YOTEL, the affordable luxury hotel group have just installed an automated, biometric time and attendance system in their innovative European airport hotels for staff or 'crew' as YOTEL like to call them to register for duty. The new system installed by Bodet at the Heathrow, Gatwick and Schiphol sites uses full palm scanners which are connected directly to HQ and provides accurate and reliable real-time attendance data for management planning and payroll.
YOTEL's finance director Gemma Gowers commented, "YOTEL is the only airport hotel company that sells rooms by the hour, which has helped us to achieve a 200% occupancy at Heathrow. It's therefore imperative that all our hotels are fully staffed around the clock so we can provide the first class service that our customers demand. With over 70 crew employed on different rotas, it's difficult to monitor attendance accurately, especially on nights and during peak periods."
bodet-handscan-clockingWhen crew members start or end their shift, they simply place their hand onto the scanner which captures a handprint. This is then fed directly to the software on the central server at the London HQ which compares the handprint against a stored profile to identify the employee and time stamps the record. This not only eliminates our crewhaving to complete time sheets, but the system is also foolproof, providing an accurate real time record of who is on site, when they arrived and when they completed their shift.
Gowers added, "The software generates tailored management reports so that our general managers can instantly access real-time staff attendance data which can be compared with the daily rotas. They are then immediately alerted to any discrepancies and can arrange cover where required. The only manual entries we have to make are for holiday or sickness and the system then generates accurate crew attendance reports for payroll."
YOTEL outsource their payroll function, so reports are sent directly to them each month. This not only provides payroll with accurate data but, more importantly, saves time for internal HR staff and dramatically improve the whole payroll process.
Gowers added, "We can now produce meaningful management reports for each venue at the push of a button which means we can identify trends at an early stage and helps us with future planning and improving performance management. For example, if our crew stay longer than their nominated shift, then we can see if there are issues that need addressing or areas where we need additional crew and plan future manning schedules with greater accuracy. It allows us to manage our workforce more effectively and increase productivity throughout the whole operation."