Table of contents
A biometric attendance system captures who arrived and left, through a fingerprint or face terminal or the employee's own phone. It then turns those punches into a payable working day: present, late, absent or on leave, with lateness, early-leave and overtime minutes ready for payroll. For employers in Egypt and the Gulf, the device is the easy part. The hard questions are whether you can trust each punch and whether the software applies the labour law and your policy without a monthly spreadsheet clean-up. This guide answers both.
Key takeaways
- A terminal records time. The software turns time into decisions: lateness, absence, overtime and deductions.
- You can keep your ZKTeco terminals and connect them to the cloud, or skip hardware with a device-bound phone punch and geofence.
- The real risks are buddy punching and fake locations. The answer is layered verification plus a review queue, not just a camera.
- Egypt's Labour Law 14/2025 fixes working hours, rest and overtime premiums (+35% / +70%), and your system should apply them automatically.
What a biometric attendance system actually does
Good time and attendance software for Egypt and the Gulf works in three stages:
- Capture. It receives punches from fingerprint or face terminals, the mobile app, a QR kiosk, or a justified manual entry.
- Verify. It checks that the right person punched, from the right place, and that nobody tampered with the time.
- Process. It matches punches against the employee's shift, time policy, approved leave and permissions to produce a final attendance day that flows into payroll.
Many companies only have stage one: a terminal on the wall, a desktop tool that downloads logs, and an HR officer rebuilding lateness in Excel. That is where hours and accuracy get lost.
Capture methods compared
| Method | How it works | Strengths | Weaknesses | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fingerprint terminal | Finger on a fixed device | Familiar, fast | Maintenance, dirty hands, no field coverage | Fixed sites |
| Face terminal | Device camera recognises the face | Touchless, fast queues | Higher cost, lighting sensitive | Factories, large sites |
| Mobile app + geofence | Punch from own phone inside branch radius | No hardware, covers field staff | Needs device binding and location checks | Small branches, sales, field teams |
| QR kiosk | Tablet shows a rotating code to scan | Cheap, quick setup | Needs a fixed tablet | Retail, restaurants, clinics |
| Manual entry | HR records the punch | Handles exceptions | Open to favouritism if not audited | Exceptions only, with reason and audit log |
The best setup usually mixes methods by branch and role, while applying the same rules to all of them.
Connecting ZKTeco terminals to the cloud
ZKTeco is the most common brand in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. There are three ways to bring its data into BashKatib.
1. Cloud push (ADMS)
If the terminal supports "Cloud Server / ADMS", it dials out to the server and sends each punch as it happens, even behind an office router with no fixed IP. To set it up:
- On the device, open Comm → Cloud Server Setting (ADMS).
- Enter the server address and port shown in your BashKatib attendance-terminal settings.
- Claim the device in your account with a one-time activation code, so nobody else can hijack its serial number.
- Map each device user PIN to the employee record.
- Make a test punch and confirm it appears on the live board.
2. File import
For terminals without cloud push, export CSV or Excel (employee code, date, time, type) and import it. The import previews errors, catches duplicates and handles DD/MM/YYYY dates.
3. No hardware at all
If devices keep breaking, or your team is spread across small branches, a mobile attendance app with geofencing and strong verification can replace new hardware.
Tip: do not trust the in/out "state" a terminal sends, because some models always send the same value. The software should infer in and out from the shift and the order of punches.
Buddy punching prevention: layers, not gadgets
| Threat | BashKatib control |
|---|---|
| Colleague punches from another phone | Account bound to the employee's own device. Changing phones needs a request and approval |
| Colleague uses the employee's phone | Passkey confirmation with the phone's fingerprint or Face ID |
| Punching from home | Geofence per work location with GPS accuracy check, plus an office Wi-Fi/IP allow-list |
| Identity doubt | Optional selfie on every punch or only on risky ones |
| Changing the phone clock | Punch time comes from the server |
| Anything unusual | Review queue: HR decides instead of the system silently accepting or rejecting |
With passkeys, biometric data never leaves the phone. The device checks it locally and sends a signature. That matters because data-protection laws, including Egypt's Law 151/2020, treat biometrics as sensitive data, so BashKatib also records separate employee consent before processing biometrics such as selfies.
