5 Best Attendance Management Systems for Employees (In-Depth Look)

ByEric Czerwonka Last UpdatedMarch 5, 2024

Best Attendance Management Systems for Employees

In this post, we’ll share how Buddy Punch (our cloud-based attendance management system) can help business owners and HR professionals:

Increase employee accountability (via features that limit employee punches to a specific location, device, and so on).

Save time on payroll (via on-demand payroll reports where employee hours are automatically calculated, payroll provider integrations, time off tracking, and more).

We’ll also list four other attendance trackers for employees so you can see what your software solution options are and perform a well-rounded assessment.

Best Attendance Management Systems

Buddy Punch
OnTheClock
Connecteam
Hubstaff
Clockify

1. Buddy Punch

Brief Overview of How Our Attendance Tracking System Works

In this section, we’ll provide a broad 10,000 foot-view of how our employee management software benefits administration and improves work environments. (Later, we’ll dive deeper into Buddy Punch’s accountability and payroll-related features.)

1. Employees clock in and out on site via their phone, tablet, or desktop (which is how we begin to monitor employee data):

Get Buddy Punch on nearly any device.

2. Our software automatically tracks time, including calculating regular, overtime, and time off hours. This is done without disrupting the employee experience or workflow. You can then download an Excel file which includes this (and other) information that’s needed for payroll.

Import Excel spreadsheets.

This is faster and more accurate than traditional methods of monitoring team member work hours, which involve manual calculations.

Increase Employee Accountability

Geofencing

Custom geofencing.

Geofencing is an automatic management feature that lets you limit any number of employee punches to a specific customizable location without having to keep track of employees yourself.

For example, if your business was located at 123 Wilshire Blvd, you could limit remote employee punches to within 500 feet of that address.

If our applicant tracking system detects someone trying to punch in from a distant location (e.g., their home), they would receive an error message and be asked to try to track time from within 500 feet of your business location.

IP Address Locking

Custom IP address locking.

IP Address Locking lets you limit employee punches to a specific device (e.g., an in-office computer) or Wi-Fi network. Once you get employee information relating to IP addresses they use throughout a typical workday, you can our tracking app to make sure that no one can check in to your staff management platform unless they’re at one of those verified IP addresses/locations. This tool is great for data security without impeding the user experience.

Photos on Punch

Require a photo to punch in or out.

If you activated this key feature in our absence & attendance tracking software, employees would need to take a photo of themselves (to be stored n the employee database) each time they punched in or out for the attendance records.

You could then examine the photos in the employee records via a central dashboard and verify the validity of the punches:

View the photos on a central dashboard.

Additional Features to Increase Employee Accountability

So far, we’ve covered just a few of Buddy Punch’s accountability features. We also offer more employee performance tracking tools, such as Facial Recognition Punching, GPS Tracking, and more.

Visit our features page to explore all the options at your disposal.

Save Time on Payroll

Payroll Reports on Demand

Export payroll details into a spreadsheet.

As we’ve mentioned, our employee management app automatically calculates regular, overtime, and time off hours (as we think the best employee management software should). You or your HR department can then download these and other metrics in Excel CSV format in order to complete payroll.

This is one of the key benefits management and HR teams reap when they use employee management tools like ours. As one of our customers stated in their review: “No more adding times, calculating, and then punching them in redundantly. Buddy punch has taken the work out of payroll and time keeping.” You can then easily pull these reports for performance evaluations or to help analyze data on employee benefits usage and to hone your decision-making.

Payroll Provider Integrations

Payroll Integrations with Buddy Punch

Buddy Punch integrates with a large number of global payroll processing software, including QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, SurePayroll, Gusto, and so on (see complete list here).

Rather than manually transferring billable hours to your payroll provider (which is a time consuming and error-prone HR process), you can now handle all things payroll management in just a couple of clicks. No more payroll errors!

As one of our customers stated in their review: “The thing about Buddy Punch that I love most is the ability to sync/ integrate employee’s times with accounting software. This feature has made it incredibly easy to manage payroll”.

Time Off Tracking

Track who still has allotted time off.

Within the Buddy Punch app, administrators and employees can:

View a time off balance report for sick leave, holidays, and more.
Request paid and unpaid time off
View all leave requests (and even enable an employee self-service approach to PTO)
And other leave management modules

We wanted to make sure we offered a comprehensive, user-friendly solution to time off tracking since it’s such a critical aspect to employee satisfaction and retention. Click here to learn about additional time off tracking features.

Accruals

Customize time off accrual rules.

