Why it happens
- Attendance is easy to fake when it is a tap or a signature.
- Nobody sees who is at the desk.
- Pay or attendance bonuses depend on being on time.
- Rules are unclear, so people treat it as harmless.
What does not work
- Surveillance of everything, which breeds resentment and often breaks data protection rules.
- Asking people to send a message to say they have started, which anyone can send.
- Spreadsheets edited after the fact.
What works: evidence at the moment of clock-in
- A photo taken when the person clocks in.
- The location reported by the device at that moment.
- A face check against the person’s enrolled photo.
- A time-stamped record that cannot be edited quietly.
How face verification fits in
With face verification, each person enrols once with a selfie. The system turns it into a numeric signature, which is not a photograph, and uses it to confirm that the person clocking in is the same person. Companies that also use presence checks during work compare an occasional camera frame to the signature and then delete the frame.
Fair use matters as much as the technology
- Tell staff what is recorded, why and for how long.
- Get consent where the law requires it, and record it.
- Offer an alternative to people who cannot or prefer not to use face verification.
- Treat the software’s results as a prompt to talk, not proof of wrongdoing, because lighting, glasses and cameras can cause mistakes.
- Keep the data secure and delete old photos after a set period.
Set clear rules
Put your attendance rules in writing: what counts as late, what the grace period is, what happens when someone forgets to clock in, and what the consequences of falsifying a record are. Fair, clear rules matter more than any tool.