1
Employee Time and Pay System
Using Paper Time Cards or Computerized Time Clock
A Recommendation Report
Prepared For: Dominion Virginia Power Human Resources Department
Prepare by: Sterling Smith and the Silver Bullet Research Team
October 7 2014
2
Executive Summary
On October 7, 2014 Senior Human Resources Generalist Megan McKittrick of Dominion
Power asked me the assistant Human Resources Generalist, Sterling Smith, to re-evaluate the
current employee time clock system. With the recent growth of Dominion Power McKittrick
wanted to make sure that every aspect of the Human Resource department was operating in the
most efficient way as possible. McKittrick’s wants to advance the Human Resource department
at Dominion as much as possible and felt that the current time clock system could possibly be a
hindrance in its advancement. My team of researchers and I have carefully re-evaluated and
researched our current time clock system as well as a possible change which is the computerized
time clock system.
Dominion Power is a thriving energy company that has experienced a lot of growth over
the past years. The growth in the company has led to a tremendous increase in the amount of
employees. Dominion power is one of the largest companies in the world and currently has over
16,000 employees (“Dominion,”n.d.). All these employees must be paid on time and paid the
full amount of their labor. It can get very time consuming and difficult to process payroll for this
many employees. The Human Resource department needs the most fast, efficient and reliable
way to process payroll. It starts off with our employee time clock system. Currently we have
two options; the employee paper time card system (which we use now) or a computerized time
clock system. Both systems have its advantages and disadvantages. The research from this
recommendation report will take an in-depth look at both systems and ultimately decide which
method would be at our greatest benefit to implement in our payroll system.
3
To research which system would be in our greatest benefit to implement we came up with
the important criteria that we would like our time clock system to meet. These criteria are all
crucial for the Human Resources department to process payroll fast, efficiently, and with as little
difficulty as possibly. The criterion we chose to evaluate are price, reliability/replace ability,
processing time, retrievably, employee honesty, and report generation.
From our research we found that the computerized time clock system work better in our
favor. Its results scored higher than the results of the paper time card system. The computerized
time clock system scored higher than the paper time card system in all of the criterion except
one, which highly impressed my research team and I.
From our results we have concluded that our most advantageous option would be to go
with the computerized time clock system. It will greatly benefit the Human Resource department
in the long run if we employ this time clock system.
Introduction
On October 7, 2014 Senior Human Resources Generalist Megan McKittrick of Dominion
Power asked assistant Human Resources Generalist Sterling Smith to re-evaluate the current time
clock system. With the recent growth of Dominion Power McKittrick wanted to make sure that
4
every aspect of the Human Resource department was operating in the most efficient way as
possible
Currently, Dominion Power employees use the paper time card system. The system
involves employees sliding a paper time card into a punch machine which records the time they
clocked in and clocked out, each time they work. At the end of each pay period each employee
logs into our online payroll timesheet system and inputs their time for each day they worked.
(Brooks, 2014). After manually inputting their time worked, each employee must submit that
time sheet to Human Resources in order for approval (Harvest Support,”n.d.). After the point of
approval pay will then be dispersed into the employee’s bank account. If a timesheet is not
approved for various reason such as failure to submit time sheet on time, inaccurate entry, etc.,
then a representative from Human Resources must contact the employee and meet with them to
correct their mistake (Harvest Support,”n.d.). Depending on the mistake the correction process
can take some time to fix the issue which can result in lower productivity , delay in pay and
disgruntled employees. Along with evaluating the payroll processes associated the paper time
card system we evaluated the payroll processes associated with the computerized time clock
system. At the employee entrance/exit there would be a touch screen time clock kiosk mounted
on the wall. Each employee would be given a 4 digit code which is the last four digits of their
social security number. To clock in or out an employee would enter that four digit code into the
kiosk and press “clock in” or “clock out”. When an employee clocks out a small receipt will print
out displaying the date, their name, their clock in and clock out time. At the end of the each week
when an employee clocks out on their last shift of the week, the receipt printed will also display
the total number of hours work that week. Since the computerized clock in system is in fact
computerized the software in the kiosk would be automatically linked to the computers in the
5
Human Resources department. This eliminates the middle man which is the time sheet. With the
information automatically inputted into the Human Resources payroll system it eliminates the
possibility of an employee forgetting to submit their time worked on time as well as the
possibility of inaccurate entry. With the computerized time sheet if errors were to occur they
could be fixed while still in the current pay period instead of having to wait until the end of the
pay period which could decrease the possibility of lowered productivity, pay delays, disgruntled
employees, etc. No, the computerized system is not perfect. The system may temporally freeze at
times during a shift or it may even crash.
