The Best Break Tracking Apps for Field Employees in California
David Kariuki
Last update on:
September 18, 2024 7:35 AM
Published on:
Break time is precious time, especially for employees in California!
Tracking employee breaks has several benefits, such as improved productivity, reduced risk of burnout, enhanced morale, compliance, and, most of all, protection from hefty penalties and lawsuits.
The best break-tracking apps for employees empower businesses to track breaks accurately, identify potential delays, and allocate resources efficiently.
If you are an employer in California, where labor laws are incredibly stringent, you need the best time-tracking software that meets the state’s specific requirements.
For those operating in multiple states or interested in understanding break laws nationwide, our comprehensive guide on Break Laws by State offers a detailed overview.
We tested and compared the best break-tracking apps on the market and settled on these five that can help you unlock the full potential of your field workforce while ensuring you stay compliant with California labor laws.
Looking for a break tracking app compliant with California labor laws?
Which Are The Best Break Tracking Apps for Field Employees in California?
When choosing the best break-tracking apps for field employees, consider factors such as accurate break-tracking, sending alerts and reminders for breaks, compliance with state labor laws, and detailed time reports for audit and payroll processing.
Here is a sneak peek of the top break-tracking apps in California:
Timeero: Accurate Break Tracking App With a California Break Tracker
Jibble: Reliable Time Management Tool for Normal and Custom Breaks
Deputy: Best Employee Management Tool With Compliant Break Tracking
busybusy: Reliable Breaks Tracker for Construction and Remote Worker Industries
What to Look For in the Best Break Tracking Apps in California?
It can be challenging to choose due to the variety of features provided by apps designed to track breaks for field employees.
The bestbreak-tracking solutions in California offer critical features such as reminders to take breaks, meal and rest break attestation, and flagging employees who don’t meet break requirements.
Let’s explore some of these notable features in detail.
Accurate Break Tracking
When evaluating the best break-tracking software in California, it’s essential to consider the accuracy of breaks. The best break-tracking app should make it easy for employers to set up a break policy.
The app should also ensure that employers can verify whether employees used the breaks per the state’s law and generate reports to confirm compliance.
Some apps go a step further to utilize innovative GPS-based geofencing technology, automatically recording breaks when employees exit their designated work areas. This feature ensures precision by eliminating errors in reported breaks and actual breaks taken. These apps often allow customization to align with California’s specific breaks regulations and timing requirements.
Compliance With California Labor Laws
The best break-tracking solutions in California must comply with the state’s labor laws, including meal and rest breaks, overtime, and other relevant regulations.
For instance, employees who work 5 to 10 hours are entitled to a 30-minute unpaid meal break, and those who work for over 10 hours in a workday are entitled to a second 30-minute unpaid meal break. Additionally, employers must provide their staff with a 10-minute paid rest period for every 4 hours worked.
The app should also allow employees to attest to their breaks, and confirm that they did or did not take an uninterrupted meal or rest break during work time.
For example, the app can prompt employees to verify their breaks when clocking out, stating whether they took complete breaks according to the law.
The app should track employee hours and breaks and document them accurately to ensure employees take the required breaks at the right times. When it comes to tracking employee breaks in California, the app should be precise to the minute, leaving no room for time rounding.
Customizable Settings
Field employees work in different environments with different schedules and break requirements.
The best meal and break-tracking app in California should allow customization of break periods based on employee tasks, location, and department.
Some of the customization options in the app include the ability to set break length, specify when the employees can take their breaks, and account for exceptional cases, such as on-call periods and split shifts, in accordance with the California meal and rest break policy.
Real-Time Notifications
Field employees work in different environments with different schedules and break requirements.
A good break-tracking app will alert employers when employees are not compliant. This way, the management can take the necessary actions to ensure non-compliant workers follow California’s meal and rest breaks laws.
The Best Break-Tracking Apps For Field Employees in California
When searching for the best break-tracking apps in California, you want to ensure they have all the abovementioned features.
To save you the hassle of scouting for every tracking app in the market, we tested all the top break-tracking apps for field employees in California, and here is a detailed review of our findings.
