5 Best Work Check In Apps (In-Depth Look)
A work check in app can help your business:
- Increase employee accountability. For example, with Buddy Punch (our work check in app), you can use automation to limit employee punches to a certain location or device. Tools like Facial Recognition take this a step further. How it works is by giving employers the ability to require employees to take a photo each time they punch in and out, day-to-day. The app then compares these new photos with the ones on file (which are usually protected as sensitive information) to ensure the correct employee punched in at the correct location.
- Increase payroll efficiency. For example, our work check in app automatically calculates regular hours, time off, overtime, and more – which is great for business owners and human resource departments looking to save time. It also integrates with popular payroll providers such as QuickBooks, Paychex, SurePayroll, and others. In addition, we offer a plethora of time off tracking features, ranging from in-app time off requests, to paid and unpaid time off balance reports.
To help you in your search for the best work check in app, this article will first discuss our product, Buddy Punch. Then, we’ll list several other work check in apps that may suit your needs.
Best Work Check In Apps
1. Buddy Punch
Brief Overview: How Our Work Check In App Works
In this section, we’ll provide a quick, high-level overview of how our work check in app works. (Following that, we’ll discuss Buddy Punch’s accountability and payroll features at length.)
Like most smaller businesses, we first used manual methods of timekeeping to manage our employees, but after attending a webinar and opening a dialog with our team members during performance reviews, we realized that paper spreadsheets and templates were inconvenient for all involved and hurting our profitability. So we decided to take the next steps and look into a time tracking tool that could help us monitor our team members, keep them off social media like LinkedIn, and encourage their productivity. Ideally, all while being easy for anyone of any demographic to use.
But we didn’t find anything that fit our managerial style, and didn’t want to pay a subscription for a subpar tool. That’s when we decided to build our own, and Buddy Punch went into development.
Fast forward to now, with business owners using Buddy Punch to enjoy benefits such as:
1. Employees having multiple touchpoints to punch in and out. They can do so from an app that’s available for mobile (e.g., Apple iPhone and Android), tablet (e.g., iPad), or computer.
2. Our work check in app automatically calculating regular hours, time off, overtime, and more. (Meaning no more time-consuming and tedious manual calculations.)
Per the below screenshot, you can download this information via Excel or PDF.
Increase Employee Accountability via Geofencing, IP Address Locking, Photos on Punch, and More
Disclaimer: the federal gov dictates that all business owners – from retail businesses to medical professionals – are responsible for paying their employees for hours worked. That means that checking your team members for their eligibility to be paid for the hours they claim to have worked falls on you.
Luckily, Buddy Punch offers a plethora of accountability-related attendance tracking features to make sure time worked is accurate and legitimate. They’re turned off by default, and you can either activate one or several of the below features, depending on the specific needs of your business.
Geofencing
If you’d like to restrict employee check-ins to a specific location for employee performance management, then simply activate our Geofencing feature, enter the relevant address (e.g., 123 Park Avenue), and specify a radius around that location (e.g., 500 feet).
In this given example, Geofencing will act as an automatic roadblock to restrict employee punches to within 500 feet of 123 Park Avenue. If a remote employee attempts to submit their next check-in outside of your designated Geofence location, then an error message will be displayed:
Depending on the needs of your business (e.g., multiple worksites), you can set up multiple Geofences to manage remote workers, rather than just one.
IP Address Locking
IP Address Locking is most commonly used by in-office businesses who want to limit punches to a central Wi-Fi network or a specific device (such as a tablet or desktop computer). This helps team members develop a regular cadence for clocking in.
Photos on Punch
With Photos on Punch, employees are required to take a photo each time they punch in and out.
The photo should include a clear image of their face and surrounding background. That way, you can ensure that the correct employee punched in at the correct location for every regular check-in.
As pictured below, you can quickly review all the photos at once via a central dashboard. This allows you to check who’s clocking in without being face-to-face.
Other Features to Increase Employee Accountability
Interested in exploring additional user-friendly features to increase employee accountability? We offer GPS Tracking, Facial Recognition Punching, PIN Punching, Punch Limiting Rules, and more.
Note: Sign up here to try Buddy Punch for free and/or request a personalized one-on-one demo call.
Increase Payroll Efficiency via On-Demand Payroll Reports, Payroll Provider Integrations, Time Off Tracking, and More
Buddy Punch offers a plethora of high performance features to increase payroll efficiency. We’ll explore just a few of them below.
On-Demand Payroll Reports
As we’ve written, our work check in app automatically calculates regular hours, time off, overtime, and more. (Meaning no more time-consuming and tedious manual calculations, as well more accuracy on payments to help boost employee retention.)
Per the above screenshot, you can download this information via Excel or PDF, and managers can access the info of their direct reports. Bring it on during one-on-one meetings to have performance conversations, and use accurate employee engagement data to follow up on any course corrections later on. Imagine how a performance appraisal accompanied with data your team members can visualize will build trust and encourage their further professional development.
Payroll Provider Integrations
Instead of transferring employee hours to your payroll provider manually (which is not only time-consuming, but error prone), set up an integration that does the work for you faster and more accurately.
We integrate with:
- QuickBooks Online (See setup instructions.)
