If you have employees who are working on an hourly basis, there is going to be a constant effort on their part to get in as many hours as they can. This way, they can earn more money. Unlike those who are on salary, who get paid the same amount no matter what happens, these employees can increase their earnings simply by putting in the time. Many of them will look for honest ways to do this, such as picking up overtime hours, but others will not go about it in such a trustworthy fashion. They will try to skew the results so that they get money for hours that they did not actually work.
For instance, if you use portable time clocks that can go to the job site, an employee may try to get someone else who is at work to punch him in before he really arrives and starts working. Every little bit can add up. If he has a friend who will punch him in 15 minutes early four days a week, he gets an extra hour every week. If you are paying him $25 dollars an hour, that is an extra $100 a month that he can earn. While this is dishonest, you can see why people would take the time to figure out how to work the system and get more money without actually putting in more hours.
What you need to do is to be very strict with regulating the hours right from the beginning. Tell all new employees that they will be fired if they are caught trying to cheat the system. Any time that this happens, follow through and let the person who did it go, setting an example for everyone else. If you can create an atmosphere in which they respect you and in which they know that it is not worth it to try to cheat, you can make sure that this does not happen.
It is also a good idea to go over the hours at the end of every pay period. Do not just assume that everything that was reported is correct. Check out the numbers and look for discrepancies or things that look suspicious. At the same time, tell the employees that you do this. Most of them will not want to take any chances if they know that you are always on the lookout for those things.
