Time and attendance solutions are sold to a small employer as one thing, and they are two: the capture of when each person arrived and left, and the record of whether the scheduled shift was worked and what the gap scored under the attendance policy. The first half is a clock, a badge or an app, and it is where the suites compete on hardware and per-user pricing. The second half is judgement applied consistently, and it is the half that decides whether a write-up stands. This page separates the two so the small employer buys the half they are missing, and it points at the free tools on this site that do the record's arithmetic now, with no account.
The capture half: a clock is one way to take the roll
A time clock answers when. For a crew that clocks in at a fixed station it is a good answer; for a crew that arrives at a site, a kitchen or a floor and starts work, the shift lead's roll call at the start of the shift is an equally good one, and it is the one most small employers already have. A solution that begins by replacing the roll call with hardware has solved the half the employer had. The Department of Labor's rules on hours worked, linked below, govern what the capture must record for pay; they do not tell the employer what a tardy scores, and no clock does either.
The record half: the scored shift, the points, the write-up
The record answers whether the scheduled shift was worked and what the gap scored. It needs the policy as five numbers (on this site's worked example 1 point per unexcused absence, 0.5 per tardy, 2 per no-call, a threshold of 8 and a 12-month rolling window), every event scored by those numbers, the total in the window, and a write-up that cites the events and the policy paragraph. Two tardies and one absence is 2 points on that example; six of the same again is 14 and the threshold was crossed three events ago, which is exactly what a record that only lists punches cannot say. The attendance points calculator on this site works that total on the page, and the tracker template turns scheduled and missed shifts into attendance and on-time rates.
Choosing time and attendance solutions by which half is missing
An employer with a clock and no policy arithmetic needs the record. An employer with a roll call and a points spreadsheet that disagrees with itself also needs the record. Only the employer with neither needs both, and even then the record is the half that stands up in a dispute, because a punch time without a policy is a fact with no consequence. The time attendance software guide on this site is written for the record half and says what it must keep; the suites' bundles, priced per user, are the right buy when the crew genuinely needs a clock and the monthly arithmetic still works at the crew's size.
What any solution must hold outside the points
Some absences must be recorded and scored at zero whatever the policy says, and a solution that cannot mark an event excused with its reason will generate write-ups the employer must withdraw. Leave under the FMLA and absences that are a reasonable accommodation under the ADA are the two a small crew meets most; the pages describe each. The record half of the solution has to show the excused event, in the window, at zero, so the next write-up can show the exception was honoured.
Questions people ask about time and attendance solutions
Do time and attendance solutions require a time clock?
No. The capture can be a shift lead's roll call at the start of the shift; the solution's other half, the scored record against the policy, works from that. The tracker template on this site does it from scheduled and missed shifts with no hardware.
What should a time and attendance solution compute?
The points each absence, tardy and no-call scored under the policy, the total in the rolling window, the room left under the threshold, and the attendance and on-time rates per person and per crew. The free tools on this site do each of those from a policy typed in.
How do the suites price time and attendance for a small crew?
Per user per month: Deputy Lite is $5, Core is $6.50 and Pro is $9 per user per month in USD. RollCallWorks Pro is $6.50 per month for the whole crew, flat, and is the record half only: employees, shifts, points and write-ups.