If you are reading this then you already know what ‘buddy punching’ is and you suspect it might be occurring in your company if you don’t know what buddy punching is then clicked here to head over our previous blog post “What is Buddy Punching” otherwise read on. The reason for the name comes from the…

If you are reading this then you already know what ‘buddy punching’ is and you suspect it might be occurring in your company if you don’t know what buddy punching is then clicked here to head over our previous blog post “What is Buddy Punching” otherwise read on.

The reason for the name comes from the period of time where mechanical time clocks were very popular in large factories. The clocks worked by having the employee insert a heavy paper card, called a time card, into a slot on the time clock. When the time card hit a contact at the rear of the slot, the machine would print a timestamp or make a hole punch on the card thus ‘punching the card’, employees would punch in and punch out.“ So buddy punching is when your friend takes your card and punches you in at work when you are not there, click here to read about the implications of ‘buddy punching’, also known as time theft.

Here are the 5 signs of Buddy Punching

1. You notice some employees have a perfect a time record on their time sheet, every day is a 9.00am start and 5.00pm finish, on the dot.
2. Following on from point 1, they are at work but tasks are not being completed on schedule.
3. The employees show up at work out of the blue, after you were not able to see them all morning.
4. It’s the same handwriting on the paper time sheets as the time written on it.
5. Efficiency is low, profits are low and your payroll is still the same even though there is plenty of work to do.

Alone these signs don’t always mean ‘buddy punching’ is rampant throughout your business but put these together, add your industry and the type of payroll you have and you can make up your own mind. If at the end you do see that there could be a potential for it in your company then click here to read about how you can stop buddy punching at work, once and for all, without spending a lot, without firing anyone and without making any accusations.

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