Recycle Bin Specials

HandScan

 Time Clock Water Proof/Security Cases

The Story Behind the Need for Time & Attendance

From the time of cheap labor when daily wages became prevalent, a record of the units of time put in by the employee became a business necessity. When labor was available at a dollar a day and the work day was measured from sunrise to sunset, hours had little meaning or value. Labor (employees) got the "breaks" in the winter when the days were short. Capital (employers) got the "breaks" in the summer. Wages due were figured according to the number of days an employee was on the job. Even with these simple methods of accounting for payroll time, arguments were not unknown. Employers, being human, occasionally forgot to tally up a day for some employees. At times employees would also forget that they had missed a day for personal reasons.

Under present conditions the money value of an hour of labor has greatly exceeded that of a whole day in former times. A smaller unit of time has become essential for accounting purposes and emphasis has been given not only to the importance of the hour, but also to the money value of the minute.

Within recent years, still greater importance has been attached to machine-made (time clock) payroll records by the widespread introduction of special benefits for employees. Bonuses for prompt and regular attendance obviously demand fair, impartial, and impersonal decisions regarding the punctuality or tardiness of those eligible to participate. The payment of compensation for time lost because of injuries suffered in the line of duty demands indisputable evidence that the individual was on duty at the time of the injury. These and similar benefits for employees are predicated, in the final analysis, on accurate records of time. What can be more accurate than records made by the employee himself when he mechanically records his time of arrival and departure by using a time clock?

Employers who have for years considered time clock payroll records indispensable for their internal accounting are today finding such records of inestimable value in furnishing state and federal agencies the records and reports that have become mandatory as the result of Social Security legislation. Federal and State unemployment insurance are computed on the basis of payroll figures. The minimum wage and maximum hour laws make it mandatory that the employer have accurate, indisputable records of hours worked and wages paid for proof of compliance.

In today's competitive market, job cost or labor records are a necessity. The cost of every marketable product, whether purchased or manufactured, is comprised of three basic elements: the cost of labor, material, and overhead . Some form of labor record is necessary in order to incorporate this element into the general accounts. Labor records today are designed to meet the requirements of cost accounting as well as general accounting. Cost accounting differs from general accounting in that it reveals the profit or loss on each unit or line of product, while general accounting discloses the profit or loss of the business as a whole.

Costs are divided into direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are those covering materials and labor expended directly upon the product in some state of its progress. Indirect costs are those that cannot be charged directly to it. They also include those costs that are capitalized, such as tool and plant construction.

It follows that labor is also classified as direct and indirect. Jobs such as those of supervisors, clerical personnel, cleaners, and maintenance are examples of indirect labor.

An employer buys time, as measured by the attendance time recorder, in wholesale lots. Each pay period he buys so many working days of time from his employees. He must pay for all of the working days of time that his employees deliver to him during scheduled working hours. It is up to the employer to see that the employee produces while on the job. It is necessary that the employer know what each of his employees accomplished during each working day. The employer must have an adequate idea as to the amount of productive time purchased from his employees. The employer's only chance of reimbursement is to resell the time bought in wholesale lots as services or products.

In the manufacturing field, the struggle to keep production costs down has resulted in innumerable incentive plans for increasing units of production per unit of time. Regardless as to the plan or procedure, time and measurement of time is a vital factor.

The need to record employee time continues today. After all...time is still money. From the simple time recorder to the computer based data collection system, Peninsula Time Clock Inc. offers a complete line of products designed and built to control one of your company's major expenses - TIME.