Are you aware of your employee’s rights when it comes to using a time and attendance tracker? In recent years, a lot of attention has been placed on just how much information companies collect about their employees. As a manager, it’s important you gather enough data to comply with the law. At the same time, you must ensure you’re not stepping over the Human Rights Act or General Data Protection Regulations. It’s a fine line, one in which many companies are delicately straddling. It’s for this reason HR departments are looking for an Employee Time Tracker that provides employers and staff with as much flexibility as possible, while still maintaining compliance.
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Before we get deep into the topic, why would a company want to utilise a time tracker app to monitor their employee’s hours? 👇
Let’s talk legal – Does Your Company NEED an Employee Time Tracker?
In May of 2019, the Court of Justice of the EU made a ruling announcement. In their announcement, they communicated that all companies would be required to track their employee’s working hours. The ruling was set forth in response to a lawsuit in Spain against Deutsche Bank. Find out more about the law in Spain regarding tracking time – 2019 Employee Time Tracking Law.
The new ruling was set forth to help ensure there was a system in place to accurately measure the working hours of employees. In addition, the ruling also helped manage the following cases:
- Ensuring that employers are complying with the labour laws.
- Makes sure that appropriate rest breaks are being taken by employees, and they are not working in excess of the number of weekly hours by law.
- Eliminates the risk of employees committing wage and time theft.
Most importantly, If there is a breach concerning one of the labour laws, authorities can reference the timesheet software records within a company to help confirm or disapprove a case. This information will help uphold the employee/employer’s rights in court.
The Extreme Example – Spain
According to the Court of Justice of the European Union, in the CVRIA press release on May 14, 2019, it was confirmed that 53.7% of overtime hours in Spain are not recorded. It’s for this reason, among others, the ruling extended to include that employers were required to record all employee working hours to ensure compliance, not only overtime hours. Previous to this, the requirements mainly only focused on tracking overtime hours on a monthly basis.
What about the time tracking laws in the UK?
Now, there’s a bit of a grey area when it comes to EU countries outside of Spain, especially in the UK. Although the CJEU did set out regulations that require all employers to keep ‘adequate’ records of time and attendance, it’s not clear what exactly, ‘accurate’ means. This sounds like a pretty grey area if you ask us. What can be an adequate record for one company, may possibly be rubbish to another. In the UK, the ruling does not explicitly require employees to record information of rest breaks and times. Rather, they are only required to keep ‘accurate records’ of any overtime hours worked.
It’s worth mentioning, even though the UK is on the outs when it comes to the EU, the CJEU ruling continues to be binding over the courts in the UK. There’s no telling what will happen once Brexit is fully completed, but, for the purposes of keeping this post short of a novel, we’ll leave that conversation for another day.
New Age Time Tracker App
As the onus lies on the employers for how they want to track their employee’s time, they are free to implement the time tracking software that suits their needs best. With a time tracker app like Factorial, employers can choose whether they want to permit employees to manually or automatically clock in, or both. Flexibility is really the key here!
GPS Tracking Software – Geolocalization
Whether we like it or not, wage and time theft are something that companies deal with from time to time. The increased number of companies offering flexible working hours and remote working opportunities, the conversation of trust and honesty between the employee and the company inevitably comes up. Many businesses in the UK have implemented geolocalization to help with accurate record-keeping and to minimize wage and time theft. Still not sure exactly what this is or the benefits geolocalization offers
➡ Start tracking time with Geolocation!
Employee Geolocalization Controversy
When choosing which time tracker to use in your company, make sure that if it includes GPS tracking, no personal employee information is sent to a third party. Be aware of the Data Protection Act (DPA) laws to make sure you aren’t dipping your foot into a lawsuit.
With Factorial’s time tracker software, you can choose whether you want to enable geolocalization or not. When enabled, all of your employee’s information is safe on the platform. Best of all, the add-on provides simplicity. This means staff location information is only collected when they clock in or clock out, not during the day.
Companies using employee geolocalization are often accused of infringing on privacy laws. It’s for this reason, using a simplified system of tracking is best! In this way, employee privacy is protected. At the same time, the company can still know when and where the employee has clocked in/out.
Better Business Practices w/ Effective Time Tracking
If you want an employee time tracker that not only manages employee hours, Factorial’s HR software has you covered. With custom absence management fields like working from home, better holiday leaves and time-off management, both employers and employees are offered maximum flexibility. It’s a win-win for all.
Start making better business decisions now!👇
