Employee GPS Tracking Guide
A Complete Guide for Service Based Businesses
Introduction
When it comes to employee GPS tracking, the future is now. In today’s hyper-competitive business landscape, every competitive advantage needs to be utilized. And if you’re still not using employee GPS tracking, rest assured your competitors already are, or are planning to start soon.
At Labor Sync, our goal is to help you optimize your employee tracking processes and to make employee GPS tracking more accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes. That’s why we created this guide - to help clear up any lingering doubts, uncertainties, questions, or fears that might be preventing you from reaping the benefits of employee GPS tracking. So, please, read on to learn how and why GPS tracking will help your business.
By understanding the practical benefits and dispelling the common misconceptions, you can approach GPS tracking with confidence rather than hesitation. The right solution is not about surveillance, it is about empowerment, giving you the tools to increase accountability, streamline operations, and build stronger trust with both your employees and your customers.
📍 Related Guide: Timesheet Software Guide
Part I: How GPS Is Transforming Labor Tracking
GPS technology is ever-present in modern life, with the vast majority of us using it every day, often without even realizing it. As businesses have become more mobile and workforces increasingly decentralized, the development and adoption of GPS technology for labor tracking has accelerated dramatically. Considering the benefits, the real surprise is that it has taken this long.
Accurate Tracking Prevents Costly Mistakes
A recent study estimated that companies that use time tracking software with payroll features are 44% less likely to commit paycheck errors. While another study resulted in 43% of hourly workers surveyed admitting to some degree of time theft (when an employee is paid for work or time they shouldn’t be compensated for.
Meanwhile, the accessibility and ease-of-use of employee GPS tracking apps has never been greater. These apps easily track and maintain impressively accurate records of employee work times and locations.
Part II: What is GPS Tracking
Let’s start with the basics.
GPS stands for Global Positioning System and is one of several currently active Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). For the purposes of this guide, we will be focusing solely on GPS, which is owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Air Force. Although the United States government created, controls and maintains the GPS system, it is freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.
At its most basic, GPS is a satellite-based radionavigation system. It provides geolocation and time information to a receiver anywhere on or near the Earth with an unobstructed line of sight to at least four of the network’s twenty-four active satellites.
GPS accessibility has been available to the public since 1983, with the current constellation of 27 satellites (24 active and 3 standing by as backups) becoming fully operational in 1993.
GPS does not require the user to transmit any data and operates independently of any telephonic or internet reception.
GPS Technology Is Amazingly Accurate
As of October 2022, high-end GPS systems can achieve pinpoint accuracy within two centimeters. By comparison, most consumer devices currently offer accuracy within about 15 feet. This difference highlights just how advanced professional-grade GPS has become compared to the everyday tools most of us rely on.
The U.S. government is actively upgrading the system with the goal of delivering accuracy within 30 centimeters to all users by 2027. This improvement will dramatically enhance reliability for businesses that depend on location tracking. With that level of precision, industries like construction, logistics, and labor management will be able to operate with far greater efficiency and confidence.
GPS technology is also amazingly reliable
Every GPS satellite is equipped with an atomic clock, synchronized with all other satellites and ground-based reference systems. Any variations in timekeeping are corrected daily, ensuring unmatched consistency and accuracy. By law, the U.S. Department of Defense must maintain a Standard Positioning Service that is available continuously on a global scale.
GPS is a dual-use technology, powering both military and civilian applications. If it is trusted for critical military operations, you can be confident it is more than reliable enough for business use. From precision labor tracking to fleet management, GPS delivers accurate, real-time data businesses can depend on.
Beyond workforce management, GPS technology quietly supports everyday life in surprising ways. It underpins mobile phone networks, banking transactions, and even the control of power grids. It also drives navigation in cars, airplanes, boats, and heavy machinery used across construction, mining, and agriculture.
The conclusion is simple: GPS technology is one of the most reliable and accurate tools available, making it an essential foundation for modern business operations.
