Honest Review:

ClockShark

• Easy setup and launch
• User-friendly
• Responsive customer service
• Who’s working now function
• Integration with QuickBooks

ClockShark has two pricing plans, Standard and Pro, with base and per-user fees billed monthly. These plans are designed for various business needs, from basic to advanced. For those who aren’t sure if ClockShark is a good fit for them, the good news is there is a 14-day free trial to experience the app’s features first-hand.

ClockShark Standard

The standard plan allows users to track time and attendance via ClockShark’s web and mobile apps. Aside from time and attendance tracking, the Standard plan also includes convenient drag-and-drop scheduling features to share schedules, complete with job and task assignments easily. Other valuable features that come with the standard plan include built-in Spanish language support, GPS tracking for location-based monitoring, job and task tracking for efficient project management, and manager roles and approvals to streamline supervision.

Users of the Standard plan can also take advantage of ClockShark’s third-party integrations. It’s not a lot, though. Currently, there are only eight direct integrations. But its integration with Zapier does widen its integration capacity.

Should users run into any issues, they can count on what ClockShark refers to as “5-star rated customer support.”

The base fee for the standard plan is currently set at $20 per month, which includes one free admin. To add more users, you’ll have to pay an additional $8 per user per month.

ClockShark Pro

For a base fee of $40 per month, the Pro plan comes with everything the Standard plan offers, but this time with a Paid time off (PTO) management feature and Multi-department/office controls. These added features help streamline the handling of employee time off requests and accruals while giving larger organizations the flexibility they need to manage multiple branches or departments effectively.

Furthermore, it introduces advanced job costing controls for greater control over project expenses and Clock questions, which enable employers to gather specific feedback or data from employees as they clock out, adding an extra layer of customization and insight to your workforce management processes.

Much like the Standard plan, the Pro plan also includes a free admin with its base fee. Additional users will be charged $10 monthly. It’s definitely on the pricier side when compared to other tools in the market.

1. ClockShark Time Tracking 

ClockShark offers users a fuss-free time tracking experience with its time clock feature. It works much like any other work timer. You select the job and task you’ll be working on and click “Clock In.” Users can seamlessly switch between jobs and tasks without stopping the timer. There’s also a separate button for when they need to go on a break.

Beyond these basic functionalities, though, ClockShark takes it a step further with GPSFence-enabled time tracking. With this feature, employers can raise geofences around job sites, and the app will automatically alert employees to clock in when they’re within the virtual borders and clock out when they leave. If employees do clock in outside the designated job site, employers will be notified via email so they can question and correct time entries if necessary. This feature makes ClockShark ideal for field service and construction businesses in ensuring their workers are at the right place at the right time.

Moreover, employees can clock in for their shifts on their mobile devices or the office time kiosk by scanning their faces through Facial Recognition technology. It’s the perfect defense against buddy punching.

All time entries are synced to employees in real-time, which is pretty convenient. I would have appreciated a better layout for the timesheets, though. It only displays the total time spent under jobs and tasks, not really when during the day these entries were made. That added detail would make timesheet audits a lot easier.

However, in the interest of making this ClockShark review a truly fair and revelatory one, I must say that sometimes, the time tracking experience is marred by the clunkiness of the mobile apps. It also requires a stable internet connection to work properly, or else it will get all sorts of wonky.

2. ClockShark Employee Scheduling 

Scheduling can be a headache, especially when you’re managing a large team. Thankfully, ClockShark’s scheduling feature can help take some of that load off.

With just a few clicks, you can add shifts for each employee or your entire team at the same time. For repeating shifts, you simply need to choose the recurrence period, and shifts will automatically populate the calendar. There’s even a drag-and-drop editor that allows managers to quickly create and update work schedules from their phones or computers.

The schedule calendar can be viewed daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly, which is great, so you can either zero in on the current workday or get a good view of what you have scheduled for the rest of the month. Project progress during shifts isn’t automatically updated on the calendar, which is a bummer. Instead, you’ll need to do it manually. You can mark them as either complete, in progress, canceled, or on hold.

Notifications will be automatically sent to employees whenever there are updates to their schedules. They can then view their shifts together with the corresponding job details and instructions. This takes away the need to go back and forth on what needs to be done for the day, which eats up a ton of time.

All of those things are great, but to keep this ClockShark review honest, it must be noted that there can be a bit of difficulty adding sick days for employees.

