Higher Education
One system for porters, catering, housekeeping, grounds and administration teams, each on different contracts and working patterns.
Used by Peterhouse, Cambridge
Time and attendance for higher educationIndustry-specific time and attendance from Egress Systems
Egress Systems provides Focus.net, a cloud-based time and attendance system, to UK organisations in eight core sectors: higher education, food production, hospitality, laundry services, manufacturing, recruitment, social care, and warehousing and logistics.
The platform is the same everywhere. What changes is the configuration. Shift rules, pay rates, cost centres, skill requirements, approval workflows and clocking methods are set up around how your organisation actually works, and our Nottingham-based team has been doing exactly that since 2003.
Each sector page below explains the workforce challenges typical of that industry and the Focus.net features that solve them.
Time and attendance solutions by sector
Select your sector for the challenges, features and customer experience that apply to you.
Food Production
Hygiene-safe clocking, 24/7 shift management and audit-ready attendance records for busy production sites.
Used by Inspired Global Cuisine
Time and attendance for food production
Hospitality
Mixed contracts, split shifts and staff moving between departments in a single shift, all tracked and paid correctly.
Used by The Hurlingham Club
Time and attendance for hospitality
Laundry Services
Accurate attendance and pay for large, 24/7 shift teams working across depots and client contracts.
Used by Synergy Health Managed Services
Time and attendance for laundry services
Manufacturing
Fixed, rotating, continental and 24/7 shift patterns, with rotas checked for skills compliance before they’re published.
Used by Ultima Furniture Systems
Time and attendance for manufacturing
Recruitment
Verified hours for temporary workers across every client site, feeding both payroll and client billing.
Used by RMS Recruitment & HR Specialists
Time and attendance for recruitment agencies
Social Care
Know who’s on shift, who’s qualified and where they are, across care homes and domiciliary visits.
Used by Cavendish Care, Maryfield Nursing Home and Conniston Care
Time and attendance for social care
Warehousing & Logistics
Fast, high-volume clocking at shift changeover, agency cost control and one system for warehouse staff and drivers.
Used by Cargo Express
Time and attendance for warehousing and logisticsHow Focus.net fits each sector at a glance
The most common workforce challenge in each sector, and the Focus.net features our customers rely on to deal with it.
| Sector | Typical workforce challenge | Focus.net features that address it |
|---|---|---|
| Higher Education | Many staff groups on different contracts, with porters on complex rotating rotas | Rota Planner, multiple timesheet rates, multi-level approval by department, HR system integration |
| Food Production | Hygiene risk at shared touch points, food safety traceability and round-the-clock shifts | Contactless biometric clocking, attendance audit trail, skills-matched rotas, cost centre reporting by line |
| Hospitality | Zero-hours, casual and seasonal staff side by side, and no-shows during peak service | Multi-department cost centres, configurable pay rules, “Should Be In” dashboard, Employee Directory |
| Laundry Services | Large rotating shift teams, buddy clocking and TUPE-transferred staff on inherited pay terms | Scripted shift rules, cost centre tracking per contract, biometric clocking, multi-level timesheet approval |
| Manufacturing | Buddy clocking, complex shift rules and qualification compliance on the shop floor | Biometric clocking, bespoke shift rules, Drafting Bench skills checks, labour cost by production line |
| Recruitment | Workers spread across client sites, each client with its own rates and billing format | Self Service App geofencing, Focus Wave NFC tags, bespoke billing reports, client timesheet approval |
| Social Care | Staffing ratios, qualification compliance and evidencing domiciliary visits | Geofenced app clocking, skill start and end dates, “Should Be In” dashboard, restricted manager access |
| Warehousing & Logistics | Clocking queues at shift change, agency reconciliation and drivers on separate systems | High-capacity terminals, tachograph integration, agency cost reporting, skills and licence alerts |
Core Focus.net features used in every sector
Whatever your industry, these are the building blocks of your system. Each links to a full feature guide.
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Absence management software
Holiday, sickness and lieu tracking with Bradford Factor reporting and self-service absence requests.
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Timesheet management software
Fully calculated timesheets, exception reporting and multi-level approval before data reaches payroll.
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Electronic rostering
Build rotas on the Drafting Bench with shift rules, skill requirements and budgets in view.
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Overtime tracking software
Overtime, premiums and bonuses calculated automatically, with authorisation workflows.
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Labour cost analysis
Allocate hours to cost centres by department, production line, site or client.
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Employee self service app
Clocking with geofencing, schedules, holiday balances and absence requests on iOS and Android.