Part III: Benefits of Employee GPS Tracking for Businesses
“Okay, I get it. The military uses GPS. The aviation industry uses GPS. My car uses GPS… But what the heck does that have to do with operating my business?”
The benefits of employee GPS tracking are vast. Take a look at this list:
Enhanced Productivity
Simplified Time Tracking and Payroll Processes
Unlimited Accessibility
Optimized Workforce Management
Empowered Workforce
Increased Profitability
Now, if you can’t identify at least one of those things as being beneficial to your business, fine. Maybe employee GPS tracking isn’t for you. Best of luck out there.
But for those of you looking to do whatever it takes to maximize the efficiency of your business practices, let’s dive deeper into each of the items on that list.
Enhance Productivity
Paper timesheets are the worst. Paper anything is the worst.
Job sites (and the vehicles we use to get to them) are often dirty, messy, and disorganized. Things get lost, damaged, and destroyed regularly.
Trying to keep a physical record of clock-ins and clock-outs is a nuisance - for both employees and employers. Not to mention, constantly checking in to report your location when moving between job sites can be a serious waste of time.
Maximizing the efficiency of your employees means maximizing the efficiency of your business.
Employee GPS tracking allows for the reduction of busywork for both employees and employers, so everyone can focus on doing the job they’re being paid to do.
With GPS tracking apps, no one has to bother with unnecessary phone calls or even - heaven forbid - having to pull out an actual paper map to try and locate a lost or late employee.
Many labor tracking apps now offer real-time, interactive, GPS-verified maps showing the most up-to-date location of every single employee.
And when those employees do get to the job site, GPS tracking apps can instantly confirm and verify their location, while allowing them to check in with the click of a button. No more waiting in clock-in lines or taking the time to fill out sign-in sheets.
Uncomplicated clock-in procedures mean your employees can get to work doing what you’re paying them to do, quickly, easily, efficiently, and without worry. And if an employee resents having uncompromisable time-keeping, well, that’s probably not an employee you want to keep around…
And this digitized timesheet and payroll information is significantly easier to sort, organize, and monitor than messy paper documents. Payroll processes can be additionally streamlined with easy-to-use, built-in integrations. Customizable reports can be instantly and easily exported to Quickbooks or other software. Imagine a world where payroll processing time takes minutes rather than days and comes with nearly 100% reliability.
We have a feeling it won’t be just your payroll and estimating teams celebrating.
But perhaps most importantly, GPS-verified time and location tracked records can help ensure you stay on the right side of complicated and ever-evolving workplace labor laws and requirements. Keeping accurate records of every activity your workforce performs protects you and your business. No more he-said, she-said. Every action is recorded, verifiable, and accessible at any time thanks to GPS’ seamless integration with cloud-based storage.
Simplified Time Tracking and Payroll Processes
Have we mentioned paper timesheets are the worst? Not just for your labor force, but especially for the payroll team tasked with keeping everything organized, honest, and compliant.
With labor tracking apps, payroll records can be automatically GPS, time, and date-stamped for all employees.
Unlimited Accessibility
The ability of labor tracking apps to upload data directly to the cloud currently enables unprecedented levels of accessibility and mobility within the workforce. Employers, managers, and employees have been largely freed of the dependence on physical workstations. This shift allows teams to access real-time information from virtually anywhere, ensuring faster decision-making and greater overall efficiency. It also creates a single source of truth for labor data, reducing errors and keeping everyone aligned.
Gone are the days of carrying around bulging accordion folders or scouring through filofaxes scattered around the backseat of a dirty pickup truck. Employee tracking apps allow you to monitor your entire workforce with just your phone, tablet, or desktop. With some labor tracking apps allowing foremen and managers to log and monitor the activity of their entire teams using batch entries. The search functionality of this digitized information alone can bring significantly improved efficiency to job sites.
At any time, at any place, as long as you’re connected to the internet, cloud-based services allow you to access the information you need and share it without having to physically deliver it. Having a central location for all of your documents, retrievable from anywhere, is crucial for someone who works primarily on job sites.