Senior Human Resources Generalist Megan McKittrick came up with one major question
regarding our research. That question simply is “Which system would be at our greatest benefit
to employ?”
Research Methods
To figure out which employee time clock system would work more in our favor, we examined
both systems in these areas:






Price
Reliability/Replace ability
Processing Time.
Retrievability
Employee Honesty
Report generation
Area 1. Price
The average prices for the paper time card and time punch machine system from most
retailers of the system range from $10-$80 for a pack of 100-1000 cards (depending on if you
purchase a bundle) which would have to be constantly purchased because cards are used for one
6
pay period only (“Employee,”n.d.). Along with the cards you would have to purchase a time
punch machine that is compatible to the cards you bought (not all cards can work on the same
machine). Most time punch systems range from $200 -$300(“Employee,”n.d.). The price of the
computerized time clock systems can range from $250-$400 for the kiosk and software
(“Employee,”n.d.).
Area 2. Reliability/Replace ability
The time punch clock can be easily replaced if broken and so can the cards. To use it
you simply slide your card in, let it compute and mark your time, then you take it out. There is
not much room for system error on the machines part if the card is not jammed into the machine
or written on the front. This could cause the machine to over write on top of previous time
making them hard to read. As for the computerized system the user would simply punches in a 4
digit code and press “clock in” or “clock out”. If the computer system somehow breaks it would
be much more difficult to replace the kiosk than it would be for the other system.
Area 3. Processing Time
The processing time for the paper time card system is much more time consuming than
the computerized system. The paper time card system involves the employee inputting their time
into an online timesheet program (Brooks, 2014). From there they must submit their time to the
Human Resources department to approve it (Brooks, 2014). Being that Dominion Power has
over 16,000 employees the submitting and approving process is not a short process
(“Dominion,”n.d.). The Human Resource department has to make sure that the time cards and
timesheets correspond. For the computerized system each employee’s time will automatically be
7
sent to the Human Resources department. When it is time to process payroll there is nothing to
match up except making sure that an employees pay matches their time worked.
Area 4. Retrievability
If the cards from the paper time clock are missing then every employee would have to
write their times on a sheet of paper which could definitely lead to entry error and untruthfulness.
Though it is highly unlikely that one day all the time cards would suddenly go missing. On the
other end what if the online timesheet program and the computers used by Human Resources
crashed? If that were to happen we would have the cards as an accurate back up of the times
employees worked. For the computerized system we take a bigger risk. If the computerized
system crashed then all our records of employee time worked would be lost for the pay period.
The only backup that we would have for employee time worked would be the receipts that print
out when they clock out (Boyl, 2014). Some employees may save the receipts from day to day
and but some may crumple them up and throw them away after they read them.
Area 5. Employee Honesty
The paper time card system gives employees the opportunity to lie on their cards. On the
back of the cards it allows them to write “time corrections” and “missed clock in’s” giving them
the ability to add extra time which will cost the company. Not every employee has an intent to lie
on their time cards but some do. The computerized system does not allow employees to “correct”
their time (Dunn, 2011). After they clock in or out, that’s it. From that point they cannot
“correct” anything. The only person who would be able to correct their time would be someone
in the Human Resource department.
Area 6. Report Generation
8
The Human Resource department can generate a report very quickly with the
computerized system (“Xact Time”, n.d.). The reports can be accessed as soon as an employee
clock in or clocks out. The computerized system will allow the Human Resource department to
do task like to track things such as labor cost, lunch breaks, and who is on the clock and who is
off. For the paper time card system the Human Resource department would have to wait until the
time sheets are submitted by the employees to generate reports. (“Xact Time”, n.d.).
Results
Criteria and Weight
Criterion
Price
Reliability/Replace
ability
Processing Time
Retrievability
Employee Honesty
Report Generation
Total Score
Weight
1-5
1
3
6
5
4
2
Paper Time Card
System
Rating
Score
1-10
8
8
8
24
5
9
5
5
30
45
20
10
137
Computerized
System
Rating
Score
9
8
9
24
8
5
10
10
48
25
40
20
166
The above table shows a scoring system used to compare the findings from the research
methods. The formula to get the score for each criterion is (weight X rating = score). In order to
get the total score you simply add up the scores from each criterion. Each criteria was chosen
because they are essential functions for the Human Resource department to have in their
employee time clock system. In the table each one of the criteria are weighted in importance to
9
the Human Resource department. The weighting is from 1-6, 1 being less important and 6 being
the most important. The rating shows how both systems measured up according to each criteria.
