Top 5 Online Time Clock for Loan Shop (Comparison Post)
Working at a loan shop (AKA a pawn shop) requires a unique combination of skills. On one hand, a pawnbroker needs to have effective people management to deal with the wide variety of customers that come into the store – some looking for quick deals, some bringing in jewelry or trinkets as collateral for a loan, and others just browsing. In order to juggle all these responsibilities, a second skill – time management – comes into play, having a huge impact on how profitable it is for business owners to run their loan shops.
The problem is that time management doesn’t come naturally to many people and putting an emphasis on it can result in them feeling stressed out. Trying to implement time management measures into your loan shop can quickly lead to burn out depending on how you handle it.
Our advice? Get help–and give your team members some help. The easiest way to promote time management in your business is to use time and attendance software that makes it easy for team members to understand how they’re spending their time without putting too much pressure on them. Most of the employee time clocks are made to focus on three core aspects of workforce management:
- Employee Accountability. There are quite a lot of features that time clock software comes with these days, though some of them are overkill for shop management (biometric facial recognition and Geofencing are more appropriate for managing multiple locations, for example). Regardless of which features you actually make use of, know that they’re largely designed to encourage your team members to make the most of their time while on the clock.
- Design Simplicity. This trait will vary across many employee hour time trackers, but the most effective ones will be designed to be user-friendly regardless of how many features they include or functions they meet. Otherwise, it’s easy to imagine how your team members might get distracted fumbling around with software at job sites, struggling to add time to their timesheets (instead of seeing to that customer with one foot out the door).
- Payroll Streamlining. Many modern time clocks also make sure to include various functions that streamline the payroll process for business owners.
Now, with all this in mind, we’re going to be detailing our top 5 picks of time clock software for use in a loan shop, ranked by how well we feel they deliver on the three aspects mentioned above, as well as their user reviews.
Online Time Clock for Loan Shop Options
1. Buddy Punch
When we listed the three criteria above that we think a strong time clock software should have (employee accountability, design simplicity, payroll streamlining) it’s important to note that we determined this through our own experiences trying to find an effective time clock. Back in 2013, when we still relied on manual timesheets to keep track of employee time data, we first began to take notice of the growing popularity of digital time tracking. Eager to improve our operations, we started testing out various tools–but were ultimately disappointed in the offerings.
But there was potential, and we set out to develop our own software to achieve it.
Fast forward to today, with Buddy Punch becoming one of the most popular time clock software options on the market (more on that later). With features like Job Codes, Drag & Drop Scheduling, Shift Trades & Covers, Managers Delegation, Notifications, Overtime Calculations, PTO Management, Built-In Payroll, and more, loan shop owners are more than equipped to manage their workforce.
Next, let’s dive into each of these features to expand on what makes them so valuable.
Note: If you’d rather skip the explanations and start trying out Buddy Punch for yourself, you can start a 14-day trial by clicking here.
Job Codes
The Job Codes feature is an excellent tool to use if you want a greater degree of transparency for what your employees are doing while on the clock. With this, you can create a code for various tasks in your business (giving small and large collateral loans, troubleshooting issues, researching merchandise, etc.) that your team members can punch in to and swap between as they work. Then, when you go back and check their timecards, you’ll see a full breakdown of what they did and for how long, helping you understand your business’s labor costs.
Drag & Drop Scheduling
Buddy Punch’s scheduling system drastically streamlines an otherwise tedious process. You can create a new shift simply by clicking an empty cell in Buddy Punch’s interface. Then drag and drop as needed until you’ve created your ideal schedule. As a finishing touch, you can publish the finished schedule to send an automatic notification to all team members scheduled.
Shift Trades & Covers
The Shift Trades & Covers feature is another option that makes it drastically easier to manage shift scheduling. This feature allows managers, administrators, or even employees (that are granted appropriate permissions) the ability to initiate a shift trade with another employee. Meanwhile, the covers option lets a proactive employee take over a shift that another employee is unable to work.
Managers Delegation
What about employers that have a bigger team and more employees to manage on the floor? Buddy Punch has a Managers feature that works great for delegation (whether or not you want this “manager” title to persist outside the app). When you give an employee Manager distinction in the app, you’ll have the option to give them either “View” or “Approval” powers over the employees you assign to them.
With View powers, they’ll be able to see what employees have marked on their time cards. With Approval status, they’ll be able to edit the work hours and employee information as well.
Notifications
Buddy Punch’s Notifications feature has an indirect positive impact on productivity in loan shops. This feature notifies administrators and staff members alike for things like punch change emails, time card approval status changes, PTO changes, and more. With your team being notified for these instances, they’ll come to understand that moments when they receive no alert at all is when they can focus on their work.
Overtime Calculations
The Overtime Calculations feature lets you choose from more than a dozen different overtime types to determine how regular, overtime, and double overtime will be calculated for your employees. Additionally, you can get another type of overtime added easily–just reach out to us.
PTO Management
Buddy Punch’s Paid Time Off Management is a complete overhauling of what is usually a very tedious system. In addition to having many of the most common types of paid leave already built in (Vacation, Personal, Sick, etc.) you can also create a custom PTO type at will.
But the real power of this function comes when you enable the self-service approach. With this feature on, your employees will be automatically approved for their time off requests as they send them in, rather than requiring your oversight.