3. ClockShark GPS Tracking

ClockShark’s GPS tracking feature is a powerful tool for tracking real-time employee location alongside their hours. It works by collecting GPS data every 15-20 minutes from employee mobile devices while they’re on the clock. This will require employees to have the correct Location Permission settings; for newer devices, this means enabling Precise Location. 

GPS data is displayed under the Timesheets tab as location pins. Clicking on any of these pins will give you access to details of the recorded location, the time it was taken, and the specific job and task the employee was working on. Another way you can check on employee location is via the Who’s Working Now dashboard.

Beyond location tracking, ClockShark’s GPS tracking feature extends its functionality to record and measure travel time and distance. This added capability is especially useful for companies that need to track and reimburse mileage expenses. By accurately logging the travel time and distance, businesses can streamline their expense management processes while ensuring that employees are fairly compensated for their travel-related costs – it’s a win-win!

4. ClockShark Job Management 

ClockShark’s job management feature makes it easy for managers to keep track of jobs and tasks assigned to employees, all in real time. 

Creating jobs is a breeze, requiring just a few clicks to get started. When you create a job, you can specify the associated customer and job location. You can even enable GPSFence, restrict employee access, and track labor budgets by setting the total hours budgeted for the job. When employees approach the set budget, managers receive email notifications to stay on top of project progress.

For each job created, employees can easily access vital information, including the estimated hours needed to complete the job, the actual hours worked, and the current “stage” of the job’s progress. However, they will have to update job stages manually, which can be a bother.

ClockShark takes job management and collaboration a step further by allowing you to leave comments and attach files directly under jobs. This eliminates the risk of forgetting important details from discussions, misplacing documents in separate files, or missing deadlines.

Team members, whether in the field or the office, can share insights, ask questions, or provide updates, ensuring that all relevant information is readily available for anyone involved in the project. With all this critical job information readily available, teams can achieve faster and more efficient job completion.

5. Reporting

ClockShark can generate all sorts of reports, from job summaries and employee details to timesheets and time off reports. Plus, you can easily set the context for your reports by applying filters to pinpoint the data you need. This means you can narrow your focus to a specific date range or pay period, ensuring that the information is relevant and up-to-date. I do wish they offered visual reports, too. Incorporating more visual elements such as charts, graphs, or infographics could enhance data analysis and make it even more user-friendly.

Beyond reports, ClockShark also lets you generate invoices directly from job quotes, transferring each line item to the invoice. Tasks set as billable on employee timesheets will also be automatically added. Additionally, you can insert pictures of the job on the invoice to reduce inquiries and payment disputes. 

You can view reports as PDFs, import or merge data with other spreadsheets in CSV format, and seamlessly integrate the data with popular accounting and payroll software like Quickbooks, Sage, and Xero. This eliminates the need for data re-entry as well as export/import hassles and overall simplifies your data management process.

(As of December 2023)

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As we draw this ClockShark review to a close, I must say that the software has much to offer, be it time tracking, scheduling, job management, or even payroll. It puts together all of these valuable functions into one convenient platform. And the fact that you can use it on your smartphone, tablet, web browser, or a shared time kiosk is a huge plus.

Its time tracking feature is gill-ty (pun intended) of being really easy to use, requiring only a few clicks to get users started. The four-digit PIN and optional facial recognition make sneaky buddy punching a thing of the past. And with geofencing technology, you can rest easy knowing employees aren’t not clocking in from the pub across the street.

The scheduling and job management features help simplify the time-consuming processes of scheduling employee shifts and monitoring project progress. Everything can be easily organized on calendars and timesheets by color-coding employees and projects. I also liked how project collaborators can easily communicate through the comment section of the project. 

Now, I promised a fair and honest CLockShark review, so I must say that there are still some things that hold me back from giving ClockShark a stellar review. For one thing, the interface could use a huge improvement. The web app felt clunky and wasn’t as intuitive as I would’ve hoped. The mobile app, while easy to use, is riddled with bugs and glitches. It’s also close to unusable when you don’t have a strong internet connection.

Having said all of that, I think ClockShark would still make a good choice for small to medium businesses looking for an all-in-one time tracking and scheduling solution. It may not be the most reliable solution for remote or field workers, though. I recommend carefully evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of ClockShark to determine how it aligns with your organization’s requirements.

I hope this ClockShark review helps you make the right catch!