Timeero - Accurate Break Tracking App With a California Break Tracker
If you need a time-tracking app to monitor field employee breaks while ensuring you stay compliant with California laws, then Timeero is your best option.
Its robust GPS real-time tracker and California-compliant break tracker stand out, especially for field employees who want to track time entries and meal and rest breaks while ensuring compliance with state labor laws.
Accurate California Breaks Tracker
For field employees in California, accurate break tracking is crucial to comply with state labor laws.
Timeero’s California break tool ensures all breaks are taken as required. The tool prevents the occurrence of cases such as when employees may end breaks early to work on another pending task or take a break late when they want to finish the task at hand - in either scenario, legal non-compliance may arise.
By activating the “Allow users to take breaks manually” and “California break policy” options and configuring the meal break protocol within the “breaks” section of the company settings, you ensure adherence to California break laws.
After that, you can hover over to the California breaks tab, configure the meal break settings, and assign the breaks to employees.
Users can activate Timeero’s California Break Policy and Allow Users To Take Breaks Manually to adhere to California break laws.
Timeero does not track employees’ location during breaks or after clocking out to ensure privacy and compliance.
Timeero’s California Breaks Tracker also ensures that employees do not engage in work-related activity, which might lead to legal complications, particularly if there’s any indication that the employers were aware of their work during designated meal breaks.
Timeero’s Daily Sign-off forms provide a protective layer against legal disputes arising from such occurrences. Upon assigning an employee the California break, they will be required to sign a form acknowledging they took their breaks or waived them following California break law.
The form includes critical information about the employee’s workday, total work hours, anticipated meal break duration, and the actual break duration.
Should non-compliance occur, the employee’s consent within the daily sign-off form is your company’s safeguard. It demonstrates that your company did not enforce or coerce the employee to disregard the policy.
Timeero lets you easily assign employees to California Break Policy.
California-Compliant Sign-Off Attestation
Since California has the most strict labor laws, especially regarding meal and rest breaks, ensuring you have a tracking app that guarantees compliance with state laws is essential.
When you choose the California Break Policy Sign-Off attestation questions, Timeero will ask you to certify that you followed the break policy under every employee’s name on your web or mobile app. Timeero will prompt you to complete the Daily Sign-off form when you select the question.
Employees can attest to their breaks using the Daily Sign-off form.
On the form, employees can confirm that they did or did not take uninterrupted breaks during their work shift and explain why they did not. This ensures employees have meal and rest breaks, as California labor law requires.
They can also use the app to manually sign and verify compliance with their confirmation form.
Employees can verify their breaks with their signatures too.
The app will also notify the employer when employees are not compliant. Managers can generate Daily Sign-off reports to see who’s and who’s not compliant so that they can take necessary steps to minimize the potential harm to the company in case of disputes.
By maintaining these accurate records and providing transparent data, Timeero assists businesses in avoiding potential legal penalties related to other labor law violations, such as compliance with California Overtime Laws.
For a comprehensive understanding of the software’s capabilities and its array of valuable features, we encourage you to check our Timeero Review.
Other Notable Features Worth Mentioning
GPS Time-Tracking
In addition to compliant break tracking, Timeero offers a real-time GPS functionality that allows you to see who is working at a specific job site and at what time. You can also use the route replay feature to recreate the employee’s trail throughout the working day.
Timeero's Route Replay Feature
The route replay works hand in hand with breadcrumbing technology to provide detailed timestamps that show where the employee was at a particular time, including the time and vehicle speed.
Employee Scheduling
Timeero also offers a robust scheduling feature for large and small businesses with field and remote workers.
Creating schedules is as simple as selecting an employee or group of workers, and choosing a job from the list, and setting a date and time to start their shift.
Employees will receive notifications and reminders to either accept or decline shifts. Managers can also create repeat shifts or use drag-and-drop functionality to reschedule them for another day.
Pros
User-friendly interface
Segmented tracking
Accurate live GPS location and time off tracking
Accurate break tracking compliant with California labor laws
Kiosk App
Robust alerts and notification systems
PTO tracking
Payroll integrations
Facial recognition
Excellent customer support
Cons
No auto clock in/out. Timeero’s developers have found the automatic clock-in and clock-out technology unreliable, so they have turned to the innovative solution of Segmented tracking - an uninterrupted, privacy-conscious hand-off approach.
