Biometric Time Clocks Gaining Popularity Amongst HR Professionals

With the latest recession having huge impact on businesses, many employers have been forced to cut costs with any means possible.  Usually the first thing to happen is the reduction in staff.  However, what many employers fail to realize that instead of reducing staff, they can maximize the use of their existing HR budgets by keeping better records of their hourly employees.  One of the latest trends sweeping the globe that can help curb unnecessary costs is by using a biometric time clock.

While electronic time clocks have been popular as well in recent years, they definitely have their shortcomings.  For example, employees who use PINS or swipe access cards to punch in/out are easily able to manipulate the system by having their friends enter their PIN or swipe their badge for them.  This is often referred to as buddy punching and costs companies worldwide millions of dollars every year.

The next step in the evolution of the time clock is to eliminate this possibility which is where biometric time clocks come in. These units act very similar to traditional time cards or time punching machines.  Instead of an employee punching a time card to begin or end their shift, they simply swipe their hand under a biometric scanner or fingerprint across a fingerprint reader.

Biometric Security on Your Laptop

If you use a password to secure your laptop, your password might be able to be solved by someone else. However, if you use the biometric system, it would be very difficult to solve.

This system is capable of detecting fingerprints or retina, so that only the owner can open the lock. By using biometric systems, other people will not be able to open the existing system on your laptop without having your fingerprints or retina.

That is why, some computer manufacturers are now offering laptops that are built with biometric fingerprint identification systems. This system is useful to prove the authenticity of the user based on the similarities of fingerprints that are stored when the software is first run.

Facial Recognition Gone Wrong

"John H. Gass hadn't had a traffic ticket in years, so the Natick resident was surprised this spring when he received a letter from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles informing him to cease driving because his license had been revoked. It turned out Gass was flagged because he looks like another driver, not because his image was being used to create a fake identity. His driving privileges were returned but, he alleges in a lawsuit, only after 10 days of bureaucratic wrangling to prove he is who he says he is. And apparently, he has company. Last year, the facial recognition system picked out more than 1,000 cases that resulted in State Police investigations, officials say. And some of those people are guilty of nothing more than looking like someone else. Not all go through the long process that Gass says he endured, but each must visit the Registry with proof of their identity. Massachusetts began using the software after receiving a $1.5 million grant from the US Department of Homeland Security as part of an effort to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents that states issue."