Need we even mention how much time and money can be saved on paper, ink, and printing supplies?
With time management being a priority in the workplace, especially in industries like construction where employees regularly travel between job sites, the ability to track how and where your employees travel while on the clock is paramount.
Employee GPS tracking apps make large workforces easier to manage and keep track of.
This is especially beneficial for projects where employee hours are tied to the specific job sites they’re working at. With crews working multiple jobs during the week, or even during a single day, it can be difficult to tell how many hours were spent where. With GPS tracking, you can see exactly how many man-hours should be allocated to each job site, performing each function, with ease.
Real-time time-tracking also provides increased awareness of overall time management, such as the ability to set up notifications when overtime is approached or triggered, or how much time is being used on different equipment.
Empowered Workforce
The benefits of employee GPS tracking apps do not exclusively apply to management-levels and above. First and foremost, accurate time tracking ensures that employees are certain to get paid for the work they’ve done. Payroll disputes can be quickly and easily resolved with information instantly accessible not just to employers but to the employees themselves.
Employee tracking apps create reliable, safe, and easy-to-access records of all personal work information, including hours worked, jobs, and actions performed.
And as we might have mentioned before, no one wants to have to keep track of paper timesheets. Allowing employees to easily and reliably clock in and out of work empowers them to take charge of their work schedule. Employees can monitor their time and even performance based on the convenient information.
Additionally, some time-tracking apps (like Labor Sync) provide multilingual experiences. The benefits of being able to interact with vitally important, income-affecting software in one’s native language are often understated. Not to mention freeing employees from having to worry about being able to fill out time cards in a foreign language.
Increased Profitability
And last, but certainly not least, employee GPS tracking provides businesses with the opportunity to increase profits by ensuring your company is not wasting money.
Unreliable time tracking is a liability. Every year, companies lose thousands of dollars in overpaid wages due to misreported employee time-keeping. In fact, it’s such a common occurrence the term “time theft” has been coined to describe it. And unsurprisingly, it’s a significantly greater problem for companies that pay employees hourly wages vs. salaries.
Optimized Workforce Management
No one wants to pay for work that wasn’t done, and no business can afford to let unverified hours eat into its bottom line. Accurate labor tracking ensures that every dollar spent reflects real work performed, protecting both profitability and fairness.
Knowing exactly when and where every member of your workforce is in real-time represents the ultimate management tool. Many employee GPS tracking apps allow you to view all of your employees in real-time, on one screen. And with the click of a button you can even watch them travel to their next destination.
Which means if you operate a service-based business and don’t utilize time-tracking software, chances are time theft is happening to you.
According to a 2017 study, the most common method of time theft, when one employee clocks in for another, aka “buddy punching,” cost American employers over $373 million in one year. Today, by requiring employees to use GPS time-tracking apps, this method of time theft can be all but completely eliminated.
Because time theft results in employees who show up on time getting paid the same as those who don’t, leaving the issue unaddressed risks demotivating your hardest and most reliable workers. Lack of motivation results in lowered productivity.
Unreliable time-keeping can cause a devastating ripple effect throughout your company as not only are you paying for work not being done, but your company’s reputation can suffer as clients begin to wonder why they’re paying for a full day’s work when people are regularly showing up late.
Make sure people are paid for the work they do, when they do it. Reward your employees’ honesty with the accurate payments they deserve.
Part IV: Evaluating Labor Tracking Solution Vendors
With a good handle on your budget parameters, as well as at least some thought given to your rollout strategy, you’re now ready to start talking to labor tracking solution vendors.
Again, what you end up choosing will depend on the unique needs of your company. That said, here are a few questions and considerations to keep in mind and proactively address when speaking with potential labor tracking partners.
