Solving the Challenges of a Mobile Workforce: Time Tracking

Using a mobile workforce offers unique challenges–including challenges that weren’t a problem just a few short years ago, when employees had to check in with a brick and mortar office in order to go to work each day. Globally, by 2023, mobile workers are on track to make up more than 43% of the workforce. One of the biggest challenges of the mobile workforce? Tracking them. With the right solutions, however, you can improve your ability to track your mobile workforce.

Challenge #1: Knowing Where They Are

In a standard workforce, up to ten minutes per day per employee may be lost to time-wasters: late arrival, long lunches, and early departures. While not every employee will fall short every day, on average, each one will steal a few minutes every day. With a mobile workforce, how much more time are you losing? Mobile workers don’t have to punch a time clock, nor are they checking in with a supervisor every day. As a result, you may have no idea where your workers are or what they’re doing. With around 68% of employees disengaged on a regular basis, you may worry that your mobile workers simply won’t be where they’re supposed to be, when they’re supposed to be there.

The Solution

Time Tracker with GPS tracking offers clear evidence of where your employees are. While you can’t track exactly what they’re doing at any given moment, you can get a solid idea of where your employees are located–and that can help keep them on track and on task. You’ll know that your mobile employees aren’t stopping off to take care of personal errands while they’re on the clock or clocking out to take lunch well before their scheduled time, because the GPS tracker will be able to tell you where they are.

Challenge #2: Finding the Nearest Employee

A mobile workforce can make it incredibly difficult to find the right employee to send out to customer sites. Sometimes, the choice is obvious: you might, for example, know that one employee is particularly well-suited to handling a particular customer challenge, regardless of where they are located. Other times, however, the proper employee is more ambiguous. Ideally, you want to send the closest employee to the customer. Travel is expensive, and the further the employee has to go, the more travel costs add up! Even within your own city, you’d prefer to send the employee who is geographically closest to the customer and, therefore, can get there the fastest. The closer your employees are to your customers, the faster you can respond to problems, and the less it will cost to get your employees there. Unfortunately, if you don’t know exactly where all of your employees are, you may struggle to select the right employee for the job.

The Solution

Once again, Time Tracker with GPS tracking can solve your mobile workforce challenge. Thanks to GPS tracking, you’ll know exactly where your employees are. If they’re out working from a remote location, whether they’re on another job site or working from the local Starbucks, you’ll know how long it will take them to respond. Have employees working from home? Time Tracker will be able to show you exactly where your employees are located so you’ll know which one has the fastest response time for a customer with a serious problem. You can also use the GPS tracking software to quickly find the employee located closest to a customer, which will enable you to estimate travel time, travel costs, and what it will take to get your employees to the customer.

Challenge #3: Identifying Route Inefficiencies

When you have a mobile workforce, they can deploy from anywhere, quickly heading out to deal with clients, handle challenges, and take care of work-related tasks. Unfortunately, sometimes inefficiencies arise that cost your company a great deal of money. Do your mobile employees need to take to the road on a daily basis? If so, you want to know that you’re sending them out on the most efficient route possible. This can mean:

• Identifying the most efficient route for employees to handle clients. Driving back and forth across the city–or, in some cases, across multiple cities–can drain your employees’ time and energy, leaving them without adequate time for all of their tasks. If you can’t see how your employees are choosing to handle their clients, however, it can be very difficult to show any inefficiencies in their route.
• Clearly identifying which employees are in the best position to handle specific clients, especially those who have less-urgent problems that can afford to wait. Sometimes, you may need to add in a client in the middle of an employee’s day. Other times, you may need to decide which employee is in the best position to take on a particular client in addition to their current schedule.
• Determining whether employees are taking detours or slower routes that could ultimately cost your company money. Employees who do not know a particular city, for example, may only be able to go the route the GPS gives them.

The Solution

If you want to be able to quickly and effectively identify any inefficiencies in your employees’ routes, whether they’re heading out on a long trip or setting out for a daily drive around town to connect with clients, Time Tracker with GPS tracking can help. This simple app will allow you to see your employees’ routes throughout the day. Not only does this make it simple to plug in additional clients, you can identify any challenges or inefficiencies that are slowing down your employees, allowing you to manage their days more effectively–and ultimately, in many cases, saving your company money.

One of the biggest challenges of the mobile workforce is keeping track of your employees. Time Tracker, however, offers the ideal solution to that challenge. Through this app, you can track employee locations, solving inefficiency challenges and ensuring that your employees are where they’re supposed to be. Start your free 14-day trial today and see how easy it is to keep tabs on your employees location.