Time theft and fraud are costing businesses $30 billion a year. How can you stop your employees from stealing time?
Time theft and fraud especially affect businesses with remote or mobile workers. Based on a Software Advice survey, 43% of workers admit to time theft. Your employees may claim to work more hours than they actually do or perform personal activities during work hours.
Fraud occurs when employees falsify their attendance records, such as by clocking in for someone else or by manipulating their location data. This can cause significant losses for employers, as well as legal and compliance risks.
Online attendance tracking with geo-location verification is a great way for businesses of all sizes to eliminate time theft and fraud.
In this blog post, we will explain what geo-location attendance tracking is and how to implement online attendance tracking in your business to stop time theft.
What is a geo-fencing Attendance System?
Geo-fencing attendance tracking uses virtual boundaries to define work locations. When your employee enters or exits a geo-fenced area, their location is recorded. This helps you to verify employee locations and prevent unauthorised absences or late arrivals.
A geo-fence is a virtual boundary that you can set around a specific area, such as your office building, a warehouse, or a customer location. Also, you can track and manage your employees’ attendance by verifying if your employees are at work during work hours. With an online attendance system, your employees can punch in and out using their devices without having to use manual or paper-based methods.
How does the Geo-location Attendance Tracking work?
You can use online attendance software installed on your employees’ smartphones or tablets to track their location via GPS. The app communicates with cloud-based software that stores and analyses the location data.
You can create geo-fences for different work locations and assign them to employees or teams. Also, you can set up rules and alerts for each geo-fence, such as the amount of time an employee should spend in a geo-fenced area. This is especially helpful for tracking field workers.
Geo-location attendance tracking can be used to:
- Verify that employees are at the right place at the right time.
- Prevent unauthorised absences and late arrivals.
- Automate employee in and out time.
- Improve employee productivity and accountability.
- Generate reports on employee performance, productivity, and compliance.
Benefits of geo-location attendance tracking
Switching to attendance tracking is an additional investment but comes with a lot of benefits. Here are a few:
- Increased productivity: Your employees become more productive when they know their attendance is being tracked. You can optimise workforce management with real-time data on employee availability, workload, and performance.
- Increased accountability: Employees are also more likely to follow the rules and policies, such as by adhering to work schedules, reporting absences or leaves, and respecting their work boundaries. You can use geo-location data as evidence to support rewards, recognitions, feedback, coaching, or disciplinary actions.
- Accurate attendance records: Attendance tracking stops risks of human errors, such as forgetting to clock in or out, misplacing timesheets, or making mistakes in calculations. Also, it eliminates tampering or manipulation of attendance records by employees or managers.
- Reduced time theft and fraud: Attendance tracking can help to reduce the costs and losses associated with time theft and fraud. According to a study by the American Payroll Association, time theft and fraud can cost employers up to 7% of their annual payroll. By using geo-location tracking, you can prevent employees from stealing time and save on payroll, taxes, benefits, and insurance.
- Improved compliance: It helps you to comply with various industry standards and regulations regarding employee safety, security, and quality. For example, you can ensure that employees are working in safe and authorised locations and respond quickly in case of emergencies or accidents.
Tips for reducing time theft and fraud
- Create a clear time theft policy and communicate it to all your employees as an agreement.
- Implement a time and attendance tracking system. You can use Task Tracker for error-free attendance tracking. It is an easy-to-use, secure, scalable, and affordable system that includes geo-location tracking to help you monitor and manage remote or mobile workers more effectively.
- Conduct regular audits of attendance records. Check for discrepancies and errors in the data. Compare attendance records with other sources of information, such as work output, customer feedback, and expense reports.
- Investigate any suspicious activity and take action, such as issuing a warning, providing coaching, or ending employment.
- Reward and recognise employees who show good work ethics and performance to create a culture of accountability. You can also encourage your employees to report any instances of time theft or fraud that they witness or experience.
Choosing the right attendance tracking tool
- Define your goals and requirements. What do you want to achieve with geo-location attendance tracking software? What are your specific needs and preferences? Consider your budget, team size and project types.
- Research and compare different options to match your goals and requirements. Request free trials or demos to test features.
- Evaluate features and benefits of shortlisted options. Look for essential features, such as geo-fencing, real-time tracking, external alerts, and reports.
- Consider the pros and cons of each option, feedback from employees and managers, and the expected return on investment.
Next Step
Location-based attendance tracking saves you money and time by controlling time theft, improving business operations, and creating a productive work environment.
To experience the benefits of geo-location tracking and online attendance, try Task Tracker for free. Task Tracker is an innovative and affordable tool with an easy-to-use interface.
Start your free trial now.
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