How GPS tracking helps check time and payroll

GPS tracking gives you an accurate record of when vehicles started, left, arrived and finished. How you use that record is set by your company policy, which everyone should know about in advance.

Less chasing for timesheets

One of the nicest side effects is for your team. Accounting gets what it needs in an accurate, easy form, so you don't have to keep bothering people in the field for their timesheets.

Start and finish times from geofences

Some companies start the paid day when the vehicle leaves the employee's home, for crews who take their trucks home at night. Set up a geofence and the reports show when the vehicle left and when it arrived at the first location.

Ignition on is not the same as leaving

The tracker also records ignition on and ignition off. So if a truck is started at 6:30 in the morning but doesn't leave until 8:00, the record shows an hour and a half of idling in the driveway before the day actually began.

Leaving early shows up too

It works the other way at the end of the day. If a crew is expected on a job site until 5:00 and the truck leaves at 4:00, the record shows that hour.

When a timesheet doesn't match

Most of the time the record and the timesheet agree. When they don't, the record gives you a fair, factual starting point for a conversation, rather than a guess. If a timesheet was filled in incorrectly, the GPS record shows what actually happened.

Keep it fair and within the rules

This is not about timing coffee breaks. Sometimes people need that cup of coffee. The record matters when the gap is real, like three hours at Tim Hortons while a customer is asking where your technician is.

Everything you do with payroll has to comply with the Employment Standards Act. GPS tracking doesn't change your obligations. It gives you an accurate record to work from.