From punches to a calculated attendance day
The processing engine reconciles every punch with:
- The assigned shift: fixed, flexible with core hours, late-compensating, or overnight across midnight. See shift scheduling.
- Approved leave, so nobody on annual or sick leave shows as absent (leave management).
- Permissions (late arrival, early leave, out during shift) with monthly limits.
- Public holidays and rest days from the country calendar.
The result is a clear status per employee per day: present, late, early leave, absent, half-day, leave, holiday, WFH or mission. Each day also carries minute buckets for worked time, lateness, early leave, overtime, permissions and missing punches. Missing punches go through a correction request that the manager approves.
Egyptian labour law rules your system must apply
Labour Law 14 of 2025 has applied since 1 September 2025 (EY summary). Its working-time rules include:
| Rule | Law | What the software should do |
|---|---|---|
| Max actual work | 8 h/day or 48 h/week, excluding breaks (Art. 117) | Net worked hours after breaks |
| Breaks | ≥1 hour; no more than 5 consecutive hours (Art. 118) | Auto break deduction, alerts |
| Max presence | 10 h/day; 12 h for intermittent/special work by ministerial decision (Art. 119) | Flag over-presence |
| Weekly rest | ≥24 consecutive paid hours after ≤6 working days (Art. 120) | Per-day weekend configuration |
| Overtime | Hourly wage +35% day, +70% night (Art. 121) | Editable default multipliers |
| Rest-day work | Double pay plus a substitute rest day | ×2 multiplier and substitute-day tracking |
| Public-holiday work | Extra pay per Ministry of Labour circulars, or a substitute day on written request | Separate day type in the calendar |
Ministerial Decision 289/2025 also requires a paper or electronic register of actual hours, overtime and rest. In practice your attendance system is that register. We found no explicit definition of the "night hours" window in the sources, so set it as a policy with your adviser.
Worked overtime example
An employee earns EGP 9,000 a month. The company policy divides the month by 30 days, with an 8-hour day.
- Hourly rate = 9,000 ÷ 30 ÷ 8 = EGP 37.50.
- Two daytime overtime hours = 37.50 × 1.35 × 2 = EGP 101.25.
- Two night overtime hours = 37.50 × 1.70 × 2 = EGP 127.50.
The basis for the calculation varies by company: 26 days, 30 days or calendar days, and basic or gross wage. It should be a documented policy setting, not a hidden spreadsheet formula. For hourly-paid staff see hourly employees.
Legal information here is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the official text or your adviser before applying it.
Lateness, early leave and permissions
Lateness is where most disputes start, so write the rules down and let the system apply them:
- Grace minutes, for example 10 or 15.
- Lateness and early-leave tiers. Each from–to band maps to penalty minutes, a fraction of a day or a fixed amount.
- Half-day and full-day thresholds.
- Missing-punch rule: mark absent, or wait for a correction request?
- Permissions cover only the excused minutes, never the whole day.
A lateness deduction is a disciplinary penalty in Egypt. It needs an approved penalty regulation and is capped at 5 days' wage per violation and 5 days per month (Arts. 140 and 143). BashKatib links repeated absence to warning letters and checks the legal cap before suggesting a penalty.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE
- Saudi Arabia: under the Labor Law actual work is capped at 8 h/day or 48 h/week, reduced to 6 h/day (36 a week) in Ramadan for Muslim workers. Overtime pays the hourly wage plus 50% of basic, and work on rest days and Eid counts as overtime. BashKatib applies the 6-hour Ramadan schedule for Saudi establishments.
