Geofence Time Tracking with GPS Location Verification

The geofencing feature in Buddy Punch’s time clock app lets you prevent offsite punches, remind employees to clock in/out when arriving at or leaving a work site, and automatically track labor hours for specific jobs and projects.

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Affordable Geofence

Why choose Buddy Punch for geofence time tracking?

Buddy affordable

Buddy Punch is more affordable than the alternatives

Buddy Punch’s plans that include geofencing start at $6.99/user per month — $5/user less than QuickBooks Time, $6/user less than Hubstaff, and $3/user less than ClockShark.

Plus, unlike Connecteam and Jibble — apps that limit the number of geofences you can create — all of Buddy Punch’s geofencing plans let you create unlimited geofences.

Buddy highly rated

Buddy Punch is highly rated by its customers

With a 4.8 out of 5-star rating on both G2 and Capterra, Buddy Punch’s customer reviews have made it one of the highest-rated time clock apps on the market.

In addition to its high overall rating, Buddy Punch also scores 4.8 out of 5 on Capterra for ease of use, value for money, and customer support — and 4.7 out of 5 for features.

Buddy minimal data

Your employees will be happy to use Buddy Punch

Employees won’t want to use an app that drains their phone batteries or uses up their data. Buddy Punch is designed to be lightweight; less than 10 KB of data is used.

Additionally, Buddy Punch only tracks your employees’ locations while they’re on the clock — never during their personal time — so their privacy is always protected.

How Buddy Punch’s geofencing feature works

With Buddy Punch, employees can clock in and out from anywhere using their mobile phones. When you set up geofences and assign them to employees, Buddy Punch uses the GPS technology built into your employees’ phones to detect exactly where they’re located when they clock in and out.

Prevent offsite punches

Prevent offsite punches

Create a geofence in Buddy Punch by entering either an address or latitude and longitude coordinates. Specify the diameter of the geofence; it can be as small as 50 meters or as large as 1,500 meters. Then, assign that geofence to the employees who work at that location.

If an employee has been assigned to a geofence, Buddy Punch checks their location when they clock in and out. If they’re not located within an assigned geofence, it will block the punch and show the employee a message saying they’re not on site.

This ensures that employees are clocking in and out when they’re actually at work — not while they’re getting coffee before work or after they’ve arrived at home and realized they forgot to clock out.

Identify time theft

Maybe you’ve suspected employees were committing time theft but couldn’t prove it. With Buddy Punch, you can get the evidence you need to prove or disprove your suspicions.

Get an alert when an employee leaves a geofence without clocking out. This helps you determine if employees are leaving the job site while they should be working and lets you edit their timesheets accordingly. You can also get an alert if they reenter the geofence.

Additionally, you can view all offsite punching attempts in Buddy Punch’s error log report. This lets you easily identify all instances of employees trying to clock in or out when they were offsite so you know who you need to keep a closer eye on.

Identify time theft
Simplify job costing

Simplify job costing

Buddy Punch’s job costing feature lets you create job codes you can use to track hours spent on specific projects. When a job code is created, it can be assigned to an employee. Then, when the employee clocks in, they’re required to choose the job code for the project they’re working on.

Buddy Punch’s geofencing feature makes it even easier to ensure hours are getting tied to the correct projects. By connecting a job code to a specific geofence, employees will only see the specific job codes  connected to that geofence when they’re located within the geofence.

If only one job code is assigned to a geofence, that job code will be selected for the employee automatically. If more than one job code is assigned, the employee can choose the appropriate one. This ensures you’re billing clients and tracking project labor costs accurately.

Remind employees to clock in and out

Geofence alerts can also remind employees to clock out at the end of the day or to switch job codes when moving between multiple job sites. You can send employees an email, push notification, or both when entering or exiting a geofence to remind them to clock in, clock out, or select a new job code.

Note that geofence alerts only work after an employee has clocked in for the day; they will not work for the first clock-in of the day. Buddy Punch only tracks employees’ locations when they’re on the clock to keep you compliant with state laws and protect your employees’ privacy.

Remind employees to clock in and out
Customize your geofence settings

Customize your geofence settings

Don’t want everyone to be tied to geofences? No problem. Buddy Punch lets you customize your settings to fit your needs perfectly:

  • Require all employees to be within geofences to clock in and out, or restrict it to specific employees only.
  • Turn on geofence enter and exit notifications for all employees or only specific employees.
  • Disable geofence enter and exit alerts for all employees.
  • Turn on only enter or only exit notifications.

This gives you the flexibility you need to prevent time theft where you suspect it’s happening while keeping things open for employees who aren’t tied to specific job sites.

