How GPS-Enabled Attendance Tracking Eliminates Time Theft in Construction

You hire a crew, pay them for every hour on the job — but how do you know they’re actually there? In construction, one falsified timesheet or “buddy punch” might not seem like a big deal, but over weeks and months, it quietly eats into your profit margins and puts your entire project budget at risk.

Time theft is a form of payroll fraud that results in higher labor costs, reduced productivity, and project overruns. In an industry where profit margins are tight, paying for unworked hours isn’t just a financial drain—it can jeopardize your construction firm’s financial health. 

Time theft can be intentional or unintentional, occurring anytime employees are paid for time they weren’t actively working. Common forms of time theft include:

• Taking extended breaks
• Buddy punching
• Clocking in early or clocking out late
• Rounding up hours
• Engaging in personal activities while on the job site
• Working slowly to increase hours or qualify for overtime pay
• Falsifying timesheets to claim more hours

Construction companies using manual timesheets and punchcards are more at risk of time theft because they’re easier to alter. Workers can pad their hours or have a coworker clock in or out for them when they’re not on the job site. And without a verification process, it’s harder for site supervisors and payroll teams to verify time worked or detect time theft. 

However, there are steps your company can take to minimize time theft, like using GPS-enabled attendance tracking software in construction. This software eliminates manual time tracking and provides real-time labor data for enhanced accountability, job costing, and construction payroll fraud prevention purposes.

How GPS-Enabled Attendance Tracking in Construction Works

GPS-enabled attendance tracking in construction works in two ways to reduce payroll fraud and improve labor management. First, it creates a virtual geofence around your job site using GPS. Second, it uses GPS on mobile phones to track employees. These features allow employees to automatically clock in and out from their phones, but only when they’re within the designated geofence, preventing buddy punching and hour padding.

Additionally, GPS provides real-time visibility into your construction workforce, allowing site supervisors, project managers, and contractors to verify a worker’s location and status at any given time for more accurate workforce tracking and labor management. GPS-enabled attendance software not only provides precise timestamps of hours worked on a project, but it also automatically syncs with your payroll and job costing systems to streamline workflows, keep project costs on track, and ensure accurate paychecks. 

Key Advantages of GPS-Enabled Attendance Tracking in Construction

A GPS time clock for construction workers is more than just a time tracking tool—it helps construction firms simplify payroll, streamline workforce management, ensure compliance, and improve cost efficiencies. Here are a few benefits you can expect:

Eliminates Buddy Punching and False Clock-Ins

GPS-enabled construction time tracking software ensures workers are actually on-site when logging their hours. It prevents both intentional and unintentional time theft, such as clocking in for absent coworkers or forgetting to clock out when taking an approved break. Verifying employee location and hours worked leads to a more accurate payroll, improved productivity, and reduced compliance risk.

Automates Payroll Accuracy and Job Costing

With GPS-enabled software, payroll processing becomes more accurate and efficient. It eliminates paper timesheets and manual data entry, preventing time theft in construction and payroll errors while speeding up processing time. Plus, timesheet data seamlessly integrates with hh2’s Remote Payroll for automated wage calculations, reducing disputes and ensuring employees are paid correctly. 

Construction time tracking software also enables your job costing team to track labor costs by projects in real time, giving supervisors and CFOs a clear view of project finances so you can track project profitability as it progresses, make adjustments, and calculate more accurate estimates.

Enhances Workforce Accountability

Geofencing for construction workforce management creates a more accountable system for employees, ensuring workers are only clocking in and out when physically at the site. This transparency not only prevents buddy punching or clocking in en route, but it also more accurately captures work hours and calculates wages to ensure fair pay. 

GPS-enabled attendance tracking in construction also allows GCs and supervisors to remotely monitor and manage workers across multiple projects through real-time location data. You can track project progress and workers’ performance without being in the field, which can help foster a culture of accountability and productivity. It also enables you to make informed decisions that improve efficiency or reduce costs.

Reduces Compliance Risks

GPS-enabled attendance tracking in construction records workers’ hours precisely and accounts for overtime, prevailing wages, and union rules to ensure compliance with certified payroll and other labor laws. Detailed, accurate record keeping prevents payroll disputes with workers and provides verifiable documentation for audits. hh2’s Remote Payroll also automatically generates compliance reports, including certified payroll, ensuring accurate and more timely reports.  It also allows GCs and supervisors to immediately identify and correct any potential compliance issues.

Advantage of GPS Time Tracking in Construction vs Traditional Methods

Construction time tracking software with GPS offers numerous advantages over traditional methods. From increased accuracy and compliance support to enhanced security and automation features, the software helps you minimize time theft and enhance productivity. 

Here are some key differences between a GPS time clock for construction workers and other time-tracking methods:

How GPS-Enabled hh2 Remote Payroll Transforms Workforce Management

By integrating GPS-enabled attendance, hh2 Remote Payroll enhances workforce tracking and streamlines payroll processing in a few key ways:

Mobile App with GPS-Enabled Clock-Ins and Geofencing

With hh2 Remote Payroll, your crew can click in and out right from their phones — inside a geofenced job site — so you know the hours logged are accurate, every time. No more guesswork. Just real-time, fraud-proof attendance tracking.

Real-Time Location Tracking Integrated With Payroll Processing

Construction managers can monitor the location of field employees in real time, improving job site accountability and preventing time theft in construction. And GPS-verified time data automatically integrates into your payroll system, eliminating manual entry for more efficient workflows and ensuring greater payroll accuracy. 

Seamless Sync With ERPs

Remote Payroll integrates seamlessly with top construction ERPs like Sage 300 and Trimble, automatically syncing time worked and labor data in real time for accurate job-costed payroll. This feature gives GCs, CFOs, and payroll administrators access to real-time labor costs and project performance as it’s happening to improve workforce management and resource allocation.

Embracing Technology: GPS-Enabled Solutions for Tomorrow’s Workforce Management

Construction companies are embracing AI-powered workforce management solutions to streamline project planning, improve on-site productivity, and optimize resource allocation. With features such as automation, digital timesheets, GPS-enabled attendance tracking, and seamless integration, construction time tracking software offers improved accuracy, more efficient workflows, and real-time updates that reduce compliance risk and ensure project profitability. These benefits are driving modern construction firms towards technology and making manual time tracking obsolete.

hh2’s Remote Payroll is a leader in GPS-enabled attendance tracking in construction, offering comprehensive solutions to fraud-proof attendance. Our geofencing and GPS time clock for construction workers allows employees to clock in and out from their smartphones, capturing their precise location for real-time monitoring and construction payroll fraud prevention. Additionally, features like integration with accounting systems and automated reporting ensure payroll and job costing accuracy while improving efficiency and reducing compliance risk.

Don’t let buddy punching and payroll fraud drain your profits. Book a free demo today and see how hh2 Remote Payroll can eliminate time theft and put you back in control of your labor costs.