What "a trusted record" really means on site

"Trusted" is an easy word to put on a website. It's harder to earn on a site at the end of the month, when a worker says they were there on Tuesday and the register says they weren't.

We use the word carefully. For us, a record is only trusted if it would hold up in exactly that conversation.

What makes a record worth trusting?#

Four things, in this order:

1. It's captured at the source: at the gate, as it happens.
2. It's attributable: every entry ties to a person and a card.
3. It's hard to change quietly: any change leaves a trail.
4. It's visible to the person it describes.

Miss any one of the four and the record becomes a claim again, which is exactly what it was meant to replace.

How does a trusted record reach payday?#

Pay on Buildpal is calculated from recorded attendance. Approved amounts are held for the worker, land in their wallet and are withdrawn to mobile money. Payouts run on a schedule, not as a favour, and when one fails the reason is shown and the money goes back to the wallet.

Records beat memory, every payday.

None of this is complicated. It just has to be true every single time, and that's the part that takes the work.