The easyLog Blog

Aug

2023

Myth busting: 10 popular misconceptions about clocking apps debunked

Moving to phone or tablet based attendance recording can be a big change for workers and employers alike and not surprisingly raises many concerns, most of which have no basis in fact. Here we put straight some of the most common misconceptions we come across about clocking with an app.

1. My employees can cheat a clocking app by simply altering the time on their phones.

Our apps include a number of in-built features, such as cross referencing the time on the phone and identification of the phone being used, designed to prevent clocking fraud. If someone has changed the time on their phone to appear either earlier or later than they actually were, the software will detect that the clocking time does not match the time on the server and flag the discrepancy, allowing appropriate action to be taken.

2. QR codes are unreliable because someone can make a copy of the code and use it to clock in anywhere.

Any employee tempted to falsify their attendance record by scanning a QR code from somewhere other than where they are supposed to be will be found out immediately. Our clocking apps use geolocation coordinates to confirm the location of a clocking alongside the QR code location identifier, so a mismatch will be detected and flagged automatically.

3. You have to use the same attendance app or solution across all your sites.

One of the many benefits of easyLog’s clocking apps is their versatility. Two or even more app formats can be run alongside each other at different locations using the same back-office software, making them ideal for customers with multiple sites and variable attendance recording requirements. For example, an organisation with an administration centre where staff can record their attendance on a tablet but with employees that visit multiple client sites where scanning a QR code using their smartphone is the sensible low-cost option.

4. People can get someone else to clock in on their behalf when they are running late or leaving early.

All our clocking apps provide employee identification of some kind, from numeric codes to fully automatic facial recognition technology. Each mobile device also has a unique identifier. So if a member of staff tries to clock in or out for someone else, it would be automatically detected in the easyLog software and flagged up for action.

5. Staff won’t use a mobile app because they think they are being tracked.

Fears that an easyLog smartphone app could be used to track someone’s movements without their knowledge or consent are totally unfounded – and would be illegal. Our apps only identify where the user is at the exact time they make a clocking – when they scan a location QR code, for example. The rest of the time the app is inactive.

6. Clocking in and out daily with a smartphone will use up lots of data and run down the phone battery.

One clocking with our Location Clock app uses around 100-200 bytes of data, depending on variables such as the resolution of the geolocation coordinates and the length of the identification codes. This is less than a fifth of the data used to send a simple message, which takes approximately 1,000 bytes (1KB). Or, to put it another way, you would need to make between five and ten million clockings to use up 1GB of data. Similarly, our apps are only active while a clocking is made and do not run in the background, so battery requirements are minimal.

7. Using facial recognition to monitor attendance is too expensive for just a handful of staff.

One of the many attractions of using an easyLog facial recognition app on a tablet is that it puts attendance recording with proof of identity within easy reach of smaller companies on a tight budget. Unlike investing in a dedicated biometric clocking terminal, there is no initial outlay apart from a standard Android or Apple tablet, which can also be used for other business tasks. And if the tablet breaks, it can be quickly and cheaply replaced – there’s no waiting for expensive repairs. As with all our software, licence fees are charged according to the number of users. Read more about affordable clocking with facial recognition here.

8. My workers are concerned that the app will collect and store personal details about them.

All data used in easyLog software and apps is encrypted to industry standard. However, the only data held in our phone and tablet clocking apps is the user’s online ID, which is not sensitive and of no value to anyone else, and in some cases the user’s name. Pictures taken during clockings using photo ID are held on our secure servers for a maximum of three months before being deleted.

9. If there is a poor mobile signal people won’t be able to record a clocking.

If there is no network signal, easyLog’s clocking apps still allow employees to record attendance on a phone or tablet. The data is simply stored and transferred, along with the clocking time, when the next clocking is made.

10. Downloading a clocking app will interfere with other apps and take over my phone.

All easyLog’s apps have to meet the app stores’ stringent technical requirements, which include that they work in their own separate spaces and don’t stray into other applications. Permission to access additional phone features, such as the camera, location data, contacts and so on, must be granted by the user during download, as with any other app.

Find out more about easyLog clocking apps

If you have any questions about choosing the right clocking app for your workers and business, talk to one of our team on 01892 834406, send us an email or request a callback using the form on this page.

Aug

2023

Clock and save with face recognition apps

In the current climate of rising prices and falling value for money, it is good to know that at least one business essential is actually becoming more affordable – foolproof attendance recording with facial recognition technology.

Know that staff are on-site and on time

Designed to provide certainty that your employees are on-site and on time, our Geo Clock With Photo app turns everyday tablets and smartphones into dependable clocking devices without the initial outlay and ongoing expenses associated with a dedicated biometric terminal.

The Geo Clock app can be downloaded from the main online stores directly onto a standard Android or Apple tablet or company phone – you just need to ensure that the device you want to use has a front-facing camera.

There is no other installation required – the face recognition software is held on our secure cloud servers so you can view and manage clocking records and timesheets anywhere on any device with a web browser. The software automatically checks each clocking with a stored image and combines the result with geolocation data, such as GPS coordinates, to provide a foolproof record of identity, location, date and time that is effective against clocking fraud. The process is quick, simple and, above all, reliable.

An affordable attendance record that’s effective against fraud

But the best bit is that using the Geo Clock attendance app offers the reliability of a dedicated biometric clocking terminal without many of the associated costs. Potential savings include:

Low initial outlay – our free-to-download app turns a standard Android or Apple device into a fraud proof clocking terminal
Versatility – tablets and phones can be used for a multitude of other business functions, unlike a dedicated biometric machine
No expensive repairs – a faulty biometric terminal can cost £100s and take weeks to repair but a tablet can be replaced at minimal cost, usually within a day
Flexibility – multiple tablets can be used in different locations or a single device can be moved where it is needed to keep costs down

Talk to our team about clocking with face recognition

To find out if our Geo Clock face recognition app is the right clocking option for your staff, talk to one of our team on 01892 834406, send us an email or request a callback using the form on this page.

Apr

2023

Celebrating 50 years of the barcode – the forerunner of the QR code

It’s hard to remember a time when barcodes weren’t absolutely everywhere – first they appeared on our groceries, then spread to books, membership cards, parcels, concert tickets and even runners’ bibs. But the barcode that we know today dates back just 50 years – to 3 April 1973.

That was when the US grocery industry adopted the first universal product code (UPC), a linear barcode developed by IBM based on an earlier concept by Norman Joseph Woodland, inspired by Morse Code. Designed to reduce costs and make stock taking easier, linear barcodes and the scanners needed to read them were gradually introduced to supermarkets in the 1970s.

From barcodes to QR codes – and recording staff attendance

QR, or quick response, codes followed soon after in 1994, invented by Japanese firm Denso Wave for tracking car parts. Their easy readability – particularly with the advent of smartphones – and greater data storage capacity meant they were quickly put to a growing range of uses, from product tracking and staff management to marketing.

easyLog’s QR code apps tap into this flexibility to create a range of low-cost and versatile management tools.

Our QR employee clocking apps, for example, use free-to-download QR codes and workers’ own smartphones or company tablets to provide simple but dependable attendance recording systems for businesses of any type and size.

We also have QR code apps that are used to time jobs on factory production lines, monitor site visits and night checks – for example in the construction, security and care industries – and even record the location of a dog sitter’s charges. In fact, we have found QR codes provide an affordable solution for almost any task where attendance at a given location needs to be recorded quickly and easily, along with any other information needed to identify, analyse and report on the work undertaken.

Find out more about our QR code apps

For more information speak to one of our team on 01892 834406 or request a callback.

Coincidentally, 3 April 1973 was not just a historic date for barcodes – it was also the day Motorola demonstrated the first handheld mobile phone.

Oct

2022

The Actions app: When you need a reliable record that important tasks have been done

A growing number of organisations, from care providers to cleaning and maintenance contractors, have told us that they would like a simple, reliable record of tasks performed by their remote workers – for their own peace of mind, or their clients’, or both.

So we have developed the Actions module – an app for smartphones and tablets (or laptop if you prefer) designed to enable workers to record on the spot that a specific job has been completed, quickly and easily. As well as sending evidence of completed tasks automatically back to the easyLog software, the Actions app supports a number of feedback options. These include commenting on the work carried out, uploading photos of the finished job and alerting managers if further work is required.

A convenient and flexible option for remote workers

The Actions app can be used anywhere with an internet connection, so is suitable for all kinds of worker, business and location. The app software is user definable and supports multiple action lists for each location, so information can be collected about different activities within one site or many. Tasks are presented clearly and simply and can be defined with standard review periods, such as daily, weekly, monthly or six-monthly.

The app can also display images with a prompt to show users the required activity or expected end result – ideal for inexperienced or unsupervised workers.

Suitable for all kinds of employee – including carers

The Actions app can be easily customised for care providers to provide a simple but effective method of recording work as it is being done – for inspecting authorities, for example. As well as updatable care records, it can be used to provide staff with all kinds of useful information, from service users’ next of kin and GP contact details to cleaning and room changing regimes.

Find out more

And, like all our software, the Actions module can be easily tailored to suit the particular business needs of individual organisations.

