Understanding Time Tracking and Payments in goLance
Navigating time zones can be tricky when working globally, but goLance simplifies this by using a single universal standard for all financial transactions while offering flexible viewing options for your convenience.
The Gold Standard: UTC for Payments
To ensure every freelancer is paid accurately and on time, goLance performs all financial calculations using UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).
The Payment Week: The system follows a strict weekly window starting Monday at 00:00 UTC and ending Sunday at 24:00 UTC.
Automatic Inclusion: Any hours tracked and approved within this UTC window are automatically bundled into that specific payment week.
Consistency: Because payments are tied to UTC, changing your display settings will never change your actual earnings or lose you hours—it only changes how you see them.
How Time Appears in Your Work Diary
While the "source of truth" is always UTC, your Work Diary, Calendar, and Reports adapt to the time zone you choose in your settings.
The "Midnight Shift": If you work late at night in your local time zone, those hours might cross over into a different calendar day in UTC or your client's time zone.
Client vs. Freelancer View: If you are in New York (UTC-5) and your client is in London (UTC+0), a session you log on Wednesday evening might show up as Thursday morning for your client.
Regional Start Dates: Depending on your offset from UTC, your work week might visually appear to start on Sunday evening (common in South America) or Monday morning (common in the Philippines).
The goMeter and the Interface
You may occasionally notice a slight difference between the time shown on your desktop goMeter and the goLance web interface.
Sync Intervals: The goMeter syncs with the platform approximately every 10 minutes. If you just finished a session, it may take one sync cycle for the web interface to reflect the latest total.
Precision Viewing: To see your web interface match the goMeter exactly, switch your platform time zone setting to UTC.
Pro Tips for Clarity
Align with Clients: If you need to discuss specific daily totals with your client, temporarily switch your view to their time zone to ensure you are both looking at the same calendar day.
Check Your Settings: Always verify which time zone is active before reviewing your daily statistics to avoid confusion over "missing" or "shifted" hours.
Trust the Weekly Total: Even if daily hours seem to move between days due to time zone offsets, your total weekly time remains 100% accurate.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. If I see 7:09 tracked today in goMeter, should I see exactly 7:09 in the interface?
Not always. It depends on the selected time zone in the platform. If you select UTC, the numbers should match goMeter. If another time zone is selected, some hours may move to the previous or next day.
2. Why do I sometimes see 10 minutes more in goMeter?
goMeter syncs approximately every 10 minutes. Because of this synchronization interval, you may temporarily see up to a 10-minute difference. After the next sync, the totals will align.
3. Why does one day show fewer hours than expected? This usually happens because hours logged near midnight shift to another calendar day when viewed in a different time zone. The total weekly time remains correct.
4. Why does my client see my hours on a different day?
You and your client may be using different time zones. The same work session can appear on different calendar days depending on the selected time zone.
5. Can changing my time zone affect my payment?
No. Payments are always calculated based on UTC. Changing the time zone only changes how time is displayed, not how it is calculated.