The Cloud Batters the Buddy Punch

DESCRIPTION To clock in with, an employee takes a photograph of himself at his desk.

Workers of the world unite and bemoan the end of the “buddy punch.”

For the unfamiliar, a buddy punch occurs when someone clocks in at a job for a missing co-worker. It’s a much-loved practice of workers who don’t want their pay docked because some traffic or a boozy night out on the town caused them to run late. It’s also a practice frowned upon by the business owners trying to keep track of their staff.

Joel Slatis, the founder of, has given small companies a chance to tackle the buddy punch and larger worker-management issues head-on through a Web-based service. As the name suggests, provides a place where workers clock in and clock out on a computer to establish a record of their hours.

“Most of the companies that come to us still use traditional paper time sheets or Excel spreadsheets,” Mr. Slatis said. “So, our objective is to give customers with 5, 10 or 15 employees a bigger company feel and bigger company technology.” serves as yet another example of a Web-based system conquering the last remnants of old-fashioned bookkeeping. In particular, the service points to the way smaller companies can jump onto the cloud computing bandwagon at a pretty low cost.

Companies can purchase access to the service on a sliding scale, $12 a month for two employees, $45 a month for 10 employees, $150 a month for 50 employees, and up from there.

To use the service, workers plop in front of a computer and hit a big, green “Clock In” button. They can hit the button again for breaks, if need be, and hit it at the end of the day when they leave.

The “buddy punch” twist arrives with’s linking its service to the webcam on a computer, so that people have their photo snapped as they clock in. can also lock its service into specific Internet addresses, so an employee can check his hours from home but only clock in from an approved IP address at the office.

And there’s a more expensive version of the service that ties into fingerprint scanners.

Mr. Slatis has run this business with two other people for about six years and has 600 customers. Customers include doctors’ offices, painting companies, branch offices of insurance companies and small hotels. competes against similar products from larger payroll companies like ADP and Paychex. But Mr. Slatis thinks his focus on the little guy gives him an edge.

Mr. Slatis also feels no remorse for battling the beloved buddy punch.

“We think employees actually like us,” he said. “Most employees are conscientious. The few who aren’t are welcome to hate us.”