Buddy Punching is a common term used to describe employees clocking in and out for other employees.

If you’re a small business it’s likely you’ve experienced this. Sometimes it happens out of necessity (perhaps an employee had to step out of office or your software isn’t working). But usually, buddy punching has a negative connotation. Employees clocking in and out regularly for other employees is a strong sign that something about your time tracking method isn’t working. Generally speaking it’s a dishonest action, and one that you need to get out of your business. If buddy punching is a regular occurrence, you’re overpaying, raising payroll costs, and creating time theft.

In this article, you’ll learn how to tackle buddy punching in your business in two simple steps:

1. Learn what situations you’re creating that may result in buddy punching
2. Learn common solutions to solve buddy punching in your business

Common Buddy Punching Situations

It’s crucial to understand the different situations and environments that tend to yield buddy punching. Some time tracking software and methods are generally safe and secure, while others make buddy punching all to easy for a dishonest employee. Some time tracking methods may not be as obvious, so you might have to modify or configure them a bit to make sure you’re in the green.

a) Mobile Apps and Employees on the Road

Buddy punching commonly occurs with time tracking apps and/or when employees are expected to be clocked in or out on the road. If you’re a services business, i.e. – plumbers, heating, A/C, cleaning, etc…and are dispatching employees for particular jobs, this may be your situation.

Sometimes not all employees are required to show up in office before dispatch. Perhaps one of your employees is picking up another at their house during the job, then clocking in for them at an incorrect time.

Generally, situations in which employees are not seen may cause this.

In an environment where employees have remote access to clock in and out, you need to create extra steps to ensure honesty and accountability. If you have employees who work remotely or dispatch together, you’ll need some security feature to ensure the right people are clocking in at the right times. To see if TimeClick’s time clock app is the right fit for your business, I recommend checking out our mobile app here.

b) Paper Time Card Machines

A few years ago this seemed to be the most common situation where I would find buddy punching. Paper time card machines are the big blocks that hang on a wall with tons of different employee papers. Throughout the day employees take their slip of paper, insert it, and stamp! Their card is stamped with the time of their clock in or out.

I cannot say this more bluntly. If you are still using a paper time card machine, STOP! It is costing you time and money that you should use elsewhere in your business. There are many easy-to-setup and inexpensive time tracking solutions for all work environments that are better than paper time cards.

The problem with this machine is how easy it makes buddy punching for a dishonest employee. At any time in the day, an employee may grab another’s time card and stamp it, too. After all, it’s just a paper being stamped.

Sometimes businesses will put in a camera by the time clock to scare employees from doing so, but this is hardly effective. Generally cameras in a business are not watched live unless it’s a high security environment. Footage will be watched only if something is found awry. This isn’t to mention the extra security, time, and effort required to setup and enforce this system.

Employees can even stamp another’s card in the midst of other employees. After all, most employees are just trying to clock in and start their shift. It’s easy to miss another using someone else’s time card to clock in or out.

Paper time card machines are an awful culprit of buddy punching. Use a more effective solutions to tracking time than an old paper stamping machine like this.

b) Tracking Time on Excel or Google Sheets

I run into small business owners quite often who track employee time on Excel or Google Sheets. While this is a quick way of getting times recorded, it requires a lot of supervision, maintenance, and trust.

The biggest problem with Google Sheets and Excel time tracking is that there are no security features. Everyone with access to the document has access to everything. At any point, an employee can change any time stamp in the record they’d like to. And of course, any employee can change the times of another employee should they desire.

An alternative method to this is that one person manages the Excel or Google Sheets file, and records all clock ins and outs. I’ve never seen this be effective because it requires one person to manage all clocks ins and outs. This is inefficient and adds steps and supervision to your time tracking method that don’t need to exist.

This isn’t to mention the potential for formula problems spitting out errors and forgetting to the save the file after an update.

Employee time tracking in Excel or Google Sheets gives all privileges to all employees and makes buddy punching easy for a dishonest employee. Generally, you want only a few key people to be able to edit employee’s times.

c) Time tracking software with no security features

Your time tracking software (not even paper cards or Excel) may allow easy buddy punching. Sometimes, all an employee has to do is clock in or out by clicking their name.

