As the working world continues to grow, change and evolve, an increasing number of businesses are looking to take advantage of the invention of new technology to improve efficiency, boost results, and increase the safety and security of their workplaces.
Biometric technology is one area that has become prevalent in a number of businesses, and a growing number of organizations are taking advantage of this to boost their workforce and enjoy the results.
Facial recognition in particular is becoming increasingly popular in monitoring attendance and managing employees, and we will take a closer look at the advantages that can come from using this technology, and the benefits that it can offer your business.
What Is Biometric Technology?
Before we explore the benefits of facial recognition for improving attendance, it is worth taking a moment to consider the basics of this technology.
Biometric technology is a method of identifying an individual and authenticating their identity, through the use of a physical or biological characteristic such as fingerprints, facial recognition, or even retina scans.
The technology has grown from strength to strength over the last few decades, with software and systems becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex as ideas and materials evolve. Facial recognition is one of the latest leaps and is a popular tool in a number of industries.
Facial Recognition
Facial recognition as a concept can be traced back to the 1970s when there was a move towards more accurate identification methods through computer science.
Since then, technological advancements have made facial recognition more feasible, and its use is rapidly expanding across different sectors, with many companies now offering products that utilize the technology on a daily basis.
The process works by capturing digital images of faces and comparing them against a database of previously collected data.
The captured image is then matched to the information stored within the system, which will either return a match location or not depending on whether the person is in the database or not.
In some cases, the user may need to provide their name and ID card details directly, but if they don’t, the system should still allow the correct person to be identified based on their face.
This makes biometric technology particularly useful in areas where people’s names aren’t provided, such as attendance systems.
The application of biometric technology varies greatly, with many organizations now turning to this method for identifying employees, customers, and even visitors to establishments.
It can also be used for tracking individuals, helping to prevent criminal activity, for authenticating transactions, and even controlling access to restricted areas.
Face-recognition technology in its current form has been around since the 1990s, and it continues to develop rapidly today – however, the way it’s being implemented differs between industries, and there are different benefits for different industries and businesses.
Who Uses Biometric Systems?
Facial recognition systems are designed to work with people who attend events, stores, banks, offices, schools, venues, and other public locations.
These include places like airports, shopping centers, hospitals, and universities, where surveillance cameras might be installed to help deter theft, prevent fraud, and monitor employee attendance accurately.
Another industry often associated with this technology is retail, where there are numerous examples of retailers utilizing CCTV to ensure that only authorized personnel enter stores, and identify shoplifters in real-time.
Other applications for facial recognition include security: retailers and businesses may choose to install biometric systems for various reasons, including customer security, fraud prevention, and ensuring staff attendance at designated times.
They may opt for facial recognition over other forms of biometrics because it offers greater accuracy and less error rate than fingerprinting while retaining the ability to identify a wider range of people, including non-human entities such as pets and dolls (i.e., for baby monitoring systems).
Unlike other approaches, it doesn’t require direct contact with the individual, meaning that privacy is maintained.
What Biometric Technology Does Today?
To date, most biometric systems have relied on simple static snapshots to verify an individual’s identity. These methods include fingerprints, iris scans, eye retinas, handprints, palm prints, voiceprints, and DNA.
However, when it comes to identification, all modern biometric technologies require two things:
- A clear view of the face, complete with a frontal view and high resolution;
- Accurate data to compare against.
When a system attempts to match up faces, it must first be calibrated by taking multiple images from the same person under many different lighting conditions.
The best way to do this is using a “familiarization phase”, which involves having several individuals take photos under various environmental variables, such as in daylight versus night, indoors versus outdoors, during movement versus stillness, etc.
This process helps the algorithm learn the characteristics of each individual’s face. Once a database has been established, any subsequent image captured will be compared against it to confirm that both images belong to the same person.
In the case of a security system, after calibration, new individuals attempting to access a location would need to be checked against the database to determine whether they were authorized or not.
Facial recognition is the most commonly used method because it is reliable, relatively painless, requires little training, and can be used for large groups.
It does however have some drawbacks such as false positives due to changes in lighting and angle, difficulty distinguishing between identical twins, and difficulties matching across gender and race.
The Benefits Of Adding Face Recognition Security
Security is vital for businesses, especially those operating in highly trafficked areas, which means their risk is higher than others. In addition to theft and fraud, business owners also need to protect themselves against malicious attacks by intruders and hackers.
At present, the majority of businesses don’t use biometric security solutions. This is mainly down to cost, but businesses adopting these types of measures could see substantial savings through reduced fraud rates and improved employee accountability.
Employee Accountability
One of the main advantages of implementing biometrics is its ability to monitor employees 24/7, preventing them from being able to leave work without permission.
For example, if an employee forgets to report to work, biometric controls can be instantly activated, allowing management to track down the individual.
Another advantage is that biometric IDs allow managers to keep records of who entered what area, eliminating the possibility of someone forgetting to log out or leaving early.