Automatic time zone adjustments
For instance, let’s say your business is regional. Will the labor tracking solution be able to account for someone crossing a time zone line, losing an hour and then regaining an hour during travel, in its time tracking automatically? Not all of them do. Choosing the right system ensures accurate records no matter where your employees are working. This level of precision prevents payroll errors and keeps both management and staff confident in the accuracy of reported time.
Foreign language support
If you have a multinational workforce, this is an essential feature that, again, not everyone supports. One of the keys to adoption is making it easy for your people to use whatever technology you bring in-house.
If your workforce is made up of a meaningful percentage of people whose first language isn’t English, an English-only solution will make it harder for you to see adoption across all of your employees.
That reason alone is why I made sure foreign language support was a key feature in the development of Labor Sync. When an employee keys their individual code into the system, the entire interface will change to whatever language they have chosen. If they speak Portuguese, every part of the Labor Sync app will display in that language.
This is the kind of thing you’re looking for. You want a solution that not only works for you and meets your needs, but also meets the needs of your employees. Everything about using whatever solution you choose should be easy for them.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) vs. software
OK, I promised we’d come back to this topic because it’s a big one. Labor tracking software solutions almost always require a one-time upfront cost. And this cost can be upwards of $100,000.
The cost alone isn’t the only issue. You’re also in a scenario where you’re paying an upfront cost for a product that may not end up working out for your business.
A SaaS solution (like Labor Sync) operates on a monthly fee rather than a one-time fee. So, if you end up in a situation where implementation and rollout have shown a particular labor tracking solution isn’t for you, you can simply cancel your subscription.
Yes, you may be out a little bit of money, but you’re not out $100,000 or more. The latter can be a catastrophically costly mistake to undo.
Dig into how pricing models work
Related to the previous point, ask about how a labor tracking solution structures their pricing. For example, is headcount taken into consideration? And what if your headcount changes?
Using Labor Sync for context once more to show you what I mean, I run a roofing business. In the winter time, I may only have five guys out in the field working for me, because that’s in-line with the seasonal nature of what we do. Come summertime, however, I’ll have 50 guys on payroll.
With many out-of-the-box software solutions, I’m paying the same amount whether I have five employees using the system or 50. With Labor Sync, I’m only being charged $10 a head for the employees who are actively working for me at any given moment. I’ll pay significantly less for the platform in January than I would in the summer months.
Depending on what services you offer, this may not be a consideration for you. Your headcount may remain relatively flat throughout the year.
If you do have seasonal ebbs and flows in your headcount, though, this is a talking point you absolutely must review with potential vendors. You may end up saving yourself a lot of money if you do.
Part V: Without A Labor Tracking Solution, You’re Losing Money
Really, it is that simple.
I don’t care how tight of a ship you think you’re running right now, if you don’t have a scaled solution that guarantees beyond the shadow of a doubt your labor time tracking is accurate down to the minute, money is walking out your door right now.
Change Is Hard But Control Is Worth It
Yes, adopting a labor tracking solution requires investment, planning, and sometimes difficult choices. Change is never easy, but it is often the path to meaningful progress. With the right system, you gain stronger control over your workforce and clearer visibility into labor costs. This control leads to smarter decisions, reduced waste, and greater profitability. In the end, the effort to change is far outweighed by the long-term stability and growth it creates.
Conclusion
Labor is the backbone of your business, and how you track it directly impacts everything from profitability to customer trust. The stories and examples shared in this guide all point to one clear truth: without reliable labor tracking, money slips away, productivity suffers, and your ability to manage effectively is compromised.
Yes, adopting a labor tracking solution requires an investment of both time and resources, but the return is control — control over your workforce, your costs, and ultimately, the direction of your business. The right solution does not just save you money; it equips you with data-driven insights to make smarter bids, streamline operations, and strengthen your reputation in the marketplace.
Doing nothing is the only mistake. Every day you delay implementing proper labor tracking, inefficiencies continue unchecked, and opportunities for growth are lost. By making the choice to act, you are not just improving payroll accuracy, you are building a foundation for long-term stability and success.
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