Track Crew Hours in 2 Taps. Payroll Ready in Minutes.

What is GoodEvent Time?

GoodEvent Time is a time tracking and timesheet system built specifically for event industry crews. It lets event teams clock in and out from their phones using geofenced location verification and selfie identification. Event businesses use it to schedule rotas, monitor real-time attendance, track hours accurately, and export payroll data—eliminating manual timesheets, time theft, and payroll overpayments. Built for marquee hire companies, equipment rental businesses, festival organisers, and any event business with mobile crews working across multiple sites.

Unlike generic workforce management software adapted from retail or construction, GoodEvent Time was built for event industry workflows from day one. It understands that your crew works at different venues every day, that setup times vary by event, and that temporary seasonal staff need quick onboarding without extensive training. Staff clock in with a 4-digit PIN and selfie—2 taps, job done. Geofencing confirms they're actually on-site before allowing clock-in.

This solves the fundamental problem of managing mobile event crews: how do you accurately track hours, prevent time theft, and simplify payroll when your team works at dozens of different locations each week? GoodEvent Time gives you real-time visibility and accurate data without complex hardware or lengthy training.

Why Manual Timesheets Fail for Event Businesses

Traditional time tracking methods create problems that cost money and waste hours:

• Time theft through buddy punching: Mate clocks in for someone running late. Happens constantly with paper timesheets or shared clock-in systems. Costs 5-7% of total payroll according to the American Payroll Association. For a business paying £20,000 monthly in wages, that's £1,000-£1,400 lost every month.

• Rounding up adds up: Staff clock in at 7:52am, write down 7:30am. Leave at 5:08pm, write down 5:30pm. Gains 52 minutes per day. At £12/hour, that's £10.40 per day, £52 per week, £208 per month per employee. Multiply across 10 staff: £2,080 monthly overpayment.

• No real-time visibility: Manager needs to know if the marquee crew arrived at the wedding venue. Phones them. They don't answer—busy working. Drives across town to check. Wastes an hour. With GoodEvent Time, you see exactly who's clocked in where, right now.

• Payroll processing takes hours: Office staff spend 10+ hours monthly chasing signed timesheets, deciphering handwriting, entering data into spreadsheets, fixing errors, and reconciling discrepancies. At £15/hour, that's £150+ monthly in admin costs—enough to cover 50 employees on GoodEvent Time.

• Compliance risks multiply: Working Time Regulations require accurate rest break tracking. Manual systems can't prove breaks were taken. Health and safety investigations need location verification. Paper timesheets don't show where staff actually were.

• Overtime sneaks up: By the time you realise someone's heading for expensive overtime, it's too late—they've already worked the hours. GoodEvent Time alerts you when staff approach overtime thresholds.

Why GoodEvent Time is Different

Built specifically for mobile event crews—not adapted from retail shift work or construction sites.

Generic time tracking software serves shops, warehouses, and offices where staff work at the same location daily. Event businesses need something different: crews working at wedding venues today, festival sites tomorrow, corporate events next week—all at different addresses requiring different arrival times.

Compared to Deputy, Connecteam, or When I Work:

• Event-specific scheduling: Build rotas for setup crews, breakdown crews, delivery runs, and on-site supervision. Schedule by event, not just by shift. Link rotas to actual bookings.

• Multi-site geofencing: Create location boundaries for every venue you work at. Staff can only clock in when physically at the correct event site. No clocking in from home.

• Selfie verification built-in: Every clock-in requires a selfie photo. You see who clocked in, not just that someone used a PIN. Eliminates buddy punching completely.

• Works with event workflows: Integrate with GoodEvent Business to link crew hours to job costs, track labour against revenue per event, and see profitability in real-time.

• Designed for temporary staff: Event businesses hire seasonal crews who work a few weeks then leave. Quick onboarding essential—GoodEvent Time requires zero training. Give them a PIN, show them the clock-in button, done.

