Skip to content

Janitorial time tracking

Janitorial time tracking for crews that clean while the client's building is empty.

Janitorial time tracking has to prove that a crew was in a client's building for the hours you invoiced, without the crew carrying personal phones. ZeroBadge gives each cleaner a company-managed badge. Power on at the building starts the shift, each client building is a location drawn from its address, and the weekly record shows who was where, from what time to what time. The office can answer a billing question from the record.

Get startedA night on a route
  • Presence recorded at each client building
  • Badge passes to the next hire in a minute
  • One month or more of battery life*

*Under qualifying operating conditions. Battery life varies with reporting frequency, signal conditions, usage, and configuration.

Crew allocation

SODOEast WaterwaySR 991st Ave S4th Ave SI-5S Lander StHARBOR YARD DISTRIBUTION CENTER7 CREW ON TUERIVERSIDE MEDICAL PAVILION10 CREW ON TUEBenMateoRosa
Transfers · Tue
© OpenStreetMap contributors

On site

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

  • Riverside610999
  • Harbor Yard107777
  • Northgate88888

Site transfers detected

  • Ben C.Harbor Yard → Riverside · Tue
  • Mateo G.Harbor Yard → Riverside · Tue
  • Rosa D.Harbor Yard → Riverside · Tue

  • Lena O. · Tue Oct 6

    4 locations in one shift, 1h 35m in transit, still one record.

What ZeroBadge does for you

How ZeroBadge helps commercial cleaning

One company badge per worker covers safety alerts, timekeeping, labor analytics and ZeroBadge AI. Here is what each part does in your line of work.

  • 01

    Worker safety

    A lone night cleaner can press the alert button and the office sees which client building it came from, and a restricted-area alert covers rooms the client keeps off limits.

    Learn more

  • 02

    Workforce management

    See which crews have reached tonight's buildings, who is late to a start time and which cleaner never showed, before the client calls to ask.

    Learn more

  • 03

    Automated timekeeping

    Cleaners power the badge on at the building and the shift starts, so night crews never carry a personal phone onto a client's floor.

    Learn more

  • 04

    Workforce productivity

    Compare hours recorded at each client building with the hours the contract is priced on, week by week, and spot the contracts running over.

    Learn more

  • 05

    Location analytics

    Each client building is a location drawn from its address, so the record shows arrival and departure for every visit without installing anything in the client's building.

    Learn more

  • 06

    Field logistics

    Balance crews across client buildings by recorded hours, moving help to the contract that keeps running long and away from the one finishing early.

    Learn more

  • 07

    AI advisory and analytics

    Ask ZeroBadge AI which client buildings ran over their contracted hours last month, and the answer links to the visits behind each number.

    Learn more

Safety alerts support your safety program. They do not replace supervision or training, ZeroBadge does not monitor alerts or contact 911, and in an emergency workers should call 911.

Where cleaning margin goes

The invoice says twelve labor hours a night. The client says the building felt empty by ten.

Commercial cleaning contracts are priced on labor hours per visit, and labor is most of the cost. The building belongs to someone else and nobody from your office is there after dark.

  • Billing disputes with nothing to show

    A property manager questions a month of invoices. Your sign-in sheet was filled in by the crew lead, and the client's own door log doesn't line up with it. You have a paper sheet against a building's memory.

  • Crews that start late or leave early

    A four-person crew contracted for three hours can quietly become three people for two and a half. The shortfall is real money on a thin-margin contract, and a supervisor can't visit every building.

  • Constant turnover

    New cleaners arrive every week and a few vanish without notice. Every tool that needs a phone setup, an app login or a PIN adds a morning of onboarding to each of them.

  • Floating crews and covers

    When someone calls out, a floater covers at another building. The timesheet says the usual building, because that is what the schedule says.

  • Buildings that don't want phones

    Medical offices, labs, law firms and secure floors often ask cleaners to keep personal phones out of the space. An app-based clock puts you in conflict with the contract.

A night on a route

One crew lead, a Tuesday, three office buildings.

Illustrative night for a supervisor who covers three client buildings, from the first arrival to the last drive home.

Sign-in sheets and a call at the door

  1. 6:00 PMThe crew meets at the first building. The lead writes the start time on a sheet, rounded to the quarter hour.
  2. 10:00 PMThe crew moves to the second building. The sheet shows the new start and an end time for the first, both estimated.
  3. LateA floater arrives at midnight to cover a call-out. Nobody writes it down until the supervisor remembers it on Thursday.
  4. End of monthThe client disputes four visits. The sheets are all the evidence there is, and the client's door log disagrees on two.

Badge record

  1. 6:00 PMEach cleaner powers on at the building. The shift starts and the first building is the first line.
  2. 10:00 PMThe move to the second building is recorded as a drive, and the hours at each building are separate lines for each person.
  3. MidnightThe floater's badge reports from the second building from the time it arrived. The cover appears on that building, under that worker.
  4. End of monthA disputed visit is answered with who was at the building and for how long, from the badge record.

Client billing

What the record proves to a client, and what it doesn't.

The badge records where a person was and for how long. It does not record what was cleaned, in which room, or how well.

  • Hours at a building

    Each client building is a location drawn from its address. The record shows each cleaner's arrival, time inside the building and departure, and the sum for the crew on each visit.

  • Crew size on a visit

    If the contract says four people for three hours, you can see how many badges were at the building and when each arrived and left. A shortfall shows up as a number, before the client raises it.

