The basics

What is a biometric attendance system?

A biometric attendance system records when staff start and finish by verifying them against a fingerprint, face or palm rather than a card, fob or PIN that can be passed to someone else. Because the credential is the person, the hours recorded belong to whoever actually worked them, and they go straight into your time and attendance records.

How it verifies each person

At enrolment the terminal maps the distinctive points of a fingerprint or face and stores them as a mathematical template. At each clocking, the live scan is matched against that template, and if it matches the clocking is accepted. The whole thing takes a second or so at the door.

What is actually stored

A template rather than a photograph of a fingerprint. It is a set of measurements, not an image file, and it is not designed to be turned back into one. For facial recognition, an administrator can view the enrolled face within a restricted, access logged part of the software.

That template is still biometric data, and biometric data used to identify someone is special category data under UK GDPR. It being a template rather than a picture makes it safer to hold; it does not remove your obligations. Our data security page sets out what is held and where.

Data protection

Biometric data and UK GDPR

This is the part that stalls most biometric purchases, and it is worth understanding before you commit rather than after. Used to identify someone, biometric data is special category data under UK GDPR, which brings obligations you carry as the employer. What we can do is tell you what those are, build the system so meeting them is practical, and set out on our data security page exactly what is held and where.

Templates, not image files

Terminals hold a mathematical template rather than a photograph of a fingerprint. It is a set of measurements and is not designed to be turned back into an image. For facial recognition, an administrator can view the enrolled face inside a restricted, access logged area of the software.

A genuine choice for staff

The ICO expects an alternative to be available, because consent that cannot be refused is not consent. Our terminals also take card, fob and PIN, so someone who does not want to give a fingerprint has a real option rather than a theoretical one. See our clocking terminals.

You will need a DPIA

Biometric processing to identify people will normally require a data protection impact assessment before you start. It is a document rather than an ordeal, and our guide to UK GDPR and attendance data covers what belongs in it.

Deletion is a two-step job

Deleting an employee removes their record and template from the database. Terminals keep their own copy so they work offline, so the leaver has to be removed at the terminal as well. Both steps are needed for the right to erasure, and it is the step most people miss. We explain how deletion works in full.

Choosing a method

Fingerprint or facial recognition, which is better?

Neither is better in the abstract. The right answer depends on where the terminal goes, what your staff have on their hands when they arrive, and how many people clock in at once.

Fingerprint

  • Touch and go, which keeps a queue moving at shift change
  • Works in direct sunlight, where face readers can struggle
  • Unaffected by glasses, beards, hats or a new haircut
  • Enrol more than one finger, so a cut does not stop someone clocking
  • Enrol centrally with a USB enroller, from the HR office
  • Struggles with wet, dirty, dusty or heavily worn hands, which rules it out on some sites

Facial recognition

  • Contactless, with no surface to touch and nothing to clean
  • Works where staff wear gloves or have hands that defeat a fingerprint reader
  • A glance to clock in, with nothing to carry or lose
  • Re-enrol in moments if someone’s appearance changes
  • Best mounted out of direct sunlight, so the position matters
  • Enrolment happens at the device rather than centrally

In practice, offices and warehouses usually go fingerprint, and food production, engineering and anywhere with gloves or dirty hands usually goes face or palm. If you are unsure, book a demo and we will tell you which suits your site rather than which we would rather sell.

Employee clocking in with GPS verification on the Computime Syncro Connect mobile app

Away from a terminal

For staff who never pass a fixed device

A biometric terminal only works for people who walk past it. Engineers, drivers and anyone going straight from home to a customer’s site will not, and no amount of good hardware fixes that. For those staff the Syncro Connect app records the clocking from their own phone, with GPS captured at the point of clocking.

  • Clocking from anywhere, with the location recorded at that moment
  • Works offline and syncs when signal returns
  • App and terminal clockings on one timesheet within Syncro Connect, ready for payroll

Start A Conversation

Biometric attendance FAQs

The questions employers and their staff ask before putting biometrics in. If yours is not here, call the Leeds team on 0113 350 9043.