Reviews from our customers

  • Buddy Punch makes employee time tracking very easy. Employees just need to be within a geofence (if one is set up) to punch in/punch out. They don’t have to jump through endless steps for something that should be straightforward.
    Bryan P.
    Hospital & Health Care
  • I used more expensive systems at previous employers, but Buddy Punch has been more than sufficient for our business. It is easy to run reports, track PTO and locations, and use the geofence.
    Connie M.
    Individual & Family Services
  • Employees can punch in wherever they are assigned. We can use a geofence if an employee is not punching in at the yard. We can see where they are when they punch in. It has prevented stealing time.
    Glenda A.
    Construction
  • Buddy Punch has been a great timekeeping solution for our non-profit janitorial business. It is allowing us to gather time and attendance for payroll and allowing us to geofence sites so we know employees are actually at the site when they punch in and punch out.
    Tony F.
    Project Manager
  • The geofence is great for clocking in and out. It has made it easier to keep track of accurate punch-ins, and the fact you can send your employees a notification to remind them to clock in is also great.
    User.
    Small Business Construction
  • We have staff located in various areas of our golf course but no centrally located time clock. The geofence was a breeze to set up, and all employees can clock in and out on their phones within their designated work areas.
    Karen P.
    Hospitality
  • I love how simple Buddy Punch is for my staff. Having the mobile app helps tremendously while allowing geofencing.
    Mariah C.
    Renewables & Environment
  • Very easy for employees and administrators to track time and edit if necessary. Provides accountability for our employees with the location settings such as GPS/geofence. Provides a variety of reports that are helpful.
    Katie B.
    Facilities Services
  • Best time clock we have ever had! If an employee does not punch out, we are notified. The geofence is great.
    Nikki B.
    Education Management
  • Easy to train employees. Easy to set-up and implement. Straightforward user interface. Geofence ability (user must punch in specified areas).
    Jim C.
    Machinery

How different industries use geofence time tracking

Mobile Teams

Employees in industries like construction, landscaping, home healthcare, electrical contracting, metal fabrication, security, transportation, and environmental services work across multiple job sites. Use geofences to make sure they’re where they’re supposed to be.

On-site teams

Physical time clock kiosks are expensive and require regular maintenance. With geofences, your restaurant, manufacturing facility, school, doctor’s office, government office, or nonprofit organization can let employees clock in and out using their phones without you having to wonder if they were at work.

Staffing agencies

With hundreds of contractors working across dozens of job sites, it’s impossible for staffing agencies to know if their people are where they’re supposed to be. Geofences prevent offsite punching, giving you the confidence that you’re only paying your contractors for the hours they worked.

How Buddy Punch compares to other geofence time clocks

Platform G2 Rating Starting Price
Buddy Punch 4.8 out of 5 $6.99 /user per month
QuickBooks Time 4.5 out of 5 $12 /user per month
Hubstaff 4.4 out of 5 $13.33 /user per month
Timeero 4.8 out of 5 $7.50 /user per month
Workyard 4.8 out of 5 $13 /user per month
ClockShark 4.7 out of 5 $9 /user per month

Frequently asked questions

A geofence time clock is a digital time tracking application that lets employers create virtual boundaries (geofences) around their job sites, offices, or other work locations. Geofences can be used to prevent offsite punches, remind employees to clock in or out, or automatically clock employees in and out, preventing time theft and/or automating time entry and job costing.

Geofences work by using GPS data that’s provided by a GPS-enabled device like a smartphone to detect a person’s location. GPS time clocks match that location data to geofences that have been created in the time tracking system to determine whether or not an employee is within a geofence or to detect when an employee has entered or exited a geofence.

Some of the advantages of geofence time tracking include:

  • Prevent offsite punches: Time tracking apps that use geofencing to ensure employees are on-site when clocking in and out prevent time theft acts like employees punching in before they arrive at work or clocking out after they’ve left for the day.
  • Simplify job costing: Geofences can be tied to specific jobs or projects. When an employee is located within a geofence, their time is automatically billed to the project that geofence is connected to.
  • Automate time tracking: For employees who work at multiple job sites throughout the day, geofence time tracking software can automatically clock employees in and out of job codes as they enter and leave geofences, letting you track project and travel time without requiring manual input.
  • Reduce forgotten punches: Geofence time clocks can remind employees to clock in and out when entering or leaving a geofence, reducing how often employees forget to clock in and out. It can also alert employers when an employee leaves a geofence while on the clock, which helps you edit timesheets accurately.

While there are a number of benefits, there are also some disadvantages to using a geofence time clock:

  • Cell service is required: Geofences only work if the employee’s GPS device is able to accurately detect their location. For teams who often work in rural areas without cell service, geofence rules can create problems that prevent employees from clocking in and out.
  • Privacy concerns: Employees may be uncomfortable providing location data to their employers. However, this concern can be reduced by choosing a time clock app that only monitors locations when employees are on the clock and distributing a detailed GPS tracking policy.

The features you’ll want to look for in a geofence time tracking app will depend on what exactly you’re trying to accomplish with geofencing.

If you want to prevent time theft, look for an app with geofences that prevent offsite punches, alert managers/admins when employees exit a geofence without clocking out, and compile reports that show you which employees attempted to clock in/out when not within a geofence.

If you want to automate time tracking/job costing, look for an app with geofences that automatically clock employees in and out when entering/exiting a geofence, automatically apply time spent in a specific geofence to a connected job code, or remind employees to clock in/out when arriving in or leaving a geofence.

If you want to reduce forgotten punches, look for apps that notify employees and managers/admins when employees enter or exit a geofence. For employees, the alert reminds them to clock in/out. For admins and managers, the alerts can be used to update timesheets when employees forget to punch.

Yes, U.S. business owners have the right to monitor their employees’ locations as long as they comply with federal and state-specific regulations. Generally speaking, businesses can track employees’ locations during their working hours and when using company-owned (not personal) vehicles. Additionally, some states require employers to notify employees that their locations are being tracked. Consult with an employment attorney for the specific rules for the states you operate in.

This will depend on the app you choose. For Buddy Punch’s geofencing feature, less than 10 KB of data is used on average for clocking in and out, and since the app only needs to be active at clock in/out, there isn’t any battery drain associated with it.