Workforce Management and Employee Engagement Strategy Tips

Pokémon Go Was Fun, but it Exposed a Major WFM Flaw

Written by Mat Diab | Oct 27, 2025 at 1:45 PM

When Pokémon Go exploded in popularity, it didn’t just spark a wave of nostalgic outdoor adventures, but also inadvertently highlighted a serious vulnerability in geolocation-based systems. In this episode, Mat Diab explains how location spoofing in mobile games mirrors a major flaw in traditional workforce management, which is the ease of cheating time tracking systems that rely on GPS or geofencing.

Mat walks us through how WorkAxle tackled this issue head-on nearly seven years ago by introducing beacon-based time tracking. This tool leverages Bluetooth signals instead of spoofable location data, representing a cheaper, more reliable, and far more secure alternative to biometric devices or swipe cards.

We're the first one to do this almost seven years ago now.

This conversation covers:

  • Why GPS and geofencing aren’t enough to prevent time theft
  • How spoofing apps can trick legacy WFM systems
  • What beacon-based time tracking is and how it works
  • The cost benefits, battery lifespan, and real-world precision of beacon technology