From attendance to payroll: making the month-end simpler

In many offices attendance lives on a device or in a register, and pay is worked out in Excel. At the month's end someone matches the two and counts late days, absences and overtime by hand. That is where the mistakes come in.

Write the rules down first

• How many minutes late counts as "late"?
• Do so many late days cost a day's pay, or not?
• When does overtime start, and at what rate?

Once the rules are clear, software can apply them the same way every day.

Keep a way to correct

Someone will forget to punch; one day a device will be off. HR should be able to correct a day with a reason, and the correction should not be undone by the next count.

Look before you pay

When the month's salaries are worked out, preview them, approve them, then lock the month. Nobody can change a locked month by mistake, and payslips go out on the right figures.