Best Time Clock System: Why Digital Time Clocks Are Better

ByEric Czerwonka Last Updated
Best Time Clock System: Why Digital Time Clocks Are Better

When you’re looking for the best time clock system, you want something that will:

  • Replace easily lost or hard-to-manage physical timesheets
  • Promote employee accountability (i.e., making sure people are clocking in for their shift honestly)
  • Replace easily lost or hard-to-manage physical timesheets
  • Make it easy for your management to correct mis-punches, like when someone forgets to clock out for the day.
  • Work well for one location or multiple locations
  • Connect your team’s punches with PTO and payroll, so you don’t need to juggle multiple platforms

That’s why we recommend online time clocks/web-based time clock software instead of traditional physical time clocks.

In this post, we look at how you can use Buddy Punch — our web-based time clock system — to accomplish all of your time-tracking needs.

With Buddy Punch, you can:

1. Easily punch in and out through a phone, tablet, or computer. This makes Buddy Punch perfect for remote teams, traveling employees, or companies with multiple worksites. Plus, it makes it easy to set up, as you don’t need to deal with new hardware.

2. Increase employee accountability by restricting punching by geographical location(s) or IP Address, requiring employees to upload a photo on punch, and more.

3. Streamline and simplify your payroll process by using Buddy Punch payroll, which sends out direct deposits for employees and automatically files your taxes in accordance with local, state, and federal regulations. And if you already have a payroll provider you use, you can get on-demand payroll reports or set up payroll provider integration.

Below, we take a close look at the key features of our time clock system and how it helps your business track time off, maintain accurate records, and submit accurate payroll. You can also sign up for our free trial or schedule a one-on-one demo.

But first, let’s look at some of the downsides of using a physical time clock system.

The Downsides of Using a Physical Employee Time Clock System

There are two types of physical time clocks:

  1. Punch in clocks (paper time cards)
  2. Biometric time clocks (using your fingerprint or face to punch in)

If you use option #1, you run the risk of buddy punching — where someone clocks in for a coworker on their behalf. Plus, you now need to gather up those time cards, manually fix any mis-punches, and then work on getting your team’s time tracking info to your payroll provider.

It’s just a lot of manual work that’s easily replaced and improved upon with affordable software.

Option #2 solves some of the problems of option #1 — Specifically, using a biometric fingerprint or facial recognition cuts down on buddy punching or other forms of time theft. But it still doesn’t help with payroll, having multiple locations, having a long line of people waiting to clock in for their shift, and still needing to fuss with a new piece of hardware.

Because of all of the above, we recommend using web-based/fully online time clocks like Buddy Punch.

And that’s what we cover next.

How to Use Buddy Punch’s Time Clock System

Here’s a high-level overview of how Buddy Punch works as an intuitive, easy-to-use time clock system.

1. Employees punch in and out on their preferred device, as mentioned; this includes phones, tablets, and desktop or laptop computers, all through our user-friendly interface. Set up is incredibly easy. Just download the mobile app or create your Buddy Punch account online.

Buddy Punch’s online time clock system

2. Buddy Punch tracks everything related to time tracking. This includes all worked hours and scheduled breaks, overtime, and paid time off. This info is always available to you as a downloadable report, which saves you time while helping you avoid manual errors that could affect employee pay.

Buddy Punch’s time clock system can create shareable excel reports

3. Run payroll from Buddy Punch (or integrate Buddy Punch with your payroll provider).

Run payroll directly from your time clock system

With Buddy Punch, you can quickly run payroll, paying your employees via direct deposit or check. Because Buddy Punch tracks time worked and PTO, you can run accurate payroll every time. Plus, you can easily add additional earnings to their payroll — such as commissions, tips, and severance.

If you already have a payroll provider you like to use, you can get Payroll Reports on Demand to import into your provider or set up an integration.

And that’s Buddy Punch’s time clock system in a nutshell. To learn more, you can schedule a one-on-one demo, or you can keep reading below, where we cover some of Buddy Punch’s advanced functionality.

Time Clock Features to Increase Accurate Time Tracking

There are two challenges to keeping accurate time records with physical time clock systems:

1. Keeping employees accountable with their punches. Buddy Punch offers a multitude of accountability features that can help mediate this issue, all of which are turned off and may be used at your business’ discretion.

2. Fixing mis-punches as they occur. Mistakes are going to happen, employees will forget to clock in or clock out. With Buddy Punch, it’s fast and easy to fix punches.

Let’s look at how Buddy Punch solves both.

Increase Employee Accountability with Advanced Time Clock Parameters

The features we cover below are optional but were designed to give your business the tools it needs to make sure your team is clocking in and out correctly and honestly. Plus, they were designed to work well across all types of businesses — from construction sites to single-location brick-and-mortar stores.

Geofencing: Restrict Clocking In + Out to a Specific Area

Limit where your employees can clock in from with geofencing

Geofencing allows you to limit punches by geographical location. 

Simply select a radius (say, 500 ft within your office) within which employees must clock in. If a user attempts to punch in outside the designated geofence, they will be met with an error and prompted to try again at the correct location.

Geofence map feature with Buddy Punch

This helps prevent dishonesty by ensuring employees are punching in only when they actually arrive at work.

Depending on your particular business needs, you might have several punch locations, which are easily configured through our system, allowing you to set as many geofences as you like.

IP Address Locking: Restrict Clocking In + Out to a Specific IP Address

Restrict use of your time clock system to a specific IP address

Punches may also be restricted through IP addresses.