• Mobile-first design: No expensive tablets at fixed locations. Staff use their own phones. No hardware to buy, install, or maintain. Works anywhere with mobile signal.

James, Trafalgar Marquees:

"Good Event has enabled our entire team [office to onsite] to connect digitally. Everyone knows their daily jobs and management can easily share event info, load lists, schedules etc to their team. We've seen a huge decrease of expensive mistakes and an increase of time saved."

Built-in features other systems charge extra for: Geofenced clocking, selfie verification, break rule automation, holiday tracking, payroll export templates, real-time dashboards, and mobile app access—all included at £3 per employee monthly.

How GoodEvent Time Works

Track crew hours and manage timesheets in five straightforward steps:

1. Set up staff and locations: Add your crew members with contact details and hourly rates. Create geofenced locations for venues you regularly work at—wedding venues, festival sites, your warehouse. Set radius boundaries (typically 50-100 metres).

2. Build rotas: Schedule who works which events. Assign staff to setup crews, delivery runs, or breakdown teams. Set expected start and finish times. Staff see their rotas on their phones—no printing, no WhatsApp messages.

3. Staff clock in and out: Crew opens GoodEvent Time on their phone, enters 4-digit PIN, takes selfie. System checks they're within geofenced location. Clock-in recorded with timestamp, GPS coordinates, and photo. Clock out same way when finishing.

4. Monitor in real-time: Office staff and managers see live dashboard showing who's clocked in, who's late, who's on break, and total hours worked today. Check any time from any device.

5. Approve and export payroll: Review timesheets at end of week or month. Approve all in bulk or individually. Export to your payroll system (Sage, Xero Payroll, or CSV for any system). Send to accountant. Done in 10 minutes.

Typical setup time: 2 hours to configure locations and add initial staff. Staff start using it immediately—no training sessions needed.

Joel, TL Marquee Hire:

"The team can access everything they need online from their phone or iPad. Now I no longer worry about the general stresses of running a rental company, such as ensuring jobs are loaded, quoted, and paid. I now have 10x more time to grow the business."

Time Tracking Features That Stop Overpayments

Geofenced Location Verification

What it does: Creates virtual boundaries around event sites. Staff can only clock in when their phone's GPS places them inside the geofenced area.

Why it matters: Eliminates early clock-ins from home, coffee shops, or car parks. Staff must be physically on-site at the wedding venue, festival location, or client address before the system allows clock-in. Typical geofence radius: 50-100 metres.

Real-world application: Your marquee crew is scheduled for 8am setup at a countryside wedding venue. Without geofencing, they clock in at 7:45am from the McDonald's down the road where they're having breakfast. You pay for 15 minutes they didn't work. Multiply across 10 staff over a month: 50+ hours of paid non-work time.

With geofencing, they arrive at the venue car park at 7:55am. Try to clock in—system says "Not at correct location." Drive to the venue entrance, clock in successfully at 8:02am. You pay for hours actually worked.

Configuring locations: Search venue address, set radius boundary, name the location. Takes 30 seconds. Save it for future events at that venue. Build a library of regular locations—venues you use repeatedly.

Selfie Photo Verification

What it does: Every clock-in and clock-out requires a selfie photo. System stores the image with timestamp and location data.

Why it matters: Proves who clocked in, not just that someone used a PIN. Eliminates buddy punching—the most common form of time theft where colleagues clock in for absent workers.

Real-world application: Two crew members work together regularly. One runs late. Under paper timesheet systems, his mate writes his name down as if he arrived on time. Happens weekly. You pay for 30-60 minutes of time not worked per person.

With selfie verification, the system requires their actual face. Can't fake it. If someone's genuinely late, they clock in late and you pay correctly. If there's a legitimate reason (traffic, breakdown), managers can adjust—but you make that decision consciously, not lose money unknowingly.

Privacy considerations: Photos stored securely, accessible only to authorised managers. Staff understand it's for verification, not surveillance. Most crews prefer it—honest workers benefit when time thieves can't game the system.

