Kiosk Solutions Oct-Nov 2018 | Page 41

time & attendance to take action if necessary, without having to spend time monitoring and analysing the hours worked. Alongside the day-to-day management of sickness and absence, businesses are also able to integrate HR systems, which could allow employees to complete activities such as booking holidays, access employee handbooks and picking up extra shifts. Employees who work across several sites, who may not have fixed hours, would be able to work at different sites without having to print new passes or generate codes, and can also guarantee that their hours would be logged correctly and sent directly to the administrative team within the business. Through the use of digital sign- in kiosks, systems can be altered by employers and security to ensure that not every everyone has 24/7 access, as they may have had with traditional keys, also then preventing access to specific areas that could hold sensitive information or be dangerous for employees to enter without supervision. This means that if emergency access is required outside of working hours, sign-in systems can ensure that the workplace remains secure while providing the required access to those with correct permissions. These systems are able to assist health and safety officers, during working hours, by providing up-to-date and accurate information on those who are in the building, which they could access from a separate device to save time collecting or printing documents in potential emergencies. Integration in the workplace There are many methods in which companies can use to enable their employees to clock-in and gain access to their workspace, with different devices integrated into their kiosk. These can include: • • • • • • • PIN number pad ID tag scanner Facial recognition – this can analyse facial features to grant access Iris recognition – this uses identifying features within the iris Retina recognition – this uses the patterns of veins at the back of the eye Fingerprint recognition – this recognises the finger pattern Finger vein recognition scanner Although some companies may not need to use biometrics for employee sign-in and may find that ID cards and personal pins are secure enough, some companies may need a multi-layered approach to providing a strong security system. But this is often dependant on the business and projected security breaches. Through using bimodal systems to combine two methods, these systems can be used by many different industries, such as within the construction industry, where workers may often have damaged or cut fingers from day-to-day work, making a fingerprint method of access counter intuitive. Through using the finger vein scanner alongside another method such as a tag scanner or iris recognition, systems are able to capture and match biometric traits more successfully, making businesses more accurate and secure. By combining biometrics with a personal pin number, businesses can ensure a high level of security as a first instance of entering any premises, then using a simple fingerprint scanner internally for access to stock control or security rooms. These kiosk solutions can combine room booking software with employee sign-ins, to ensure that meeting rooms are not double booked, and are able to see which staff members are in which rooms once they’ve clocked in that day. Using clock-in kiosk solutions can help businesses combat time theft. This occurs when employees are paid for time when they were not at work, or for work that they didn’t do, which costs employers thousands of pounds every year. Traditional clock-in methods such as a personal PIN or physical sign-in sheets can make it easier for employees to claim for these hours, in ways such as: • • • Rounding up or down the minutes/ hours or paper time sheets Friends clocking in for each other by borrowing key cards or forging signatures Forgetting to swipe cards in order to avoid hours being tracked Resolving problems Digital clock-in kiosks can combat these issues, ensuring businesses can ensure the information that’s being recorded is accurate, by utilising cameras within the kiosk for facial recognition or with other built-in biometric methods. Using biometric data is created around unique identifying characteristics and are nearly impossible to forge, which provides ideal protection from any hackers or unwanted intruders, as well as being able to remove data quickly and easily to follow all data protection laws in case the employee moves on. Biometric data also means that employees will always be KIOSK solutions 41