Do you ever wonder if your employees are where they say they are? Are your employees clocking in and logging hours for commuting from home to work and vice versa? Or are your team members even showing up to jobs on time as promised?

If you cannot answer these questions, it’s probably worth considering an employee GPS tracking software.

On the other day, I heard a story about a roofing contractor. He was involved in each job to ensure the highest quality artistry and customer satisfaction. He trusted his guys, and he was on the roof with them every day, except Fridays.

Guess what? Every Friday, his guys would load up their golf clubs in company trucks and play nine-hole golf on company time. The boss never knew about this because Friday was his day off, and he trusted the guys to do the right thing.

During a company party, one of his guys was drunk and finally let the secret out. The owner decided he would finally put a GPS time tracking solution in place. Putting this system in place enabled him to foster more accountability within his organization. He was also able to have better insight into where his teams were spending their time.

1. Why should you use an employee GPS tracking software?

For many reasons. A GPS time tracking software will give you insight into where and when your employees are during business hours. As a manager, employer, or team leader, you deserve to know where your team spends their time.

After all, every employee gets compensated for their time spent on work. You will be able to hold your team accountable every single day. You want to protect company assets, and most importantly, your employee’s safety.

Adopting an employee time tracker with location-tracking capabilities should be at the top of your list in cost-cutting tools.

2. What is an employee GPS tracking app?

A GPS time clock app is simply an app that can track employee time and whereabouts. Many apps out there will keep track of your time spent working on projects.

A growing list of time tracking apps will also capture a geofence or your clock in and clock out locations. Then there are a select few apps that will capture your location and movement while on clocked in.

3. How to pick the right GPS time tracking software?

Many apps claim to track time and location. You can go to the AppStore or PlayStore, and you will find a gazillion apps. Like many products out there, there are a few things to look out for before deciding on a GPS time tracker app.

Things to look out for in a time clock software with location tracking

a. Frequency of GPS pings and Live GPS Tracking

If you want to know your team’s locations or employees, it’s vital to capture employees’ locations more frequently. A live GPS tracking app will be ideal if you want more frequent movement. Be sure to ask how often GPS locations will capture when choosing a GPS tracking software.

Some GPS time tracking software will also capture areas anytime a person moves past a certain distance. This feature can be ideal if you want an incredibly accurate tracking of movement.

b. Geofencing

Geofencing can be an excellent add-on for any live GPS tracking app. Employees are reminded to clock in or out when they arrive or depart the geofence job-site. Managers are notified when a team member arrived at a job site. Such information can be useful for ensuring that your field team

c) Breadcrumbing and timestamps

It can be very insightful to know the date and time for every GPS point. Knowing the speed of each GPS point helps you understand if the person was walking, driving, or at a standstill. A good GPS time tracking software can provide you with this kind of insightful details.

d) Distance and mileage traveled

Mileage tracking can be an essential thing to track for your business or team. Choosing a time tracking app that can capture distance moved logs can be an excellent asset for any business. If you have to reimburse employees for mileage log, then a GPS time tracker with mileage tracking can be ideal.

e) Data & Battery Usage

Not all apps are built equal. An adequately designed GPS time tracking app will be designed with battery usage and cellular data usage in mind.

The thing that you want is for your team members to complain about data usage on their smartphones or tablets. Also, even if you are supplying company devices, it is smarter to choose a system that doesn’t use up that much data.

So how could you tell how much data an app uses? Your best bet is to opt-in to a free trial of the product or services you want to use for location tracking. Then you can compare data usage and results between the apps to determine which one will give you your desired experience.

f) Automatically clock in and out on arrival within the geofence.

Sometimes, people have a hard time remembering to clock in and out on time. This is when having a system that can automatically clock a user in/out on arrival, can be very useful.

Automatic time punches can be achieved by utilizing geofencing technology. When a user enters the geofence, they can be automatically clocked in, and when they leave the fence, they will be clocked out.

g) Robust time tracking software capabilities

Of course, a robust time tracking app is essential for your GPS time tracking software. It’s vital that your time tracker can also generate reports of hours worked.

There are different laws on overtime work, so it is crucial for your time tracking software to handle employees’ overtime correctly. Failure to accurately track overtime can lead to the ever-growing FLSA wage and hour lawsuits.

Picking a proper GPS timesheet app should not be a chore. However, if you don’t choose the right software, you can be very disappointed with your choice. Be sure to check out Timeero if you are looking for a GPS timesheet software to do all of the above.

If you need help choosing an employee GPS time tracking software, you can always visit us to get feedback and opinions.