Geofenced clock-in explained: flag, block or leave it off?

A geofenced clock-in sounds technical, but the idea is simple: when someone clocks in on their phone, the phone's position is compared with where they are supposed to be. If the two match, nothing happens. If they don't, the clock-in is either marked for a manager to look at or refused. This guide explains how it works, where it goes wrong and how to introduce it in a way your team will accept.

How a location check works

You give each workplace a position on the map and a radius, for example 150 metres. That circle is the geofence. When a person taps Clock in, their phone works out where it is and reports a position. The system measures the distance from that position to the centre of the circle. Inside the radius is fine. Outside it is not.

Two things are worth knowing. First, the phone asks the person for permission to share its location; nothing can be read without that. Second, a check at clock-in is a single reading at one moment. It is not the same as tracking, where a phone reports its position again and again through the day.

How accurate is a phone's position?

Less than most people expect. Outdoors with a clear view of the sky, a phone is usually accurate to within a few metres. Indoors, in a basement, in a steel-framed warehouse or between tall buildings, it can be off by tens of metres and sometimes more. Phones with location set to approximate rather than precise are deliberately vague.

This is the main reason location checks annoy people: the radius is set too tight, and honest staff standing at the till are told they are not at work. A circle that is a little too big catches almost everything you care about. A circle that is too small catches your best people every morning.

Flag, block or off

Flagging is the better default. It treats a mismatch as a question rather than an accusation, and it never leaves someone standing outside unable to start their shift because their phone is confused. Blocking is stronger, but every false alarm becomes a phone call to a manager. Use it only where you have tested that phones get a good position on site.

When a location check is worth it

• People start at a site with no manager present: cleaners, carers, security, early openers.
• You have several sites and need to know which one someone actually started at.
• A client pays for time on their premises and may ask how you know people were there.
• You have had real problems with clocking in from the car park, or from home.

It is not worth it when people work from home, when their work moves around all day, or when a manager is standing next to them every morning anyway. A check that adds nothing just adds friction.

Set one up in six steps

1. 1Tell the team first. Explain what is checked, when, and what a manager sees. Do this before you switch anything on.
2. 2Put the pin on the building people actually work in, not the postal address, which may be the gate or a head office.
3. 3Set a generous radius. Bigger for large sites, warehouses and anywhere with poor signal.
4. 4Start with Flag, not Block.
5. 5Clock in yourself from the front door, the back room and the car park to see what happens.
6. 6Review marked clock-ins after two weeks and adjust the radius or the setting.

Privacy: what to tell your team

People are understandably wary of an employer knowing where their phone is. Being specific helps more than being reassuring. Say what is recorded (one position), when (at clock-in), who can see it (their manager), and what it is used for (confirming the start of a shift). Say equally clearly what is not recorded.

Laws on employee location data differ a great deal between countries. Some require you to tell staff in writing, some require a clear business reason, some require consent or consultation. Check the rules that apply to you before switching it on, and keep a short written note of why you use it.

How ClockinBee handles it

In ClockinBee, each location can have a position and an area radius in metres, and one of three settings: flag clock-ins outside the area, block them, or don't check location at all. Flagging is the recommended choice: the clock-in goes through and is marked as needing a check.

When a check is on, the phone's position is read once, at the moment someone clocks in, and stored with that clock-in. ClockinBee does not track anyone during a shift or after they clock out. A clock-in outside the area appears in Approvals among the items that need review, with the reason shown, while timesheets with nothing unusual can be approved together. If someone can't clock in at all, they can add their hours with a reason for their manager to approve.

Common questions