The ratings reflect the findings from the research methods. As you can see from the total score
the computerized system beat the paper time card system by a total of 29 points. My research
team and I concluded that a 29 points difference is a plausible cause to switch from the paper
time card system to the computerized system. The computerized system scored higher in all of
the criterion except one which is more than enough reason to begin using the computerized time
clock system. All in all this table shows that the computerized time clock system will be in the
Human Resource department’s best interest to implement in our payroll system.
Conclusions
The research conducted by my research team and I conclude that the computerized
system would be most beneficial to implement in the Human Resource departments payroll
system. When comparing the two in our research methods most of the time our findings were in
favor of the computerized time clock system. Our findings show that using the computerized
time clock has more advantages than disadvantages unlike the paper time card system. The
ratings from the computerized system were superior to those of the paper time card system in
every area except one. The one area that it loss to the paper time card system was in
Retrievability. The computerized system scored significantly lower than the paper time card
system in this area. With that being said I would suggest that we find a way to back up our data
for the computerized time clock system in order to combat its low score in Retrievability. Since
Retrievability is one of the more weighty criteria we feel that finding a way to strengthen the
computerized systems weakness in that area is very important. If you notice on our table the total
10
scores of each system are not very far from each other. From that we want to say that this
recommendation report does not completely discredit the use of a paper time card system. For
some companies that system may be working just fine. Up until this point the paper time card
system was working just fine for us here at Dominion Power but we did not want be “just fine”
we wanted to be great! , that’s what sets the computerized time clock system apart from the
paper time card system.
Recommendation
After conducting our research my research team and I highly recommend that the Human
Resource department at Dominion Power start implanting the computerized time clock system.
The number of people employed with Dominion Power has increased over the past years and
will most likely continue to increase in the future being that Dominion Power is a thriving
company. Our Human Resource department is going to need a time clock system that is able to
keep up with Dominion Powers growth. Since Dominion Power is experiencing such growth it
could get to the point where the paper time card system that we are currently using could become
outdated and inefficient. It is better for use to change over to the computerized time clock system
now rather than us waiting and getting to a point that we have so many employees that our the
paper time card system will not be able to handle them . An order should be placed immediately
for a computerized time clock system. As soon as it comes we need to start integrating it into our
payroll system and introducing our employees to it so it can be ready for full use come
01/01/2014 or as soon as possible. Senior Human Resources Generalist Megan McKittrick’s
premier question was “Which system would be at our greatest benefit to employ?” The answer to
that question is the computerized time clock system.
11
Sources
Brooks, C., (07/16/2014). 6 Pros of Time and Attendance Systems. Retrieved from
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6797-plusses-of-time-and-attendance.html
Dominion (n.d.). Overview of Dominion. Retrieved from
https://www.dom.com/about/environment/report/our-company.jsp
Dominion Careers (9/30/2014). Senior Human Resources Generalist. Retrieved from https://careersdominion.icims.com/jobs/5272/senior-human-resources-generalist/job
Employee Time Clocks (n.d.). Computerized systems. Retrieved from
http://www.employeetimeclocks.com/ctgry3-computerized-time-clock-systems.aspx
Harvest Support. (n.d.). Timesheet Approval. Retrieved from
https://www.getharvest.com/help/timesheets/managing-timesheets/timesheet-approval
Dunn, K. (11/21/2011). Employees Cheating Time… But What Can You Do About It? Retrieved from
http://fistfuloftalent.com/2011/11/cheating-time-survey-reveals-employees-are-dishonesttimekeepers-but-what-can-you-do-about-it.html
M Boyl. (June 2014). Clock in/out records (receipts) for employees to keep track of time worked [Web
log comment]. Retrieved from
http://community.shopkeep.com/shopkeep/topics/clock_in_out_records_receipts_for_employees
_to_keep_track_of_time_worked
Xact Time (n.d.). Online Time Clock Software. Retrieved from
http://www.timeamerica.com/index.php/software/online-time-clock.html