Payroll is often one of the most expensive costs for companies. As such, employers walk a fine line between paying employees more for their hard work and keeping time & attendance records down to the minute, so they aren't paying more than they have to. This balance became increasingly important for many companies during the recent recession, when some supervisors had to decide where to trim back schedules or let workers go. 

In some cases, this decision meant moving away from payroll processing practices that worked in the past. Instead of recording daily work totals by hand, employees were asked to punch in before shifts and after when they were through with work. However, even that strategy couldn't prevent loopholes. Using others' employee PINs or punchcards, staff members could falsely clock co-workers in for work before they arrived if they were running late - a practice called buddy punching.

To eliminate this form of payroll fraud, some savvy companies have invested in biometric timeclocks that read employees' finger prints or palms.  The Orangeburg County Detention Center in South Carolina recently made the move to biometrics following expensive lawsuits that cost $116, 928 in back wages for unpaid overtime on top of $29,029 in attorneys fees, according to The Times and Dispatch. While this was a setback in terms of the budget, it has helped the department re-address its payroll practices and implement improvements. 

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