How to Make Your Employees More Accountable

One of the biggest problems in many small and large businesses is having their employees accountable for following company policies. Many employees in large companies may slip through the cracks and disregard company policies including being in attendance for the full duration of their shifts. This is typically known as time theft or "buddy punching" and is one of the biggest reasons to get your employees to become more accountable. I have listed below a few examples of ways to make your employees more accountable and a brief description of each.

1. Biometric Time & Attendance Software

Another great way to keep employees accountable for your time and their own is to use a time and attendance software system. A system like this would work in conjunction with a biometric device (fingerprint scanner, retinal scanner, etc) and would allow for easier, more accurate monitoring of employees’ logged hours. As well, replacing the time card system with a biometric time and attendance system would prevent time theft in the form of “buddy punching” and employee time card fraud, two more serious forms of workplace time theft.

2. Outlining Company Policies

To prevent employees from over-extending their breaks on a regular basis, try to clearly outline your company policies to all of your employers. This can be done through a meeting, or a workplace memo, and even more importantly during the hiring process for new employees. As well, take a look at your current break time policies. Are you allotting enough time for your employees to take a proper break? Or are your employees finding they don’t have enough time to do what they need to do during breaks? Ensuring proper break times for our employees will help to prevent the need to over-extend their breaks. A biometric system will also help detect when employees are logging in and out for breaks.

3. Monitoring Employees

Depending on the work environment in your office, it may be necessary to allow your employees some personal time, calls, etc. especially for parents in the workplace. However, in order to prevent this from being abused, it is important to monitor employees who seem to be spending an excessive amount of time on personal matters. If this becomes a regular issue for some, schedule a meeting with those employees and discuss the matter at hand. Written warnings should be given if necessary.

4. Monitoring Software/Website Blockers

A great way to prevent Internet time theft is to invest in monitoring software for your office that tells you who is using the Internet when and for what purposes. Monitoring your employees’ usage of the Internet can tell you who are abusing their Internet privileges and can help you prevent time theft within the office. Not only can you monitor what your employees are doing online, but you can implement website blockers that allow you to block specific websites from being accessed in the office (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Along with this software, it is important that your employees are up to date on office policies and what is and isn’t allowed in your workplace. Often times, employees are simply uninformed and become more productive when they clearly understand the rules of the office.

Comments (0)