8 Best Time Clock Apps for Multiple Employees (In-Depth Look)
In this post, we’ll discuss why Buddy Punch (our employee time tracking software) is the best option for businesses with multiple employees or freelancers looking to improve team management.
Specifically, we’ll cover how Buddy Punch:
- Simplifies the employee onboarding process.
- Helps you (1) increase employee accountability, (2) streamline payroll and (3) simplify scheduling.
All to help businesses work towards greater profitability. Then, we’ll list 7 other online time clocks for multiple employees, while comparing their key reporting features and online reviews to help you select the attendance software that best fits your specific business needs.
Table of Contents
- Buddy Punch
- QuickBooks Time (Formerly TSheets)
- Timely
- DeskTime
- Hubstaff
- Connecteam
- Clockify
- Homebase
Note: Click here to learn more about Buddy Punch and try it for free!
1. Buddy Punch
Tracking employee attendance using traditional time entry methods (paper time cards and time sheets) can quickly become a time-consuming headache.
What’s worse, the more employees you track time for, the bigger the headache: employees are not honest about when and where they punch in/out and the payroll and scheduling process become increasingly complex, which ironically makes it hard to save time and reduce labor costs.
We learned that lesson ourselves when struggling to count work hours and run payroll for a team of over twenty employees across three different business locations. Time theft was hard to detect, meaning we had to trust that employees weren’t padding their total hours. That experience was, in fact, what led us to want to build Buddy Punch for greater team collaboration in the first place.
We wanted to create a real-time attendance app that helps business owners:
- Keep Their Team Accountable: Our features help increase reliability and transparency for employees’ work time.
- Streamline Payroll: Buddy Punch helps reduce wasted time and money when trying to manually run payroll for multiple employees.
- Simplify Scheduling: Our time tracking solution removes all complexity from the schedule-crafting process, even when dealing with a large team or remote employees.
While those three areas were of utmost priority in our design of Buddy Punch, there were other features we wanted to build into our tool to make it one of the best time tracking apps available, which enabled seamless onboarding in our workflow.
How Buddy Punch Helps Businesses Seamlessly Onboard Their Employees into Our App
Switching attendance tracking methods for a large team can be extremely time consuming, and is the main reason why many businesses stick to using paper time cards and manual time reports even though they understand these are subpar methods to track time on-site.
This is why, at Buddy Punch, we focused our efforts on making a time tracking tool that ensures onboarding all your employees is a seamless, user-friendly, and intuitive experience that takes just a few clicks whether you’re new to our project management software or a total pro.
First and foremost, Buddy Punch offers administrators the functionality to add employees through a CSV import or manually one at a time. If you choose to go with the manual option, our team will help you navigate the different steps to do so.
If, alternatively, you choose to go with our bulk onboarding option — we provide you with a CSV file ready to be filled out. Complete the data in the CSV file, and send it our way. We’ll handle the rest!
In addition, to further help with the onboarding process, we do not require employees to have an email account in order to access our platform.
Simply create a username and password for each of your employees, and they’ll be able to use that info to log into our timesheet app. This feature is particularly useful for businesses specializing in areas such as cleaning or construction that track employee work at remote locations.
Lastly, Buddy Punch comes with a live chat feature with an average response time of 54 seconds during business hours. It doesn’t matter if you’ve purchased a paid plan or are still on the fence, our customer support will respond to you ASAP.
If you struggle with onboarding at any point, someone from our team will be ready to help you.
An In-Depth Look at Buddy Punch’s Features
Now that we’ve covered our seamless onboarding process — we wanted to dive deeper into Buddy Punch’s key management features, which have helped 10,000+ businesses revolutionize their timekeeping:
Increase Accountability, with features such as:
Streamline Payroll, with features such as:
- Integrations with Payroll Providers
- Payroll Reports on Demand
- Time Off Tracking
- Track Employee Hours by Jobs, Projects, or Locations
- Accruals
Simplify Scheduling, with features such as:
- Drag & Drop Scheduling
- Repeating/Recurring Shifts
- Employee Availability
- Punch Limiting
- Notify Employees When You Publish Their Shift
Now, we’ll take a look at each feature one by one.
