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Geofencing

Define clock in areas for mobile app users

Updated over a week ago

Geofencing is a way to check that staff are at the workplace when they record their clock-ins using the Mobile App.

How it works

Workforce.com compares the GPS coordinates of the employee when clocking in against the address defined in your location settings.

An icon in the lower right corner of each clock-in photo on timesheets indicates whether the clock-in occurred within the defined distance (Login radius) the address.

The timesheet icon is Green in color if the clock-in occurred within the geofence, and Red if it occurred outside of the geofence. If the shift location's address is not defined the icon will appear Blue in color.

How to set your geofence location and distance

The location of the geofence is defined by the address in each location.

When entering your business address into each location, Workforce.com searches google maps to identify the location of the workplace:

You can fine tune the location of the geofence in the settings for each location under 'advanced options'. You can move the position of the geofence and expand the radius by dragging on the map.

FAQ and troubleshooting

How accurate is the GPS signal?

There is no standard accuracy that can be defined. How accurate a GPS signal is depends on many factors including:

  • The terrain and surrounding buildings

  • The service provider

  • The type of device being used

If you find that accuracy is an issue in your specific location, increase the radius to account for the expected error.

The employee looks to be at the correct location on the map but still shows as offsite

The login radius is based on a central point on a map. This means if the address entered covers a large area, the radius may need to be widened or the geofence moved to reflect this.

This becomes a consideration in places like shopping centers or large factories. For example, when entering the address of a shop within a large shopping center, google maps may drop the pin for a shopping center on the street entrance of the building. Use the map in your location settings to check where the geofence sits in reference to the location of the store and consider if widening the geofence is required if there is a wide area where employees could commence their shift.

Why does the location show somewhere I am not?

Usually this is a sign that a GPS signal hasn't been received by your device since moving from the previous location. There are a number of reasons that might be the case, including if GPS had been turned off on the device for some time. In most cases, your phone will only require a short amount of time to acquire a more recent location signal, and closing then opening the app again will force the GPS location to update in Workforce.com.

Why are clock-ins not being prevented when offsite?

Clock-ins can be prevented outside of the geofence radius using shift questions. If you have a 'prevent clock-in' shift question that isn't applying as you expect it's best to investigate a specific example of clocked time.

When you find an example, check the employees 'clock ins' section of their employee profile to identify what action was taken by the employee at that time (e.g. clock in or clock out):

Compare this action against the 'When' section of the relevant shift question to confirm if the question should have applied to this action:

Also check the shift question settings to confirm what employee tags the question applies to, and that the question applies to the example employee based on their classification:


For further location inaccuracy troubleshooting steps, see Workforce.com Mobile App: Remote Clock-ins.

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