The Time Clock simplifies and automates your time tracking and payroll process by providing accurate working-hour data and helping you control when and where users can clock in and out. Geofence is a capability that lets you create a geographic “fence” around an address to ensure employees are clocking in/out in the right place at the right time.
How Does the Geofence Work?
Let’s say you have 3 jobs:
For Project A and Project B, you want employees to clock in only within a designated geofence.
For Driving, you don’t mind where employees clock in/out since they may travel to pick up supplies before arriving on site, and you want to track those hours separately.
To set it up, you would create two geofences and associate them with Projects A and B:
The first geofence is associated with Project A (Job 1).
The second geofence is associated with Project B (Job 2).
Driving (Job 3) does not require a geofence, so employees can clock in/out from anywhere for that job.
How to Set Up a Geofence?
Setting up a geofence is done from your Time Clock settings under the Geolocation tab.
To set up a geofence:
From the left sidebar, go to Time Clock, then select Access clock.
Click Settings (top right).
Open the Geolocation tab.
Turn on the main geolocation setting by choosing one of the following options:
Clock in & out, then toggle on Users must enable location sharing to clock in & out
Breadcrumbs (live-tracking)
In the same tab, hover over Geo fence sites and click Add sites.
In the modal that opens, click + Add sites again.
Set your geofence details:
Site Name: Enter a name for your convenience (for example: customer A, project B, headquarters, worksite 3, office location).
Site Address: Type an address or location name. To integrate with Google Maps, select the address from the suggested results.
Fence Size: Choose the size of the fence around the location. Fence size can range from 246 to 5000 feet.
Available jobs: Select which jobs can be clocked into from within that site.
Jobs that aren’t listed under any of your sites can be clocked in from anywhere (but are still limited to the user’s job qualifications).Leaving the Geofence while clocked in: Choose what happens when a user leaves the site while clocked in:
Do nothing, or
Automatically clock out (users will be auto-clocked out when they leave the site, as long as location services are enabled)
Click Save site, then Save, and finally Save Changes.
💡 Tip: We strongly recommend enabling Require admin’s approval if users clock out outside the geo-fence (shown in the settings illustration).
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Which Jobs Will Appear for Users?
For employees to clock into a job, they must:
Be qualified for the job, and
Be within the site’s fence range (for jobs connected to a geofence)
If the user isn’t within the fence range, the job will not appear.
Using the earlier example:
When employees are within Site 1, they will see Project A.
When employees are within Site 2, they will see Project B.
Driving will always appear, since it is not attached to any geofence.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can users know they are within the worksite location?
The Time Clock app displays a map so users can see where they are located in relation to the geofenced area.
My employee is within a site. Why can't they clock into the job that is associated with it?
First, confirm the user is qualified for the job.
If they are qualified, the issue may be related to GPS accuracy or poor connectivity. Even if the user’s dot appears slightly within the area, GPS may be inaccurate due to service, device, location, and connectivity factors.
To ensure the user is fully inside the geofence, have them move further into the fenced area so the entire blue location circle is within the fence. Once they are clearly inside the area, they should be able to clock in or out.
What happens when the user tries to clock out outside of the fenced area?
If a user tries to clock out while outside the fenced area, they’ll see a message with two options:
Move to the fenced area and try again
Clock out outside the fenced area anyway
If the user chooses to clock out outside the fenced area, they will be prompted to edit their shift (since the clock-out time is likely not accurate). The edit request will then be sent to the administrators for manager approval.
If the user forgot to clock out and already left the site, they can edit their hours to log the correct clock-out time.
User:
Admin:
💡 Tip: As an admin, you can track employee location live using Breadcrumbs.
Can Employees Change Their Clock In Location With a Third-Party App?
No. The location must be accurate and cannot be manipulated using third-party apps like VPNs that modify location.
If a user tries to clock in using a fake location indicator or VPN, they will see a pop-up stating that a third-party location app was identified, and they will not be able to clock in while manipulating their location.
The Switch Jobs capability lets users move between jobs without clocking out and clocking back in. This makes it easier for users and helps managers keep timesheets accurate.
With geofences enabled, users can use Switch Jobs on the mobile app only for:
Jobs connected to the current geofence they’re in, or
Jobs that have no geofence restriction
When a user wants to switch jobs:
They open the Time Clock in the mobile app.
They tap Switch Job.
Under Select a job to switch to, they choose from the dropdown list.
The dropdown will include jobs the user is qualified for that are:
Available within the current geofence, and
Not geofence-restricted.
What happens if a user clocks in using NFC and then leaves the geofence?
It doesn’t matter how a user clocks in (mobile app or NFC). If they exit the geofence, they will be automatically clocked out as long as auto clock-out from geofence is enabled in the settings.
*Our Geofence capability starts from the Advanced Operations Plan. On this plan, you can create up to 10 geofences. From the Expert Operations Plan, you can create unlimited geofences*
Want a Pro to create your Geofences for you? 🤓 Click here to learn more.
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