For example, you might choose to select a central office WiFi network as the designated “punch-in network”, requiring that employees be connected to that network before clocking in.

Furthermore, if your business has a central device such as a tablet or computer, you can limit punches to only that particular device.

Photos on Punch:  A Photo Is Taken When Clocking In + Out

Photos on Punch: Have your employees submit a photo with their punch

Buddy Punch offers an added layer of security and accountability with photos on punch, which, as the name implies, prompts employees to upload a clear photo of themselves and their background whenever clocking in.

Administrators can easily review photos within our time clock system via the dashboard:

Easily view every employees photo in your time clock system

Additional Employee Accountability Features

Along with everything already mentioned, you’ll find that Buddy Punch has many more features to offer in terms of employee accountability. This includes Facial Recognition Punching, GPS Tracking, Punch Limiting Rules, PIN Punching, and more.

Note: If you’re finding that Buddy Punch’s accountability features would work well with your business, why not give it a try via a free trial or by requesting a one-on-one demo call.

Easily Edit Your Team’s Mis-Punches (to Keep Your Records Accurate)

With Buddy Punch’s online time clock system, you can easily correct mis-punches from your team.

For example, let’s say someone clocks out for their break, but doesn’t clock back in when they return to work. They’re now at risk of not getting paid for the work they’ve done.

But with Buddy Punch, it’s easy to go into your dashboard and fix these kinds of mistakes.

First, hover over “Timecards”, then click “View all”.

How to view all employee time cards

This takes you to a list of your employees. Here, find the employee who needs to get their timecard fixed.

How to view a specific employee’s time card

Just click “View” for whichever employee needs their time card fixed.

From here, you can edit their time card, including changing when they’ve clocked in or out, adding a break, etc.

Above, we looked at the key features of Buddy Punch’s time clock system, and how it includes:

  • An easy setup process.
  • A time clock system that your team can use from their computer, smartphone, or tablet.
  • Accountability features that help ensure proper clocking in and out behavior.
  • An easy way to edit your team’s timecards.

If Buddy Punch sounds like what you’re looking for, sign up for a free trial. If you’d like a more detailed walk-through, schedule a one-on-one demo.

Keep reading to learn how you can sync our time clock system with your payroll process.

Sync Your Time Clock System with Your Payroll Process

Along with user-friendly functionality and increased assurance in your employees’ punches, Buddy Punch offers a plethora of time-saving payroll features that help it stand above other time clock systems.

Buddy Punch Payroll

Buddy Punch can run payroll from your time clock system

Our online time clock also doubles as a payroll system, so that you don’t need to juggle two (or more) separate applications to accomplish a task that could all be done within Buddy Punch.

To summarize how Buddy Punch Payroll Works:

1. Open the payroll dashboard to review all relevant information (employee hours, time off, gross and net pay, preferred payment method, and more).

You can easily edit payroll in Buddy Punch

2. Once you are ready to submit, simply click on “Submit payroll” in the upper-right corner and let Buddy Punch take care of the rest, including: 

  • Sending out direct deposits or checks
  • Providing employee pay stubs (which employees can access at any time)
  • Handling all pertinent state and federal tax processes, including filing and payment

Check out our comprehensive list of everything Buddy Punch payroll offers.

Payroll Reports on Demand

You can easily export and share payroll reports

As was already highlighted, all regular employee hours, as well as time off, overtime, and more, are automatically calculated in our system and are always available to you as a downloadable report. You can take this report and use it to run payroll yourself or upload the file to your payroll provider.

Payroll Provider Integrations

Buddy Punch integrates with multiple payroll providers

Buddy Punch helps you have an efficient and error-free payroll experience through payroll provider integrations, eliminating the need for you to manually transfer over employee hours.

Buddy Punch easily integrates with payroll providers, such as:

Other Buddy Punch Features

Buddy Punch sets itself apart from any physical time clock system because you can:

  • Easily set up Buddy Punch across one or multiple locations without having to fuss with new hardware.
  • Use Buddy Punch with remote workers or traveling employees.
  • Easily edit punches to make sure your payroll is accurate.
  • Run your payroll through Buddy Punch or export your timesheets out as a payroll report.

To see a fully comprehensive list of everything Buddy Punch can offer your business, check out this page, which includes but is not limited to:

Buddy Punch Reviews

As of writing this article, Buddy Punch has garnered 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra (a popular review site), with over 750 reviews.

Buddy Punch: 774 reviews and 4.8/5 stars

Below are several reviews that showcase Buddy Punch’s ease of use and excellent customer service:

“Most folks pick up on it right away. The system is intuitive, and those who do have difficulty only need a quick tutorial, and they are good to go.”

Click here to read the full review.

“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.

“Minimal training for end users (employees or managers). The back-end (admin) features are just as simple and intuitive. We wanted a product that was simple to use, cost-friendly, and allowed us to customize — all of these areas were met. Very impressed!”

Click here to read the full review.

“The area I am most impressed with is with their support — they respond quickly, accurately, and offer real solutions.”

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… immediately with zero training or assistance, which was a priority for us. The system is also very easy to use from an administrator end.”

Click here to read the full review.

“The team is responsive and eager to assist. Any questions we’ve had, whether using the free trial, or after we signed up as a customer, have been answered quickly”.

Click here to read the full review.

“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.”

Click here to read the full review.

Click here to see the full list of our Buddy Punch reviews on Capterra.

See Why Buddy Punch Is the Right Digital Time Clock System for Your Business

Visit our site to see if Buddy Punch is right for you. You can also:

For more information about payroll & time tracking management, check out these posts: