Keep Employees from Punching in Early

Brad is scheduled to start his shift each morning at 8:00am. Every morning he arrives to the office early, punches the time clock for work and then starts a pot of coffee and chats with coworkers who are arriving. Maybe this sounds familiar. What's the problem with Brad's routine? Clocking in before actually starting work is called time theft. In this article, we’ll explain how to use Virtual TimeClock to prevent time theft.

The Problem of Time Theft
Time theft is when an employee accepts pay for hours they did not work and is always a frustrating issue to deal with as an employer. Whether an employee commits time theft intentionally or unintentionally, it’s an expensive and unproductive issue to have in the workplace.

In our example, if Brad punches the clock 10-15 minutes early every day, that can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars a year in payroll costs, especially when overtime is being recorded. And that's just one employee.

Courtesy Early Clock In
One of the ways that Virtual TimeClock solves the issue of time theft is by providing shift rules that control when employees can punch the clock. In this article we’re going to discuss the Courtesy Early Start rule.

The Courtesy Early Start rule allows an employee to punch in at the time clock before their shift actually starts while acknowledging that they will start work at the correct time, which is also what their timecard will reflect. Learn more about clock in rules.

You can also require employees to sign their timecard affirming that the timecard is correct and accurately reflects their hours worked if additional approval is necessary.