I knew this was gonna happen evetually...

[Dreamstalker]

We have two touchscreen timeclocks. One is behind the registers/service desk, the other is in plain view right by the restrooms (with an "Employee Use Only" sign on it, like that's gonna mean anything). Myriad problems with this arrangement, mainly a severe bottleneck. I've been late clocking out on occasion because there's been a line...and a shocking number of CWs who still have No Clue Whatsoever how to use the thing.

Now I think J has some ammunition to go to the manager and ask him why he thought that was a good placement. I was late coming back from break because a toddler was playing with the screen and had somehow gotten into the employee list (I don't even know how to do that from the timeclock screen. I doubt she could have done anything serious without a manager code, but with this setup who knows?) Mom was nowhere to be found until she heard me "yelling at" her kid. I was completely polite asking her to please not touch that as it's for workers who need to get back to work, kiddo was the one wanting to play with the screen and mom didn't seem to see the problem until a line formed behind me and one of the chefs (who was going back on the line so needed to punch back in at that second) actually got snarky at her.

Another unintended consequence of giving toddlers tablets to keep them occupied; some will think that any screen they can get to is theirs to be played with.

[Food Lady]

That "mom" should have been doing nothing but apologizing for her kid. Ugh.

[Dreamstalker]

Some parents are responsible, some try to fob the parenting part off on us (not happening, I'll warn your kid ONCE--maybe twice if they start doing something dangerously dumb--and then comes a manager or security), and some are just plain entitled. Speshul snowflakes who will save the world and all... It's worse around here due to the high-end reputation of the mall.

(this never would have happened if the clock was in an employee-only area as it should be, so maybe this is ultimately an MiM story)

[LadyofArc]

One of our local supermarkets has a very similar arrangement, minus the touchscreen part. In their case, the timeclock is located about halfway down their health and beauty aisle. Only reason I can think of for putting it there is because there's a lot of items that are vulnerable to theft in that area???

[Dreamstalker]

That's weird. My last job had one in the upstairs office, and one in back by the loading dock; both employee-only areas. I can't really think of any good reason to have one on the general salesfloor; that seems like it would invite SCs demanding help before someone is actually punched in, thus making them late (or demanding help right as someone is about to punch out, also making them late).

[notalwaysright]

I can't really think of any good reason to have one on the general salesfloor

A good reason? No. But a good "for the company" reason? Here's one. "If you put a time clock in the break room or stock room, employees will clock in and then stay in the back, avoiding work like the lazy dumb-dumbs they are!"

The fabric store only had time clocks on computers, which were on the sales floor and in the office. At my current work, a couple people DO clock in and then stay in the break room to eat breakfast or whatever. But, this is not most people. Plus, it's only a few minutes and not the end of the world. Here's how it backfired at the fabric store. For most of the time I worked there, the rule was: Put your junk away and then clock in, end of story. Then after multiple manager turnovers, it became: Walk in the door a few minutes late, rush to the computer at the cutting counter to clock in (less chance of anyone who cared seeing you) then disappear into the break room for 10-15 minutes.

The moral of this is, the way employees are treated makes a big difference on how much time they waste. Treat them like crap and hide in the office and you get a small army of time wasters, regardless of where the time clock is located. I would lobby for a time clock not visible to customers, because people go soooo mad if I refused to help them while on my way to clock in, or I had to interrupt someone looking up an item on the computer. Unnecessary.

[Dreamstalker]

I've been lobbying for a time clock in the warehouse, maybe one that's not obvious and can only be used by certain departments that have a reason to be back there. I can see wanting to make sure people don't gather and slack off, but why should those of us who have an actual work ethic be penalized? (by way of being forced to punch 'late' because of a line/etc and then having to get a manager to fix it)

I will occasionally clock in and then dump my stuff, but only when I know dumping my stuff beforehand will make me late enough to need an override.

[notalwaysright]

I can see wanting to make sure people don't gather and slack off, but why should those of us who have an actual work ethic be penalized?

I don't agree with the idea of a time clock in the back somewhere encouraging laziness, I just know that it's the reasoning a company might use. People will be lazy or late or whatever, regardless of location. Being treated well goes a long way to make people less likely to steal time. I can think of one person (a manager) who gets away with this all the time, and it drives everyone insane. He clocks in and then goes in the bathroom forever, and such. But the vast majority don't do this.

[Shyla]

Notalwaysright is correct. Those who already slack off will do it no matter where the time clock is. Most will just punch in and move on.

[Dreamstalker]

The biggest issue is the bottleneck (not only CWs waiting to punch, but also customers using the bathrooms) and people just not knowing how to use the damn thing so they stand there looking at it and blocking anyone else from using it until someone yells at them...

Now they've enabled something in the system that we're finding out won't let you punch back in 'on time' from a 30 minute break. I went at 1:15. When I returned to punch back in at 1:45, I get "Your break isn't over yet" and couldn't actually get back in until 1:46 (and J got a notification that I was 'late' coming off break )

[Minflick]

Dayforce? My prior company had that. OMG..... Such a pain in the patoot! Or your schedule would change during the day (dead day, you're going home early enough that your lunch changes from an hour to half an hour) and Dayforce will NOT let you clock back in at the 30 minute mark, the mgr has to fix it later on. If she remembers. So glad to not be using that system anymore.

[Dreamstalker]

This is Homebase. The 'your break isn't over yet' thing didn't start until last week, J didn't even know it was an actual feature. Only thing I can think of is that some people working more than six hours weren't taking their full (mandated by state law) 30-minute unpaid break; the company could get in a bit of trouble then. Employees needing to message a manager to fix a 'late' punch was probably considered acceptable if the base problem got fixed.

[Dreamstalker]

I just noticed something new on the Homebase app. When you punched for your break, it used to say "Be back at [time]." Now there's an actual countdown timer....and if you're even a second late punching back in and/or it rolls into the next minute--as happened today because some of the idjits I work with think the hallway between the break room and timeclock is a fine place for social hour--it's 'recorded' on the dashboard ("X's break ended at 1:30.57, punched back in at 1:31.00"). That's super annoying; you don't know if it's counting you as officially "late".