  • Floors and rooms

    Placement is at the building. ZeroBadge does not tell you a cleaner was on the fourth floor or in a specific suite, and you shouldn't offer it to a client as if it did.

  • Quality of the work

    The badge doesn't know whether a restroom was restocked. Keep inspections and checklists in your quality process. The time record covers the labor hours behind the invoice.

  • Location is an estimate

    Positions come from GPS outdoors, Wi-Fi positioning indoors and cellular continuity between, with each reading's method and confidence stored. A reading is evidence of presence, and a supervisor can review any visit that looks off.

Turnover

Give a badge to the next person and the history stays with the last one.

Badges are company-owned and company-managed. When someone leaves, the office marks the badge unassigned and gives it to the next hire. That worker's time starts from the moment they are assigned. The earlier worker's past record is untouched.

A new cleaner does not install an app or set a PIN. Hand them the badge and tell them to power it on at the building. Badges are off between shifts, so a returned badge needs only a charge.

Mon Oct 5

  1. Power on

    6:51 AM

  2. Power off

    2:51 PM

Reporting

Priya S.

Journeyman pipefitter · Riverside crew

Powered on
6:51 AM · clock-in
Location
Riverside
Powered off
2:51 PM · clock-out
Recorded
8h
Personal phone
Not used
PIN or kiosk
None

Why a phone app or a kiosk doesn't fit cleaning

The client's building is not yours to wire, and the cleaner's phone is not yours to use.

  • A kiosk needs the client's permission

    A time clock on a client's wall needs their approval, their power and their network, and it stays at one building. A crew that serves three buildings a night needs three of them. Hours end up depending on a client agreeing to mount something.

  • A phone app needs a personal phone

    Many cleaners are part-time, on prepaid plans or carrying a phone that is nearly out of battery by the evening. An app punch needs their battery and their willingness to install it. Some client buildings ask that the phone stay in a locker anyway.

  • Geofenced app punches can drift

    A phone-based punch is only as good as the phone's location setting, which workers can switch off. A badge has its own cellular connection and reports on its own, so nobody has to remember to tap.

  • Nothing to leave behind

    The badge goes home with the company's property, not in a client's building. When a contract ends there is nothing to remove from the premises.

Rolling it out

Start with the contracts you argue about most.

  1. 01

    Draw the buildings

    Type each client building's address. ZeroBadge draws a geofence around it. Add your office, your supply room and any equipment storage as well.

    Office · first day

  2. 02

    Badge each cleaner

    Assign a badge to each person on the route. Spare badges wait in a drawer for the next hire.

    Office · first week

  3. 03

    Power on at the building

    Cleaners power on at the start of their shift and off when they leave. Over the first visits to each building it learns that building's Wi-Fi.

    Crews · every shift

  4. 04

    Review the week and send it

    Clear the flagged items, approve the week and send approved hours to your payroll provider. Keep each client's building totals for invoicing.

    Office · weekly

What this page doesn't cover

ZeroBadge is a workforce presence tool. It is not a janitorial scheduling system, a quality-inspection tool or a payroll provider.

Keep your scheduling and inspection tools. The badge feeds the hours behind them. Approved hours go to your payroll provider, and final pay rules stay with you.

Go deeper

Where cleaning contractors usually look next.

ZeroBadge AI

Ask about your client buildings

Ask in plain English and get answers from your own badge records, with every number linking to the visits behind it.

  • You ask

    Which client buildings ran over their contracted hours last month?

    Harbor Tower Offices used 212 hours against 190 contracted, and Pine Street Clinic used 148 against 140. Each figure links to the nightly visits behind it.

  • You ask

    How long was the crew at Lakeview Plaza on the 14th?

    The three-person crew was recorded at Lakeview Plaza from 9:52 PM to 2:08 AM. Arrival and departure times for each cleaner are in the linked visit.

  • You ask

    Which cleaners started late more than twice this month?

    Two cleaners started more than 15 minutes late on three or more nights. The answer lists each night so a supervisor can review it with them.

Answers come only from your company's own records. Every number links to the records behind it. Read-only; admins control access.

How ZeroBadge AI works

Questions

Questions cleaning contractors ask.

How do you track janitorial hours across several client buildings?
Draw each client building as a location and give each cleaner a badge. Every report is placed at a building, so the shift becomes a list of buildings with arrival, time inside and departure, plus the drives between them. Totals by building are ready for client invoices.
Can the record settle a client's billing dispute?
It gives you evidence of which badges were at the building and for how long, which is more than a sign-in sheet. It does not show rooms, floors or quality of work, and every location reading is an estimate with its method and confidence stored.
What happens when a cleaner quits?
The office unassigns the badge and gives it to the next hire. The new worker's time starts at assignment and the earlier worker's record is untouched. See how fleet and badge reassignment work.
Can we use it in buildings that don't allow phones?
Yes. The badge has its own cellular connection and nothing runs on the cleaner's phone. Check the client's rules on wearable devices before you start. See time tracking without phones.
Does it work inside large office buildings?
Indoors the badge places itself from the Wi-Fi networks it can see, after learning the building over the first visits. It places a person at the building, not on a floor. If signal drops, it stores reports and uploads them on reconnect with their original timestamps.

Last updated

Get started

See one night's route and one client's billing in the same week's record.

We'll walk through ZeroBadge with your client buildings, your crews' turnover and the invoices you want to back up.

Get startedSee the platform

What we will walk through

  • 01How a crew's arrivals and departures are recorded at each client building
  • 02Handing a badge to a new hire without any setup
  • 03Hours by building for invoicing, and approved hours for payroll