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WaspTime Case Study

Streamlining time and attendance – at the touch of a fingertip

A friendly nudge toward biometrics

Based in Richardson, Texas, Seals and Packings distributes and manufactures rubber gaskets, o-rings and seals. The company must track time and attendance for 109 employees located throughout five facilities in four states.

Seals and Packings was using a desktop software timekeeping system in its four distribution facilities. While this system did provide real-time information, it also presented several difficulties. For example, it allowed “buddy punching,” whereby an employee’s friend would clock in for him. In addition, making corrections to timesheets was cumbersome and time-consuming.

In December 2005, the company acquired its manufacturing plant in Utah, where buddy punching and missed punches were serious problems. What’s more, employees often punched in between five and 15 minutes early. They sometimes had to wait in a long line at the manual punch clock, leading to excessive payroll costs and lower productivity. Also, time cards frequently were punched incorrectly. At the end of each payroll period, the time cards were sent by overnight mail to the corporate office in Dallas, where the human resources manager spent several hours manually calculating each employee’s time. This information then had to be manually entered into the payroll system.

“We needed to bring all of our locations onto the same timekeeping system,” said Holly Keller, human resources manager for Seals and Packings. “We were very interested in using a biometric system to eliminate the buddy punching problem.”

Seals and Packings chose WaspTime time and attendance software, complete with a Wasp biometric time clock. Now, employees clock in and out by simply placing their finger on the screen of the time clock in their particular location.

Biometric time clocks were installed in all of the company’s locations and connected electronically via the company’s LAN. The WaspTime software automatically checks the time clocks, regardless of their physical location, and collects “punches” to accurately tabulate hours worked. This time summary then can be reviewed and edited by Keller.

Immediately after installing WaspTime, Seals and Packings saw the elimination of buddy punching at all of its facilities. And because using the biometric reader is a quick process, employees no longer wait in long lines to clock in. This eliminated the need for workers to punch in before their shifts started. Simply by preventing unproductive overtime in the company’s manufacturing facility, Seals and Packings gained a savings of $8,000 per year.

“WaspTime gives the company confidence that we are paying our employees for the exact amount of time they have worked,” Keller said. “It gives our employees that same confidence.”

At the company’s distribution facility, employees are expected to be in the office for a standard workday. Keller can quickly scan WaspTime’s reports to find any exceptions from this workday, such as vacation hours and personal time. When employees take time off, their revised hours are downloaded into the payroll system. Otherwise, they receive their standard pay.

“This is so much easier than wading through a mile-high stack of missed work forms,” Keller said.

The version of WaspTime purchased by Seals and Packings tracks time for up to 250 employees. Because the company’s manufacturing facility sometimes experiences high turnover, all 250 employee numbers were used up rather quickly.

“At the time, the software would not allow us to reuse numbers when we had turnover,” Keller said. “At a meeting Wasp conducted with WaspTime users in our area, we asked if it would be possible to reuse numbers, rather than having to buy more. I was pleasantly surprised at their response.”

Wasp quickly created a software update to allow companies to reuse employee numbers, while also keeping track of former employees’ information in the WaspTime database. This advanced feature is now standard with the latest version of WaspTime.

“I can’t imagine another software company going to this kind trouble and expense for its customers,” Keller said. “Whenever I’ve had a problem or suggestion for a change to the software, they’ve been very responsive. I’ve been allowed to talk to one of the actual programmers of the software. Whenever there has been a serious glitch that required immediate correction, I’ve received a patch for it within 48 hours. I’ve never had any software company respond to me that quickly. Wasp has made me a believer in their products.”

With WaspTime’s easy-to-create reports, Keller also can provide immediate documentation to government agencies. For example, if an employee files for unemployment insurance, Keller can show his complete work history. Since the system is based on personal fingerprints and creates a complete history of any modifications, Keller can prove that the company’s records are correct.

“WaspTime has streamlined our payroll system and given me the ability to be more productive. I am able to manage my workload, instead of it managing me,” Keller said.

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