What is a biometric attendance system?
A biometric attendance system records when staff start and finish by identifying them from a physical characteristic, usually a fingerprint, face or palm, rather than a card or PIN. At enrolment the terminal converts the scan into a mathematical template; at each clocking it matches the live scan against that template. Because the credential is the person rather than something they carry, the hours recorded belong to whoever actually worked them.
Is biometric clocking legal in the UK?
Yes, and thousands of UK businesses use it, but there is more to put in place than with cards. Biometric data used to identify someone is special category data under UK GDPR, so you need an appropriate lawful basis and a condition for processing special category data, staff must be told clearly what is held and why, and a data protection impact assessment will normally be expected before you start. The ICO’s biometric guidance sets it out, and it is shorter and plainer than people expect.
Can an employee refuse to give their fingerprint?
Yes, and you should plan for it rather than treat it as awkwardness. The ICO’s position is that if you rely on consent, it has to be freely given, which means an alternative that does not disadvantage the person who takes it. Our terminals also read cards, fobs and PINs, so someone who declines biometrics can still clock in the same queue at the same terminal. In practice a handful of people in any workforce will say no, and a system that cannot accommodate them creates a problem you did not need.
Do you store an image of my fingerprint?
No. What is stored is a template: a set of measurements taken from the distinctive points of the scan, held as data rather than as a picture, and not designed to be turned back into one. That makes it safer to hold than an image would be, but it is still biometric data and still special category data, so it is treated accordingly rather than treated as ordinary. Our data security page sets out where it sits and who can reach it.
What happens to the data when someone leaves?
Deleting the employee removes their record and template from the database, but the terminals keep their own copy so they can work when the network is down, so the leaver has to be removed at the terminal as well. It is two steps rather than one, and it is the step most businesses miss. Worth building into your leaver process on day one, because a former employee’s fingerprint template sitting on a terminal two years later is exactly the sort of thing that is difficult to explain.
Does biometric clocking stop buddy punching?
It makes it far harder, which is the honest answer. A card can be handed over in the car park and a PIN can be shared over the phone; a fingerprint cannot be passed to a colleague in any practical way. That removes the common route rather than making it theoretically impossible, and for most businesses the value is not catching anyone but ending the argument about who started when.
What if a fingerprint will not read?
It happens, and anyone who tells you otherwise has not run one. Wet, dusty, cut or heavily worn hands all cause failed reads, and some people simply have prints that scan poorly. You can enrol more than one finger, and the terminal still accepts a card or PIN as a fallback. If a good proportion of your workforce has hands like that, which is common in food production, engineering and construction, facial or palm recognition is the better starting point.
Will staff object to biometric clocking?
Some will, and the objection is usually about the unknown rather than the technology. What we see work is telling people in advance what is recorded, that it is a template rather than a photograph, who can see it, what happens when they leave, and that there is an alternative if they would rather not. Rollouts that go wrong are almost always the ones where the terminal appeared on the wall without warning.
How much does a biometric attendance system cost?
Terminals start at £395 excl. VAT as a one-off, and the software is £2 per employee per month excl. VAT for Syncro Connect. How many terminals you need depends on how many entrances you have and how many people arrive at once, which is worth a conversation rather than a guess. See our terminal range.
Can biometric terminals also control doors?
Yes. The same terminal can clock someone in and release the door, so access control and attendance become one event rather than two systems recording the same arrival. It also means one enrolment rather than enrolling everyone twice.
How long does enrolment take?
A minute or so per person. Fingerprints can be enrolled centrally with a USB enroller, so HR can do a department at a time rather than queueing everyone at a terminal; facial enrolment happens at the device. For a workforce of a hundred, plan an hour or two and do it alongside whatever briefing you are giving people about the change.
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