Templates and software are the two best ways to easily implement an employee attendance tracking system. Let’s take a look at each of them.

1. Employee attendance tracker templates

If you’re looking for a customizable and user-friendly solution, consider implementing an attendance tracking template.

Templates are spreadsheets with preformatted layouts that help to streamline data entry. The type of template you select will depend on your business needs and the information you want to keep track of.

Direct supervisors, managers, team leaders, and HR personnel typically track employee attendance.

Here are a few examples of employee attendance tracker templates:

Daily employee attendance tracker

This type of attendance sheet simply tracks employee attendance by day. Here’s how to get one going:

1. Create a row for each employee you’re tracking.

2. In the left-hand column, add their name, job title, department, and any other relevant information.

3. The next column will reflect their attendance. Create simple codes to reflect “in attendance,” “personal leave,” “sick leave,” “vacation leave,” and “no-show.”

4. Then, add two columns: one for “Time In” and another for “Time Out.” If your employees are entitled to breaks, you may want to add a final “Break Time” column.

Monthly employee attendance tracker

To get a broader view of employee attendance, you might prefer tracking every month instead. The tracker will automatically tally employees’ absence rates, giving you a clear picture of who is in the office and why others are out.

1. Identify the month and year.

2. Create a row for each employee.

3. In the left-hand column, add the employee’s name, job title, department, and any other relevant information.

4. Add columns for each day of the month in question.

5. Use your preferred codes to reflect whether employees are in attendance, out on leave, or no-shows.

Daily shift-based attendance tracker

A shift-based attendance tracker works well for those who manage multiple shifts.

1. Identify the day in question.

2. Create a row for each employee.

3. In the left-hand column, add the employee’s name, job title, department, and any relevant information.

4. Add columns for the relevant shifts. You can specify by the type of shift (e.g., day, swing, night) or the shift times (e.g., 8 am to 8 pm, 8 pm to 8 am, etc.).

5. Use your preferred codes to reflect when employees are in attendance. You can either grayscale or add a code for “not scheduled” for the other columns if you’d prefer.

Employee leave attendance tracker

You might want to track your employees’ leave requests separately, too.

1. Identify the year in question.

2. Create a row for each employee.

3. In the left-hand column, add the employee’s name, job title, department, and any other relevant information.

4. Add columns for each leave type you’re tracking, such as sick, vacation, personal, jury, or FMLA.

5. Add sub-rows for Spent Leave and Available Leave within each column for each employee. These sub-rows will then generate monthly totals for review in the final column.

Pros of attendance tracker templates

There are some advantages to using employee attendance sheets or employee attendance tracker templates:

• Tracking templates are easy to implement and use, with only a small learning curve.

• Managers and HR personnel can quickly access the templates through shared cloud-based systems.

• Templates are customizable and adaptable to any type of tracking system.

• Templates are an affordable option for smaller or budget-conscious businesses tracking their employee attendance.

Challenges of using attendance tracker templates

Using tracker templates does come with challenges:

• The manual entry required is time-consuming.

• Manually entering data is more prone to human error and inaccuracies.

• Templates stored in cloud-based systems may be more susceptible to data breaches.

• Users don’t have access to advanced features and analytics with templates.

How to set up an employee attendance tracker template

Setting up an employee attendance tracker template is quick and easy, especially with the range of free offerings available.

Lark’s Employee Attendance Sheet is easy to set up, monitor, and maintain. With it, you can:

• Monitor your employees’ punctuality for each scheduled workday or shift.

• Maintain compliance with labor and employment laws by monitoring overtime and avoiding overwork.

• Calculate each employee’s work hours and leave time for payroll.

• Quickly identify signs of absenteeism or other attendance-related issues.

• Maintain accurate records for performance evaluations, disciplinary reasons, or audits.

• Streamline attendance management (and save valuable time) with just a few clicks.

Here’s how to get started with the Lark Employee Attendance Sheet:

1. Click the blue “Use template” button in the top-right corner to sign up for Lark.

2. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll see the Lark Attendance Sheet Template on Lark Base. Click “Use template” again to copy it to your workspace.

3. Customize the template according to your business needs.

With Lark’s attendance sheet, you can be up and running in just a few easy steps. You’ll have everything you need to maintain accurate and compliant employee attendance records.

2. Employee attendance tracker software

While templates are a quick and easy way to track employee attendance, they have limitations. Consider employee attendance tracking software if you’re looking for an even better solution.

The Lark Attendance app allows HR personnel and managers to manage shifts, record attendance, review leave and overtime requests, and gain data-driven insights. Employees can use the Attendance app to clock in and out, check their attendance history, and submit requests for leave, overtime, or corrections.

Need more proof? Here’s why the Lark Attendance app is the best way to track employee attendance:

Pros of attendance tracker software

This app offers a number of clear benefits for managers and employees:

• Administrators set up the company rules for employee attendance from the outset.

• Both employers and employees can manage and review onsite and offsite attendance in real time.

• Employees can clock in and out of their workdays in multiple ways.

• Leave and overtime requests are all submitted, reviewed, and approved or denied through the app.

• Managers can customize and export reports based on desired attendance data immediately.

Features of attendance tracker software

The Lark Attendance app also includes multiple features that streamline the attendance-tracking process:

• Establish employee clock-in/out rules.