Keep Your Employees Accountable (Geofencing, IP Address Locking, and More)
To keep your employees honest and accountable when clocking in and out of work, Buddy Punch offers the following features to track hours:
Geofencing
Buddy Punch’s Geofencing helps you leverage your employees’ mobile devices to add accountability to all their punches. When this feature is active, your team will only be able to clock in or clock out of their employee timesheet when within a predetermined radius of your choice.
Simply login to our platform, input an address and customizable radius, and that’s it! This is great especially if you have remote teams working at static locations.
If someone from your team tries to punch when outside your selected radius, the Buddy Punch app will show them an error message and prompt them to try again.
GPS Tracking
Our time clock system also comes with GPS Tracking. Whenever one of your employees punches in/out, our software will automatically track and record not only the time of punch, but the location.
That data is then recorded automatically on their timecard, as shown above.
You can later review and verify the employee punch locations from the Buddy Punch platform.
IP Address Locking
With IP Address Locking, you can limit your employees’ punches to a specific IP address, as pictured above.
Now, whenever an employee tries to work on the clock while not connected to that IP Address (your office’s wifi network, for example), our employee time clock app will show them an error message.
Photos on Punch
When Photos on Punch is active, before your employees can confirm their punches, our mobile app will prompt them to take a photo of themselves (which is automatically recorded on their timecard along with the time of punch).
These photos will be waiting for you on the administrator dashboard — you can review them all at once or on a per-employee basis to verify whether it was your worker doing the punching, or a co-worker (i.e. buddy punching.)
Facial Recognition
With Facial Recognition, employees will be able to punch in and out with just showing their faces directly to their webcam (on the desktop app) or smartphone. An error message will be shown if the scan doesn’t match the employee’s face.
Streamline The Payroll Process (Integrations, Payroll Reports on Demand, Accruals, and more.)
To streamline the payroll process and save you countless hours, Buddy Punch offers the following features:
Integrations with Payroll Providers
Our time clock software integrates with almost every popular payroll provider, meaning you can send all your payroll data to your chosen payroll system effortlessly.
Our integrations include QuickBooks (web and desktop), Paychex, Workday, and several others (shown above).
Payroll Reports on Demand
If you prefer to run payroll manually, we’ve got you covered. Our digital time clock automatically calculates all time data required for payroll (including time worked per employee, time off, and more), and you export these detailed reports as spreadsheets in Excel or CSV Format (Learn more about Payroll Reports here).
Time Off Tracking
To handle all your time off needs, use our Time Off Tracking feature. This feature allows your employees to submit paid time off (PTO) & unpaid requests without ever leaving their phone.
All they have to do is login to our app (Android, iOS, any device with an internet connection) and request time off.
Once they’ve done that, our software will send those requests to you, the employer. You can review all requests and approve or deny them, all from within the Buddy Punch platform.
Just search for the “Pending Approval”, as pictured below:
Track Employee Hours by Jobs, Projects, or Locations
With Buddy Punch, you can generate “Hours Reports” on demand, which can be segmented by “Location”, “Position” or “Department”.
Our software also gives you the option to generate a “Time Off Report”.
To learn more about how our “Hours Reports” and “Time Off Reports” work, check out this video, which goes in-depth on both types of reports and walks you through the simple process of setting up codes for your employees to punch into. These features are so easy to use that they free time up for you to focus on other aspects of employee & project management for your business.
Accruals
Manage all your time off accrual needs with our Accruals feature, pictured above. This feature allows you to set up accrual rules tailored specifically to your needs.
You can set these rules based on the amount of billable hours worked, or on a pay period of your choosing (annual accruals included.)
Simplify All Scheduling (Drag & Drop, Punch Limiting, Employee Availability, and more.)