For more information about tailoring the easyLog Actions app to your organisations particular business requirements, talk to one of our team on 01892 834406 or request a callback using the form on the right. You can also watch a short video on the easyLog Actions module.

Aug

2022

Flexible QR codes for fuss-free time recording of every business process

You may not have noticed but there has been a quiet revolution in monitoring staff attendance. Low-cost, app-based products using free-to-download QR codes and employees’ own smartphones or company tablets have made reliable and efficient clocking-in systems affordable for the first time for many businesses – particularly smaller employers, who are now able to benefit from faster, more accurate timesheet management.

QR codes: the simplest, cheapest and most effective solution

But the usefulness and convenience of QR code apps, such as easyLog’s Location Clock, extends way beyond a simple, cost-effective employee clocking option. easyLog customers have been coming to us with an increasingly varied range of attendance tracking dilemmas which we have been able to resolve simply, cheaply and effectively with QR code apps.

The key to the solution’s appeal is that it can be used to record a specific employee’s attendance at a given location quickly and easily, along with any other information needed to identify, analyse and report on the work undertaken. This makes it an ideal option for a wide variety of uses, from identifying different work areas in a cleaning contract or building site to logging tasks on a factory production line.

To show just how versatile QR codes can be, here are a few of the projects currently using adapted or customised versions of easyLog’s core QR code attendance apps.

Staff clocking and logging work in a factory

Most of our customers opt for the standard implementation of QR clocking where employees scan a QR code at a specific location using the easyLog app on their phones. But this is not the only way of doing things.

A customer recently chose an alternative version, where workers are each given a badge with an identifying QR code that they use to clock in and out by scanning it at a fixed Windows tablet.

The same process is used on the factory production line. Machinery and other production areas are provided with wall-mounted tablets. When employees start a process, they simply scan their QR code badge to identify themselves and select the task they are about to start from a dropdown list.

Monitoring cleaning staff visits

A cleaning company with a contract to clean multiple schools uses our QR clocking app to record visit data, ensuring that they not only have accurate timesheet information but also details of who cleaned every location and at what time. The employees install the app on their smartphone and then use it to scan a QR code in every room on arrival and exit. Simple but reliable.

Helping a dog sitting service keep track

A daytime pet-sitting service that looks after people’s dogs while they are at work needed a dependable method of tracking when each dog had been delivered back to its owners at the end of the day. Using an easyLog app, they now scan an identifying QR code on each dog’s cage when it is returned, so there is an instant record that can be checked at any point in the delivery round.

Pilot and driver check-ins

A specialist aviation company uses an easyLog QR code app to monitor the departure and arrival times of its pilots and drivers. They clock in and out using their phones to scan a QR code at each location, providing an accurate log of their working hours. If no QR code is available, on a new route for example, the app uses geolocation data instead.

Timing work on a livery yard

QR codes are placed in each stable on a livery yard and scanned by the employee using their smartphone when they enter and leave to record that each stable has been mucked out and how long it took.

Find out more

All our apps can be adapted to suit individual requirements, often without the need for bespoke development. For more information about our versatile QR code attendance apps, visit our employee clocking website or speak to one of our team.

Apr

2022

QR codes get the Royal Mail stamp of approval

At easyLog, we already know that QR codes provide a low-cost, simple and secure way of recording essential clocking data – and so do the many customers who use our QR code attendance app, Location Clock, to record workers’ hours.

Now Royal Mail is getting in on the act by adding QR codes to its stamps. The new stamps, which will still feature an image of the Queen but no longer include a monetary value, are designed to connect physical stamps to the digital world via the Royal Mail app and are being phased in by 31 January 2023.

QR codes: simple, secure and efficient

According to Royal Mail, the smart barcodes are part of drive to reinvent its stamps for the next generation and will improve operational efficiency, enable the introduction of additional security features and pave the way for innovative services.

The easyLog Location Clock app similarly uses QR code technology to create a foolproof, 21^st century attendance record. Staff simply download the app to their phone and use it to scan a barcode at their work location. A record of the employee, site, date and time is then sent automatically to the easyLog software. It’s as simple as licking a stamp.

Attendance recording with Location Clock at a glance…

Affordable attendance app shows exactly who is working, when and where using free-to-download QR codes
App works on iPhone, Android and Windows phones
Export any report into an Excel spreadsheet
Automatically adds up timesheets by hours and wage cost across any period
Software is web-based so can be accessed 24/7 on any smartphone, tablet or laptop with an internet connection
Built-in anti-fraud measures prevent any abuse
The app can be customised with your company logo and colours, presenting a professional image to customers and employees
Flexible pricing models by employee or monthly clocking numbers

The complete easyLog Location Clock solution starts from as little as £20 plus VAT per month for up to 15 employees, including support, training and company branding of the app.

For more information about recording attendance with QR codes or any of our software products, call us on 01892 834406, send us an email or visit our clocking website.

Feb

2022

Get immunity from Covid-related staff absences with flexible rota software

After more than two years of Covid-19, we are now entering a new phase of learning to live with it – thanks largely to a successful vaccination programme. But while it’s undoubtedly good news that restrictions are gradually being lifted throughout the UK, the virus still has plenty of potential to cause havoc, with staff absences due to infection and self-isolation proving particularly frustrating for employers.

This means sudden and unexpected gaps in the rota, often combined with a reduced pool of employees available to fill them. Then there are the increased complications in calculating pay.

Make last minute changes to the rota from anywhere

A professional rota management system can’t conjure up staff from nowhere but it can save you time and unnecessary stress by helping you deal with absences as they arise, simply and efficiently. And, unlike a paper or spreadsheet-based staff allocation system, easyLog’s purpose-built software is available in a browser-based format so you can create and adjust your staff rosters anywhere with access to the internet, up to the very last minute.

You can also choose useful additional features such as allocating staff according to a budget and enabling them to view their hours and submit expense and holiday requests via an app on their phone.

Rota software: so much more than a spreadsheet

Some of the benefits of our browser-based rota software include:

Instant information on potential gaps in the rota, such as staff running late, leaving too early or not appearing for a shift – with alarms automatically emailed to key personnel
Rotas can be created quickly and easily using standard shift times selected from a dropdown menu or on an ad-hoc basis
A definable repeating pattern, for example weekly or two weekly, can be set per employee if staff work regular shifts
Staff can be assigned a standard shift, modified standard shift or a manually-entered period
Multiple shift times and specific clients can be allocated on an individual day
The rota can be displayed for all staff or by work group, showing all the shifts allocated to employees in more than one work group
Options for managing flexible hours such as definable start and end times and monitoring minimum hours within a defined period
Simple recording of sickness, holiday and other absences for accurate payroll management
Range of reports covering payroll, holiday, sickness, punctuality and other essential staff management matters

Calculating the correct pay is easy

Covid absences don’t just complicate the rota – working out correct rates of pay can also be a challenge. Isolation sick pay and staff who work variable roles, rates and/or shifts are just two of the issues that will make the payroll manager’s job even harder.

easylog software can manage multiple pay rates, so calculating the correct rate of pay is simple. A shift analysis report, for example, automatically calculates an employee’s average pay per hour across any period, which can be used to determine the average hourly rate.

easyLog also offers a variety of low-cost staff attendance recording apps that work seamlessly with our rota software. The attendance records are automatically compared against shift times to produce a pay analysis report, while an authorisation procedure provides the option to pay, part pay or disallow a period if there is a discrepancy.

Find out more

For more information on our browser-based rota and payroll reporting software, including customisation request, please contact us. Alternatively visit our staff scheduling web pages.

Oct

2021

A fresh approach to worker allocation that saves time – and money

easyLog customer Brogan Group passed another significant milestone in streamlining its people management processes this week when it replaced labour allocation sheets made in Excel with a specially-customised version of easyLog’s Site Supervisor app.

A customised app that cuts down on admin

Originally created to help cleaning and maintenance companies with their job estimates and management, Site Supervisor is now enabling contract managers at scaffolding and powered access company Brogan to use their work iPads to allocate daily jobs and locations to up to 300 individual contractors. The new system is saving Brogan many work hours each week in time-consuming admin, which was previously done with spreadsheet program Excel.

Achieving even greater efficiencies with attendance apps

When they arrive on site, Brogan contractors also use easyLog smartphone or tablet apps to record their attendance. Their clockings are passed directly into the easyLog timesheet software, making calculating their correct pay fast and simple.

You can find out more about our Site Supervisor app on our cleaning management webpage and about Brogan Group’s employee attendance solution in our case study. Alternatively contact us to talk to one of our team.

Jul

2021

Smile for the camera – you’re being clocked in

Simplicity and a low price tag are often at the very top of our customers’ wish lists when it comes to attendance recording systems. Increasingly, they are also looking for an option that is effective against clocking fraud.

Our face capture version of the popular Geo Clock With Photo clocking app ticks all the boxes for employers who want the reassurance of photo identification without having to go as far as implementing a face recognition system. Fast, foolproof and affordable, it is the ideal alternative to biometric clocking for those who want both reliability and convenience.

