The Advantages of Biometric Time & Attendance

Biometrics technology can be used as a type of employee time management system because of its ability to recognize people’s unique physiological characteristics. Biometrics based time and attendance terminals are becoming increasingly popular in today’s market because of their many benefits (and, lets face it, hand or face scanning equipment is just pretty awesome). Because biometrics terminals read a person’s unique fingerprint, iris, hand shape, or face shape, they ensure that employees cannot clock in for one another, thereby preventing employee time theft.

One of the most prevalent biometric technologies is the fingerprint recognition system; by placing a finger on the scanner, the time clock terminal reads the fingerprint and allows the person to clock in or out.

Another biometrics terminal that Acumen carries has the ability to recognize hand shape and size. I originally assumed that the device was capturing a three dimensional image of the hand being scanned when I first saw the system. However, in reality, it captures unique “minutia points” on the hand of the employee and measures between the points, then hashes the measurement to a single unique value that is transmitted for verification.

This technology is not restricted to just hands and fingers; there are terminals that scan a person’s iris to recognize the individual. Additionally, certain systems capture an image of a person’s unique face shape and use this to allow employees access to features on the terminal.

One of the newest and most interesting types of biometrics technology deals with recognizing the unique patterns that veins make in a person’s hand. Because these patterns are intricate and highly complex, it is nearly impossible for one person to clock in as another. The technology, therefore, has very low false acceptance and false rejection rates and is used in especially high security areas.

In this way, biometrics is extremely useful both in helping businesses feel secure and in eliminating employee time theft, as it relies on personal characteristics that vary between individuals. The wide variety of easy to use terminals ensures that biometrics is a smart (and cool) solution when deciding what kind of time and attendance system to purchase for your company.