Geofencing is a new technology, projected to become even more popular in the coming years. In fact, the geofencing market is projected to grow from $3.41B in 2025 to an outstanding $8.14B by 2029. The rise will be due to businesses taking advantage of this exciting technology in the workplace. Geofencing is an effective tool for marketing campaigns, for security, and more and more for employee time tracking. If you’re asking yourself, “What is geofencing?” – don’t worry! We’ll cover exactly what it is and how you can leverage it. Particularly, geofencing time clocks and implementing one can enhance your team’s overall efficiency.
What is a Geofencing Time Clock?
Geofencing is becoming more and more common, especially when it comes to tracking employee hours and locations. Essentially, geofencing uses GPS, Wi-Fi, cellular data, or RFID to create a virtual perimeter or ‘geofence’ around a physical location. A geofence may be a radius around a point location or a predefined set of boundaries (such as a school zone or neighborhood boundary). This technology is gaining traction for employers and allows them to use mobile devices to monitor when someone enters or exits the defined area. Thus, geofencing is very useful to ensure your team is clocking in/out at the correct site and prevent time theft.
Businesses can also use time clock with geofencing apps to track employee hours and streamline payroll. Under the FLSA, employers must keep accurate records of all employee hours worked. To centralize and simplify your time tracking, geofenced clock-ins help capture the exact moment, down to the second, of actual start/stop times. This reduces errors and can easily sync with your payroll system for a seamless payroll process.
💡 Did you know? The CCPA in California gives employees the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of their data.
Common Geofencing Uses in the Workplace
Geofencing has a variety of applications in the workplace, helping with everything from marketing to time tracking. For example, restaurants can advertise deals to passersby or businesses can offer special promotions to students of a university in their area. Here are three common uses for geofencing.
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Marketing
Businesses can utilize geofencing technology to offer incentives to consumers in the area. With geofencing for marketing, businesses can target consumers at events, colleges, trade shows, and more. These geofencing alerts can be very effective in drawing new clientele.
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Social Networking
When you use a customized filter to share photos and stories from an event, you’re using geofencing technology. Social media campaigns may take advantage of geofencing technology to personalize and enhance the consumer experience. For example, geofencing technology prompts people to check in when they enter a geofenced area or asks them to feedback or write a review when they leave.
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Online Time Clock: Geofencing employee tracking
Geofencing is also used in clocking in apps for employees. With a geofencing time tracking app, employees are able to clock in directly from their phones. Meanwhile, employers, are able to see exactly where employees are punching in from. That means they’ll be able to tell when employees are clocking in from somewhere outside of the workplace. Additionally, in order to meet FLSA compliance, businesses must store time cards or any records used to calculate wages for two years. With a geofencing time clock, managers can track employee hours and location, digitize and store timesheets, and sync geofenced punches with payroll to reduce manual entry and calculate wages easier.
📌 Interested in geofencing software? Check out our top 5 solutions for geofencing time clocks in 2025.
How Geofencing Time Clocks Work: Employer's Perspective
To ensure your team is at their designated job site, employers must define their virtual geographic boundary (or geofence). Then once that boundary is defined, your geofencing time tracking app verifies employee location at the time of their clock-in/out is within the perimeters.
In addition to recording and verifying your team’s location, geofencing time clocks also logs the precise moment an employee clocks-in/out. Once this is recorded, managers and employers can verify employee hours worked and sync approved hours to payroll. That way, you ensure accurate payslips while reducing the amount of manual data entry needed to pay your team.
Geofencing Time Clock Benefits
Using a clocking in app with geofencing capabilities can be a great opportunity for your business. Wondering what kind of benefits come from implementing a clock in app for employees? Here’s how a GPS time tracker can upgrade your timesheets.
