Is there some way that my employer is somehow benefiting from the time card punch clock being 2 minutes behind everybody's desktop and phone clocks?

There are two ways that it could benefit an employer. For the purposes of this post, "reality" is defined as the time that it actually is, if you look on a time-synchronized smartphone or on a computer whose time is synchronized regularly with an outside server.

1. If the timeclock is not consistently two minutes behind, it is shady on the side of the employer. (for obvious reasons)
2. If the timeclock matches reality and the computers are two minutes ahead, then the employer could benefit, and it is more likely that this is unbeknownst to the employer. This is because, when you arrive, it will be based on the "reality" timeframe, meaning you'll arrive in the "work computer" timeframe two minutes ahead. If you leave work in the "work computer" timeframe, you'll actually be leaving two minutes early.

If the timeclock is the one that is off, and the work computers reflect "reality" time, then there isn't really anything to worry about. (barring picky managers wondering why you're "leaving early")

Is there some way that my employer is somehow benefiting from the time card punch clock being 2 minutes behind everybody's desktop and phone clocks?

There are two ways that it could benefit an employer. For the purposes of this post, "reality" is defined as the time that it actually is, if you look on a time-synchronized smartphone or on a computer whose time is synchronized regularly with an outside server.

1. If the timeclock is not consistently two minutes behind, it is shady on the side of the employer. (for obvious reasons)
2. If the timeclock matches reality and the computers are two minutes ahead, then the employer could benefit, and it is more likely that this is unbeknownst to the employer. This is because, when you arrive, it will be based on the "reality" timeframe, meaning you'll arrive in the "work computer" timeframe two minutes ahead. If you leave work in the "work computer" timeframe, you'll actually be leaving two minutes early.

If the timeclock is the one that is off, and the work computers reflect "reality" time, then there isn't really anything to worry about. (barring picky managers wondering why you're "leaving early")