Quick and simple attendance recording on a tablet or phone

easyLog’s Geo Clock face capture app can be used with either tablets or smartphones. Tablets are usually fixed in position and the front camera is used to take a photo of each employee as they clock in and out. These images can be monitored manually in situ or remotely, for example in the main office through a simple report.

When the app is installed on a smartphone, photo clockings are normally made by a supervisor or manager using the rear camera on their phone. This option is ideal for variable or temporary work locations, such as building sites, and provides a photographic record for later cross-checking if required.

Photo + geolocation data = peace of mind

The manual photo record is combined with geolocation data, providing a robust record of identity, time and location. Clockings are always accepted, even if the device is offline, and the record is stored.

Find out whether face capture is right for your staff…

If you want to know more about any of our attendance recording apps, visit our clocking web pages, talk to one of our team or try it out with a free evaluation trial.

Jun

2021

Biometric clocking: the low-cost, high-tech way of controlling attendance

Clocking staff in and out using a biometric app on a mobile phone or tablet may sound like science fiction – but in fact a growing number of employers are finding that biometric attendance recording is a surprisingly cheap and highly secure way of controlling exactly who is attending their premises and when.

What is biometric attendance recording?

Biometric clocking options use software that compares an individual’s unique biological characteristics – such as facial features, voice or fingerprints – with a pre-saved version and checks for a match. The result is stored electronically, along with the date, time and location of the clocking, and transferred automatically to your easyLog timesheet system. It sounds simple – and it is.

With biometric attendance monitoring you not only get a foolproof record of the date, place and time of attendance but also confirmation of each employee’s identity. This is particularly useful in high security workplaces or when you want to be sure that staff are not fraudulently clocking in on behalf of a fellow worker. Biometric clocking apps for smartphone and tablet are also ideal for clocking staff in hygienically because there is little or no physical contact.

Turn phones and tablets into low-cost biometric clocking devices

easyLog’s biometric attendance recording apps turn smartphones and tablets into flexible clocking devices without the outlay associated with purchasing and maintaining a dedicated terminal. Our biometric mobile apps also have the advantage of enabling employees to clock in and out via their own phone, independently and remotely, without risk of fraud.

Geo Clock With Photo works by taking a photo on the device’s camera when an employee clocks in or out and verifying it with facial recognition software. This information is combined with geolocation data, such as GPS coordinates, to provide a tamperproof record of identity, location, date and time.

The Geo Clock With Photo app is easily downloaded and installed on an employee’s Android or Apple smartphone via the appropriate app store for self-clocking. Alternatively, it can be installed on a tablet so a supervisor can record the attendance of staff as they arrive and leave. A tablet can also be wall-mounted to provide a fixed clocking device using either Geo Clock With Photo or easyLog’s Face Log app.

Fixed biometric clocking options that put you in control

Face Log is an attendance app designed specifically for tablets in a fixed location. Like Geo Clock With Photo, Face Log supports facial recognition using a photo taken with the device’s in-built camera and clockings are backed up with geolocation data. But, unlike Geo Clock With Photo, Face Log will not accept a clocking if the image doesn’t match, ensuring an extremely reliable attendance record. Face Log also works on voice recognition, speech activation and manual photo identification, if that suits you and your staff better.

For those requiring a traditional fixed terminal with the reassurance of biometric identification, fingerprint is often the most practical answer. easyLog provides a choice of devices, including the highly versatile uFace multi clocking terminal, which offers facial as well as fingerprint recognition. uFace can also be used with radio-frequency identification (RFID) fobs or cards, if required.

We also offer online and offline (SIM-based) fingerprint-only readers for those looking for an affordable but dependable biometric option that suits a variety of workforces and locations.

Find out which attendance solution is best for your staff and sites

If you want to know more about any of our biometric attendance systems, visit our dedicated clocking website or contact us to talk to one of our team.

Myth busting: 10 popular misconceptions about clocking apps debunked

Clock and save with face recognition apps

Foolproof attendance recording without the expense of a dedicated biometric terminal

Celebrating 50 years of the barcode – the forerunner of the QR code

It’s thanks to supermarkets’ adoption of barcodes in the 1970s that we can record staff attendance with QR codes today

The Actions app: When you need a reliable record that important tasks have been done

Flexible QR codes for fuss-free time recording of every business process

The low-cost tracking option for everything from pilots and dog sitters to factory production lines

QR codes get the Royal Mail stamp of approval

Get immunity from Covid-related staff absences with flexible rota software

A fresh approach to worker allocation that saves time – and money

Smile for the camera – you’re being clocked in

Biometric clocking: the low-cost, high-tech way of controlling attendance

Phone us now on 01892 834406 or request a callback

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