Bicolano magic in a can - Planters Development Bank

TECHNOLOGY
BY EDONG MENDOZA
There are a million reasons why
businesses—whether large or
small—need to keep employee
work hours in check. The most
obvious reason of course is to ensure
individual attendance records are consistent
during office hours.
In the most part of the 20th century,
timekeeping methods were fully
manual or semi-automated to an extent.
Bundy clocks and time cards were
the most popular means of tabulating a
worker’s “ins and outs”. All one had to
do was pop in a card into a clock and
presto – instant attendance record. But
the bundy clock system was, for lack of
a better word, primitive and it had a lot
of loopholes. Oftentimes, an employee
could simply ask a co-worker to punch
in/out for him just to avoid performance
demerits or salary deductions. Worse off,
if an employee was in cahoots with the
timekeeping officer, he or she could even
get away with murder, so to speak.
With the widespread introduction
of computers in the mid-‘90s, timekeeping
took on a more modern and familiar
face. Magnetic cards that you can swipe
or flash on a sensor became the most
popular means of logging in. Big corporations
even had the money to set up a
computerized infrastructure to track an
employee within its premises solely by
detecting where the ID was last used.
Again however, this is still prone to fraud
as anyone – even a total – stranger could
use a stolen or borrowed ID to punch in
and even gain access to various parts of
an office. And as mentioned, only big corporations
at the time could afford to set
up such a pricey system of computers.
Enter the Philippines’ internet age
a.k.a. the broadband boom of the early
21st century. The many changes in computer
use and the public acceptance of
the internet have opened doors to employers
(even the smaller ones) that no
one even dreamed of a decade ago.
Today, Biometric devices are a common
sight in many offices. Biometrics in
simple terms means analyzing a part of
your body.
The most common device thus far
is the finger scanner. It looks just like an
ordinary card-swipe module except that
is uses a scanner to recognize an individual’s
fingerprint. Given the very nature
of fingerprint patterns, this is in theory a
fraud-proof and accurate system. Technically,
the only way anyone can bypass the
system is to try to copy someone’s fingerprint
using specialized forensic equipment
and techniques or by other means
that are too morbid to mention here.
The increased connectivity with the
internet and intra-office networks also
takes this system of timekeeping a step
higher. By utilizing the power of the web,
transactions can now be conducted online
simply by logging on to a website.
Officers will be alerted via email if an employee
is requesting for an approval and
conversely, the employee will be notified
if the transaction has been approved.
It’s fast, it’s hassle free, and it eliminates
confusion since the transaction no longer
involves a middle man.
Before, transactions had to be done
manually in the office in the presence of
managers and timekeeping officers. More
people involved means more chances
for things to get lost in translation. There
have been many cases when employees—through
no fault of their own—had
to accept unnecessary salary deductions
because of unapproved official business
(OB) and overtime (OT).
With this new and innovative system,
employers are now also given instant
feedback of employee attendance.
By observing the collected data, managers
can optimize or customize company
work hours depending on how they see
fit. Say for example if a work shift of 9am
to 5pm results in frequent tardiness,
managers have the option to adopt a later
shift that maintains the same or better
level of productivity.
With all the benefits of this new system
however, we should remember that
this is just a tool and will not guarantee
sweeping changes in the workforce without
the participation of the employees.
Increased productivity and security still
rely on how the system is implemented
and how well its purpose is understood
by employees on all levels.
Photo from dreamstime.com
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VOL. NO. 03 / ISSUE NO. 05