Hudson Reporter Archive

Hands of the clock City Hall employees embrace hand-scanner; directors will be added

City Hall implemented a hand scanner in early June for employees clocking in and out every day, in order to document their working hours and increase accountability.

Since then, documents requested from the city by this newspaper show that since the scanner was implemented, employees who were asked to use it were doing so with 97 percent efficiency, missing it only about 2.64 percent of the time.

The scanner uses “hand symmetry biometric technology” to identify an employee’s hand.

The Police Department and Parking Utility both have been using the scanners for over a year, but City Hall employees were less than a month into their usage.
No handouts
The 81 employees asked to use the scanner – the mayor and city directors don’t use it — missed only 17 of a total 642 punches during the week beginning June 22. This does not count excused absences.

The efficiency rating is very good, especially if one considers possible technical difficulties or new user error.

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The city may also in the future bring the same technology to the Public Library, Fire Department, and Multi-Service Center.
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Using City Hall’s 35-hour-with-lunch workweek as the standard, the total hours missed is only about 150 between the 81 employees.

The lost time is mostly due to the 17 missed punches – all at the end of the day – which on the report are recorded as a zero-hour workday. Those employees still clocked in at the beginning of the day.

Who’s counting?
Neither the mayor of the City Council use the hand scanner. In the July 6 Reporter article, city spokesman Paul Drexel said that the city had recently made a policy change to include directors and some off-site and after-hours employees in the hand scan program.

The scanner usage in this report was before that policy change, so 12 of the total 121 employees listed as working in City Hall – four city directors and certain employees from the law, tax, health, construction official, city clerk, and public relations offices – are not required to use the scanner yet.

There are also a few individuals not listed on the report – some director-type positions – who were also exempt from using the scanner.

The mayor and City Council members will not be using it.

Others uncounted
Another 12 employees listed work most or all of their hours off-site and aren’t required to use the hand scanner; these include bus drivers and parks and recreation workers, as well as a few employees from the information technology department and the construction office.

Some of these off-site workers clock in and out at other locations like the municipal garage, where most public works employees punch in.

Of the remaining 97 City Hall employees, 11 part-time employees were excluded from the findings because of their staggered and varied schedules, though the report shows a very high rate of use in this area as well.

There are also five other employees excluded from the findings for several reasons, including recent retirement or various leaves of absence.

That leaves 81 full-time employees in City Hall using the scanner, or two-thirds of the reported workforce.

The city may also in the future bring the same technology to off-site work areas, including the Public Library, Fire Department, and Multi-Service Center.

For questions or comments on this story, e-mail tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.

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