Automatic Break Rule Enforcement

What it does: Calculates legally required rest breaks based on shift length and automatically deducts them from paid hours. UK Working Time Regulations require 20-minute breaks for shifts over 6 hours.

Why it matters: Ensures compliance with employment law. Prevents paying for break time that should be unpaid. Removes arguments about whether breaks were taken.

Real-world application: Crew member works an 8-hour marquee installation. Entitled to 20-minute unpaid break (30 minutes in practice). Doesn't clock out for break—continues working through. On manual timesheet, writes "8 hours worked" without deducting break. You pay for 8 hours.

With automatic break rules, system knows shift was 8+ hours. Automatically deducts 20-30 minutes regardless of whether they manually clocked out for break. They're paid for 7.5-7.67 hours. Compliant with law. Fair to both parties.

Flexible rules: Configure different break rules for different shift lengths. Half-day shifts, full days, overnight festival builds—each can have appropriate break deductions.

Precise Time Tracking (No Rounding)

What it does: Records exact clock-in and clock-out times to the minute. No rounding to nearest 15 or 30 minutes.

Why it matters: Rounding always favours staff. Clock in at 8:52am, round to 8:30am—gain 22 minutes. Clock out at 5:08pm, round to 5:30pm—gain 22 minutes. Total daily gain: 44 minutes. At £12/hour = £8.80 per day. Over a month: £176 per employee.

Real-world application: Furniture delivery driver scheduled 7am-3pm. Actually works 7:12am-2:54pm. Pays for 7 hours 42 minutes actually worked, not rounded 8 hours. Accurate pay for accurate work.

Fair to staff too: If they work 5:08pm, they're paid to 5:08pm—not rounded down to 5:00pm. System is precise in both directions.

Real-Time Attendance Dashboard

What it does: Shows live view of who's clocked in now, at which locations, for how long, and whether they're on break. Updates instantly as staff clock in and out.

Why it matters: Answer questions immediately: "Did the marquee crew arrive at the Smith wedding yet?" Check dashboard. Yes, all three clocked in at 8:04am. Or make decisions: "We need someone to cover an urgent delivery." Check dashboard, see who's not currently on a job.

Real-world application: Saturday morning, 10 events happening. Site manager calls: "Where's the crew for the Jones event?" Instead of phoning around, you check the dashboard. See they clocked in at their previous event but haven't clocked out yet—running late. Call that crew directly, arrange coverage. Total time: 30 seconds instead of 10 minutes of phone tag.

Manager access: Site managers see only their crews. Office staff see everyone. Business owners see everything. Permissions configured per user role.

Scheduling and Rota Features

Fast Rota Builder

What it does: Create weekly or monthly rotas showing who works which events, days, and times. Drag-and-drop interface for quick scheduling.

Why it matters: Event businesses struggle with spreadsheet rotas. Complex to build, impossible to share properly, no visibility for staff. GoodEvent Time gives staff their rotas on their phones—they see what they're working without asking.

Real-world application: Operations manager builds next week's rota Monday morning. 15 events, 20 staff, various skills required. Drag staff onto events, set times, mark roles (crew lead, driver, rigger). Takes 20 minutes. Publish. All 20 staff receive notifications showing their schedule. No printing, no WhatsApp, no confusion.

Recurring events: Save rota templates for events that repeat—weekly corporate setups, monthly festival support. Load template, adjust dates, publish.

Staff Availability and Holiday Tracking

What it does: Staff log their availability and request holidays through their phones. Managers approve or deny requests. System blocks scheduling on approved holiday dates.

Why it matters: Prevents scheduling staff who aren't available. Reduces last-minute call-offs. Gives staff control over their schedules—improving retention.

Real-world application: Crew member books summer holiday—two weeks in August. Logs it in GoodEvent Time, manager approves. System won't allow scheduling them during those dates. No accidental bookings, no awkward conversations, no cover scrambles.

Visibility: Dashboard shows who's available when. Planning September festival? See which crew members have availability. Make scheduling decisions with accurate information.

