Farmer’s Building, Feed & Garden Supply switches to TimeClock Plus for time tracking support

After years of using TimeClock Plus for time and attendance, Farmer’s Building, Feed & Garden Supply (Farmer’s) switched to another vendor — and then returned to TimeClock Plus for better flexibility, integrations, and support.

Farmer’s struggled with bugs in the interim vendor’s system, along with unreliable customer support to resolve those bugs with the urgency required.

“We were just getting frustrated because of all the little bugs. And then there were some times when support was not available at all,” says Victor Vieyra, Farmer’s IT Manager. “If I can’t fix it, and I can’t reach out to anybody, that’s a problem.”

The solution fell short in other important areas: It didn’t integrate with Farmer’s payroll system, and it couldn’t support multiple geofences.

When it came time to renew the contract or move on, leaders chose to move on: “We said, ‘Let’s go with what we know. We know it offers integration. We know it offers everything we’re looking for.’”

SOLUTION AND RESULTS

With time clocks, geofencing, payroll integration, and customer support, TimeClock Plus gave Farmer’s leaders the solution that would best serve their business.

Employees use it to track their time and accruals, and the organization’s human resources department uses it to onboard new employees.

ACCURATE TIME TRACKING AND PAYROLL

With TimeClock Plus, employees can use an onsite kiosk or the app on their mobile to clock in, clock out, and more.

Kiosks are important because not every employee has a smartphone. But mobile access is important, too, since employees sometimes have to go to different stores for training. Flexible geofencing makes it easy for them to log their time accurately, even if they’re assigned to a different location.

“I like that I can make multiple geofences for different departments or different stores,” Vieyra says.

That accuracy is essential to getting payroll right. Also essential? The seamless integration between TimeClock Plus and Farmers’ payroll system, which eliminates the need for entering employee time by hand.

“In the past, we were having to do manual entries,” Vieyra says. “We’d use the time system and then key it into our payroll system, and with all that hand keying—the more hands touching, the greater likelihood for error.”

EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

Beyond tracking hours, employees can use TimeClock Plus to request time off. This has simplified the entire request process and ensures that requests don’t get lost in the shuffle of day-to-day workflows.

“It was a transition to get away from time off request paperwork, where we had papers floating around everywhere,” Vieyra says.

“Now, they’re using the kiosks, and that was the turning point that helped us get off the paperwork.”

“Now, they’re using the kiosks, and that was the turning point that helped us get off the paperwork.”

Accruals are easier to manage, too. Not only can employees see their accruals in real time, but company leaders can configure accruals based on the internal criteria and policies.

“That wasn’t so easy in the past because Farmer’s had a lot of variables to keep in mind”, Vieyra says.

“Between years of service, expirations, and the accrual rates, TimeClock Plus helped us figure that out.”

STREAMLINED PROCESSES

TimeClock Plus allows Farmer’s leaders to track and generate reports on employee attendance, a key component of employee performance measure.

It also allows them to store information like when an employee was hired, their birth date, and contact information. Those kinds of details are important not only for typical human resources purposes, but creative one too.

“I use it to look up things like employee birthdays, so I can put those on the TV displays in our stores,” Vieyra says. “Just a small way to celebrate them.”

TIMELY SUPPORT

Beyond the accuracy, convenience, and functionality of a centralized time and attendance solution, it’s important to Vieyra and his company that they get the support they need when questions arise.

If Vieyra can’t fix an issue, he needs to have confidence that answers are within immediate reach. Employees and the company as a whole depend on continuity. He has that confidence with TCP.

“There are some competitors that don’t respond quickly or prioritize us. So the support we get from TCP makes us feel, as a smaller business compared to those big enterprises, that we are valued and can reach out.

“I don’t know how to better explain it. I like that TimeClock Plus just does so much. I know that it just works.”

“I like that TimeClock Plus just does so much. I know that it just works.”

“That’s my biggest concern as an IT leader—I don’t like downtime. I don’t like bugs. Everything I’ve seen, it’s what I expect in a product for time tracking.”