Clocking on and off shift using the Deputy app on mobile is one of our most popular and convenient features. It allows everyone – employees and employers - the convenience and control to be able to easily and accurately record how many hours are worked, and when.
One of the key features of clocking in and out using the Deputy App is being able to take a snapshot of your current location. This is a feature that a lot of new customers have questions about, so we’d like to take a deep dive into exactly how this feature works, and why we have it.
Why do we capture employee location on clock on?
We capture location for two main reasons:
- To remove any doubt or possibility for misunderstandings about how many hours were worked, and in which location.
- As a safety measure, our location capture provides a record of who has checked in on site. Of course, if the employee has left the site without clocking off they will still be recorded as being on site – so it is also important that we capture location on clock off to avoid any confusion..
When do we capture location?
Our location capture feature is only ever active in the moment that the employee is completing a shift action i.e. clocking on, clocking off or starting and stopping their break.
This provides both the employee and the employer with a record of the time that the employee was working on site, and so both will have peace of mind in knowing that payroll will always be accurate.
Managers will only ever see the employee’s location as is attached to their clock in and out position. Location capture is never active before this time, when the employee is on shift or after they have clocked off.
If an employee needs to work from home, or from an off-site location, the Deputy mobile app with location enabled will allow them the flexibility to keep track of their hours without needing to check in at the On-Site Kiosk.
Is there an alternative to location capture?
Yes. In the case that you prefer not to have the location enabled for your Deputy App, you will still be able to access all the other benefits of the app outside of stopping and starting your shift.
As an employee, this means you can still receive your rosters, apply for leave and manage your leave balance, submit unavailability and communicate with your team using the News Feed amongst many other features.
If you choose not to clock in and out with the mobile app, you can still record your shift in Deputy using the On-Site Kiosk at your workplace location, or also via SMS. Your timesheet data will still be fully accessible within the app for review should you need it.
Your privacy
Your success, and our success, is built on being a trusted platform for everyone who uses it: employers, managers, supervisors and employees.
Deputy does not and will not record a user’s location outside of using a shift action, that is clocking on or off, or starting and stopping a break.
Our goal is to make sure that everyone’s hours are recorded accurately, they are able to work safely, and they are paid correctly every time.