Search
Search
Close this search box.

Security In Online Time Tracking

  • “How do I know my employees won’t clock in from home?”
  • “What if employees share passwords and clock in for each other?”
  • “What if my mobile employees clock in from their phones before they reach the job site?”


Employers who are curious about switching to online time tracking wonder about these things. They are all valid questions. The internet can be accessed from anywhere so it makes sense that employers would be concerned that employees could clock in from anywhere too.

We are aware of these concerns. After all, we’ve been in the business of time tracking a long time. But you don’t have to worry about these things. Our software service offers several security features designed to give you peace of mind.

IP Address Restriction

No matter how many locations your business has, you can restrict the clock in/out of your employees just to those locations. This is done by saving the IP addresses of the approved locations in the security settings of the Setup Wizard. With this enabled, employees can’t clock in/out from anywhere except those saved locations. The feature simply disables the clock in and out buttons. It’s customizable by employee too. So if you just want certain employees to be restricted, that’s OK. You can set specific employees to use the feature. This feature is free.

Photo Timestamp

If you set up IP restrictions so that employees can’t clock in from anywhere but the office but you think employees are shaing passwords and clocking each other in when the boss is out, then this setting is for you. For an extra dollar per month per user in your license level, you can set your system to snap a photo of your employees each time they clock in and out. All you need is a simple webcam to use the feature. We store these photos for you so that they are always there for review.

GPS Tracking

Do you have employees who work out in the field but are largely unsupervised? Many employees don’t report to a boss each morning but instead head straight to a job site and start working. Managers may never see them come and go, which can be really nerve wracking. With this setting enabled, the employees’ geo-coordinates will be saved with each clock punch. Each time an employee clocks in and out from their phones, the system will save their location to a map. You can see the map on each timestamp on their timecards or run reports and see them all together. This feature is free. Learn more about it here.

Why We Do This

We’re not saying your employees are bad. You hired them so they’re probably valuable to you in many ways. But many employers don’t get a chance to get to know their employees very well. These settings help ensure that employees are where they say they are.

Online tracking systems are great but they do open up a big can of worms. Thankfully, we like worms, so we solved all these potential problems for you.

If you have any questions about these or other features, please give us a call and we’ll help you get them set up!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News & Tips for Small Business Owners, Employees, and Accounting Professionals

Introducing Timesheets.com

We Help Thousands of Employers Manage Time, Time Off, and Expenses

Timesheets.com is trusted by small businesses everywhere as a recognized industry leader