4 Ways to Track Employee Location

Where are employees when they clock in?

How do you know for sure?

Are they at your retail store, warehouse, office, factory, school, farm, or at home?

Here are four distinct ways to track employee location as they clock in for work.

1. Using a web browser
Every time an employee clocks in and out, we record the IP address. That IP address will tell you the name of your Internet service provider, along with the approximate location such as city and zipcode. To make it better however, you can match that IP address with your office IP address. If they match, you know exactly where they are.

2. Using a smartphone
You have the option to record the GPS coordinates of each employee as they clock in. It doesn't track their movement, only the moment they tap the punch button. Geolocation will provide a way to see the location on a map.

3. Using a time clock
As long as the time clock is mounted to a wall, you will know instantly where the employee was when they clocked in. The name of the time clock will appear in the audit window for each punch. Still probably the best way for employees to clock in and out.

4. Using a landline phone
Not as popular these days because most people use mobile phones, but works very well. If your employees clock in and out using a landline phone, you will instantly know the location. The system knows the phone number they called from, if that number is a landline, there is no doubt where they are.

Conclusion

These methods will confirm the location of employees as they clock in. However, they will not confirm if they were buddy punched or not.

If that is a concern, we recommend using a biometric time clock that uses fingerprint or facial recognition.

And finally, unless for strict security reasons, never track employee movements using a tracking device. If you do, consult with an attorney first.