What is a GPS time clock, and how does it help in employee work tracking?
Time tracking can be problematic when a company has workers that work remotely or at different locations, primarily if it uses physical clocks to record in and out periods.
However, providing a tracking solution via a mobile app or the web might bring up some issues. You might be concerned that workers log in and out before showing up at their workplace and getting paid for hours they weren’t working.
Geofencing, commonly referred to as a GPS time tracking app, is one solution. Discover how GPS-based time clocks operate and some downsides to watch when setting up geofencing for time monitoring.
What is a GPS time clock app?
A GPS time clock is a timekeeping system with geofencing capabilities. A geofence is an established virtual barrier that simulates an actual location.
The manager or supervisor may view the employee’s location in relation to the geofence when they clock in using the GPS time clock app. Additionally, you can configure alerts for unauthorized punches and scheduling modifications.
If an employee is outside the designated border when they try to clock in or out, specific tracking solutions prevent them from doing so.
How does it help employee time tracking?
GPS time tracking is an effective way to ensure your employees are in the right place and time while they are at work. It is essential for boosting productivity, correctly billing and paying your employees, promoting accountability, and ensuring transparency.
Here are a few additional features of utilizing a GPS time clock.
- It helps in preventing time theft by using GPS to track the exact location.
- It enables managers to oversee workers from their remote office location.
- It provides real-time monitoring of the workforce, work locations, and shifts.
- It allows accurate timekeeping to process payroll promptly.
- It warns employers of potential issues with time and attendance before they become persistent.
- It enhances operational effectiveness across teams, projects, and workplaces.
Moreover, remote or mobile employees can gain from a GPS time tracking app because it:
- is quick and simple to use
- helps workers readily show proof of their efforts
- does not need printed documentation
How can I track my employees’ time and GPS?
To track a mobile device or RFID tag, a GPS time clock needs RFID (radio-frequency identification), GPS, cellular data, or a Wi-Fi internet connection. Employees use their computers or mobile devices to clock in and out while managers set up fences on the timekeeping app.
Moreover, the GPS time clock app lets employees view their shift schedule, accruals, timecards, and open shifts.
You only need to draw a radius around a location on a map to track your employees’ work hours using the GPS time clock. Most apps enable you to locate several geofences and designate workers to job sites as necessary.
The application displays a user’s GPS location tracking and whether they are inside or outside of the geofence when they clock in and out for shifts.
Benefits of GPS time clock
Using GPS time clock software is simpler to manage your employees. Consider the following benefits:
Simple time tracking
Manual timesheets make it simple to steal time since an employee can falsify the data to increase their take-home pay. The use of a GPS online time clock in place of manual time tracking reduces the possibility of mistakes—intentional or not—and tracks the real-time spent working.
Process payroll accurately
Improved time-tracking procedures will result in more accurate payroll processing since hours worked are closely linked to an employee’s compensation. Your payroll system can sync time data, guaranteeing each employee is paid correctly for the time worked.
Improved teamwork and operations
As a manager or supervisor, learning more about how your team members spend their time during work hours is usually beneficial. Using this knowledge, you may change your schedule and put productivity-enhancing measures in place.
Paperless
Going paperless is the next step for a business in a society that is becoming more environmentally concerned. You can eliminate bulky paper time cards and the mistakes they cause. Even for workers who operate remotely or on the road, a GPS tracking time-clock app is the best option.
Simple proof of work and documentation
Whatever the industry, your company must keep track of employee hours for HR and compliance reasons. The documentation required to support employee time data is easy to obtain with a GPS time clock.
Some sectors also charge clients for their employees’ time on the job. Home health care, building work, and consulting services are a few examples. For the sake of billing, you must be able to provide evidence of the hours spent on particular tasks or projects.
Opportunities for development and training
By implementing a GPS clocking system, you can discover more about the weaknesses and qualities of your employees. And that can assist you in finding possibilities for training or development.
For instance, you can utilize GPS tracking data to explore route options or look at other areas where they may be able to save time if an employee consistently takes inefficient routes or never seems to be on time for clients.
To assist your employees in enhancing their performance, you might even provide incentives like additional pay.
Downsides of GPS time clock
A GPS time clock has numerous benefits, but as with any effective tool, it can have downsides if not utilized properly. When using a GPS time clock, stay away from these typical blunders.
Inconsistent policy implementation
When employing a GPS-based employee time clock, consistency is essential in all elements of time monitoring. When managers favor some employees, morale suffers. Consistency across all levels and divisions is necessary when penalizing workers for not punching in within the geofence.
Keep in mind that geofencing is intended to make employee timekeeping simpler. The employees avoid the inconvenience of clocking in at a physical clock. Managers only need to check in on employees outside the perimeter with a GPS time clock.
By adopting it, remote teams may be guaranteed that their time is appropriately documented. Also, setting up a clear policy and using it consistently makes sense for all of the reasons.
Privacy concerns
Because GPS tracking entails watching a person’s whereabouts and movements while at work, it may generate privacy problems for employees. The level of surveillance may make some employees uneasy since they see it as an infringement of their privacy.
If the time tracking app is installed on a personal device, employees can be confused if you are monitoring their whereabouts beyond business hours.
They might be concerned about who can access their data and where it is stored or worry that you’ll use GPS information against them in performance assessments.
The best course of action is to be highly transparent with your workers regarding how and when a clock app with GPS will be utilized and to limit time tracking to working hours.
In order to avoid any mistakes regarding business and personal time, the time tracking software should also be installed on a company-owned device.
Technical support issues
Any technology user should expect to encounter technical support issues. Fortunately, your company already has staff members who know how to use its systems and what to do when anything goes wrong.
Sadly, a time-tracking program makes things much more challenging because you suddenly need your IT personnel to be familiar with errors and issues across hundreds of platforms.
You must ensure that your tech support team can diagnose virtually every phone or computer on the market unless you mandate that your employees use a specific device to enter into the system.
But these are simply hardware issues; when the apps have problems, there might be more serious issues.
For instance, your GPS login system may not function effectively due to a malfunctioning phone update; therefore, you’ll need to figure out how to handle it for different employees.
The worst-case scenario is dealing with flow failures when different operating systems update, putting your IT team hustling to repair issues.
Related: HR challenges for BPO companies
A Reliable Time Tracking System for Employees
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eezi‘s timekeeping system manages all the employee time logs and efficiently integrates them into your payroll system. It features accurate timesheets and reliable mobile time tracking.
