Construction and field services businesses do their work on the go so they need workforce management solutions that are as mobile as they are. Cue GPS time tracking apps. These apps were made for businesses that don’t work between the four same walls every day. GPS time tracking apps allow employees to clock in and out on their mobile devices. There are many variations of mobile time clock apps but not all have GPS. Here’s why every mobile business needs a GPS time tracking app.

 

What is a Mobile Time Clock App? 

A mobile time clock with GPS location tracking uses a mobile phone’s native functionality to track employees. GPS or Global Positioning System is a US-owned utility that provides users with positioning, navigation and timing services. For example, ExakTime Mobile’s GPS feature utilizes 30 global positions satellites to provide exact locations of employees when they clock in or out.

Some GPS time tracking apps use geofences as well. A geofence is a virtual “barrier” that’s set up to enforce certain restrictions or create certain opportunities. A geofence works like a regular fence by marking off areas. An employer might want to put a geofence around a worksite. Employees must clock in inside the fence, not from their vehicles or a coffee shop across the street. When employees clock in or out, their timestamp will be flagged as either on-site or off-site.

So why is remote time tracking using GPS so important for mobile businesses? There are a handful of key reasons.

GPS Keeps an Eye on Employee Time Tracking

Time theft is a real issue for construction and field services companies. Construction is by nature vulnerable to time theft, where workers claim more minutes and hours than were actually worked. Construction and field services workers can do this as they are often spread out and unsupervised or difficult to monitor. And if a company is using paper time cards, it’s almost like you’re serving up time theft to your employees on a platter.

Time theft comes in a variety of forms:

  • Buddy punching– When one employee punches a time clock for or otherwise poses for an absent employee.
  • Hour-rounding – When employees round up their time worked for the day or week as they fill out their time cards or time sheets
  • Late starts or early stops – When employees start a few minutes late and leave a few minutes early every day. This may seem like nothing, but with many workers doing this daily, it adds up.
  • Misremembering – When workers honestly forget that they left early one day to pick up their kid or for a medical appointment or took an unpaid day off the week prior.

Time theft can cost construction and field services workers a lot of money. According to Second Wind Consultants, service-based industries can spend as much as 50% of their budget on payroll. Manufacturers are closer to 30%. So small discrepancies add up to having a big impact on your bottom line. Using mobile employee GPS time tracking eliminates time theft by making time tracking digital. Employees can’t fudge numbers because once the app records the time, it can only be adjusted by an administrator. And, built-in biometrics, like photo ID capture, ensure only the employee can log his or her hours, not a buddy.

Dispatches Crews to Sites

Construction and field services work doesn’t occur in a vacuum, meaning one job is different from the next and unexpected issues often arise. When that happens, crews may need an extra hand for even an expert or specialist. When a company uses mobile employee time tracking with GPS, it just takes seconds to figure out exactly where crews are working. 

If location A needs an extra worker or two, you can quickly check nearby job sites to see how many employees are at each one. If location B is close and has a surplus of workers, you can dispatch a few of them to the new job site. What normally might have taken a few phone calls and some mapping now takes just a minute.

Take the efficiency of a GPS time clock app a step further by adding a scheduling component. Crews can get updates on which locations they’re working at before they ever leave their homes. Scheduling also allows managers to send alerts, monitor schedules as well as track hours. Apply cost codes to the shifts so the planned task for the shift is clear. You can also set recurring shifts for the same employee or crew or drag and drop to quickly add an employee to an existing shift.

Helps Quickly Deliver Supplies 

A perfect day would mean every job site would have the right supplies at the exact time they’re needed. But anyone in construction knows, that rarely happens. As the unexpected happens, sites need items that they usually must send someone to grab, reducing their productivity. A GPS time tracking app can help deliver supplies more efficiently because you’ll know exactly where to go. Crews are often on the go, and when they message for more lumber or equipment, you’ll know where to head.

GPS time tracking apps will increase the efficiency of your business, saving you time and money. ExakTime is the leader in time clock apps for a reason. Our reliable, easy-to-use app can be used company-wide. 