To simplify the notoriously complex schedule-crafting process, no matter how large your team is, Buddy Punch offers the following features:
Drag & Drop Scheduling
Thanks to our Drag & Drop Scheduling feature, you can easily create schedules for your employees within the Buddy Punch platform.
This means you don’t have to waste time creating multiple drafts of a schedule from scratch.
Design the schedule you think best fits your team as a whole, and then if the pieces of the puzzle don’t quite fit — simply click, drag, and drop to reorganize shifts. Plus, you can save and apply shift templates as well.
Repeating/Recurring Shifts
To save even more time, use our Repeating/Recurring Shifts feature, which allows you to have schedules repeat over specified periods (weekly, bi-weekly or monthly).
Employee Availability
To create a schedule that works for everyone in your team, you first need to know your employees’ shift preferences. This is one of the biggest challenges behind the schedule-crafting process for any business, and one you can bypass by using our Employee Availability feature.
Each person on your team can tell you when and where they would like to work before you even sit down to create schedules.
All they have to do is login to the Employee Availability section of our platform and select the shifts they prefer, subject to your approval. Now, when you next sit down to craft schedules, that information will be waiting for you.
Punch Limiting
To prevent your employees from punching in a few minutes early or out a few minutes late, use our Punch Limiting feature.
With Punch Limiting, you can set up rules that tie your employees’ ability to clock in/out to their punch cards. This means they won’t be able to submit a punch when outside their scheduled shift, or when not complying with the punch limiting rule you set up (15 minutes before or after a shift, for example.)
Notify Employees When You Publish Their Shift
Once you’re done creating schedules for any given period, hit “Publish” and our app will give you the option to share the schedule with your employees’ via email, push notification, or both.
And there’s more! Other forms of scheduling notifications include:
- Shift Start Reminder & Shift End Reminder
- Late In Alert & Late Out Alert
- Early In Alert & Early Out Alert
- And much more
What Our Users Have to Say About Buddy Punch
At the time of writing, Buddy Punch has garnered 782 reviews and an average of 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra, a popular software review platform.
These reviews highlight multiple strengths of our software, including ease-of-use and great customer support.
Additional Features
The features we’ve described in this article are just the tip of the iceberg!
Buddy Punch comes with many other punch clock capabilities that help our customers track time for all their team members, including:
- Adding, Editing or Deleting Punches
- Multiple Punch and Login Options
- Time Card Approvals
- Job Codes / Project Tracking
- Overtime Calculations
- Kiosk Functionality
- And more!
For a comprehensive list of all of Buddy Punch’s features, click here. Buddy Punch functions as both a web app and a native app for iOS and Android devices, meaning you can use it on any device – smartphones, tablets, or Mac or Windows Desktops. Pricing is flexible depending on your chosen features.
Interested in Learning More?
To learn more about how Buddy Punch can help you track time for your employees while keeping them accountable, streamlining payroll, and simplifying scheduling, sign up for a free trial or watch our demo above.
Next, we’re going to list out some of our other favorite mobile and web-based time clocks. While we understand that some business owners might gravitate towards physical monitors such as RFID card readers, Lathem time recorders, or biometric time clocks that take fingerprints, we’re firmly of the belief that these models are inconvenient and somewhat outdated. You can achieve so much more by using time clock software on more accessible devices, and it’s more sanitary and less cheatable to boot.
2. QuickBooks Time (Formerly TSheets)
QuickBooks Time (previously known as TSheets) has, at the time of writing, a total of 5491 reviews on Capterra, averaging 4.7 out of 5 stars.
Some of its key features include cloud-based Time Tracking, Scheduling, Payroll Integrations, Browser Extension, Slack Integration, and Time Card Reports.
For a more detailed look at all of QuickBooks Time’s features, click here.
To learn more about what users have to say about QuickBooks Time, you can see all of their Capterra reviews here. You can also try the free version for 30 days.
Alternatively, here’s one review highlighting the platform’s key benefits:
Interested in Learning More?
Visit QuickBooks Time’s site here and sign up for a 30-day free trial. QuickBooks Time works on Windows, Apple, and even Linux.
