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How to catch the ghosts that inflate your weekly payroll and save money while doing it.

Companies with large work forces are often paying ghost employees that never come to work, without realising it. Once a new employee had been issued with an access card they simply pass it on to a friend who conveniently swipes on behalf of his buddy. Hence the term buddy punching. Taking fully paid leave is a cinch – simply hand your card over to your unemployed brother, tell him how to clock in and to look busy and hey presto you’re on leave.

The goal of any access control system is to only allow authorised personnel to enter specific sites. Card-based access systems can authorise pieces of plastic, but can’t distinguish who is carrying the card. Systems using personal identification numbers (PINs) require only that an individual know a specific number in order to gain entry. Biometric devices verify a person’s identity by unique, unalterable physical characteristics.

A card-based access system may appear faster initially, but as one hand geometry user pointed out, “The speed difference between a card and the hand reader is about two seconds. But you make up for it since your hand is right in front of you, versus fumbling around looking for your card.”

Return on investment

Says Clive Handley, Director of Power Controls, “Recent studies into certain organisations show that the HandKey units can give return on investment of as low as three months. Using this approach to evaluate the benefits of the system makes Hand Geometry win hands down over traditional card based systems.”

The HandKey terminal uses three-dimensional hand measurements to verify a person’s identity. Intended mainly for access control, it can be configured in standalone mode or linked with other units for centralised monitoring and data collection. A card reader emulation mode allows for simple integration with existing card-based systems that use proximity, Wiegand, magnetic stripe, or bar code-based access control.

For details contact Clive Handley of Power Controls on tel: (011) 462 6270 or e-mail: pwrcntls@iafrica.com

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