by Mark Nemtsas | Apr 30, 2015 | How To, Using the Software
SmoothPay is software for simple and efficient payroll processing. It originates from New Zealand and appears to be targeted at users in that country as well as those in Australia and Pacific nations such as PNG, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands. It runs on PC and Mac and the publishers have asked us about getting data from Time Clock MTS to their payroll system. Their export requirements are well documented and it’s a fairly simple matter to create a Time Clock MTS Export Format to suit SmoothPay. First Step – Match Employee Badge Numbers The first step you’re going to have to take is to match the Time Clock MTS Employee Badge Numbers with those used in SmoothPay. The badge numbers can be edited on the Employee Information Screen. Create the Export Format New Export Formats can be created on the Reporting->Data Export->Export Formats screen (view help topic for this screen). Navigate to that screen and create a new export format. You’ll then be shown the Add Export Format screen (see below). Give the export format a name and then set the type. SmoothPay needs an aggregate format (total hours per employee for each day of the period) and requires the DD/MM/YYYY date format so you should go ahead and choose those options. Once you’ve done that you’ll need to match up your rate codes with the time types that are defined by SmoothPay. In the image above we’ve used the default SmoothPay rate codes that are found in their documentation but you should check with your own SmoothPay installation to make sure they match correctly. The SmoothPay export... read more
by Mark Nemtsas | Apr 30, 2015 | How To
This Time Clock MTS How-To Guide helps users determine why their employees are not being paid overtime by the software when they believe they should be. Check Overtime Limits Go to the Tools->Options->Overtime Settings screen (see below) and check that overtime limits are actually set up and the overtime check boxes are ticked to tell Time Clock MTS to calculate overtime. Check the Employee Payment Type Time Clock MTS does not calculate overtime for salaried employees. Go to each employee’s Payroll Information screen (see below) and check that their payment type is set to Hourly Rate. Check that Employees can Accrue Overtime It’s possible to switch off overtime accrual on an employee by employee basis. This is done via the Do Not Pay Overtime checkbox on each employee’s Payroll Information screen. Are Employees Working Enough Hours? The next step is to run your payroll reports and check that employees are actually working enough daily or weekly hours to exceed your overtime limits. A great report for this is the Time Breakdown Report. Are Times Excluded from Overtime Calculations? Administrators using the Edit Time Punch screen (see below) to edit employee’s times can adjust overtime calculations on a time by time basis. One of the settings available from the Overtime drop down box on this screen is Exclude from Overtime. If this is set then that time punch will not be included in overtime calculations. If your employees are not getting overtime paid then this may well be the reason why. Help – I’ve Tried Everything and Overtime Still Won’t Work! If you’ve tried everything above then please reach out... read more
by Mark Nemtsas | Apr 25, 2015 | How To
Uninstalling Time Clock MTS couldn’t be any easier. Just follow these easy instructions: First step is to open the Windows Control panel, which you can see below. Select the Programs – Uninstall a program option. You’ll then be shown the screen below. Choose the Uninstall a program option. Find Time Clock MTS in the installed program list that is shown to you (see below) and double click on it. Confirm that you want to uninstall Time Clock MTS. Let the process run and when done you’ll be shown the message below indicating the software was successfully removed from your... read more
by Mark Nemtsas | Mar 16, 2015 | Tips and Tricks, Using the Software
What is Time Rounding? Employee time rounding is the practice of adjusting raw employee punch times to a nearest time increment. In the USA it’s common to see rounding to the nearest 10th of an hour or the nearest 15 minutes. Why should it be Used? Typically time rounding is used for two reasons. The first is historical, rounding simplified the payroll calculation process but obviously given the advent of computerized time clock systems this reason is largely redundant. The second reason is to provide for a minimum block of recognizable work for employees. This typically prevents employees from accumulating a minute or two a day of extra work by punching in slightly before their scheduled start and punching out slightly late. It also prevents employers from deducting time from employee payroll in the event that employees punch in just a few seconds late or punch out just a few seconds early. The reasoning behind this is fairly simple, obviously employees cannot all punch in or out at exactly their scheduled start and finish times so leeway is allowed. What Does US Federal Law Say About Time Rounding? The US Department of Labor allows for rounding of time punches. Specifically it allows for a rounding scheme to the nearest 15 minutes but only if that scheme is applied impartially and consistently. For example, it allows for a time of 5:07PM to be rounded down to 5:00PM and 5:08PM to be rounded up to 5:15PM. The DOL requires that rules applied to punching in and out are applied consistently though. So, while it allows a punch in time of 8:53AM... read more
by Mark Nemtsas | Feb 17, 2015 | News, Using the Software
To the left you can see a newspaper article that was pointed out to me recently concerning the implementation of a student and staff attendance system at a school in Adelaide, Australia. The main point of the article is that the new attendance system is a fingerprint driven time clock system and parents (and the public in general it seems) have privacy concerns. The concerns revolve around the storage of children’s fingerprints and the poor perception of children lining up to have their fingers scanned. One parent sums it up nicely in the online version of the article when she says: The picture I have in my head is these little kids getting finger printed and lining up like they are prisoners in a jail to be scanned into class What is wrong with the old way of doing a roll call? Of course, the logic here is flawed, they do roll call in prisons as well (we’ve all seen Hogan’s Heroes) and the fingerprint attendance system that this school is implementing is just a natural progression from that. It’s faster, more efficient, and of course, much more reliable. The privacy concerns lay in two areas, first the storage of fingerprints, and the supposed “tracking” of where students are. Storage of Fingerprint Images in Time Clock Systems Let me address the “storage of fingerprints” issue first. Any good fingerprint time clock system (like Time Clock MTS) doesn’t actually store images of fingerprints. They store what is known as a “template”, which is basically a summary of the key features of a fingerprint. These templates are created for users when... read more
by kathryn@timeclockmts.com | Dec 26, 2014 | Tips and Tricks
The Bradford Factor is a measure to help identify irregular patterns of attendance within a business. The Bradford calculation will give each staff member a Bradford Score which can then be used in conjunction with other measures to determine how unplanned short term sickness absence is really affecting your business. It is primarily a diagnostic tool helping to identify a concern so any staffing problem may be dealt with. Your place of work can then operate more efficiently and without disruptions such as looking for replacement staff at short notice or having tasks not completed. The Bradford Score is calculated using the number of sickness absences and their duration in the previous (usually rolling and not calendar) 12 months and the duration of those absences. It is easily worked out using our Bradford Calculator. A higher score may indicate a problem with unexpected short-term absenteeism for an employee. The score itself is calculated as follows: Bradford Factor = N2 x D N = Total number of unplanned absences in a period (typically a 52 week year) D = Number of Days Absent during the same period As the score increases it may trigger action within a business, this might be an interview with the employee to discuss why their score is high. It’s at that point that other factors can be considered before taking more action such as verbal or written warnings, or dismissal. Any policy that uses the the Bradford Factor should really be using it together with common sense rules allowing discretion and discussion on factors like employee well-being, employee health or chronic condition which may be... read more