3. Timely
Timely has, at the time of writing, a total of 206 reviews on Capterra, averaging 4.7 out of 5 stars.
Timely’s time card app for unlimited users and unlimited projects helps small businesses track time through many features, including Automatic Time Tracking, Project and Team Planning, Team Time Management and App Integrations.
For a more detailed look at all of Timely’s features, click here.
To learn more about what users have to say about Timely, you can see all of their Capterra reviews here.
Alternatively, here’s one review highlighting the software’s key benefits:
Interested in Learning More?
Visit Timely’s site here or sign up for a free 14 day trial and try it out yourself!
4. DeskTime
At the time of writing, DeskTime has a total of 139 reviews on Capterra, averaging 4.4 out of 5 stars.
This project management tool has features that include but not limited to: Automatic Time Tracking, URL and App Tracking, Document Title Tracking, Idle Time Tracking, Automatic Screenshots and Absence Calendar.
For a more detailed look at all of Timely’s features, click here.
To learn more about what users have to say about DeskTime, you can see all of their Capterra reviews here. Desktime also has a free plan with limited features here.
Alternatively, here’s one review highlighting DeskTime’s key benefits:
Interested in Learning More?
You can give DeskTime a try via their demo, or sign up for a 14 day free trial.
5. Hubstaff
Hubstaff’s time clock app for multiple employees has, at the time of writing, a total of 1143 reviews on Capterra, averaging 4.6 out of 5 stars.
Some of Hubstaff best employee time tracking features include Employee Time Tracking, Online Time Reporting, Employee Productivity Monitoring, GPS Location Tracking and Automated Payroll & Invoicing.
For a more detailed look at all of Hubstaff’s features, click here.
To learn more about what users have to say about Hubstaff, you can see all of their Capterra reviews here.
Alternatively, here’s one review highlighting the software’s key benefits:
Interested in Learning More?
Visit Hubstaff’s site and request a full demo, or sign up for a free 14-day trial.
6. Connecteam
Connecteam’s time clock app for multiple employees has, at the time of writing, a total of 119 reviews on Capterra, averaging 4.8 out of 5 stars.
Connecteam is a great time clock software — they offer many features to help you track time for your employees, such as Employee Time Clock, Checklists & Forms, Employee Task Management, Employee Training, Employee Communication and Employee Scheduling.
For a more detailed look at all of Connecteam’s features, click here.
To learn more about what users have to say about Connecteam, you can see all of their Capterra reviews here.
Alternatively, here’s one review highlighting the platform’s key benefits:
Interested in Learning More?
Visit Connecteam’s site here and sign up for a free 14-day trial.
7. Clockify
At the time of writing, Clockify’s time tracking app has a total of 1556 reviews on Capterra, averaging 4.7 out of 5 stars.
Their key features include, but are not limited to Time Tracker, Timesheet, Reports, Dashboard and Teams.
For a more detailed look at all of Clockify’s features, click here.
To learn more about what users have to say about Clockify, you can see all of their Capterra reviews here.
Alternatively, here’s one review highlighting the software’s key benefits:
Interested in Learning More?
You can get started with a free Clockify account today or visit their site here to learn more about their product.
8. Homebase
At the time of writing, Homebase’s time clock software has a total of 766 reviews on Capterra, averaging 4.6 out of 5 stars.
Homebase’s key employee time tracking and mobile time clock features include Employee Scheduling, Time Clock, Online Timesheets, Health & Safety Screening, Team Communication and HR & Compliance.
For a more detailed look at all of Homebase’s features, you can go here.
To learn more about what users have to say about Homebase, you can see all of their Capterra reviews here.
Alternatively, here’s one review highlighting the Homebase’s key benefits:
Interested in Learning More?
You can sign up for a free 14-day trial here, or visit their site by going here.
Runner-up apps include Time Doctor, Timecamp, Harvest, and Toggle Track.
Note: Click here to learn more about Buddy Punch and try it for free.
