Many of us have seen this word or heard of it, but do we actually know what it is or how it works? Imagine the first part of this word being short for geographic. Now imagine your backyard that is fenced in or fencing. When you put the two together you get geofencing, a geographical location within a specific boundary or invisible perimeter. Geo-fencing is able to give a detailed location obtained by GPS satellites that use longitude and latitude coordinates. Once entered into the fencing area, GPS data is collected and the actions the subject(person or thing) can do are controlled.

Benefits When Using Geofencing

Depending on what you are needing a geofenced tracking service for, it can help improve many aspects of your company. Below is a list of benefits that an employer may experience while using this feature.

• Peace of mind knowing employees are where they’re supposed to be.
• Allowing the employee to know they are at the correct location.
• Prevents paying employees for time that was not spent at a specified job site.
• Cost-effective.
• Easy to set up and start tracking

Some Possible Concerns

Some may have questions or concerns regarding the security of geo-fencing. One thing to keep in mind is that it requires smartphone users to allow permission for location services. Think of when you download an app on your smartphone and it asks permission to access your location. The majority of people do not hesitate to click the allow button and continue on with their daily tasks. However, some people will not allow sharing their location. If the location is not shared, geo-fencing cannot be enforced.

Geo-fencing & Mobile Employee Time Clocks

Now that you have an idea about what geofencing and mobile punch clocks are, it’s time to talk about how their union can benefit your company. This feature prevents fraudulent time tracking and allows the employer to have better peace of mind. If you are using a web-based time clock with a downloadable app that offers employee punching from the use of their mobile device(s), chances are you want to make sure they are being honest.

Mobile time clocks offer a geo-fencing service for employers to set up a specific perimeter and locations that allow their employees to punch in and out by the use of a smartphone-based on their GPS. For example, if you have a radius set for 100 meters, this means the person trying to punch in has to be inside the geofencing radius to complete the process. When the geo-fencing and the mobile employee punch clock are combined, it prevents employees from punching in and out elsewhere. This feature is great because it helps keep employees on the job site. In addition, reminders can be set up and sent via email and text message which reminds employees to punch in. After all, we are humans and forget sometimes, right? 

What is a Mobile Time Clock?

So, a mobile time clock is a cloud-based app that can be downloaded onto your phone through the Apple Store or Google Play. It serves as a function where an employee can punch in and out. Being cloud-based, the employer will have an online login to the time clock system. Here the employer has the luxury of editing time cards and then easily submitting them to payroll, and the employee can view their time cards as well. 

OnTheClock Provides you a Solution

OnTheClock is a modern web-based time clock that uses geo-fencing and a mobile punch clock app together. The employer can set up multiple geo-fenced locations where employees are allowed to clock in and out. If the user blocks(disables) geo-location, the employer has the option to disable the ability to punch in or out.