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Attendance display board
A live, rolling view of who is in across every shift, line or site.
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Fire roll call
Live roll call of staff and visitors, so you know who is on site in an emergency.
Features that make the difference across sectors
Cover, compliance and schedule changes come up in every industry we work in. These Focus.net features handle them.
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Employee Directory
See live clocked in and out status, last clocking location and today’s shift for your teams. Filter by skill or group and call staff straight from the app when you need cover fast.
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Skill start and end dates
Record when qualifications begin and expire, so shifts with skill requirements aren’t allocated to staff whose certification has lapsed.
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Work Schedule date ranges
Change an employee’s schedule from a set date without affecting historical timesheets, even when the change falls mid-week.
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Every holiday balance in the app
Employees can see lieu and custom holiday balances alongside annual leave, and lieu is spent automatically where an absence type defaults to it.
Long-term experience across UK sectors
Egress Systems has supplied time and attendance systems to UK organisations since 2003. Our customers typically employ between 25 and 1,500 staff.
- 23
- years trading, since 2003
- 225+
- active software contracts
- 45,000
- employees, approximately, whose data we process
- 6.5 years
- average length of our current active contracts
- 26%
- of contracts have run for more than ten years
Organisations using Focus.net
- Peterhouse, Cambridge (Higher Education)
- Inspired Global Cuisine (Food Production)
- The Hurlingham Club (Hospitality)
- Synergy Health Managed Services (Laundry Services)
- Ultima Furniture Systems (Manufacturing)
- RMS Recruitment & HR Specialists (Recruitment)
- Cavendish Care, Maryfield Nursing Home and Conniston Care (Social Care)
- Cargo Express (Warehousing & Logistics)
Read the case studies
Don’t see your sector?
Focus.net isn’t limited to the sectors above. If your organisation runs shifts, multiple sites, variable contracts or complex pay rules, the same configuration approach applies. Tell us how your teams work and we’ll show you how Focus.net would be set up for you.
Frequently asked questions
Which sectors does Egress Systems provide time and attendance software for?
Egress Systems supplies Focus.net time and attendance software to organisations in higher education, food production, hospitality, laundry services, manufacturing, recruitment, social care, and warehousing and logistics. Because the platform is configurable, it can also be set up for other shift-based, multi-site or variable-hours workforces.
Is Focus.net the same software in every sector?
Yes. Every customer uses the same cloud-based Focus.net platform. What differs is the configuration: shift rules, pay rates, cost centres, skill requirements, approval levels and clocking methods are set up to match the way your sector and your organisation work.
Can Focus.net stop staff with lapsed qualifications being rostered?
Yes. Skills and qualifications are recorded with start and end dates, and shifts can carry skill requirements. Staff whose certification has expired, such as a forklift licence, first aid, medication training or a personal licence, are not allocated to shifts that need it.
How do employees clock in and out with Focus.net?
Focus.net supports fingerprint and face recognition terminals, proximity cards and fobs, tablet kiosks, Focus Wave NFC tags tapped with a smartphone, and the Focus Self Service App with geofencing for staff who work off-site. You can combine methods across different sites and teams.
What size of organisation is Focus.net suited to?
Focus.net is typically used by organisations with between 25 and 1,500 employees. Across our active contracts the average is 368 employees per contract, and we process time and attendance data for approximately 45,000 employees in total.
Does Focus.net integrate with HR and payroll systems?
Yes. Focus.net integrates with HR platforms including Sage HR, Iris Cascade HR, Breathe HR, Natural HR and XCD HR, as well as Wagestream. Timesheet data is exported in the format your payroll software needs, so hours don’t have to be keyed twice.
Is Focus.net cloud-based?
Yes. Focus.net is cloud-based time and attendance software that runs in any web browser, with no on-site server required. Employees and managers can also use the Focus Self Service App on iOS and Android.
Which organisations use Focus.net?
Focus.net is used by organisations including Peterhouse, the oldest college at the University of Cambridge, The Hurlingham Club, Ultima Furniture Systems, Synergy Health Managed Services, RMS Recruitment & HR Specialists, Cargo Express, Inspired Global Cuisine, Just for Pets, and care providers Cavendish Care, Maryfield Nursing Home and Conniston Care.
How long has Egress Systems been providing time and attendance systems?
Egress Systems was founded in 2003 and is based in Nottingham. We currently hold over 225 active software contracts, the longest of which has run continuously for 18 years, and 26% of our contracts have been in place for more than ten years.