Employee ID Badges

An employee ID badge is an identity card worn by a person for identification purposes. It is mostly made up of a piece of paper, plastic or metal. Usually it consists of a photo, Name of the employee, organization’s logo, barcode along with other employee details.

Importance of Employee ID Badges

Employee ID badges have become one of the most essential and important components of an organization, no matter how big or small it is. We hardly see a company without them. They were initially used for just visual identification, but now they serve much more than that.

Safety and Security: Employee ID badges can be used for Access Control. Admission inside the building can be approved or denied just with the help of the card. A person who does not belong in an organization would easily be identified.

Time Logs: The work duration log can be maintained. The entry and exit times of each employee can be tracked.

Categorization: Employer can define the access level of the employees of certain information.

Monitoring: Employer can check the system to know how many people work in the organization and what their statuses are.

Functionality: It is used for credential management systems such as controlling access, attendance, parking, cafeteria usage and more.

Appearance: Employees wearing ID badges gives a professional look and shows how organized the company is.

Organizations using Employee ID Badges

Government: Security in Government facilities is exceptionally important. With ID badges, the access of employees can be determined on the bases of their authorities. This access can not only be limited to the entry and exits of the building but also to the computerized networking system, which could contain highly secure and secluded data of government matters.

Corporations: Besides personal identification, corporations also use Employee ID badges for security purposes. Keeping track of all the employees and granting them access to the building and networks accordingly.

Health Care Centers: It is highly important for health care employees to wear ID badges. It helps distinguish among doctors, nurses and staff members. They are usually color coded too. It provides sense of security to the patients. Also unauthorized people can be prevented from accessing confidential information and restricted areas.

Educational Institutes: It has become a requirement for the students and the staff members to wear ID badges in schools. It grants access to people belonging in the institute and provides a sense of security to the parents as well.

Employee ID Badge Formats

The ID card information can be displayed horizontally or vertically. It can be one sided or double sided depending on the organization’s needs.

Types of Employee ID badges

Basic: A card document to provide the identity of an employee. Usually, consist of Photo and employee details.

Magnetic Strip: These are used to encode the data on the ID badges. This data is usually the information of the employee. When it is scanned, the data is decoded into a visible format.

Holographic: This provides resistance against ID counterfeiting and tempering.

Proximity Card: A microchip is embedded in these ID badges which provides the identity information of the employee.

Smart Card: A smart card is also embedded with a microchip but it is capable of storing much more information, such as employee identification, authorization and other values.

Orientation

The orientation of an ID badge depends on the organization’s preferences, how they want the employees to wear them. It can be vertical or horizontal.

Layout

The layout and the size of the ID badge should be carefully chosen, so that it is comfortable for its holders. International Organization for Standards states the physical features of an ID badge to be 3.375″ (wide) × 2.125″ (height). The maximum resolution of ID badges is 300 DPI. The badges are made of durable materials such a PVC and chip embedded plastic cards.

Sizes

Primarily, there are 3 sizes available for ID badges.

CR80: this is the most popular standard size of an ID card. It is also the same size as a credit card. The dimensions are 3.375″ × 2.125″.
CR79: this ID badge is a little smaller than the standard size. Its dimensions are 3.303″ × 2.051″, usually rounded corners.
CR100: it is larger than the standard ID badge so that the badge can be easily seen even from a distance. Its dimensions are 3.88″ × 2.63″.

See many categories given below to choose an id badge from.