A mobile time clock lets employees clock in and out from an app on a phone, usually with GPS location and often a geofence around the work site. It suits field teams and multiple sites, and it comes with its own policy questions about phones and location.
In shortA mobile time clock is a time tracking app that employees use on a smartphone to clock in and out, start and end breaks, and sometimes record which job or client they are working on. Most apps record the location at the time of each punch, and many let the employer set a geofence, a virtual boundary around a site, so a punch outside it is flagged or blocked. Mobile clocks fit construction, cleaning, home care, field service and security, where people start at different places. The pay rules do not change with the device. Non-exempt employees must be paid for all hours worked, and hours worked include time the employer suffers or permits, so a geofence that blocks early punches does not make early work unpaid if the employer allows it to happen. Rounding is accepted only if, over time, it does not fail to pay for all time worked. Policy questions come with phones. Location tracking laws vary by state, so employers should collect location only at punches or during work time and tell employees what is collected. If employees use their own phones, a written policy should cover data use, and in some states, reimbursement of reasonable expenses. And missed punches need a fix process with approval and a record of every change.
Mobile clock features and what they mean
Features and policy points
Feature
What it does
Policy point
GPS at punch
Records location when clocking in and out
Tell employees what is collected and when
Geofence
Flags or blocks punches outside a site
Do not let it hide work done outside the fence
Job or client tracking
Assigns time to a job
Useful for billing and labor costing
Missed punch requests
Employee asks, manager approves
Keep the original punch and the reason for the change
With the EZTime time clock app, employees clock in from their phone with GPS and managers approve hours from anywhere.
Letting crews clock in on arrival puts early work on paid time.
Worked example: a geofence and an early start
Clocked in at 7:00, working at 6:45
A landscaping company uses a mobile clock with a 150-meter geofence around each property. Crews are scheduled from 7:00 a.m., and the app blocks punches more than 5 minutes before the scheduled start.
A crew lead notices that his team arrives around 6:45 and starts unloading equipment, because the client wants the mowers running by 7:00. They clock in at 7:00, as the app allows. Unloading equipment is work, the company knows it happens, and so the 15 minutes is hours worked.
The company changes the setting so the crew can clock in when they arrive on site, and it changes the schedule start to 6:45 for that client. For a 4-person crew, 5 days a week, the change adds 5 paid hours a week, which the company now builds into the client’s price instead of leaving as unpaid work.
Mistakes that are specific to mobile time clocks
Blocking early punches while the work starts early anyway.
Tracking location all day instead of only at punches or work time, without telling employees.
Requiring personal phones without a written policy on use and costs.
Fixing missed punches by text, with no approval record.
Setting geofences so tight that valid punches fail and people stop trusting the app.
Rolling out a mobile clock
Write down what the app collects, such as location at each punch, and share it before anyone installs it.
Set geofences around each site, with a radius that covers the real arrival point, such as the parking area.
Decide how early clock-in can happen, and make sure work never starts before it is allowed.
Offer a backup for anyone without a working phone, such as a kiosk or web clock-in.
Train managers to review and approve missed-punch requests promptly.
Check the first month’s punches by site. Many punches flagged outside a geofence at one site usually mean the geofence is drawn too tightly, not that people are cheating.
Second example: a geofence that was too small
A cleaning company draws a 50-meter geofence around an office building. Cleaners park in a garage across the street and walk in, and a third of their punches are flagged as outside the site.
The company widens the geofence to include the garage entrance and the path to the building. Flagged punches drop to almost none, and the manager stops spending time on missed-punch approvals for people who were exactly where they should be.
Compare arrival times with punch timesOnce a quarter, compare when crews arrive on site, from the first location record or the gate log, with when they clock in. A steady gap is early work you are probably not paying for.
Questions people ask
What is a mobile time clock?
An app that lets employees clock in and out from a smartphone, usually recording location at each punch.
Can employers track location through a time clock app?
Usually at punches and during work time, if employees are told. Rules vary by state, so check before collecting more.
What is a geofence in a time clock?
A virtual boundary around a work site. Punches outside it can be flagged or blocked.
Do employees have to use their own phones?
It depends on the employer’s policy and state law. Some states require reimbursement of reasonable expenses for required personal phone use.
How does a mobile time clock prevent buddy punching?
Each employee clocks in with their own login on their own device, and geofencing checks that the punch happens at the work site.
What if an employee forgets to clock out on the app?
They submit a missed-punch request with the actual time, and the manager approves it. The original record and the change are both kept.
Disclaimer: This explanation of mobile time clock is general information, not legal, payroll or tax advice; rules differ by state and city and change over time, and the examples are fictional.
