How geofenced clock ins work and when to use them
A clock in from a phone is quick for staff and saves a queue at a shared device, but a phone can clock in from anywhere. A geofence limits clock ins to the area around your workplace. Here is what a geofence actually checks, where it helps and where it gets in the way, how to set one up and test it, and where to check the privacy and surveillance rules before you switch it on.
When staff clock in on their own phones, the record shows the time but not where the person was. For many businesses that is fine, because a supervisor sees who walks in. It gets harder when someone opens alone at 5:30, when a team works across two venues, or when the hours on a timesheet stop matching what the manager remembers.
A geofence adds one more fact to each clock in and clock out: whether the phone was near the workplace when it was made. That fact is useful, but it is narrower than it sounds, and collecting location from staff phones is something to check the rules on before you start.
What a geofence is
A geofence is a boundary around a place: a point on a map for the workplace, and a radius around it. When someone clocks in, the phone reports where it is, and the distance from that location to the workplace is compared with the radius. Depending on the system and how it is set up, a clock in from outside the radius is either stopped or recorded with a flag for a manager to look at.
A phone’s location is an estimate, not a fixed point. Signal can be poor inside large buildings, in basements and in shopping centres, and the location a phone reports can land some distance from where the person is standing. That is why a geofence has to allow for more than the outline of the building, and why it needs testing in the real places where work starts before anyone relies on it.
What a geofence tells you, and what it does not
A geofence answers one question: was the phone near the workplace at the moment of the clock in? It is easy to read more into the record than that.
| Question | Does the geofence answer it? | What does |
|---|---|---|
| Was the phone near the workplace when the clock in was made? | Yes, as far as the phone’s location can be relied on | The distance recorded with the clock in |
| Was the employee the person holding the phone? | No | A supervisor who saw them start |
| Had they started work, or were they next door buying a coffee? | No | The supervisor, the opening checklist or the employee’s own account |
| Did they start at the rostered time? | Not on its own | The time of the clock in, compared with the roster |
| Where were they during the shift? | No | Nothing in a clock in check, and following someone through a shift is a much bigger step |
Treat a location check as an aid to checking hours, not proof of attendance. The hours still need the same review before payroll, comparing actual times with the roster and approving the differences, as the roster to payroll checklist sets out.
When a geofence is worth using
- One fixed workplace. A cafe, shop, bakery or kitchen where every shift starts at the same door is the simplest case: one point, one radius and a clear answer.
- Staff who clock in on their own phones. Without a device that stays at the venue, a geofence is the simplest way to see that a clock in was made on site rather than on the bus.
- Early opens and late closes. When one person opens or closes alone, the record shows the clock in was made near the venue, which helps if a time is questioned later.
- More than one venue. A separate radius for each site shows where someone clocked in, which matters when staff move between venues and each venue carries its own wage cost. The multi-location rostering guide covers rostering across sites.
When a geofence gets in the way
- Work that moves. Cleaning rounds, catering jobs, deliveries and home visits start at a different address each time. Either set up each address as its own place with its own radius, or leave the check off for those shifts. Rostering off-site catering jobs covers the travel and setup side.
- Large or enclosed sites. Shopping centres, basements and big clubs can give a poor location indoors, so staff at the back of the building land outside the radius.
- Close neighbours. In a strip of shops or a food court, a radius wide enough to work indoors also takes in the business next door, so the check says little about who has started.
- Staff without a suitable phone. Some people have an old phone, no data or no wish to use a personal phone for work. They need another way to clock in.
- Shifts that start somewhere else. A market stall, a stock pick up or a function at another address needs its own arrangement. See planning a roster for a pop-up or market stall.
How to set up a geofence
- Place the point where staff start workPut the centre of the geofence on the entrance people use to start work, not on the street address. An address can land in the middle of a block or a shopping centre, a long way from a back door or a loading dock.
- Start wider than the buildingBegin with a radius that comfortably takes in every door, the staff room and anywhere else work starts, and widen it for large or enclosed sites. Tighten it only once testing shows a smaller radius still works everywhere work starts.
- Test from every starting pointTry a clock in on at least two different phones from the front door, the back door, the staff room, the cool room and the car park. Write down which tests land inside and which do not, and adjust before anyone relies on it.
- Decide what happens outsideChoose whether a clock in from outside the radius is stopped or recorded with a flag. A stopped clock in usually becomes a missing clock in that someone has to fix before pay day, so a flag for review is often the better choice.
- Write down the fallbackSay what staff do when the phone cannot find its location, the battery is flat or location is switched off: tell the supervisor, or sign a clock in and out sheet for the manager to enter.
- Check the rules, then tell the teamCheck the privacy and surveillance rules that apply where you operate, as the next section explains, then tell staff in writing what is collected, when and why, before the first shift it applies to.
A worked example: testing the radius at a cafe
This is an example, not a real business, and the distances are this cafe’s, not a recommendation. A cafe sits in a row of shops, and staff start work through a back door off a laneway. The owner places the point on the front door with a 100 metre radius, then tests on two phones before switching the check on.
| Where the test was made | Phone A | Phone B |
|---|---|---|
| Front counter | Inside | Inside |
| Back door in the laneway | Inside | Outside |
| Cool room | Outside | Outside |
| Staff car park across the lane | Inside | Inside |
| Tram stop on the corner | Outside | Outside |
Only 3 of the 6 tests from places where work starts (the counter, the back door and the cool room) land inside, so the radius does not suit the building. The owner moves the point to the back door, widens the radius to 150 metres and tests again. All 6 now land inside, and the tram stop still lands outside. The car park also counts as inside, which the owner accepts and says in the staff notice: the check shows someone was at the cafe, and the supervisor still confirms when they started.
