How to Write a Photo Attendance Policy Staff Accept

A good photo attendance policy answers the questions staff will ask before they ask them: what is collected, when, who sees it, how long it is kept and how mistakes get fixed. When those answers are clear and shared in advance, most resistance fades. This article walks through a policy section by section, with notes on Vietnam’s personal data protection framework.

Note: This article is general information, not legal advice. Data protection and labour rules change; check the official texts and consult a lawyer for your specific situation.

The legal backdrop (high level)

Decree 13/2023/NĐ-CP on personal data protection, in force from 1 July 2023, was Vietnam’s first comprehensive set of rules: process data for a stated purpose, inform the data subject, make consent clear and voluntary (silence does not count), and respect individuals’ rights over their data.

From 1 January 2026, the Law on Personal Data Protection (Law No. 91/2025/QH15) took effect, and Decree 356/2025/NĐ-CP, which guides it, replaced Decree 13/2023. The core principles carry over in more detail. If you are drafting a policy today, check it against the new law and decree, not just Decree 13.

Attendance rules are also typically part of a company’s internal labour regulations under the 2019 Labour Code, which brings its own adoption and notification steps.

Practical takeaways for photo attendance:

Clear purpose: data is used only to confirm presence, calculate working time and resolve disputes about it.
Notice before collection: staff know what data, why, who processes it and for how long.
Legal basis: this may be consent or a case where the law allows processing without consent (such as performing a contract). Which basis fits is a question for legal counsel.
Minimisation: collect no more than you need.

Section 1: Scope and purpose

Keep it short and concrete:

Who it covers: staff working at registered sites and mobile teams.
Purpose: record clock-in, clock-out and work location; calculate hours; provide evidence in disputes.
Not used for: tracking location outside working hours, judging private life, sharing with unrelated third parties.

Section 2: What is collected, and when

This section builds the most trust. Be precise:

Data	When collected	Purpose
Clock-in photo	Only when the employee takes it	Confirm presence and context
Capture time (trusted time)	At capture	Hours, on time or late
GPS coordinates and accuracy	At capture	Compare with the work site
Address and site name	At capture	Show on the timesheet
Integrity signals (mock location, rooted device, clock drift)	At capture and upload	Spot anomalies

State plainly: no continuous location tracking, no access to contacts, messages or other photos on the phone. If you do not use face recognition, say so, because biometric data is generally treated as sensitive with stricter requirements.

Section 3: Who can see it and how long it is kept

Access: designated company administrators and HR or payroll. Coworkers do not see each other’s clock-in photos.
Retention: set a specific period tied to payroll, reconciliation and dispute handling. For example, keep records during employment and for a reasonable period after someone leaves, then delete. Have the exact figure confirmed by your legal adviser.
Leavers: say how long attendance data is kept after departure and why.

Section 4: Attendance rules

Shift start and grace period (for example, an 08:00 shift with lateness counted after 08:15).
Valid sites and what happens outside them (blocked or flagged).
Photo content: the employee or identifying context must be visible.
Forgotten clock-out: tell an administrator by the next working day.
Prohibited behaviour: location spoofers, buddy punching, editing photos. See how to stop attendance fraud for what each flag means.

Section 5: Corrections and appeals

Staff accept a system far more readily when they know mistakes can be fixed:

Manual corrections: only administrators can make them, a reason is mandatory, and every change is logged (who, when, what).
Appeals: submitted within a set window (for example, five working days after the timesheet is published) through a named channel.
Response time: managers reply within a committed period.
Flags are not verdicts: a flagged photo is reviewed and the employee is asked before any action.

Section 6: Employees’ rights over their data

Explain how staff can view their own attendance data, request corrections, ask questions about processing, and whom to contact. Data protection law grants data subjects a range of rights; list them based on the text currently in force.

Rolling it out so people accept it

Share the policy before it applies, with a one-page plain-language summary.
Hold a short briefing with concrete examples: “When you take a clock-in photo, this is what gets recorded.”
Collect acknowledgement (or consent, if that is your chosen basis) in a form you can store and verify.
Run a one- to two-week pilot before using the data for payroll. See our photo clock-in rollout guide.

How SnapID Mark fits the policy

Location is recorded only when a photo is taken; the app does not track location in the background.
Staff view their own records in My attendance, including manual entries (labelled, with the reason).
Admins make manual corrections with a change log; the dashboard keeps an audit log.
The public verification page shows only a rounded area, not exact coordinates.
There is no face recognition. Users can delete their account in the app or on the web.

See the security and FAQ sections on the home page.

FAQ

Does Decree 13/2023 still apply?

According to published sources, from 1 January 2026 the Law on Personal Data Protection and Decree 356/2025/NĐ-CP took effect, replacing Decree 13/2023. Check the official texts and ask a lawyer.

It depends on the legal basis you rely on. Whatever the basis, clear notice before collection is good practice.

How long should clock-in photos be kept?

There is no single number for every business. Tie it to payroll, reconciliation and dispute needs, write it into the policy and get legal input.

What if an employee refuses photo attendance?

Listen to the reason, explain exactly what is collected, and consider a reasonable alternative. Forcing it without explanation usually backfires.

Once your policy is ready, download SnapID Mark and pilot it with a small team.