Stopping Fake Visits: Spotting Field Staff Who Avoid Work, Ethically

Every sales manager has had the suspicion. The route sheet says twenty-five visits. The orders say six. The staff member says the other shops "were closed". Maybe they were. Maybe he spent the afternoon at a tea shop in Koteshwor.

Fake or skipped visits are a real cost: you pay salary and fuel allowance for work that did not happen, shops go unserved, and honest colleagues feel cheated when a shirker earns the same. But dealing with the problem badly, by accusing, spying or humiliating, can cost you more than the problem. This guide takes a fair, evidence-based approach.

First, a mindset

Most salespeople want to do a good job. They face hard targets, bad roads and impatient shopkeepers, and sometimes cut corners when pressure is high. Treat tracking as a way to catch problems early, often before they become habits, and as proof that protects honest people from false accusations.

What "fake" can mean

Behaviour	Example
Ghost visit	Claims a visit without going to the shop
Drive-by	Stops outside, records the visit, leaves
Photo reuse	Same shop photo submitted again and again
Late start, early finish	Day recorded as full, actual work is short
Route skipping	Visits only easy or nearby shops
Invented no-order reasons	"Shop closed" at several consecutive stops
Orders without visits	Orders entered from home or a tea shop

Integrity signals to watch

No single signal proves wrongdoing. Together they form a pattern.

Location signals

• Check-in outside the shop's geofence. The phone says the salesperson was hundreds of metres away.
• Very short visits. Two minutes for a visit that normally takes ten.
• Impossible travel. Two visits at shops 15 km apart within five minutes.
• Day movement that does not match the route. For example, a long stationary period far from any outlet.

Evidence signals

• Missing photos where photos are required.
• Duplicate photos across different shops or days.
• Orders entered without a check-in, or far from the shop.

Pattern signals

• Productive calls much lower than the team average on similar routes.
• A high proportion of "closed" outcomes.
• Compliance that drops on certain weekdays, such as every Friday afternoon.
• A late day start or an early end, compared with their own 30-day pattern.

Comparing a person with their own history and with the team on similar routes is fairer than comparing everyone with a single number.

Why GPS alone can mislead

GPS accuracy varies. Dense buildings, hills and cloud cover cause drift. A phone left to warm up inside a bag may report a poor position. That is why a good set-up uses a reasonable radius, treats a single flag as a prompt for a question, and relies on patterns over weeks. Do not discipline someone because of one flag.

An ethical approach in seven steps

1. Be transparent. Tell the team what is recorded: location during working hours, photos, visit times. Put it in an employment letter or policy.
2. Track working hours only. Personal time is personal.
3. Apply the same rules to everyone, including senior staff.
4. Set fair radii and rules, and review them after the first month.
5. Look at patterns, not single events.
6. Talk first. Start with a question: "I noticed three visits shorter than a minute on Tuesday. What happened?"
7. Document the outcome. A verbal reminder, a written warning, a coaching plan. Escalate only when the pattern continues.

Confirm any disciplinary process with your lawyer or HR adviser so that it follows your contract and local labour rules.

A worked, hypothetical example

A manager notices that one officer, Hari, had these flags over two weeks: 9 visits outside the geofence, 12 visits under three minutes, and 4 missing photos, while his productive call rate is half the team average. Another officer, Gita, has 2 outside-geofence flags, both in a hilly area with a known GPS problem.

The manager speaks to Hari first: three of the outside-geofence visits were at one wholesaler whose location is saved wrongly. After correcting it, Hari's flags fall. The remaining pattern of short visits is then discussed and a plan agreed, with a two-week review. Gita's flags are marked as resolved with a note about the terrain. Nobody is humiliated and both outcomes are fair.

Reduce the temptation

• Realistic targets. Impossible numbers invite fabrication. See sales targets and commission plans.
• Sensible routes. If a route cannot be completed in a day, people will fudge it. See beat planning.
• Easy proof. One tap check-in and a photo should take seconds.
• Recognition. Publicly appreciate people with excellent compliance and results.
• Fair no-order reasons. Let people record real reasons so honesty is not penalised.

What not to do

• Do not track outside working hours.
• Do not announce a "gotcha" campaign.
• Do not rely on GPS for decisions in places with poor signal without checking.
• Do not share individual data with the whole team as a humiliation.
• Do not ignore the issue: tolerance of fake visits is unfair to the honest majority.

What the data cannot tell you

Integrity signals point to questions, not conclusions. Data cannot tell you whether a shop owner asked the salesperson to come back later, whether a landslide forced a detour, or whether the phone battery died. It cannot see that someone spent twenty minutes helping a shopkeeper rearrange a shelf, which is good work that happens to look like a long stationary period. Keep this humility in mind and ask before you decide.

Building a culture of honest reporting

The best defence against fake visits is not a tighter system, but a team that sees no need to fake. Some ideas:

• Celebrate good practice. Share examples of an officer who revived a dormant outlet by visiting regularly and listening.
• Make it safe to report problems. If a salesperson says a route is impossible or a shop's location is wrong, fix it and thank them.
• Rotate coaching visits. A manager who rides along on a route sees reality first hand and builds trust.
• Keep targets honest. If everyone must miss the target to be honest, the problem is the target.
• Be consistent. Apply the same rules to senior staff and new joiners.

What to do about repeated problems

If a pattern continues after you have talked and coached, follow your written process: a documented warning, a performance plan with measurable goals and a review date, and finally a decision on whether the person continues in the role. Keep records of each step. Check with your lawyer or HR adviser to make sure the process follows your contracts and applicable labour rules.

A short policy statement you can adapt

A clear statement helps everyone: "During working hours, the company records your location, visit times and photos taken in the app. We use this to plan routes, support you and verify work. We do not track you outside working hours. Flags are reviewed with you before any action. Staff may ask to see their own records." Adapt it with your lawyer and share it in Nepali and English before launch.

How gamitrack handles it

gamitrack records day start and end with GPS, checks each visit against the outlet's geofence, can require a photo, and flags inconsistencies such as outside geofence, short visit and no photo. Anti-evasion detectors and a daily integrity score summarise the day, and managers can compare the day with the person's own 30-day pattern and the team average. Flags can be resolved with a note, there is an alarms page, and the salesperson receives a notification so they can respond. Tracking is limited to the working day.

To see how it works on your team, start a free trial. For the full set-up, read field sales tracking in Nepal.

Key takeaways

• Look at clusters of signals and patterns, not single events.
• Be open about what is measured, and track working hours only.
• Ask before accusing; document what you agree.
• Fair targets and routes remove much of the temptation.