We shine a spotlight on the Proximity Terminal and list the good and bad points
The proximity terminal is a popular clocking solution, utilised by plenty of companies to great effect. We seem to be moving further into “the age of Biometrics” with finger-scanners, hand-scanners and facial recognition software all becoming alternative methods of clocking in. However, the proximity terminal is still going strong, and is still the overwhelming choice for thousands of companies.
With any clocking terminal, there are advantages and drawbacks. Here’s a list of the main best points concerning proximity terminals, as well as those things that perhaps are not so good.
Reliability
The Proximity Terminal is very easy to use. You could probably train an ape to do it with minimal effort. Take the swipe card or key fob, swipe it across the proximity terminal, and you’re done. That is a difficult process to get wrong, and this point alone makes the proximity terminal a very reliable device. When you’ve got a system that is simple and straight forward to use, you know you don’t have to worry about employees getting anything wrong. Reliability goes a long way to having an accurate time and attendance system, so this point cannot be stressed enough.
Versatility
There are two main methods for clocking in via a proximity terminal; using key fobs or using proximity cards. This makes the proximity terminal quite versatile. Consider that you have a number of options using these methods of clocking in. Key Fobs work wonderfully for permanent staff. The key fob easily fits on car keys or house keys making it convenient to carry around. If the employee drives to work and have the key fob on their car keys, then in order to forget the fob, they’d have to forget the car keys. Unless they’re running down the road to work before they realise, it makes it very unlikely that someone is going to forget their key fob. Similarly, the cards work very well for quickly assigning to visitors (meaning your fire register is up to date!) and they can even be used as identity cards (often kept in a lanyard worn around the neck). If you want, you can even use the swipe cards the old fashioned way; storing them next to the proximity terminal (although this does open you to the possibility of buddy clocking, which is where an employee ‘cheats’ by clocking in a colleague). The proximity terminal is a versatile system, enabling you to integrate the system into your workforce behaviours and setup.
The Buddy Clocking problem
Here’s the main drawback to the proximity terminal, and in all fairness, it’s not as bad as you may think. Yes, the proximity terminal is open to the buddy clocking problem. For those who don’t know, this is when you have employees who clock in for someone else. This almost always happens in the morning when someone is running late, and calls ahead asking someone already on site to sneakily clock them in so they don’t show up late on the system. If you plan to use the proximity terminal the “classic way”, where you have the swipe cards in racks by the side of the machine, then yes, you might just have a problem with buddy clocking. However, in reality, most companies no longer use this old fashioned method of storing swipe cards. Typically, swipe cards are kept on each employee’s person as an identity badge, so if they’re late to work, chances are good that they have their swipe card with them, meaning no one can actually clock them in at the premises. Key fobs have the same intrinsic prevention to buddy clocking. If you’re driving to work, and your key fob is on your keyring, then you can’t phone ahead because you’ve got your fob. We can’t say that a proximity terminal can completely eliminate buddy clocking, but as you can see, it’s not as common, or as easy, as might first appear.
Forgetting & Losing Fobs/Cards
If you’re using a Biometric Finger-Scanner, then you don’t have to worry about leaving your fingers at home when you go to work (and if you do, then see a medical professional right away!) however, with the proximity terminal, it might just be the case that someone forgets their key fob or swipe card. As mentioned above, with key fobs, they tend to be attached to house/car keys so they don’t often get forgotten but it can happen.
Fortunately, there is a way of coping with this predicament, and that’s to have spare clock cards kept in the office. When an employee shamefully admits they’ve left their fob/card at home, the HR person (or whoever is in charge of the time and attendance system) can simply assign one of these spare swipe cards to the employees name (whilst shaking their head and tutting!), and the employee can then use that card for the rest of the day to clock out for lunch and ending their shift, etc. The next day, they carry on using their usual fob/card and give back the temporary card. So yes, it is an issue that fobs/cards can be forgotten, causing issues, but again, it’s not something that can’t be remedied with little fuss.
There is of course the issue of someone simply losing their key fob or swipe card, and yes, this is an unfortunate drawback to giving employees things to look after. Most companies charge an employee £5 – £10 if they lose their fob or card (a small profit will be made). With any luck, it shouldn’t happen all that frequently (if an employee has a key fob and it’s on their car keys, then in order to lose the fob, they have to lose their car keys too!) and replacements are available. This is the one area where the proximity terminal loses out against the biometrics; after all, you can’t lose your finger (and if an employee does lose a finger, clocking in and out is the last of their worries!)
Cost & Efficiency
Compared to biometrics, the proximity terminal is the lesser option when it comes to cost. Not only is it a cheaper unit, it is also the most efficient when it comes to sheer numbers of employees. Consider, for example, that in order for people to clock out at a biometric terminal, it takes them about six to eight seconds. The actual ‘recognition’ process takes less than a second, but by the time the employee has stood in front of the terminal, positioned themselves, put their finger in the right place, waited for the ‘green light’ and then moved on, six seconds will have elapsed. With a proximity terminal, it’s just a couple of seconds. You can get an entire workforce out the door in ‘no time at all’ using a single proximity terminal, whereas biometrics will cause queues in larger workforces. That means for every one proximity terminal, you’d need to purchase two biometric terminals (or more) to cope with the same numbers, and the biometrics are more expensive too. This concern goes away if you don’t have throngs of people clocking out at the same time, but for sheer speed, nothing beats the proximity terminal.
These are the main points concerning the proximity terminal which, as you can see, is a real workhorse! It’s quick, it’s easy to use and it’s reliable.
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