Check the privacy and surveillance rules first
Location from a staff member’s phone tells you where that person was, and collecting it can bring privacy and workplace surveillance laws into play. Those rules are not the same in every state and territory, and what applies depends on your business, where your staff work, and how the location is collected, kept and used. This article does not set them out, because a summary could easily be wrong for your situation.
Before you switch on a location check:
- Read the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s guidance on workplace monitoring and surveillance, and its privacy guidance for small business.
- Check the rules in each state or territory where you have staff. The OAIC suggests contacting the Attorney-General’s Department in your state or territory for information about local surveillance and monitoring laws.
- Get advice on what applies to your business before you collect location, including what staff must be told, whether consent or notice is needed, and how long the records should be kept.
Tell staff what is collected
Whatever the rules where you operate require, staff are more at ease with a location check they understand. Put it in writing, in the staff handbook or a one page notice, and cover:
- What is collected: the location or distance at the moment of each clock in and clock out, or anything more
- Where the point is and how big the radius is
- What happens to a clock in from outside the radius, and who reviews it
- Who can see location details, and what they are used for
- How long location details are kept
- What to do without a phone, without data or with location switched off
- Who to ask with a question or a concern
The hours themselves are a separate matter. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s record-keeping page says employers have to keep time and wages records for 7 years, that those records cannot be changed unless the change corrects an error, and that employers should keep records of hours worked for all employees. A geofence changes nothing about that.
Handling clock ins from outside the radius
A clock in from outside the geofence is not the same as a false one. Most have an ordinary reason: the location drifted indoors, the employee pressed the button walking from the tram stop, location was switched off, or the shift started at another address. Review flags the same day, while people remember:
- Compare the clock in with the roster and with who else was on shift
- Look at how far outside the radius it was, and whether that fits a simple explanation
- Ask the employee, and the supervisor if one was on
- Approve the time that reflects when work started, with a short note of the reason
- Tell the employee if the time was changed
If the same person lands outside the radius every day, test from where they start. A radius that is too tight is a more likely cause than the person. For gaps found close to pay day, fixing missing clock-ins without delaying payroll sets out a process, and comparing rostered and actual labour costs covers the wider differences.
If a geofence does not suit your business
A geofence is one way to add confidence to clock ins, not the only one:
- Supervisor sign off. The opener or closer confirms who started and finished, and the manager approves timesheets against that.
- A device that stays on site. When clock ins are made on a device kept at the venue, there is no need to collect location from personal phones.
- A paper sheet. For a very small team, a signed clock in and out sheet still works, as long as someone checks and totals it each week.
- A regular comparison with the roster. The rostered vs actual hours calculator shows where hours worked and hours rostered part ways, however the times were captured.
In Roster Flow, staff clock in on their own phone with an optional location check. When it is on, the phone sends its location, the distance to the venue is checked against a radius you set for each venue, and a clock in outside the radius is flagged for a manager rather than refused, unless you change the setting to block it. The distance is kept with the clock in as an aid to checking hours, not proof of attendance. Around it sit availability and leave from staff phones, the roster published to everybody at once, clock ins that become timesheets, and approved hours sent to Xero, MYOB or a CSV file. See clock in and out for more.
A checklist before you switch it on
- The point sits on the entrance staff use, not the street address
- The radius has been tested on more than one phone from every place work starts
- A clock in from outside is flagged for review, or there is a plan to fix stopped ones before pay day
- Staff without a suitable phone have another way to clock in
- The OAIC’s guidance and your state or territory’s rules have been checked, and advice taken
- Staff have been told in writing what is collected, why, who sees it and how long it is kept
- Flagged clock ins are reviewed the same day and approved with a note
Questions
Does a geofenced clock in track staff for the whole shift?
A geofence check looks at the phone’s location when the clock in or clock out is made. Whether anything more is collected depends on the system and its settings, so check them and tell staff exactly what is recorded.
How big should the geofence radius be?
Big enough that every place where work starts lands inside it when tested on more than one phone, and no bigger than it needs to be. Start wider than the building and tighten it only when testing shows a smaller radius still works.
Do I need staff consent to check their location at clock in?
It depends on the laws where you operate, and they are not the same in every state and territory. Read the OAIC’s guidance on workplace monitoring and surveillance, check your state or territory’s rules and get advice before you switch a location check on.
Does a geofence prove an employee was at work?
No. It shows the phone was near the workplace when the clock in was made, which is an aid to checking hours rather than proof of who was there or when work started.
What if an employee does not want to use their own phone?
Give them another way to clock in, such as a sheet the supervisor signs and the manager enters. Their hours still need to be recorded either way.
Should a clock in from outside the geofence be stopped?
Stopping it often leaves a gap that has to be fixed before payroll. Recording it with a flag keeps the time and gives the manager the chance to ask why it landed outside.