You generally want your time clock software to have some sort of security feature that requires an employee to clock in or out. A password is the simplest solution.

In my experience, if you allow your employees to create their own password, then require that password for clocking in and out, you’ll reduce buddy punches by 90%. Only a select few who really want to cheat the system may share the password, thus facilitating buddy punches further.

In this situation, we’ve found using some piece of sensitive information as an employee’s password, i.e. – the last 4 digits of their social security number – is extremely effective. The password is simple to remember, does not need to change, and people do not like sharing it.

If at this point you still have an employee or two buddy punching, it’s time to let them go.

2. Common Ways to Solve Buddy Punching

There is vast amount of software, gadgets, and features out there to solve buddy punching. In my opinion, shoot for the simplest and easiest way for your business to nip buddy punching in the butt. Your business type, security needs, and employee requirements all influence the specific solution you need.

a) Biometric software

Biometric software requires employees to biologically prove they are who they say they are. For example, a fingerprint scanner is the most common form of biometric security. You can also use a hand scanner or eye scanner.

Generally, eye scanners are only for companies with extreme security protocols. I have never seen eye scanners required for clock ins for a small business. On the other hand, I have a few times seen fingerprint scanners required for clock in, but once again, it’s because their security needs are more pressing and sensitive than most other businesses. This is very rare.

Generally speaking, there are better alternatives for almost all SMBs out there.

b) Photo ID

I’ve commonly seen photo IDs required at large businesses. To get into certain rooms, enter your work building after hours, or use the elevator you have to swipe your identification card. I have to admit, these are kind of cool to look at and use. When you wear one as an employee, you feel like you’re an official part of the team and have been accepted because you’re now wearing a badge.

As fun as these are, for most small businesses they are overkill. Remember, as a small business owner or manager, your goal is to optimize your business and grow it. You need to simplify things and reduce costs. Generally, I don’t recommend this unless you have many employees and/or a large office or warehouse. And, of course, I don’t recommend it unless buddy punching is a problem.

I worked at a large retail store where this was how we clocked in and out. Each day I inserted my photo ID that allowed me to clock in and out for only myself. It was pretty straight forward.

I also remember the times that the machine on the wall stopped working so no one could clock in or out. And, I remember too, how easy it was for people to clock in and out for others if they wanted. All you had to do was use another’s card ID.

Setting up both the software and hardware for photo ID time tracking is not worth it for most small businesses. It’s too timely, complicated, and costly. And, the risk for buddy punching is still high.

I’ve seen a lot of time tracking and time clock software, and this is only helpful for larger businesses or if you’re in a niche situations.

c) Password Requirements

As mentioned above, a password requirement is the simplest form of security required at a clock in. It also reduces how long it takes employees to clock in and out.

I always recommend first and foremost setting up a basic password requirement. If your time tracking software doesn’t allow this, get a different software. This is a fundamental requirement of any decent time tracking software or app.

I generally recommend allowing employees to create their own password. They get to create and own it, and thus, will less likely share it. This tends to reduce most buddy punching.

If you’re still experiencing buddy punching, you can create employee’s passwords using bits of sensitive info: the last four digits of their social security number, part of their driver’s license number, etc… Don’t take this too far, as you don’t want employees having to enter tons of sensitive information all the time. That’s uncomfortable and likely not safe. Just use a bit of information for a password that, generally speaking, people will not want to share.

If at this point you’re still experiencing buddy punching, it’s time you let those employees go. And hopefully, you’ve already given them warnings.

Conclusion

Buddy punching costs businesses time and money and increases costs unnecessarily. If you’re commonly experiencing buddy punching, it’s likely because there is some inefficiency with your time tracking software or program.

Paper cards, Excel, and mobile time clock apps all pose some issues around buddy punching. But most can be solved with the right time tracking software.

Compared to having photo IDs or a fingerprint scanner for every employee, setting up a password requirement for clocking in and out is the simplest, most inexpensive, and most effective way of reducing buddy punching. If need be, you can setup passwords to be something very specific, perhaps sensitive, so people won’t want to share them.