Compliance-Smart Time Tracking Systems

It’s no secret that staying in compliance is a real headache. You may be the world’s best boss or business owner, but you probably don’t have an employment law degree. After all, compliance is a full time job!

So, what’s available to help ease the burden of compliance? For starters, good technology. Are you still recording employee hours in an excel file? Having employees sign in and out at the front desk during each lunch break? Here are some common wage and hour compliance concerns for business owners: calculating accurate overtime pay, ensuring employees take their breaks, abiding by minimum wage laws, and payroll record keeping.

Time tracking systems play a critical role in helping to comply with wage and hour laws, and can even help in reducing compensation claims! Imagine this: You’re a retail store with 15 workers on the floor. By your particular state’s law, all workers are required to take at least one break during their shift. If one employee forgets to take their break, or skips it, you’ll immediately get a notification. Are some employees staying overnight to organize new inventory? No problem – These systems are compliance smart and will not only let you know if your employees are eligible for overtime, but will also calculate it for you.

Now, these systems do require a manager’s manual review for accuracy, and you should be familiar with your state’s laws. For example, when “off the clock” tasks, communication, or assignments might be compensable.

There’s no doubt in our minds that technology can be a lifesaver, but we can’t all afford these “extra-smart” programs, complete with tablets, touch screens, card swipe systems, text messaging, mobile applications, cloud-based systems and extensive reporting features… which is where a PEO comes in.

PEOs offer extremely robust HRIS’s (Human Resource Information Systems) and can often afford today’s most effective and efficient systems – the ones that are upward of a $300,000 investment and just out of reach for the small to medium sized business owner. Through the co-employment relationship, PEOs deliver big company perks and benefits to the smaller guys, like us!

For more information on PEO benefits, including compliance and technology, contact us.