Staff attendance from a QR code on the wall
A QR code attendance system answers one plain question: who was here, and for how long? Most sites still answer it with a clipboard by the entrance. The sheet fills up with handwriting nobody can read. Someone signs in for the whole crew at the end of the shift. A start time gets rounded to the hour because that is what everyone writes.
The cost shows up later. A supervisor spends Friday afternoon typing sheets into a spreadsheet. A worker disputes a short pay week and you have nothing firm to show them. A client asks who was on site on the 14th, and the sheet for that week is in a truck. A punch clock fixes part of this, but it is one more device to buy, mount and repair at every site, and it does nothing for a crew that starts at a client's building.
Staff check-in without an app, step by step
You need a printer and about ten minutes for the first code.
- Create a point and choose Attendance as its purpose. This drops the Completed or Not completed question, because nobody is reporting on a job. They are only saying they are here.
- Turn on scan in and out. Without it you get a list of arrivals. With it you get time on site.
- Set the allowed hours to the shift, the number of minutes after which a scan counts as late, and when open visits close. A code has one allowed window and one late limit, so a second shift with its own start time needs its own code.
- Print the code and put it where shifts start: a staff entrance, a site office, a loading dock. A scan-out has to be at the same code as the scan-in, so pick a spot people also pass on the way out.
- On the first scan, each person gives a name and confirms their email with a 6-digit sign-in code. After that the phone is remembered and checking in is one tap.
- Open the Attendance page. Each day shows first in, last out and time on site, by day or by person, with late arrivals and missing scan-outs flagged.
- Download exactly that view as a timesheet, in CSV or PDF, and send it to whoever needs it.
The code holds only a web address. The rules are on the server, so you can change the shift or the late limit without reprinting anything.
Worked example: Harrowfen Distribution
Harrowfen Distribution runs a warehouse with 46 staff on a day shift, 06:00 to 14:30, and a returns unit across town with 12 staff on an evening shift, 14:00 to 22:30. The sheets used to take the office manager most of Friday.
Harrowfen prints two codes, because each shift has its own start time. One goes at the warehouse staff entrance and one at the returns unit, and each has its shift as its allowed hours. Both use Attendance with scan in and out on. Late after is set to 10 minutes. Open visits close at 15:30 at the warehouse and 23:30 at the returns unit.
On a Tuesday, a picker at the warehouse scans in at 06:04, which is within the limit, and out at 14:33. That day shows 8 hours 29 minutes. A forklift operator scans in at 06:17 and is flagged late. A packer at the returns unit forgets to scan out at 22:30. The visit closes at 23:30, shows no scan-out, and counts no time on site. The packer's supervisor sees it in the next morning's summary and sorts it out with them directly.
On Friday the office manager opens the Attendance page, filters to the week, checks the 11 flagged days and downloads the CSV.
Names and numbers are examples.
Recommended settings for a QR code time clock
| Setting | Recommended, and why |
|---|---|
| Photo | Off. A photo adds a step to every arrival and shows nothing a shift record needs. Turn it on only if you must see the person's work area. |
| Location check | On for outdoor yards and crews at client sites, where the position helps show the scan happened there. Indoors it adds less, because a phone's position is less accurate inside. |
| Scan in and out | On. This is what turns a list of arrivals into time on site, and it is what lets a forgotten scan-out be flagged at all. |
| Approvals | Approved people only, by email or by your company's email domain. Attendance is about your own staff, so a stranger's scan should stand out. It is still logged, and flagged. |
| Alerts | Daily summary for late arrivals, which are off until you turn them on, and for missing scan-outs. Use each time for scans outside hours. These are set once for the whole account. |
| Late after | 10 minutes, or the grace your own policy allows. You can set anything from 0 to 240 minutes. |
| Close open visits | One hour after the shift ends, so the flag reaches you the next morning. |
What it does not do
It is a record of presence from scans, not payroll. That is what the phrase QR code time clock means here. It does not calculate pay, breaks or overtime, and it does not certify hours for a payroll or a regulator.
It does not check a roster. It knows who scanned, not who should have come, so a person who never shows up does not appear as missing.
It does not follow anyone. The phone's position is read only at the moment of a scan, and only if you turn the check on. Nothing runs in the background between scans.
It identifies an email, not a face. If you need to be sure of the person standing there, this is not a biometric system and does not try to be.
Questions
Does every worker need an app or a work phone?
No app. They need a phone with a camera and an email address they can read. The camera opens a web page, and nothing is installed. Workers never pay. If someone has no phone, keep a paper sheet for that person and say so in your own records.
What happens when someone forgets to scan out?
The visit closes at the deadline you set and is flagged as no scan-out. It counts no time on site, so a forgotten scan never adds hours by itself. You can have an alert each time or read it in the daily summary.
How is a night shift counted?
A shift that crosses midnight belongs to the day it began. Someone who scans in at 22:00 on Tuesday and out at 06:00 on Wednesday shows as one Tuesday visit of eight hours.
Can one person scan for a friend?
Each scan is tied to a confirmed email on that phone, so a friend would need the other person's phone and its sign-in. That is a deterrent and not a guarantee. The record shows which email scanned, not whose face was there. Turn on the location check if you want the phone's position as well.
Can the timesheet go into payroll software?
The CSV has one row per person and day, with the minutes on site. Many payroll tools can import a file like that, but check it against your own payroll rules first. ScanNLog does not work out pay, breaks or overtime.
We have sites in two time zones. Will the days line up?
Each point keeps its own time zone, and its days and times are shown in that zone. A 07:00 start in one province stays a 07:00 start on the Attendance page, wherever you read it from.
Start with one free code
No credit card. Workers never pay and never install an app. Pricing is per code, in US dollars, with unlimited workers.