Replacing the time clock

The digital time clock: what replaces the punch clock

A digital time clock is a device on the wall that people clock at with a card. The difference from the old punch clock lies behind the device: the entry lands directly in the time account, instead of on a card somebody types up at the month end.

  • Hold up the card, and clocking in and out alternate by themselves
  • No fingerprint, no face image
  • Keeps booking when the network goes down, and delivers afterwards

Last checked on4. September 2026

What changes compared with the punch clock

The mechanical punch clock did one job well: it was incorruptible and everybody could use it the same way. What it could not do was everything that comes after clocking.

The punch clock and the digital time clock compared

  • Where the entry lands

    Mechanical punch clock
    on a paper card in the device
    Digital time clock
    directly in that person's time account

  • What happens at the month end

    Mechanical punch clock
    read the cards and type them up
    Digital time clock
    nothing, the report is ready

  • Checking against the ArbZG

    Mechanical punch clock
    none
    Digital time clock
    as you enter, with a warning

  • Correcting an entry

    Mechanical punch clock
    by hand on the card
    Digital time clock
    as a request, with a decision and a timestamp

  • If the device fails

    Mechanical punch clock
    slips of paper and a signature
    Digital time clock
    the app or the browser, the same time account

MetronHR does not round: what is clocked stands in the time account to the minute. Neither to quarter hours nor to the start of a shift.

Moving on from the old clock

The switch happens on a cut-off date, usually the first of a month. Until then the old clock keeps running, and after it the new device hangs beside it or in the same place. There is no need to run both for weeks, because both do the same thing: record the moment.

The old clock cards do not go in the bin. For the months gone by they are the record, and under § 16 (2) of the Working Hours Act that has to be kept for at least two years. So they stay where they are and nothing is transferred.

What changes for the staff is small: their own card instead of the paper one, holding it up instead of pushing it in. What changes for the administration is all the rest.

  • The entry lands in the time account; nobody reads cards.
  • A wrong entry is corrected through a request, not overwritten by hand.
  • The report for payroll is ready at the month end.
  • If the device fails, people clock in the browser or in the app, into the same time account.

What the device costs

There is no surcharge for the software; the terminal belongs to the normal plan. What is needed is an Android device with NFC, which you can supply yourself, plus a card for each person who clocks at the terminal.

The terminal app reaches the device through a setup code, with no cable and no installation media. After that it runs in kiosk mode, so with this one application only. Several devices are possible, per entrance or per site for example, each with its own location name.

Frequent questions

What we are asked most often about Replacing the time clock.

The clocking feels the same; the route afterwards does not. The punch clock writes to a paper card somebody has to read and transfer. The digital time clock writes into that person's time account, where the target hours, the balance and the report already sit.

An Android device with NFC and a card for each person. You can supply the device yourself; a tablet on the wall will do. There is no surcharge on the software price and no obligation to buy hardware from us.

They stay where they are. For the months gone by they are the record and fall under the retention period of at least two years under § 16 (2) of the Working Hours Act. Nothing is transferred: the switch happens on a cut-off date, and everything before it stays in its old form.

Then people clock in the browser or in the app, into the same time account. With a plain network outage not even that happens: the terminal buffers the entries and delivers them once it is reachable again. Unlike with a punch clock, the business does not stop.

No. What is clocked stands in the time account to the minute, with no rounding to quarter hours and no shifting to the start of a shift. That is a deliberate decision: rounding at the expense of employees is open to challenge in employment law, and the dispute costs more than it brings in.

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