Built-In Payroll
Buddy Punch’s built-in payroll system is available as an add-on to any paid plan, and turns payroll into an incredibly streamlined process for loan shop owners. With features like unlimited payroll runs, integrated timesheets, automated payments and more – you can save time and handle payroll at the end of each pay period with just a few simple steps. Click here to learn more about this system and why it’s worth the price.
Buddy Punch Brings More to Loan Shop Business Owners
It’s important to note that we’ve only highlighted a select few features that Buddy Punch has, but there’s more to make use of depending on your management style. Consider tools such as:
- PTO Accruals
- Kiosk Functionality
- Payroll Integrations
- Geolocation and GPS Tracking
- Multiple Punch and Login Options
- Adding, Editing, or Deleting Punches
- And so much more. (Click here to explore our comprehensive feature list.)
There’s also the out-of-app benefits to consider with Buddy Punch. Our blog section is consistently updated with new strategies and information on workforce management, our help doc center contains other useful articles on how to best utilize Buddy Punch, and we’re always available via live chat to answer questions at our customer support desk.
Buddy Punch works on any device with an internet connection, including mobile devices (iOS or Android smartphones), tablets (iPads), and Desktop (web browsers). You can book a one-on-one personalized demo here.
Buddy Punch’s Online Reviews
As of this post’s writing date, Buddy Punch has 4.8 out of 5 stars and 739 reviews on Capterra.
Below, we’ll list just a few reviews that speak to Buddy Punch’s impact on workforce management. (Click here to explore the full list of reviews.)
“I love how easy it is to access help on any aspect of using the software. You can do their chat and they respond almost immediately. They will even help fix anything from their end if you need the help. I love the facial recognition feature and other features that are offered to ensure that your staff is on the job site in order to sign in.”
Click here to read the full review.
“Buddy Punch has been a super efficient business solution for our office. It is very user friendly. The integration with Quickbooks has streamlined our payroll which has been a huge plus. Most importantly to me as the administrator who’s been responsible for the complete set up and training of all staff- the Buddy Punch customer service team has been absolutely outstanding!”
Click here to read the full review.
“The ability to control what employees are able todo like adding time that was forgotten some employees require an approval so i am able to confirm they’re where bouts prior to approval. Its very easy for me to go in and add or fix employees time. I also like that i can turn the gps tracker on and off.”
Click here to read the full review.
“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 BuddyPunch platform in our sometimes complicated organizational structure.”
Click here to read the full review.
As these reviewers noted, Buddy Punch is efficient and comes with an effective customer support team.
Try Buddy Punch for Free
If you feel that Buddy Punch might be the right fit for your loan shop business, sign up for a free trial. You can also book a one-on-one demo, or view a pre-recorded demo video.
2. Coast
Coast is a fairly popular time tracking app with features including:
- Employee Scheduling
- Task Management
- Team Chat
- Checklists
- Time Clock App
- Recurring Tasks
- Shift Swap
- Work Orders
As of this post’s writing, Coast has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, based on 48 reviews.
“Pros: All in one tool that help me manage my team. It has replaced all the back and forth emails and text. Favorite feature is the tasks where I can track exactly what the progress of each task is.”
(Click here to read the full review.)
3. When I Work
Some When I Work’s key features include:
At the time of writing, When I Work has a total of 968 reviews on Capterra, with an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars.
“I’ve been using this software for 5 years, first as an employee then as an employer. Ease of use for both parties is fantastic and it’s well worth paying for to save the time. When I change places of business, if I have a choice, I will choose When I Work again and again.”
Click here to read the full review.
4. ZoomShift
Here are just a few of its key features and functionality:
- Work Scheduling
- Time Clock
- Timesheets
- Mobile Apps
- Time Tracking
- Time-Off Tracker
- Shift Planning
- Shift Swap
As of this writing, ZoomShift has garnered a total of 94 reviews and 4.5 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
“I run a small business, 3 employees, so a traditional time clock is insane overkill, but I needed something for employees to clock in and out, view their schedules, and make requests. Zoomshift has work really well for us – we have had them for 3 years and I have never questioned about getting rid of the program. ”
Click here to read the full review.
5. Clockify
Clockify is a fairly popular time clock, though that’s mostly because of its forgiving free plan (which heavily limits the features you can use). Some of its paid features include:
At the time of writing, Clockify has a total of 4306 reviews on Capterra (see here), with an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars.
“Clockify plays a vital role in tracking our activities. Knowing what gets done, when, and for what project allows us to identify the tasks and resources we need to allocate. The product has a very generous free tier, and it is relatively easy to implement with some basic introduction. ”
Click here to read the full review.
Choosing The Best Time Clock for Loan Shops
Though we’ve managed to narrow down your choices, you’ll still have to make a selection based on which app you think will serve your best. Our advice is to take a close look at the features offered.
For example, if you’re on a budget and don’t mind limited functions, you might like Clockify. If you have recurring tasks that need to be handled repeatedly, you might like Coast’s Recurring Tasks feature.
Otherwise, if all you’re looking for is an effective time tracking solution with features you can enable or disable at will, an intuitive design anyone can use, and a helpful customer support team–you really can’t go wrong with Buddy Punch.
Try Buddy Punch for Free
If you feel that Buddy Punch could be the right fit for your loan shape, sign up for a 14-day free trial. You can also book a one-on-one demo, or view a pre-recorded demo video.
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