What time tracking involves in an organisation with several sites
Time tracking in a single office is a solved problem. The whole team enters through the same door, clocks in on the same tablet, and the manager sees the full record from their desk. In an organisation with several sites, things change. New problems appear that a system designed for a single site tends to solve poorly.
The three typical ones are:
- Mobility between sites. A manager who works mornings at site A and afternoons at site B. If the system does not allow clock-ins from any terminal recognising the worker, the record ends up split across two separate organisations and has to be consolidated by hand.
- Managers per site. Each site has its own manager, who does need to see their team's record but has no reason to see the record of the other sites. The system must allow that permission segmentation without complications.
- Central consolidation. Management (or the general manager, or the payroll bureau) needs to see the consolidated record of all sites for payroll, reporting or the Inspectorate. But they should not have to open 5 different organisations.
A time-tracking system that handles multi-site well covers the three points without forcing you to duplicate onboardings or to export CSVs and consolidate them in Excel.
Sectors where multi-site is the common case
There are types of organisation where having several sites is not the exception, it is the norm. In these sectors, multi-site must be native from day one.
Multi-shop retail
Chains of clothing, footwear, cosmetics, opticians, hardware or similar shops. With two or more shops the problem already appears: managers who rotate, sales assistants who reinforce another shop on Saturdays, an area manager who oversees several sites. In addition, the Labour Inspectorate usually visits shop by shop, so each site must be able to show its record locally.
Hospitality with several venues
Restaurant groups with 2-5 restaurants, café chains or bar groups. Shifts are complex (split, weekends, holidays), managers usually rotate between venues, and the breaks in the hospitality collective agreement are not the standard ones. A system designed for an office does not work.
Workshops, on-site work and technical services
Maintenance, repair, installation, gardening, cleaning organisations. Workers start their day at the base but spend almost the whole day at the client's premises. Clock-in must work with a geolocated mobile app, and the system must consolidate per worker the time split between workplaces and travel.
Dental, veterinary, physiotherapy clinics
Groups with 2-4 clinics, clinical and reception staff, morning and afternoon schedules. Professionals rotate between sites according to the diary. They need to clock in at any site with their personal identification.
Academies, language schools, training centres
With several sites and teachers who teach at more than one. The system must reflect the hours taught at each site without requiring the teacher to change apps.
What the system must have to handle multi-site well
1. A single organisation onboarding
Sites must be a division within the organisation, not separate organisations. It sounds obvious, but many systems force you to onboard each shop as an independent organisation, forcing you to pay plans for each and to duplicate management.
2. The worker belongs to one site, but can clock in at others
The system must know where each worker is assigned (for payroll and contract), but allow them to clock in at any terminal when covering a colleague. The resulting record must indicate at which site the clock-in was made, not just the time.
3. Per-site permissions for managers
The manager of site A sees their team, but not the team of site B. Management sees everything. The external payroll bureau sees everything. Configuring these permissions must not require a consultant every time a new manager is hired.
4. Consolidated dashboard with per-site indicators
Management needs, at a glance, to know whether there are incidents at the sites: someone who has not clocked in, corrections pending approval, a site with more absences than usual. The dashboard must be quick to read, not a list of 500 rows.
5. Per-site and consolidated export
Payroll may need the record shop by shop (if there is a different collective agreement or if payroll is handled by branch). The Inspectorate asks for the record of the site it has visited. And management needs the consolidated view for the overall month. The system must cover the three cases.
6. Multi-site with no added cost per site
Vendors that charge per site penalise growth. If you have 3 shops and pay for the 3, when you open the fourth you pay more. It is a perverse incentive: it holds you back from opening new sites. Vendors that charge only per employee (regardless of the number of sites) do not penalise.
How etempus does it
Multi-site is part of the core product from day one. It is not a module, it has no additional cost. With a single organisation onboarding you manage all the sites you need. The typical configuration is:
- One organisation (for example, "López Bakery Chain") with 4 sites (López Centre, López North, López South, López East).
- Each worker is assigned to a main site, but can clock in at any of them with their personal PIN.
- Each site has a tablet with the application installed (or a shared computer running the browser).
- Each manager sees the record of their site. Management sees all sites.
- The external payroll bureau has read-only access to the consolidated view.
We handle onboarding ourselves. We gather the workforce data, the sites and the schedules in one call, configure everything, and close the first month together. No added cost per site, no minimum fee, no lock-in.
Real configuration examples
Chain of 5 restaurants, 60 employees
One main venue with a kitchen and 4 café-restaurant style venues. Fixed staff per venue plus a few floaters who rotate. Configuration: 5 sites, staff assigned, two different collective agreements applicable (one for the kitchen venue, another for the cafés). PIN clock-in on a tablet at each venue. Consolidated dashboard for the general manager. Monthly export per site for the payroll bureau. Onboarding in 5 days.
Chain of 8 clothing shops, 40 employees
8 shops in three cities. Shop managers, fixed sales assistants and weekend reinforcements who rotate. Configuration: 8 sites, managers with access only to their shop, management with access to everything. PIN clock-in on a tablet at each shop. Onboarding in 7 days.
Group of 3 dental clinics, 25 employees
3 clinics, clinical staff who rotate, reception staff per clinic. Configuration: 3 sites, coordinators with visibility of the 3 clinics, management with global visibility. PIN clock-in on the reception computer. Onboarding in 3 days.
Frequently asked questions
Can I clock in at any site with the same identification?
Yes. Each worker has a unique PIN or identifier that works at any terminal in the organisation, regardless of the site. The record notes which site the clock-in was made at.
Can each site have its own schedule and collective agreement?
Yes. Configuration is at site level and at worker level. Each site can have its base schedule, its shifts and its collective agreement. Workers inherit the configuration of their site by default.
Does the Labour Inspectorate need to see the record of a single site or of the whole organisation?
The Inspectorate visits specific workplaces and requests the record of the visited site. Each site must be able to show its own record without exporting the consolidated view. At etempus the per-site export is done from the same dashboard: filter by site and download the signed PDF.
Do I need a tablet per site?
Not necessarily. The most common option is a tablet or a shared computer (reception, back office, counter), but you can also clock in from the worker's personal mobile if you have a workforce with smartphones. Combinable within the same organisation.
How are managers handled when they move between sites?
Permissions are per worker, not per site. If a manager transfers from site A to site B, their permissions are changed and that is it. There is no need to redo configurations or migrate data.
What if I want to close a site?
It is deactivated from the dashboard and the history is kept for consultation. The regulation requires a minimum retention of 4 years for the record; the site can be closed but the data remains accessible for that whole period.
Does the price go up as I add sites?
No. At etempus the price depends on the total number of employees, not on the number of sites. A client with 40 employees spread across 5 shops pays the same as a client with 40 employees at a single site.
How long does onboarding take for an organisation with 5 sites?
Between 5 and 10 working days from the first call. It depends on the complexity of schedules and collective agreements. Data collection is done in a 45-60 minute call with the general manager or the HR lead.
If you have several sites and want to comply with the clock-in law without complicating management, we onboard your organisation this same week with a configuration adapted to your operations. No added cost per site.
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