Timeero Pricing
Timeero has four pricing packages:
Basic: $4/mo per user
Pro: $8/mo per user
Premium: $11/mo per user
Enterprise plan: Customized based on business needs. Contact us for more information.
A 14-day free trial is also available.
Jibble - Reliable Time Management Tool for Normal and Custom Breaks
Jibble is a cloud-based time-tracking tool that allows users to record employees’ clock-ins and outs for attendance tracking, payroll processing, and compliance. It offers several key features, including facial recognition, geolocation, automated time sheets, and overtime calculations.
So how does Jibble perform when it comes to employee break tracking? Let’s find out.
Breaks Tracking and Compliance With California Labor Laws
In addition to tracking time, Jibble is also used to track projects and break times for accurate timesheets and payroll calculations while ensuring you stay compliant with state laws. On Jibble’s dashboard, the employer can create meals and rest breaks, specify the time for the break, and indicate whether it’s paid or unpaid.
Of all the apps on the list, Jibble is the closest to Timeero regarding reliable break tracking with as many details as possible, including tracking regular and custom breaks.
Jibble displays employeess hours worked and all breaks taken
Depending on your break restriction, you can allocate a duration and timeslot for your break and choose whether it’s a Lunch break, Coffee break, or Extra break. Detailed timesheets of all the breaks taken can be accessed on Jibble’s dashboard.
This information can be used during invoicing and payroll processing and helps businesses avoid legal issues related to labor law violations.
Other Notable Features
Online Kiosk
Facial recognition and GPS tracking
Detailed reporting and analytics
Customizable settings
Automated workflow timesheets and project management tools
Pros
Free 14-day trial version for all features
Easy user interface
Accurate time-tracking due to facial recognition
Reliable GPS tracking
Cons
Live tracking is only available on the Ultimate paid plan
Issues with employee time clock when punching in and out on mobile devices
Jibble Pricing
Jibble offer three subscriptions plan with a 14-day free trial for each
Free plan: offers limited features essential for time tracking for small teams
Premium plan: Costs $3.99 per user per month with advanced time and GPS tracking, overtime calculations, and multiple workgroups
Ultimate plan: Goes for $7.99 per user per month with limitless time and live location tracking.
Enterprise plan: Caters to companies with over 500 employees. Price is upon inquiry.
Deputy - Best Employee Management Tool With Compliant Break Tracking
The Deputy app is another cloud-based solution that allows businesses to track time and manage employee schedules, making it easier for employers and business owners to stay on top of team management.
It offers automatic wage calculation, break tracking, and compliance, as well as dynamic reporting for labor hours. This makes it an ideal choice for all your employee management needs
Breaks Tracking and Compliance With California Labor Laws
Deputy allows users to clock on and off for their scheduled and non-scheduled breaks via the Deputy web, and mobile app (iOS and Android), Kiosk, or Apple watch.
On the Schedule page, employers can create new shifts or existing ones. They can set the start and finish of the shift, set the number of minutes for Lunch (unpaid) break and Rest (paid) break, and schedule the times you would like the employee to take a break on the Break Details tab.
Employees can start and stop breaks by tapping the “Start Break” button on the Deputy mobile app, web, or Kiosk/ Android Timeclock. All breaks will appear on the Timesheet Approval section, where the employer can confirm and edit break lengths or add breaks if necessary. If everything is correct, you can approve the timesheet.
On the Deputy’s dashboard, employers can see employees’ work hours, including breaks taken
If the employee does not start the planned break before the shift is done, the timesheet will be flagged, and the manager will be notified right away. To simplify break schedules for businesses in California, Deputy allows you to use one of their law-compliant break templates with all the break requirements to schedule your breaks for every shift.
Additionally, the app features the Deputy pay rule library, which offers two versions of California labor laws - One with a Meal Break Waiver and one without a Meal Break Waiver.