• Determine location and GPS rules for employee arrival and departure.

• Enable a photo clock-in/out method.

• Provide a mobile or desktop clock-in/out system.

• Make, review, and approve requests for attendance corrections, leave, overtime, business trips, and more.

• Add multiple administrators, depending on your monitoring and approval needs.

• Export attendance data, leave balance, and overtime accrual as needed.

Types of attendance tracking

The Lark Attendance app makes it easy to track different types of employee attendance, including the following:

• Fixed shift attendance

• Big/small shift attendance

• Remote or offsite attendance

• Free shift attendance

• Express attendance

Records and statistical reporting

Lark Attendance allows you to access employee attendance data and run reports based on your business needs. With it, you can:

• Customize the settings for your attendance reports by filtering for a specific time range, attendance group, department, terminated or transferred employees, or current employees only.

• Generate daily statistics, including up-to-date information on each employee’s job description, department, and direct supervisor.

• Gather information about attendance time, results, and any notes. For example, you’ll see whether an employee has requested an attendance correction.

• Review employee attendance duration statistics, including required duration, actual duration, and payable duration. Monitor issues such as late clock-ins, very late clock-ins, and early clock-outs.

• Look at the exceptions, such as leave type and duration, business trip days, day and number of shift swaps, offsite and overtime duration, and more.

• Generate monthly statistics for employees, including required days, actual work durations, and exceptions.

• View an entire team’s attendance data.

• Set the different time zone rules for remote or global employees.

• Send out timesheet verification requests for employees to quickly complete and submit corrections if needed.

How to set up the Lark Attendance tracking feature

Once you’ve established your Lark account, follow these steps to start your attendance management.

1. From the desktop, click on your Lark profile picture in the top-right corner and select “Admin Console.”

2. Select “Workplace” from the left-side menu, then click on “App Management.” From there, find and click on the Attendance app.

3. The app will automatically include all members or employees. If you’d prefer to limit access, click on “Configuration” and change the scope to select the number of employees you want.

4. Click “Go to App Admin Console” on the main app page to set your attendance admin.

5. You can now use the left-side menu from this page to complete the following actions.

• Set attendance rules for groups or shifts.

• View attendance reports, including daily and monthly statistics.

• Manage leave and overtime requests.

• Determine the attendance administrators who must have access.

Here’s how to complete these actions in more detail:

Set attendance rules

1. Create a new attendance group.

2. Fill out the Basic Info for the group, including the group name and the relevant departments.

3. Continue to Shift Selection, where you can choose from Fixed, Scheduled, or Free shift options. You can keep the default selections for each or adjust accordingly.

Complete the prompts according to the shift, keeping in mind that you won’t be able to change the type once you’ve established a group.

4. Identify the Attendance Method for your group. You can choose from Clock-in/out by GPS or WiFi.

Set multiple attendance methods per group if you’d like the members to have an option.

5. Head to Attendance Settings if you’d like additional rules. For example, if your company offers a remote work option, you can establish that setting here.

Once you complete your information, click “Confirm” to give your employees access.

View attendance data

Go to “Attendance Admin,” then “Attendance Statistics.”

1. Set your filter conditions, including the time range and attendance group.

2. Select “Daily Statistics” or “Monthly Summary.”

3. View each employee’s basic information, including their name, employee type, date of employment, status, direct supervisor, department, and employee ID and contact information.

4. View attendance information:

Attendance time is when each clock-in/out record is generated.

Attendance results provide additional information, such as “no attendance needed” for an employee day off or non-work day.

Attendance notes include information about late arrivals or early clock-outs and employee requests for corrections.

5. View duration statistics:

Required duration or working duration won’t change with leave, overtime, or shift swap.

Actual attendance duration reflects clock-in and out times.

Payable duration combines the required and actual durations to ensure that employees are paid accurately for their work. For example, if they clock in an hour later than the required duration indicates, they won’t be automatically paid for that non-work hour.

6. Exception statistics include leave duration, leave type, days and number of shift swaps, offsite and overtime duration, corrections, and no clock-in/out records.

You can also customize your attendance reports.

1. In the upper-right corner, select “Report Settings” to view the available options.

2. Select (or deselect) your desired fields, and click “Save.”

3. Adjust the field order by clicking and dragging it to your preferred location.

4. Edit the fields as needed by placing your mouse over each one and clicking the “Edit” icon.

5. Once you’re satisfied, click “Confirm” to save your changes.

Manage employee leave and overtime

From the Attendance Admin page, select “Leave Management” and “Leave Type” to manage employee leave.

1. Create a leave type by clicking “New leave type” and choosing the appropriate template.

2. Follow the steps to create the type of leave you want. For example, if you want to choose “General Leave,” you’ll first select the General template and complete the settings on the edit page. You’ll then add the accrual rules for limited leave and set the leave rules.

You can set up leave for annual leave, nursing breaks, and compensatory leave, too.

3. Select “Edit” on the right of the Leave Type page to change the leave rules.

You can also sort and turn off different leave types. Plus, you can manage leave balances through Attendance Admin by selecting “Leave Management” and then “Leave Balance.”

View and update leave balances or export data directly from an Excel document.

Determine attendance administrators

In Administrator Settings, click the bright blue button that says, “Add Administrator.” Then, select each person’s management scope and authority within the group.