- QuickBooks Desktop (See setup instructions.)
- Paychex (See setup instructions.)
- SurePayroll (See setup instructions.)
- ADP Workforce Now (See setup instructions.)
- Paylocity (See setup instructions.)
- Workday (See setup instructions.)
- Gusto (See setup instructions.)
- iSolved (See setup instructions.)
- Wagepoint (See setup instructions.)
- Justworks (See setup instructions.)
- Payment Evolution (See setup instructions.)
- And more
Time Off Tracking
Buddy Punch can significantly increase the efficiency of your time off tracking process.
For example, employees can send time off requests via our easy-to-use app. They can also view paid and unpaid time off balance reports, and this information is updated in real time. You can even enable a self-service approach to time off, allowing workers to be automatically approved for their requests.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Click here to explore all our time off tracking features.
Accruals
If this is pertinent to your business, we cover how to create time off accrual rules in this help doc article.
Note that many other features have an accompanying help doc article that covers the setup process and best practices. We can also help via live chat or a personalized one-on-one demo call.
Explore All of Buddy Punch’s Features
Click here to see a list of all of Buddy Punch’s features, some of which include:
- Employee Scheduling
- Overtime Calculations
- Time Card Approvals
- Kiosk Functionality
- QR Codes
- Multiple Punch and Login Options
- Adding, Editing, or Deleting Punches
- And more
Online Reviews Highlighting Buddy Punch’s Ease-of-Use and Excellent Customer Service
As of this writing date, Buddy Punch has 810 reviews and 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
We’ve placed a major emphasis on ensuring Buddy Punch is intuitive and easy to use for both employees and employers (even new employees!). Learn more about this tool through our Knowledge Base, which has free articles containing many answers to FAQs. In addition, we pride ourselves on providing excellent customer service. The median first response time via live chat is 54 seconds, and anyone you’ll chat with is well-versed on the software.
Below is a small sampling of reviews that touch on Buddy Punch’s ease of use and customer service. Click here for the full list.
“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!”
Read the full review.
“The area I am most impressed with is with their support — they respond quickly, accurately and offer real solutions.”
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.”
Read the full review.
“The chat staff has been super helpful to me every single time I have messaged them. They assisted me to get the software ready for a trial run which was very helpful! Every chat session was emailed to me for future reference.”
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”.
Read the full review.
Take Buddy Punch for a Spin
Sign up here to try Buddy Punch for free (no credit card required) and/or request a personalized one-on-one demo call.
2. Connecteam
Connecteam offers an extensive range of features and functionality to manage employees’ work schedules and mental health, some of which include:
- Employee Time Clock
- Employee Task Management
- Employee Training
- Employee Scheduling
- Employee Communication
- Checklists and Forms
- And more
It’s one of the best work check in apps. Connecteam is available in the App Store as well as the Google Play store (for more information check out their website). As of this writing date, Connecteam has 153 reviews and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
“We have a couple employees who do not do computer stuff and they are able to view updates and chats on the mobile app. There is so much more to this than first expected and all has been good so far. We are just starting to use the Task Management feature which is going to be a game changer for us with making communication seamless between our field techs and our in-office sales and retail people.”
Click here to read the full review.
3. Clockify
Clockify offers an extensive range of features and functionality to streamline workforce management, some of which include:
It’s a great check in to work app. As of this writing date, Connecteam has 4183 reviews and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
“We can also create task names and see where we are at in its realization and time we spent on it. It can also be used in groups, as users can be linked in teams. It’s such a powerful tool at the end of day, as it allows us to see how to be more efficient in terms of time/task.”
Click here to read the full review.
4. OnTheClock
OnTheClock offers an extensive range of features and functionality, some of which include:
It’s a great check in at work app. As of this writing date, OnTheClock has 514 reviews and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
“I love the ease of clocking in using my mobile device. As someone who has always had to punch in on a computer, I know firsthand that computers sometimes take their time opening and connecting to the internet for you to do anything. That’s never fun, especially when you need to clock in. This has been a great product to use instead.”
Click here to read the full review.
5. Hubstaff
Hubstaff offers an extensive range of features and functionality, some of which include:
- Online Time Reporting
- Employee Productivity Monitoring
- Automated Payroll & Invoicing
- Employee Scheduling
- GPS Location Tracking
- And so on
It’s a great app to check in and out of work. As of this writing date, Hubstaff has 1269 reviews and 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
“It allows us to easily calculate the hours worked by our remote team whilst ensuring the team is focused and easily shows us how much is owed at the end of the month. Vital tool for outsourcing.”
Click here to read the full review.
Honorary Mentions: Suivo for daily check-ins and Axiom Medical’s Checkin2Work app. With the latter especially, it’s a mention because it’s specifically designed to provide workplace safety for the healthcare providers, but it’s fantastic in that regard. It’s as if they asked themselves what’s new when it comes to protecting the work environment, and made sure to build that into an app. For example, you can send visitors a questionnaire to get additional information about any symptoms they may be experiencing before they come in-person to get covid-19 testing. In this regard it preserves public health for workers dealing with the remaining impacts of the pandemic.
Take Buddy Punch for a Spin
Sign up here to try Buddy Punch for free and/or request a personalized one-on-one demo call.
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