Tell employees first: a workplace time-tracking notice that matches the product

Workplace time tracking fails when people find the software before they find the explanation. VisibleHours is built the other way: a written notice first, then a Windows tray icon that stays on screen while tracking runs. Pause and quit are one click. If the icon is gone, VisibleHours is not recording.

This guide walks Operations through the notice that already lives on visiblehours.com, what it must say, and which product pages to send alongside it. It is a process, not legal advice.

Send the notice before the installer

The public template is /notice. Use it before anyone downloads VisibleHours-Setup.exe, and send it again before screenshots or recording sessions go on. The same facts sit on Privacy.

1. Fill in whether screenshots are off or on, and the interval if they are on.
2. Fill in whether recording is off, on-demand, or a weekday window.
3. Fill in whether mobile check-in is off or on, and whether GPS is required.
4. Hand the notice to each person who will use a company Windows PC.
5. Then create the organization at /signup and install the tray agent.

What the notice has to say

Keep the language as specific as the product. People should be able to verify every sentence from the tray or from Settings.

• Where it runs. Company-owned Windows PCs only. Not personal phones, not home computers.
• What they will see. A tray icon. Pause, Resume, and Quit. No hidden mode.
• What is recorded. The foreground app, the browser site when Windows exposes it, and idle time after a few minutes without keyboard or mouse.
• What stays off until Operations turns it on. Screenshots (interval, blur, retention) and recording sessions (off / on-demand / weekday schedule). Signed-in managers can play an MP4. Windows OS capture is a Windows-agent path (tray grab or file upload). The sample MP4 remains for demo. Clips stay inside that organization, not a hidden camera.
• What is never recorded. Keystrokes, clipboard, webcam, or microphone. The Windows tray does not log GPS.

The tray is the live disclosure

A PDF in a handbook is not enough if the software can disappear. VisibleHours keeps the icon in the system tray on purpose. If someone cannot see it, tracking is not running. That is the test Operations should teach on day one.

Screenshots stay off on a new organization. When you turn them on, say so in writing first, keep blur on unless you have a reason not to, and set retention so old shots do not live forever. Same rule for recording tiers.

Mobile punches are a separate notice

Field check-in is optional and off by default. If you turn it on, people punch at /checkin. A location is stored only on a punch, and only if they share coordinates or you require GPS. That is not live tracking. Read the mobile check-in guide before you enable it.