This article was reviewed on January 8, 2024.
If you're concerned about employees clocking in before they're on site and ready for their shift, you can enable geofencing from your Time Clock settings.
The geofencing function does not involve employee tracking. Sling will only "check" a user's position at the time when they attempt clocking in or out. It is not possible for Sling to recognize when an employee has arrived at or left the location designated within the settings.
Enable geofencing
To enable geofencing for your Sling account, login to the web version of the app, and then go to your Time clock settings (Dashboard > Settings > Time clock).
First, you'll need to make sure that you turn on the mobile/web time clock option. This is what will open up the settings options for geofencing.
Then, you will find a section labeled Geofencing if you scroll down. Switch the toggle to be on, and you will see additional options that allow you to choose how you would like this feature to work.
You can choose to have geofencing enforced only at clock-in, only at clock-out, or for both. Click the options you wish to be active. Activated options will be indicated in blue. In the example below, geofencing will only apply to employees who are clocking in:
Then you can choose from two options to recognize employees' locations:
GPS Within specified radius from the location's address lets you define a maximum radius from the work location in which employees can access the time clock. You can define the distance in meters or feet. The minimum you can set is 100 meters or 330 feet.
For this setting to work, you must have a street address entered for your location. Learn more here.
Connected to location Wi-Fi (IP address) means that employees using a device on an approved network will be able to use the time clock. This could be a mobile phone connected to the location's Wi-Fi or a desktop computer at the location that is connected via ethernet or Wi-Fi. If they are not on an approved connection, they will receive an error. You can also add multiple addresses to your location settings.
In order for this setting to work, you must set your IP address(es) in your location settings. Learn more here.
Please note that it will work best to select only one method of geofence. If you enable both the GPS and IP address methods, then it is likely you'll run into some odd behaviors.
If you happen to have a location that you do not want to be included in the geofence restrictions, simply leave the details for that location's address or IP address blank, and this will exempt it from being restricted so that employees clocking into the location can do so from anywhere.
If all else fails or if you have employees whose location may change throughout the day, there is an option to Allow clocking in and out outside of the radius. This will bypass the geofencing restrictions and allow employees to clock in and out - even if they don't match one of the above. These events will be recorded in the employees' timesheets so you can see which employees are not at the location and check for any abuse of privileges.
Helpful links
Add a street address for your location by following the steps here.
Set the IP address for your locations using the directions here.
Learn more about time clock setting options.