Construction labour attendance: registers vs biometrics vs QR and GPS
Labour is often the largest cost on a site after materials — and the least checked. Here is how the common attendance methods compare on real Indian sites.
Published 27 October 2026 · Ptrionix
Paper registers
Cheap and familiar, but easy to fill in later, impossible to check from the office, and retyped for payroll. Proxy attendance is common and hard to prove.
Biometric machines
Accurate when they work, but they need power, a fixed place, maintenance and often a network. Dust, cement and worn fingerprints cause failures, and one machine per site is expensive when sites move every year.
QR cards scanned by the supervisor
Each worker carries a printed QR ID card. The supervisor scans it with a phone; the record carries the site and time. No hardware to install, works offline, and cards move with the worker to the next site.
GPS check-in for staff
Engineers, supervisors and office staff check in from their own phones — but only inside the site's set radius, and not with fake-location apps. Location is read only at check-in, not tracked all day.
What we recommend
QR cards for workers plus GPS check-in for staff gives you reliable attendance on every site without hardware, and it flows straight into payroll. That is how Ptrionix's attendance works.
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