Both pay requirements are the same with one difference; the California Labor Law with Meal Break Waiver version of the pay rate is designed to be used by employees who have signed a meal break waiver. In this case, the employee will only apply for a missed meal break premium for missed meal breaks on shifts of 6 hours or longer.
Deputy uses attestation questions when employees clock out of shifts that require a meal or rest break. These questions provide documented evidence that the employee was provided meal and rest breaks. It also ensures you comply with the California Labor law’s missed break premium pay component.
Other Notable Features
Time tracking
Employee scheduling
Screenshots and screen recordings for freelancers and field employees
Reporting and Integrations
Pros
User-friendly mobile apps
Robust shift scheduling
Employee break compliance
Extensive integration system
Cons
Inefficient GPS location tracking
Lacks user-specific customizations
Deputy Pricing
Deputy offers several pricing plans;
The free plan features 100 shifts and timesheets per month.
Scheduling: The plan starts at $3.50 per user per month, billed monthly. Designed to communicate with team members.
Time and Attendance: Starts at $3.50 per user per month, billed monthly. Designed for tracking attendance and exporting timesheets for payroll processing.
The Premium plan: Costs $4.90 per user per month billed monthly or $4.20 per user per month when billed annually.
The Enterprise plan: Customized and variable pricing for businesses with over 250 employees
busybusy - Reliable Breaks Tracker for Construction and Remote Worker Industries
busybusy is a cloud-based time clock app designed for construction and other remote worker industries. The app gives you the option to schedule work or schedule breaks.
Additionally, the app can generate reports on job site activity, billable hours, project progress, budget, employee productivity, and more. Data is updated in real time, and reports can be accessed from any device.
Breaks Tracking and Compliance With California Labor Laws
busybusy time tracking solution allows employees to clock in and out, go on a break, or move to a different job with a simple click of a button.
Employers can use the Mobile Time Tracking app to see which employees are on a break, including the project they’re currently working on. They can use the “Break Hours Report” to manage employees’ break hours. In the report, employees can see all the breaks taken, add a break for one or a group of employees, and edit the current time entries.
busybusy app shows all employee time entries, including meals and rest breaks.
If your company uses the Break Policy Sign-off attestation question, busybusy will ask you to confirm if you followed the break policy under every employee’s name on your mobile or web.
When you click on the question, you will be taken to a new interface allowing you to complete Daily Sign-off for that employee. These questions act as a way to check in with your employees to ensure they have accurate time card entries, follow the required break policy, and report injuries.
When a response is flagged, the employer can see and resolve it in busybusy’s Daily Sign-Off Report. This report helps keep employee information accurate while ensuring compliance with California breaks laws.
Check out our detailed busybusy App Review to see what other valuable features and software capabilities it offers.
Additional Features
Employee scheduling
Time and equipment tracking
GPS tracking
Reporting and integration
Pros
Reliable employee time tracking app
Advanced employee scheduling
Compliant breaks tracking
Cons
Complex reporting features
It doesn’t show precisely where the employees have been since clocking in
busybusy Pricing
busybusy app offers a Free, Pro, and Premium plan.
The free plan offers basic features such as GPS tracking, job costing, equipment tracking, and unlimited users.
The Pro Plan costs $11.99 per user per month on a monthly billing cycle or $9.99 per user per month annually.
The Premium Plan costs $17.99 per user per month, billed monthly or $14.99 per user per month billed annually.
What Is The Best Break Break-Tracking App for Field Employees in California?
Accurate time, location, and break tracking are essential for any business that has a field workforce. Understanding your business needs further helps you decide on the best California-compliant break-tracking appsfor your field team that comply with state labor laws.
Timeero’s California Breaks Tracker lets you track and manage employees’ breaks with a few clicks. You can easily track when employees start and end their breaks, receive alerts when employees are non-compliant, and generate reports anytime, anywhere, from any device. This ensures you have everything you need in one spot to stay compliant with California labor laws.
Try Timeero’s accurate meal and rest breaks tracking app that is compliant with California labor laws.
David is a content writer passionate about all things SaaS and technology! With over seven years of experience, David knows how to craft content that captivates his readers and effectively communicates their value and offerings. When he is not writing, he is at home reading, out playing soccer, or exploring new places.
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