CAMPBELL, CALIF. - January
9, 2007 - Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies today announced that 350 employees
at Montgomery General Hospital in West Virginia are using its biometric HandPunch
readers to clock in and out for their shifts, enabling the hospital to control
overtime costs and eliminate the practice of buddy punching, in which one employee
clocks in or out for another.
"Prior to using the biometric system, we had a card swipe system,"
reports Janet Tharp, payroll manager at the hospital. "Some employees found
out that they could lay their badge on a copier, copy it, laminate it, and then
it could be used to swipe in and out on the time clock. We had a department
of six people where one person would swipe everyone else in and out."
With hand geometry, however, employees could no longer practice fraudulent payroll
procedures. The hospital has saved thousands of dollars as a result of using
biometric technology.
"The system has cut costs by increasing productivity," Tharp explains.
"If an employee is gone an extra hour for lunch, they're not getting much
done. Because of this, they would require overtime. The biometric system has
eliminated overtime in departments where groups of people would cover for each
other. They are now doing the job they are supposed to do in the area they are
in, cutting out unnecessary overtime."
The HandPunch reader automatically takes a three-dimensional reading of the
size and shape of a hand and verifies the user's identity in less than one second.
Montgomery General Hospital uses seven of the biometric hand readers, which
are located on each floor of the hospital, the nursing home (a long-term care
facility) and the physician's group.
The HandPunch is able to calculate pay differentials through the function keys.
For example, nursing or Baylor pay is different on weekends and this is accounted
for by the system.
In addition, Montgomery General Hospital is able to maximize the time and use
of their RNs who go from one department to the other. Other systems had many
more steps to take to record the transfer. Recognition Systems had just one
additional step to change the department.
"If it is made too hard, employees won't do it," Tharp notes. "RNs
simply enter in their function, job code and department."
Commercial Technology Group implemented the hospital's time and attendance solution.
The HandPunch interfaces with Genesis Pro time and attendance software from
Time America.
Ingersoll Rand Recognition Systems was named a recent recipient of the Application
Market Penetration Leadership Award for access control and time and attendance
applications in Frost & Sullivan's study, World Biometrics Market. Website
is www.recognitionsystems.ingersollrand.com.