In all kinds of enterprises, the most valuable asset is the workforce. The amount of time that employees spend working productively determines how well the business performs overall.
So, it is imperative for employers to keep track of the time and attendance of their employees to know how their employees are using their working hours. Besides, these biometric attendance systems streamline and simplify the operations related to HR management.
Let's get started with basics first!.
What is a biometric attendance system?
The biometric attendance system is the software that analyses the biometrics (fingerprints, facial, iris, voice, and finger/palm vein pattern) of persons’ to verify their identification.
Advantages of biometric attendance system:
The benefits of a biometric attendance management system are myriad. To mention a few:
- As these are the centralized cloud-based attendance management software, we can access it from anywhere.
- It allows hassle-free clock-in and clock-outs.
- It is easy to assign different policies for different teams who work in different shifts.
- As it has GPS features, it allows managing remote workers.
- We can generate payrolls accurately without hassles.
- It is best used for absence management.
Types of biometrics:
There are two types of biometrics systems namely
- Physical Biometrics and
- Behavioural Biometrics
Fingerprints, iris, and facial recognition come under physical biometrics whereas gesture recognition, handwriting & signature dynamics, typing speed, the way we walk, voice and speech, etc. come under behavioural biometrics. Voice recognition uses both physical and behavioural biometrics.
What are the popular authentication methods for attendance tracking?
These are the top five types of authentication methods for the time and attendance tracking of the workforce.
Let’s dive deep!.
1. Fingerprint attendance system:
It comes under physical biometrics. A fingerprint scanner is required to authenticate the data and it can be done in various types- optical, capacitative, and thermal. That means, we can either use an optical sensor in the system that converts fingerprints into digital codes or use a linear thermal sensor to save conversions and use a capacitive authentication sensor to convert fingerprints.
After verifying the fingerprints, the system allows users to access information or authorise transactions based on the industry and use case of the system.
Pros:
- Fingerprint attendance system is a widely known biometric authentication method.
- There is no need to remember passwords.
- As each person’s fingerprints (biometric) are unique and non-transferable, it is harder to fake others’ fingerprints. So, it provides high security.
- Implementing fingerprint recognition at work increases accountability.
- These systems are cost-effective.
Cons:
- Though it is a cost-effective attendance tracking software, smaller organizations fail to afford the cost to implement and maintain the system.
- Scanners of this attendance machine are subject to technical failures.
- Biometric databases may prone to hacking from the fingerprint attendance system.
- Elderly people who use their hands for manual work may not always have their biometrics fingerprints recognized in this time attendance machine.
- These systems can’t be useful and recognize fingerprints of those whose fingers got injured.
2. Facial recognition attendance system
This face attendance machine is an advanced automatic facial recognition system that identifies a person using facial features. Images of employees are captured and stored in the database for face detection. When employees come in front of the system, it matches their facial features with the data stored in the system.
For more detailed information on facial recognition biometric attendance, you can read our previous article here. Face Recognition Attendance System
Pros:
- It is best useful for defence & intelligence, military, and law enforcement agencies.
- There is no need for any ID cards, logins, and clicks.
- It reduces the interaction with the system as users are not needed to contact the device.
Cons:
- Different face angles can degrade the reliability of Facial Recognition.
- The appearance of the person varies as they grow. As a result, it affects the system’s perceptions of the face.
- If there are twins or similar-looking persons, face detection might not be accurate.
- Different lighting conditions affect the system’s performance.
3. Voice Recognition
Like fingerprints, voice is also unique for each individual. The voice recognition device takes a voice sample, creates a template from the model, and compares it with the programme template. If the two templates are the same, then it grants access to the employees to enter and exit office premises. In addition to attendance tracking, this voice biometric authentication is used for various purposes such as forensic analysis, security systems, teleconferencing, credit card verification, etc.
Pros:
- The voice is a unique quality that is very difficult to fake.
- This biometric voice recognition system saves time taken for authentication.
Cons:
- Places with a lot of noise might make authentication of voice biometrics fail.
- Authentication and voice recognition might fail for persons with severe respiratory disease.
4. Iris Recognition
The Iris recognition method is among the most cutting-edge approaches to biometric attendance systems. An individual's distinctive iris patterns can be encoded and saved as encrypted barcodes. Infrared light in the iris recognition system gives the greatest scanning outcomes and offers the highest level of security.
Pros:
- The iris is an invariant organ that varies greatly from person to person and won’t vary as people age. Thus, thisbiometric iris recognitionis the best method to track attendance accurately and it is difficult to spoof.
- Iris recognition in biometrics has the highest accurate matching performance.
Cons:
- This iris technology is new and needs further improvement.
- It requires close proximity to the camera or iris scanner to verify the iris. It provides discomfort sometimes.
5. Vein pattern recognition
Finger or Palm vein recognition is an approach that makes use of pattern recognition methods based on images of the vein patterns found in human fingers or palms just below the skin's surface. It can be considered the next-level biometric authentication method. It makes the biometric attendance process very quick and easy to complete.
Pros:
- It is easy to use, fast and has high recognition efficiency.
- It eliminates buddy punching.
- It eliminates hacking.
Cons:
- This is an emerging technology. So, no proof of permanence has yet been found.
- It is expensive as it uses high accuracy systems and involves huge manufacturing and production costs.
Things to keep in mind!
These are the must-have features of a biometric time attendance system you choose.
- The biometric machine you use must have a huge storage capacity to store unlimited fingerprints.
- The devices you integrate into your HRM must have ruggedness and durability.
- The system must be capable of having a 360-degree verification angle to make the biometric verification as quickly as possible to avoid wait times and queues.
- Thebiometric attendance machinemust offer access control features to restrict the entry of unauthorized persons.
In addition, while selecting the biometric authentication systems, make sure that
- they are easy to install and easy to use,
- they provide intuitive UI/UX,
- they have all the essential features that your organization needs,
- that serve the purpose for which your organization integrated this biometric system, and
- They provide impeccable data security.
Conclusion:
Want to make your workplace smarter with the help of technology?. Then, choose the best biometric time and attendance management system like Time Dynamo that serve multiple purposes such as tracking both time and attendance and improving accountability and productivity.