan, you may be prompted to have the employee scan their finger again.

Successful Fingerprint Scan

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Once a successful fingerprint scan is complete, the employee’s page will refresh, and you will see a screen similar to the above, indicating success for the fingerprint scan.

Require that Staff Members Use the Fingerprint Scanner

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After all employees have had their fingerprints entered into the TimeForge system, you can require that clocking in at your location must take place from a specific IP address (your location’s address), and that staff members must use the Fingerprint scanner when clocking in or out.

Posted in Attendance Tab / No Comments.

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