How Hubstaff tracking works for growing teams
Built to help distributed teams stay accountable with transparency, privacy controls, and flexible tracking settings, from a single remote hire to a large distributed or outsourced team.
Built for transparency
and efficiency
Hubstaff tracking through an employee-controlled timer or automatic tracking on company-managed devices, plus optional features your organization sets up: screenshots, app and URL tracking, and activity rates, active only while time is being tracked. Employee privacy and empowerment guide every feature, in line with our guiding principles: you stay in control, know when tracking runs, and see all of your own time entries and data.
You’re in control
Hubstaff’s time tracking software works like a traditional time clock system installed on a desktop or mobile device. You decide when to start the timer and can easily stop it whenever you need to do something else. Time tracking happens on your schedule.
The app only captures proof of engagement and work (screenshots, app and URL tracking, and activity rates) when your organization has these features turned on and you’re actively tracking time.
How it works
- Choose your app
Choose your preferred app. Hubstaff is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. For web-based tracking, try our Chrome extension.
- Grant permissions
Hubstaff's guiding principles are transparency, access, and control. Depending on the device, you'll likely see a prompt to allow permissions so that you know what your organization tracks.
- Clock in and out
You decide when to start and stop the timer. That means time tracking software features like time tracking, activity rates, and app and URL tracking are only active when you’re working.
Know what’s being tracked
You can always see your own tracking data, and it's the same data management sees. Default settings let you delete your time and everything attached to it whenever you choose, and Hubstaff will never sell your data to third parties.
Hubstaff is SOC 2 Type II compliant and built to support GDPR and HIPAA requirements. Your plan determines how long data is retained, and your account owner can request deletion for the entire organization.
What each app tracks
See how the Hubstaff apps differ in what they capture and keep track of while you’re working.
Customizable for each person
You can set preferences in Hubstaff for each individual. While we’re showcasing all functionality here, your organization might choose to turn off or customize certain features.
Desktop permissions
Follow our guiding principles of transparency, access, and control with customizable permissions for every member of your team.
Access to all your own information
You always can access your own data and see exactly what management sees. Further, Hubstaff’s default settings allow you to delete your time and the information attached to it whenever you choose. Hubstaff will never sell your data to third parties.
Benefits for the whole team
Avoid frequent
check-ins
Many distributed teams have to submit progress reports so that everyone else knows what work was done. Hubstaff takes care of that to streamline workflows.
Screenshots can show work in progress, so you can keep working instead of pausing to hop on a call or share sketches. Managers can check the Hubstaff dashboard instead of interrupting their team’s work.
Know more,
work smarter
With the information Hubstaff provides, employees and managers can make smarter decisions and focus more time on their most critical work. Your dashboard gives you a clear overview of your day and workweek. Go beyond time tracking and billable hours with dozens of integrations, including project management and payroll tools.
Hate having
to punch in?
Hubstaff can automatically clock in and out for field and job-site teams using geofencing. With the Locations add-on enabled, the mobile app starts and stops the timer when you arrive at or leave a geofenced Job site. Your time cards are already done at the end of the day or week, with nothing to fill out or remember.
Get paid
Some workplaces pay their teams through Hubstaff and require approvals for timesheets and billable hours. If that’s how your company operates, you’ll need to submit a timesheet when prompted. Then, payments can be automatically sent to you. Using Hubstaff timesheets to get paid can help avoid any disputes or questions about who worked on what and for how long.
Boost productivity, safeguard employee privacy
We’re strictly interested in productivity — not personal data. Hubstaff offers the option to blur Apps, URLs, screenshots, and more to help teams reach peak efficiency without compromising privacy. That also means our time tracking tool has:
No keystroke logging
No email monitoring
No access to cameras, webcams, video recording, etc.
Trustworthy tracking
CEO Jared Brown shares our guiding principles for ethical tracking with CNBC and The Today Show.
We use Insights to ensure workloads are balanced across the team, preventing burnout. If someone is overworked, we can adjust assignments to maintain productivity without overwhelming them.
Affordable Staff turned to Hubstaff to manage and pay contractors and freelancers, streamlining operations as it grew. It saves $170,000 annually thanks to our platform.
Hubstaff took our payroll and invoicing process from one full day of work down to minutes.
Once we implemented Hubstaff I was amazed to see that some of the projects I thought were going to be profitable, we were blowing through hours that I wasn't aware of.
Frequently asked questions
Need more help?
Do you still have questions about Hubstaff or how time tracking software works? Check out more FAQs, or drop our support team a line.