Integration with Event Bookings

GoodEvent Time links naturally with GoodEvent Business to connect crew scheduling with actual event bookings:

• Auto-populate events: Confirmed bookings from Business appear as schedulable events in Time
• Crew requirements: See how many staff each event needs based on equipment booked
• Labour costing: Track crew hours against specific events to calculate job profitability
• Delivery schedules: Link rotas to delivery notes and load lists

Payroll and Reporting Features

One-Click Payroll Export

What it does: Generates payroll reports showing each employee's total hours, breaks, overtime, and holiday taken. Export as CSV compatible with any payroll system.

Why it matters: Eliminates manual data entry. Send file to accountant or import to payroll software. Processing 20 timesheets drops from 2 hours to 5 minutes.

Real-world application: End of month, time for payroll. Open GoodEvent Time, select date range, choose all staff, click export. CSV file downloads. Send to accountant via email. Accountant imports directly to Sage/Xero Payroll. Wages calculated. Done.

Important note: GoodEvent Time does NOT integrate directly with Xero. You export reports and import manually to Xero Payroll. This is different from GoodEvent Business which integrates with Xero for invoicing only.

Payroll formats supported: Standard UK payroll CSV format. Works with Sage, Xero Payroll, QuickBooks, BrightPay, or any system accepting CSV imports.

Wages vs Revenue Reports

What it does: Compares labour costs against revenue per event. Shows which events are profitable and which cost more in crew time than they earned.

Why it matters: Helps identify underpriced services, inefficient processes, or events not worth pursuing. Make data-driven decisions about what work to accept.

Real-world application: Marquee hire company runs wages vs revenue report for June weddings. Discovers small weddings (under 80 guests) average 25% labour cost to revenue ratio. Large weddings (150+ guests) average only 15%. Decision: Increase small wedding pricing or focus marketing on larger events.

Profitability insights: Track labour costs by event type, client, venue, or crew. Find patterns. Optimise operations.

Overtime Tracking and Alerts

What it does: Monitors hours worked against standard hours or legal maximums. Sends alerts when staff approach overtime thresholds.

Why it matters: Overtime costs significantly more—often 1.5x standard pay. Catching it early lets you redistribute work or adjust schedules before the cost hits.

Real-world application: Crew member working festival build scheduled for 40 hours this week. Tuesday night, system alerts: "Employee approaching 40 hours with 3 shifts remaining." Manager adjusts Wednesday schedule, swaps them out of Friday shift. Prevents 8 hours of expensive overtime.

Configurable thresholds: Set alerts at your preferred levels—38 hours, 40 hours, 45 hours. Different rules for different employment contracts.

How Marquee Hire Companies Use GoodEvent Time

Marquee hire companies and tent rental businesses use GoodEvent Time to manage installation crews, delivery drivers, and breakdown teams across multiple wedding and event sites.

Typical workflow for a busy wedding weekend:

Friday evening, operations manager reviews Saturday's schedule: 8 marquee installations across 5 counties. Each requires 2-3 crew members. Total 20 staff scheduled.

Saturday morning, 6:30am: First crew clocks in at the warehouse using geofence set for depot location. Loading marquee equipment. System shows they're on-site, on-time.

7:45am: First crew arrives at wedding venue—country estate 45 minutes away. Driver tries to clock in from car park—too far from geofenced event location. Drives to setup area, clocks in successfully at 7:52am. Office sees all three crew members clocked in at correct location.

8:15am: Second crew running late. Operations manager sees on dashboard they haven't clocked in yet. Phones crew lead. Van broke down. Arranges replacement vehicle. Crisis managed because manager had real-time visibility.

Throughout the day, manager monitors dashboard. Sees which crews finished which installations. Knows exact hours worked at each site. When venue coordinator calls asking if crew left site, checks dashboard—yes, clocked out at 2:34pm.

Sunday, most crews handle breakdown. Clock in at marquee sites, clock out after loading equipment. Some work longer than expected—system tracks actual hours, not estimated ones.

