Driving Activity Reporter Monitors Holiday Slackers

GPS Tracking System Comes Along For The Ride

Employers who have drivers working in the field understand very well that during the holiday season moonlighting tends to increase. During the Christmas holiday people working delivery jobs have a tendency to run personal errands while away from the office, resulting in less production and efficiency at a time when many companies are at their busiest. Since holiday moonlighting can be such a problem to a businesses' bottom line, many companies have been investing in a GPS tracking system known as the driving activity reporter.

Driving Activity Reporter: What is It?

The driving activity reporter is a personal GPS tracking system that can record driving information with keen precision. The GPS data logger allows company employers to easily have access to what speeds a driver was driving, stops made, mileage driven and more. A business owner concerned about employee moonlighting can place the driving activity reporter in the vehicle they wish to monitor then at the end of the day, week or month they can remove the tracking system and download the GPS tracking data to analyze or audit driving activity. Uncovering poor route management, moonlighting, or excessive breaks can be done easily with the driving activity reporter.

GPS Tracking And Marketing

Creating unique and original marketing efforts is nothing new for the business minds in the corporate world today. Many businesses attempt to be remarkable by standing out from the crowd, being a purple cow, and that is exactly what a Minneapolis, Minnesota based chair manufacturer has done by incorporating GPS tracking system technology into their fashionable savvy products.

The chair manufacturer is a company called Blu Dot, which was formed by a group of three friends who met in college in the late 1990's. Blu Dot's goal is to create trendy, unique, and affordable furniture for home and office, but it is how they are using tracking system technology that uses GPS tracking science that has shined the spotlight on the company. What Blu Dot has done is placed tracking systems into various quality designer chairs that will be spread across the Manhattan, New York area. The marketing brains at Blu Dot are hoping the GPS tracking enabled designer chairs will help create a buzz around their brand name and products.

GPS Tracking Systems and Surveillance Equipment

Employers generally view their employees as assets that need to be maximized in order to expand growth and revenue. Some employers use positive reinforcement to increase an employee's production rate by offering bonuses or other incentives to motivate an employee. However, many employers are now using technology to weigh if an employee is being constructive with time spent working in the office or field. What the employers are doing is adopting GPS tracking systems, computer surveillance equipment, and video cameras to spy on employees during the work day in an effort to validate performance. Because employers are using GPS tracking systems, among other monitoring devices, employees are raising questions about privacy rights while on the job.

How Many Companies are using Tracking Systems and Surveillance?

Recently, The ePolicy Institute contacted 526 companies and gave each one a survey about what type of employee monitoring devices or procedures were used on staff and the following data was complied:

• 51% of the 526 companies used video surveillance
• 85% of the 526 companies stated they informed employees about video surveillance of staff

Statistics were not provided about the number of GPS tracking systems that were used to monitor employees who worked outside of the office.

GPS Tracking Systems Provide Electronic Logbooks

Truck drivers normally do not receive an hourly wage for compensation of delivery services, but they do receive compensation for miles driven. Because terms of payment are related to distance driven and not hours worked, many truck drivers will falsify their logbooks to make it appear as if they have driven for less hours then they really have. Truck drivers feel they have to falsify paperwork because most state laws prohibit truck drivers from driving in excess of 14 hours per day. Documenting hours driven in paper logbooks has been the standard approach for truck drivers to account for those miles driven and hours worked, but now GPS tracking systems may put an end to the paper-logging of data.

GPS Tracking Systems and Accountability

GPS tracking system technology has been thriving within businesses over the last 5 years, documenting driving-relevant data such as miles and hours driven. Since GPS tracking systems can unambiguously record driving-relevant data effectively, they are now being looked at as the long-term solution to the paper logbooks most truck drivers use and that have a high frequency of being falsified. Truck driving companies, metropolitan cities, and small and large businesses with mobile assets have all been successfully using GPS tracking systems to boost employee effectiveness and accountability.