- UAE: under Decree-Law 33/2021 overtime is +25%, or +50% between 22:00 and 04:00 for non-shift workers, with a maximum of 2 overtime hours a day.
Selection checklist
- Connects your current ZKTeco (ADMS) or imports its files
- Mobile punch bound to the employee's device and phone biometrics
- GPS accuracy checks, multiple locations per branch, personal locations for remote staff
- Review queue for flagged punches
- Night, flexible and Ramadan shifts
- Grace minutes, tiers, and minute-level permission coverage
- Overtime multipliers that flow into payroll after approval
- Period lock after payroll approval
- Audit trail on every manual change
- Live "who hasn't checked in yet" view for managers
How BashKatib helps with attendance
- Multi-source capture: an installable employee web app with a big punch button, rotating-QR kiosk, ZKTeco cloud push, CSV/Excel import, and manual entry with a mandatory reason. See attendance and the employee app.
- Layered verification: device binding, passkey, geofence with accuracy, Wi-Fi/IP lists, optional selfie, and a review queue.
- Processing engine: recalculates when leave, a permission or a shift changes, and locks the period after payroll approval.
- Flexible time policy: grace, tiers, monthly permission limits, Egyptian and Saudi overtime defaults, and a choice of day basis (26, 30, calendar or custom).
- Timesheets and reports: an employee × day grid for pre-payroll review, plus lateness, absence and overtime reports (reports).
- AI voice daily briefing: at 10:00, for example, the owner hears a short summary in Egyptian or Gulf dialect. It covers expected headcount, who is present, who is late and by how many minutes, who has not checked in, the flagged punches, and the attendance rate against the 7- and 30-day averages. The system computes the figures, and branch managers hear only their branch. See the voice briefing.
Attendance and leave are free for up to 5 employees. ZKTeco integration and kiosk mode come with the Growth plan; see pricing. For the full platform overview, read our HR software guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can BashKatib connect to our existing fingerprint machine?
Yes, if it is a ZKTeco terminal that supports cloud push (ADMS): you enter the server address in the device menu and punches arrive in real time. For other devices you can import CSV or Excel exports with an error preview.
Do we need to buy biometric devices at all?
No. Employees can punch from the BashKatib app on their own registered phone, confirming identity with the phone's fingerprint or Face ID and the branch geofence, or from a tablet kiosk that shows a rotating QR code.
How do you prevent buddy punching?
The app is bound to the employee's own device, requires a passkey confirmation with the phone's biometrics, checks location and its accuracy, and can request a selfie. Anything suspicious goes to an HR review queue instead of being silently accepted.
How is overtime calculated under Egypt's new labour law?
Labour Law 14/2025 adds 35% to the hourly wage for daytime overtime and 70% for night overtime; work on the weekly rest day earns double pay plus a substitute rest day. BashKatib applies these multipliers by default and sends approved overtime to payroll.
Does it handle night shifts that cross midnight?
Yes. Overnight shifts are supported, so the clock-in and clock-out are attributed to the same working day and the employee is not marked absent or missing a punch.
Is employees' biometric data safe?
With phone-based passkeys the fingerprint or face never leaves the employee's phone; the device verifies locally and sends only a cryptographic signature. BashKatib also records separate employee consent before processing biometric data such as selfies.
Get attendance you can trust
Connect your current terminal or invite your team to the app today, and watch your first week of attendance calculate itself. Start your free 14-day trial or book a demo and we will connect your first device and set up your time policy with you.
Try BashKatib with your company data
Create a free account and run attendance, leave and a test payroll within 14 days, no credit card required.
Frequently asked questions
Can BashKatib connect to our existing fingerprint machine?
Do we need to buy biometric devices at all?
How do you prevent buddy punching?
How is overtime calculated under Egypt's new labour law?
Does it handle night shifts that cross midnight?
Is employees' biometric data safe?
Sources and references
Author
BashKatib TeamThe BashKatib product and content team, writing practical guides on attendance, payroll, leave and labour law with official sources.
