A wall-mounted clocking machine works well at a single gate. It works badly when your people are spread across sites, when there is no power or signal, or when the team changes every month. Here is how to decide.
Machine or smartphone at a glance
| Wall-mounted machine | Better Times on a smartphone | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | A unit per entrance, plus installation | Use a phone you already have. Tags are posted to you. |
| Several sites | A unit at every site | One phone per supervisor, on any site |
| No power or signal | Stops working | Records offline and syncs later |
| Proof of location | Fixed location only | GPS on every clocking |
| Buddy clocking | Depends on the model | Photo on screen, plus facial recognition |
| Moving between sites | Clock out, travel, clock in again | Clock in at the new site. The old one closes automatically. |
No machine on the wall. That is the point.
A clocking machine fixes attendance to one spot. Your people then walk to it, queue at it, and get paid for the walk. Better Times moves the clock to where the work happens. The supervisor clocks the team in on site, at the workface, in 1 to 3 seconds per person.
It runs on any Android or iOS device, so there is no hardware to buy, install, wire up or repair. When a phone breaks, swap in another one and carry on.
What you get with Better Times
- Clock in by NFC tag, QR code or facial recognition, in 1 to 3 seconds per person.
- Real-time labour costs by site and cost centre.
- No limit on sites, people or devices.
- Payroll-ready Excel exports: a file already in PaySpace format, plus exports for Sage Pastel, QuickBooks and other payroll systems.
- Data protected under POPIA.
