To prevent employees from "buddy punching" -- circumventing the time clock by having their co-workers check out for them -- retailers are testing biometric technology that requires workers to use fingerprints to verify ID.
and-attendance application. Employees will use their "finger image" to clock in and clock out, said BAC.
99 Cents Only Stores, which wrote an interface between the reader and its time-and-attendance application, will use the biometric system in lieu of cards or badges. The chain couldn't be reached for comment.
H.E. Butt Grocery, San Antonio, will pilot the BAC biometrics application as part of its Timera time-and-attendance system, said BAC and Timera. Also this month, Kronos announced the availability of a biometric fingerprint option for its time-and-attendance terminal.
In another time-and-attendance application, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Brattleboro, Vt., went live in March at five distribution centers with a system from Workbrain, Alpharetta, Ga., that incorporates work-based incentives. C&S plans to install the system at 12 more DCs shortly and eventually in all of its 24 DCs. C&S is looking into using the system to provide employees Web-based access to HR information, said Keith Martin, manager of payroll service.