ExakTime Mobile’s GPS Features

ExakTime Mobile takes time tracking to the next level with robust GPS capabilities tailored to construction and field service teams. Our intuitive mobile app syncs seamlessly with our powerful web-based software, giving companies real-time insight and oversight of distributed worksites and mobile employees.

Designed by construction experts for construction, ExakTime leverages geofencing, mapping tools and more to increase accountability and streamline dispatching crews where needed. With over 100 payroll integrations, seamless time tracking translates to accurate payroll your teams can count on.

Verify Onsite Clock-Ins/Clock-Outs with Geofences

ExakTime Mobile allows administrators to establish customized geofences around job sites using our simple point-and-click map tools. Employees must be inside the geofence to clock in, ensuring they are starting their shift onsite as required. The software flags all clock-ins as either inside or outside the geofence, creating an easy audit trail. No more tracking down missing information or questioning if employees showed up on time.

Map All Clocked-In Employees

The ExakTime Mobile map view offers real-time insight into where crews are located during shifts. As employees clock in across job sites, their locations populate automatically as pinpoints on the map. With all current employee positions visible at a glance, managers can make informed staffing decisions and quickly dispatch workers where needed. The app even includes navigation to get crews to sites efficiently.

Optimize Staffing Needs

Between last-minute schedule changes, call-offs and unexpected challenges arising, having real-time visibility into workforce locations is invaluable. The ExakTime Mobile map lets administrators assess resourcing needs across all jobsites instantly. Rather than wasting time calling or texting foremen at each site to check on worker numbers and availability, staffing positions can be quickly balanced across locations in just minutes based on live data. This allows for maximized productivity by ensuring adequate crews where needed.

With the map’s birds-eye view of all active job sites updated in real-time as workers clock in and out, construction managers eliminate the legwork typically required to coordinate human resources. This saves significant time and headaches while optimizing workloads.

Deter Time Theft

With GPS validation of shift start locations, the ExakTime time clock app curbs time theft before it even occurs. But our software takes oversight further with options like the Geotrakker, which provides GPS breadcrumbs during the entirety of a shift, creating a detailed audit trail down to the minute.

Since the ExakTime mobile app records time digitally once employees clock in and out, they cannot adjust or “fudge” their own hours — only administrators have access to edit time. The app also has a feature that requires workers to capture a photo of themselves when they clock in or out, ensuring no one else can log hours in their place. Together, these features eliminate common time theft tactics like buddy punching.

Supervisors are automatically alerted to inconsistencies like extended breaks or detours from the job site thanks to GPS tracking. Real-time location alerts can help supervisors, managers and business owners keep track of metrics like rate of travel. With multiple levels of validation, construction and field service businesses can trust worker hour totals.

Integrate Field Data with Back-Office Software

The ExakTime platform fully consolidates operational data from the field, syncing all clock events, GPS trails and geofence entries to the cloud automatically. No more chasing paper timesheets or trying to piece together handwritten notes to understand what occurred. Robust integrations with over 100 payroll systems then allows verified hours to flow directly from worksites to payroll. Field activity combines into user-friendly reports, giving management complete transparency.

Our specialized self-service tools also minimize traditional administrative tasks like manually approving timesheets so leadership can focus on higher-level oversight powered by optimized data. To learn more or see a demo of ExakTime Mobile’s robust GPS capabilities tailored to construction’s unique needs, contact our experts today.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I track my employees’ time in the field?

To track your employees’ time in the field, you can utilize GPS-enabled time tracking apps like ExakTime, which employees can access from their smartphones or tablets. These apps allow employees to clock in and out remotely, offering features like geofencing to ensure they are at the specified job site when recording their hours. Additionally, these programs include features for scheduling, assigning tasks and integrating with payroll systems to streamline the entire time-tracking process.

Is there an app for tracking staff hours?

Yes, ExakTime is an excellent field service time tracking software for monitoring hours, designed to help employers keep precise records of employee work times. This time tracking solution comes with features such as project codes, overtime tracking and instant reporting tools.