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GPS · fingerprint · web — three methods, one record

Know Who's Working,
Where, and on Which
Country's Rules.

Capture attendance with whatever fits the role: GPS for the field officer, fingerprint at the factory or the guard post, web check-in for the office. Leave entitlements applied per country, automatically.

Anti buddy-punching Floating holidays Live site visibility
Live site status
Today · 320 employees
Live
287
In
14
Late
19
Absent
🇰🇪
Nairobi HQ
GPS
87
🇰🇪
Mombasa branch
Web check-in
32
🇺🇬
Kampala office
Fingerprint
42
🇳🇬
Lagos warehouse
Fingerprint
104
🇿🇦
Joburg field team
GPS · Mobile
56
Sound familiar?

Attendance & leave, the way it usually goes.

Paper attendance books at the gate

Site supervisors fill them in. Photos get sent to HQ. At month-end, someone types it all into a spreadsheet for payroll. Errors guaranteed.

Buddy-punching

One employee clocks in three friends. The fingerprint clock you bought is sitting in a corner because it never integrated with anything.

Different leave rules in every country

Kenya wants 21 annual days, Tanzania wants 28, Nigeria says minimum 6. HR memorises rules; new hires get the wrong allocation; somebody complains every year.

Eid moves and nobody told the system

Eid al-Fitr fell on a Wednesday this year. Half your Northern Nigeria team took the day. Payroll docked them because the calendar still showed it as a working day.

What does GPS attendance look like?

Each clock-in carries its location. HR sees the day on one map: who was present, who was late, and where.

SmartHR Africa attendance map showing where employees clocked in across Kenya, coloured by present and late
Attendance map: every GPS clock-in for the day, coloured by status. Demo data.
Three capture methods

Pick the method that fits the role — not the other way around.

A drilling rig in Turkana doesn't need a fingerprint reader. The HQ reception doesn't need GPS. SmartHR runs all three methods in parallel, into one record.

GPS clock-in

For field staff & remote sites

Mobile app verifies the employee is within a configurable radius of an approved site. Works offline and syncs later. Optional photo at clock-in.

Best for: field officers, drivers, agents

Fingerprint

For factory & office

Standard ZKTeco-compatible biometric devices. SmartHR pulls clock-ins live or buffers them locally on the device until the network is up.

Best for: factory floor, warehouses, guard posts, office staff

Web check-in

For desk staff

One click from the web app, on the same record as every other method. Suits staff who work at a computer all day.

Best for: admin, finance, hybrid

Staff without a smartphone? Put a fingerprint device at the site, or let a supervisor or HR record attendance for them. Tell us what your sites use.

Teams that move between sites all day? See GPS field workforce tracking for geofence rules, site start and end times, and route history.

Running a factory or plant? See HR and payroll for manufacturing: fingerprint clock-in at the gate, night shifts, approved overtime and casual worker pay.

Country-specific leave rules

Every country's leave law, applied automatically.

Statutory minimums per country. Apply company-specific overrides on top — but the legal floor is always there.

Country Annual Sick Maternity Paternity Notes
🇰🇪 Kenya 21 days 14 days 90 days 14 days NHIF/SHIF cover during maternity.
🇳🇬 Nigeria 6+ days Unpaid varies 12 weeks Varies States may exceed federal minimum.
🇿🇦 South Africa 21 days 30/3 yrs 4 months 10 days BCEA minima; UIF supplements pay.
🇺🇬 Uganda 21 days Varies 60 working 4 days Maternity at full pay for the period.
🇹🇿 Tanzania 28 days Varies 84 days 3 days NSSF supports during maternity.
🇬🇭 Ghana 15 days 12 days 12 weeks Varies Public holidays don't consume annual.
🇪🇬 Egypt 21 days Varies 4 months Varies Increases to 30 days after 10 yrs service.
🇲🇦 Morocco 18 days Varies 14 weeks 3 days CNSS-funded portion during maternity.

Statutory minimums shown. Company policies often exceed these and SmartHR supports company-specific overrides on top of statutory floors. Rules tracked and updated by SmartHR; customers don't need to maintain them.

Public holiday calendars

Eid moves. Easter moves. SmartHR knows.

Most leave systems fail on floating holidays. They were configured once, three years ago, with a hard-coded date for Eid. SmartHR maintains country-specific calendars including all moveable feasts — and updates them centrally so every customer benefits.

  • Eid al-Fitr & Eid al-Adha — observed dates per country.
  • Easter (Good Friday, Easter Monday) per country.
  • Country-specific declarations (handover-day holidays, election days).
  • Regional vs national distinctions where applicable (e.g. state holidays in Nigeria).
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1 May · Labour Day
1 Jun · Madaraka Day
Maintained by SmartHR · auto-updated

Leave requests, end-to-end.

From the employee's phone to the next payroll — without a single email or printed form.

Request
Mobile app or web
Auto-checks balance & country rules
Approve
Line manager
Push notification, one-tap approve
Balance
Auto-deducted
Carry-forward and forfeiture rules applied
Payroll
Auto-applied
Unpaid leave reduces gross, no manual step
Approval chain configurable per role
Conflict detection (overlapping team leave)
Forfeiture warnings 30/14/7 days out

Common questions about attendance & leave

Don't see yours? Ask the team →

Three: GPS clock-in on the mobile app (works offline, with an optional photo), fingerprint biometric devices, and web check-in for desk staff. All three write to the same employee record. For staff without a smartphone, a supervisor or HR can record attendance for them.
Yes. Fingerprint capture ensures the actual employee is present. GPS clock-in verifies the employee is within a configurable radius of an approved site, and you can ask for a photo at clock-in on the mobile app so a supervisor can see who punched.
Each country we support has its statutory leave entitlements pre-configured: annual, sick, maternity, paternity, compassionate, and study leave where applicable. When you create an employee record, the right rules attach automatically. Custom company policies can override or add to the statutory minimums.
Yes. We maintain country-specific public holiday calendars for every supported country, including floating dates like Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Easter, and similar religious holidays. Calendar updates push automatically — your leave system always knows what's a working day.
Yes. The mobile app captures GPS clock-ins entirely offline and syncs once connectivity returns. Biometric devices buffer locally and sync when the network is available. No clock-in is ever lost.
Configurable per country and per company policy. Most accrue monthly (e.g. 1.75 days/month for a 21-day annual entitlement). Year-end carry-forward limits and forfeiture rules are configurable, with notifications to employees and HR before forfeiture dates.
Yes. The site dashboard shows live status for every employee — clocked in, on break, on leave, expected late, absent. Filter by site, team, or shift. GPS-verified locations show on a map for field operations.
Overtime follows each country's labour law and your company policy. Kenya allows up to 16 overtime hours per week at 1.5x; South Africa caps at 10 per week at 1.5x weekday and 2x Sunday; etc. Lateness is recorded against the shift's grace period and flagged for the manager. Approved overtime flows into payroll.

See your sites on one dashboard.

Tell us your sites, methods, and countries. We'll show you a live demo with your real mix — fingerprint at the warehouse, GPS in the field, web check-in at the office.