This also offers advantages for tracking attendance; you know exactly who is in the building at any given time.
Improving Security And Controlling Access To Workplaces
One of the main advantages of biometric systems is their ability to increase safety and security across the workplace.
A unique aspect of each employee is used to verify that the employee is who they say they are – fingerprint authentication, in particular, can be very useful in verifying the identity of employees.
These extra measures add another level of security to the traditional logins, employee badges, and PINs, and can help to keep a workplace more secure.
Access can be adjusted so that certain employees cannot access certain rooms, and systems can be updated quickly in the event of an employee leaving the organization – there is no need to worry about keys being retained or codes being memorized, as you can simply update the system to not recognize that fingerprint or retina scan.
In addition to security, biometrics can also be used in time clocks to ensure accuracy.
When a biometric time clock is paired with the employee and attendance system of your business, you can allow your employees not only to confirm their identity and access the building using their biometrics but also to clock in and out of the workplace before and after their shift.
This helps to boost efficiency as well as security and makes it easier to keep track of employees at any given time.
Facial recognition systems aren’t just useful for verifying identities, they can also be used to continuously monitor people’s movements within a facility. If an intruder enters the premises, cameras can scan their face every time they pass through a door.
As soon as they enter, the system issues an alert, which prompts staff to investigate. Should the intruder try to get away, a facial capture can identify them, alerting the relevant authorities.
Eliminate The Risk Of Time Theft
Another major advantage of using biometrics within your business is the way in which they can help to reduce the risk of time theft by your employees.
With a more traditional clock or system, it can be easy for employees to abuse the system – and this can be by a genuine accident, such as logging the wrong time or having a watch that is set slightly fast or slow – or deliberate – for example, asking a buddy to clock them in early if they are running late, allowing them to benefit from extra pay and avoid reprimands.
These situations are considered theft of time, and can have large repercussions for businesses; an extra fifteen minutes pay when nothing has been produced can quickly add up, putting the company at a financial disadvantage.
Morally, the practice of time theft is also disadvantageous to other honest employees, who are working hard and may be paid less.
By using biometrics, you can ensure that only that specific employee can clock in or out at any given time – this is useful for tracking attendance, and also ensures that all employees are only clocking hours that they are genuinely working.
A biometric system can also reduce time wasted – when there is just one thing to do, the whole process of clocking in or out is sped up.
Reduce Issues With Payroll
As we have seen, using a biometric system can reduce the risk of your employees falsifying time records and shift patterns, but employees are not the only people involved in administering and running the payroll.
Within a typical system, there could be up to three people involved in the payroll of each employee – the employee themselves, their manager, and an HR or payroll team member.
This means that there are three potential places where errors can be made, and this can be expensive in terms of both time and money.
One example is when a time card is used to clock in and out of a shift – in this case, there may be a glitch in the system, resulting in the specific tap failing to register. This will go unnoticed until the employee receives their paycheck, and realizes that they have lost a day’s pay.
Alternatively, an HR employee may mistype a single number when copying data, resulting in the figures being altered and a day’s pay being deducted.
Even a single days’ loss of pay can have serious repercussions for employees on a budget, and may in turn impact other elements, such as pension contributions, level of tax paid, and access to benefits – a single error can cause a lot of problems.
Not only does this take time and money to rectify – new calculations need to be done, and new paychecks issued – but it can also have a negative impact on staff morale and motivation.
Biometrics ensures that the data is taken straight from the clock-in station to the payroll software and wage generation, a process that not only saves time but improves accuracy and reduces the risk of confusion or error.
What Are The Limitations Of Facial Recognition?
Facial recognition applications are becoming more popular and affordable, but there are a few limitations you should know about before going ahead with your own implementation.
Not Foolproof
Firstly, facial recognition technology isn’t foolproof. Your employees may look very similar to one another, making it difficult to tell them apart.
Issues With Accuracy
Secondly, there’s currently no way to prove how accurate our facial recognition systems really are. Because of this, many employers still prefer to rely on passwords.
Updates Required
Thirdly, facial recognition technology is only effective when it’s up-to-date. Without regular upgrades, your system won’t be able to distinguish between different faces.
Ethical Issues
Fourthly, there’s nothing stopping you from using facial recognition software as a form of entertainment. However, any application that uses images of people must first seek approval from ethics boards – something that is often overlooked when applying new technologies to the workplace.
Should Be Used In Conjunction With Other Methods
Finally, remember that even though facial recognition is increasingly common, it will never replace passwords entirely. You should always ensure that you employ strong authentication methods both online and offline whenever possible.
Final Thoughts
Using face recognition in your attendance management system is a great idea. If implemented properly, it will help eliminate certain security issues and make your payroll process much smoother, as well as helping to negate attendance issues.
It’s important to note, however, that implementing face recognition on its own won’t mean the end of your attendance system – this is a tool to be used alongside existing measures.
Once again, your decision to use face recognition must be underpinned by solid online and offline security measures that prevent unauthorized access to protect the safety and security of the business.