Monday, manager reviews weekend timesheets. Total crew hours: 142.5 hours across all events. Mix of regular and overtime. Approves in bulk. Exports payroll CSV. Sends to accountant. Processing time: 8 minutes.

Old manual method would've taken 3+ hours chasing signatures, checking handwriting, querying discrepancies. Saved: 2.5+ hours of admin time. Cost: £37.50 in saved admin wages. GoodEvent Time cost for 20 staff: £60 monthly. Pays for itself in first week.

Result: Eliminated buddy punching, reduced overtime by catching it early, freed up admin time, and eliminated payroll disputes.

Becki, South Coast Marquees:

"As an employer, we've been able to be more organised and professional giving staff the accurate information they need to deliver a job which again has saved time and reduced the amount of 'forgotten kit' and errors to loading for jobs."

How Festival Organisers Use GoodEvent Time

Festival organisers and large-scale event producers use GoodEvent Time to manage hundreds of temporary staff across different zones during multi-day builds and breakdowns.

Typical workflow for a 3-day festival:

Two weeks before festival, crew coordinator builds rotas for 150 temporary staff working setup week. Different zones need different specialities: staging crew, power distribution team, site infrastructure, toilet block installation, fencing teams, signage crew.

Each zone gets its own geofenced location—main stage area, power zone, entrance compound, campsite area. Staff can only clock in when at their assigned zone.

Setup begins Monday. Staging crew arrives first. 12 workers scheduled for 7am start. Dashboard shows 11 clocked in by 7:10am. One missing. Supervisor phones—stuck in traffic, arriving 8am. Adjust timesheet expectation.

Tuesday through Thursday, various crews working different hours. Real-time dashboard shows production manager exactly who's on-site in each zone. When main stage supervisor says "I need 3 more riggers," manager checks dashboard, sees which riggers are currently unassigned, sends them to main stage.

Friday through Sunday, festival runs. Smaller crew for event operation. Monday breakdown begins—everyone returns. Large crews across all zones. Complex scheduling with overlapping shifts.

End of breakdown week, time for payroll. 150 staff worked varying hours over 10 days. Some full-time, some part-time, some just weekends. Timesheets automatically generated from clock-ins. Export all as single payroll file. Process takes 20 minutes including verification.

Without GoodEvent Time, processing 150 manual timesheets would take multiple days. Inevitable errors would require corrections. Staff would complain about missed hours. Chaos.

Result: Managed massive temporary workforce efficiently, verified everyone was in correct locations, processed complex payroll accurately in minimal time.

Getting Started with GoodEvent Time

Start tracking crew hours accurately:

1. Start free trial: Sign up at goodevent.com/time—14 days free, no credit card
2. Add crew members: Import existing staff list or add individually
3. Create geofenced locations: Set boundaries for your regular venues and depot
4. Build first rota: Schedule next week's events and crews
5. Staff start clocking: Send them login details, show them 2-tap clock-in process

Time to value: Track your first crew hours within 30 minutes of setup.

Pricing: £3 per employee monthly. Add or remove employees any time. Scale up for busy season, down for quiet months.

Related Resources

Other GoodEvent Workforce Tools

• GoodEvent Business—Link crew hours to job costs and profitability
• GoodEvent Network—Find temporary crew for busy periods
• GoodEvent Docs—Digital crew safety forms and checklists

Industry Applications

• Marquee Hire Companies—Track installation and breakdown crews
• Tent Rental Businesses—Manage setup teams across events
• Equipment Rental—Track delivery driver hours
• Festival Events—Manage large temporary workforces
• Corporate Events—Schedule event staff accurately
• Furniture Rental—Track delivery and setup hours

Complementary Features

• Geofenced Clocking—Location verification details
• Event Crew Scheduling—Rota building guide
• Break Rule Management—Automated break compliance
• Holiday Tracking—Annual leave management
• Wages vs Revenue Reports—Profitability analysis