Buddy Punch makes it easy to add time off accrual rules. If this pertains to your business, we’ve created a video (see here) which goes over it in detail.

Explore Additional Features

Buddy Punch offers many other employee engagement and accountability features which are not outlined above. Just to name a few:

Visit our features page to explore the full list of options you’ll have to track attendance data. Buddy Punch is both web-based and available as a native app for iPhone and Android , meaning you can use it on any device.

See What Customers Have to Say

At the time of writing, Buddy Punch has 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra (based on 806 reviews).

Buddy Punch was awarded top performer and emerging favorite in 2021.

Below are just a couple of reviews highlighting Buddy Punch’s ease of use and great customer service, even for new hires:

“The Customer Support team is super responsive, thorough, and effective. Their support software allows for much quicker response times than you could get on the phone. Their team is knowledgeable about my organization and the way that we use the platform – I have received many helpful suggestions to how we can best leverage the Buddy Punch platform in our sometimes complicated organizational structure. We have had very few issues, but have always received immediate resolutions when anything has come up. The software is straightforward and well-run, and was easily understood by our team of 55+ non-technical staff of all ages.”
Click here to read the full review.

“We signed up for the trial period, and our employees were impressed immediately. They were able to start recording their time immediately with zero training or assistance, which was a priority for us. The system is also very easy to use from an administrator end (editing punches, viewing timecards, etc.) Buddy Punch produces concise reports which can assist with transferring employee hours to any payroll system that you may be using. If you do experience any issues or have questions, it’s very easy to place a support ticket and a response is usually given within 1-2 hours at the most. Customer Service definitely seems to be a priority which we appreciate. Once our trial period had concluded, it was a no-brainer to continue with this easy, intuitive solution.”
Click here to read the full review.

Click here to see all of Buddy Punch’s Capterra reviews.

Learn More about Buddy Punch

To explore the full capabilities of our performance management system:

2. OnTheClock

OnTheClock offers a plethora of HR software features to aid administrative tasks, which is why it’s considered one of the best employee management systems available. Features include but are not limited to:

You can also use automation for breaks. At the time of writing, OnTheClock has 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra (based on 497 reviews).

Below, we share just one review highlighting why it’s a solid attendance management system:

“Overall it was exactly what I needed. The tools are very simple and easy to manage. The reporting is direct and to the point. It doesn’t offer many thrills, but for the cost it’s well worth the price.”
Click here to read the full review.

Click here to see all of OnTheClock’s Capterra reviews.

3. Connecteam

Connecteam calls itself a self-service portal & one of the best project management tools to help business owners and employees maximize productivity, and performance reviews of this app seem to agree. Connecteam comes with a variety of features such as:

At the time of writing, Connecteam has 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra (based on 134 reviews).

Below, we share just one review highlighting why it’s a great attendance management system for employees. (Click here to see all of their Capterra reviews.)

“I have several old-school folks on my team. I tend to get a lot of push back when I introduce a new form of technology. We don’t have a central meeting location therefore I can’t have one time clock for everyone to punch. This app works great and my team really seems to like it. It is very easy to install and user friendly.”
Click here to read the full review.

4. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is an EMS (employee management solution) that offers a plethora of features. They include but are not limited to:

At the time of writing, Hubstaff has 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra (based on 1217 reviews).

Below we share just one review highlighting why it’s a great attendance management software:

“Hours and productivity are tracked easily day to day and the platform provides useful feedback. I have recommended it to other business leaders also.”
Click here to read the full review.

Click here to see all of Hubstaff’s Capterra reviews.

5. Clockify

Clockify offers a plethora of features. They include but are not limited to:

At the time of writing, Clockify has 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra (based on 1609 reviews).

Below we share just one review highlighting why it’s a great attendance management system:

“Well, my overall experience would be that I’m totally satisfied and would purchase again if I had to. Give them a try. This software is definitely moving you into the digital age which is fantastic. My employees love it because it’s so simple and doesn’t take up their time clocking in and out by logging into a system. They just scan their faces, push a button, and done.”
Click here to read the full review.

Click here to see all of Clockify’s Capterra reviews.

Runnerup apps include Zoho People (HCM), Monday.com, and BambooHR.

Learn More about Buddy Punch

Buddy Punch can compete with some of the most popular human resource management systems (HRMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), and talent management systems (TMS). To explore the full capabilities of our attendance management system:

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Eric Czerwonka

About the author

As a prior multiple-location business owner, Eric knows all about time collection, scheduling, and everything in-between. From best practices, stories, and business experience, he’ll keep you up to date on the latest trends.