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Reduces Timesheet Errors
Time tracking with geofencing can help promote more accurate time-reporting and avoid confusion. Miles better than manually tracking time on a paper timesheet or excel file, automated time tracking reduces the potential for mistakes and timesheet errors. This saves valuable administrative time. Clock in apps with geofencing also allow more transparency as employees are able to view their total hours worked at any given time.
💡 Tip: Modern geofencing time tracking app like Factorial deters buddy-punching, increases job-site presence, and supports employee hours regulation.
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Boosts Productivity
A time tracking software empowers employees to track their own hours. The clocking in and clocking out process can often serve as a reminder to focus at the job at hand. Further, employees are able to view their hours to see that they are being paid accurately and fairly. This helps employees feel more engaged at work and boosts their productivity.
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Limits Paperwork
It’s high time to stop dealing with the hassle of paper timesheets or clunky excel files. With a GPS time clock app, employees will be able to calculate their hours more precisely while employers will have peace of mind. Geofencing clock in apps offer a more convenient and environmentally-friendly way to track employee hours. It’s time to trade the old filing cabinet for the convenience of an app.
Finding the best Geofencing Time Tracking App
A clock in app for employees doesn’t need to just be a clock in app. A good app should have other capabilities that help to improve the employee experience by centralizing key HR processes and providing access to the most up-to-date information. Further, a good app will provide opportunities for employers to make the most of available data. Here are some of the key features to look for when choosing the right clock in app for your business.
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Time Off Software
A GPS time tracker improves efficiency and reduces errors in your timesheet. But as long as you’re tracking time, don’t you also want to track time off? Choose a time off tracking software that does more than calculate hours worked. Find one that also helps to manage time off requests, sick leave, and vacation days. Integrating these systems will make it easier to track paid time off accrual and see how many hours have been used. Employees will be able to see their hours worked and upcoming time off in the same place.
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HR Reports
Every time an employee clocks in or out, they are generating valuable data. A good software will help employers to make the most of this data through custom HR reporting tool. With access to hours worked, productivity information, and time off data, employers will be able to run data reports which provide key insights into their workforce. This can help them to make better-informed decisions about the direction of their business.
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Integrations
Invest in a time clock app that works from multiple platforms. A Slack integration will allow employees to clock in directly from their key communication tool. Meanwhile, integrations with Google Calendar will allow employers and employees to track important dates and employee time off from their Google suite.
Do you have more questions about what is geofencing and how it can help your business? Then check out our time tracking software which offers geofencing— and much, much more.
FAQs
How does a geofencing time clock work?
A geofencing time clock uses GPS, cellular data, Wifi, or RFID to pinpoint an employee’s location within a specific boundary around a job site. When employees use a mobile geofencing time tracking app the app records the time & location to be stored and synced with payroll. This prevents time theft from occurring and increases the accuracy of recordkeeping and payslips.
Does geofencing track employees off the clock?
No, geo time tracking software only collection location when employees clock-in/out or monitor their location during their scheduled shift. When employees are off the clock, including while on break, their location data is not recorded.
Which time tracking software integrates best with payroll?
Factorial is the best geo fencing time tracking software that integrates with payroll. Factorial integrates with payroll providers like Sage 50 and TeamSystem, that way you can automate overtime, time tracking, and reduce human-made errors and exports.
What is an attendance cycle for payroll?
An attendance cycle for payroll is a defined period where employee hours are tracked and inputted into your payroll process. This cycle can be weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly, to ensure accurate FLSA recordkeeping and overtime calculations.
Do geofencing time clocks use GPS to locate employees?
Yes, time clock apps with geofencing us GPS with Wifi and cellular data to locate employee locations.
What happens if there’s no internet connection on site?
Most geofencing time clocks will still be able pinpoint employee locations via GPS; however, real-time updates or visual maps may not provide real-time data.
Is geofencing legal for timekeeping in the US?
Yes, geofencing is legal in the U.S. Employers should be mindful of state and federal regulations, ensure they’ve receive employee consent, and adhere to location data collection and usage.
