🎯 For Admins and Schedule Managers.
Before configuring rounding rules for Punch Clock, you must set up Punch Clock via app or web.
What are Punch Clock rounding rules?
What are Punch Clock rounding rules?
Punch Clock rounding rules let you adjust punch times to the nearest 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes or match the scheduled time when employees punch in outside their scheduled hours.
For example, if an employee is scheduled to start work at 9:00 but clocks in at 8:50, you can set up rounding rules so that the approved time in the Punch Clock is either 8:55 (rounding up to the nearest 5 minutes) or 9:00 (no rounding, sticking to the scheduled time).
Before you approve shifts, you can always change the Punch Clock times if needed.
Punch Clock rounding rules are handy if you want to:
Always show the scheduled time when an employee clocks in early.
Always show the scheduled shift time instead of the exact clocked time when employees clock in or out within 5 minutes of their scheduled time.
Always show the exact clocked time if employees clock in or out more than 5 minutes before or after their scheduled shift.
The basics of rounding rules
You can access rounding settings by going to Settings > Punch Clock > Advanced > Rounding settings.
There are two different rounding rules that you can set:
Common rules - Common rounding rules define how punch times are rounded if employees punch in or out earlier or later than their scheduled time.
Custom rules - Custom rules override your common rules. You can create specific Custom rules for specific Departments, Employee groups and Employee types. Your employees will have to meet all three criteria for the rule to apply.
How to set up common rounding rules
For both the Start and End times, you can choose from the following rounding methods.
No rounding, show punch time - By default, Planday will show the employees' punched times both for the start and end time and pay them by the minute.
No rounding, show shift time - If your employees usually get paid based on their scheduled hours, you can change the settings to No rounding, show shift time.
Round down - This option would round down to the nearest 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes of the punch time. This option is useful if you always trim down the punch time to the nearest round value.
Round up - This option would round up to the nearest 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes of the punch time. This option is useful if you are always trimming up the punch time to the nearest round value.
The basic settings are for Start and End times, but to build a more robust set of rules, you can create Custom rules giving you more control over the rounding behaviour and limiting the application to specific employees.
How to set up custom rounding rules
Note: If you have set Custom rounding rules, they will take priority over the Common rules. See in the example below how this works.
The Custom rules can be combined with filtering on other variables, such as Departments and Employee groups, as well as being set to apply for a set number of minutes starting from scheduled times.
Press Create and give the rule a name.
Type - You can then choose between the following rule types:
Punched in: Clock-ins, with no regard to scheduled times
Punched out: Clock-outs, with no regard to scheduled times
Punched in early: Clock-ins, registered before the scheduled start time
Punched in late: Clock-ins, registered after the scheduled start time
Punched out early: Clock-outs, registered before the scheduled end time
Punched out late: Clock-outs, registered after the scheduled end time
Note: If you choose the types “punched in early” or “punched in late” or “punched out early” or “punched out late” you'll get an additional parameter of configuration: the maximum deviation duration in the rounding method. This parameter specifies the maximum duration of deviation within which this rule can be applied.
Rounding method - Choose what you want to happen to the times affected by the rule.
No rounding: This shows the time the employee clocked in or out
Round down: Rounds down to the nearest 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes
Round up: Rounds up to the nearest 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes
Round to nearest: Rounds up or down to the nearest 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes
No rounding, show shift time: Shows the originally scheduled time
No rounding, show punch time: Shows the actual time the employee clocked out
If you have chosen one of the options such as rounding up, down, or to the nearest, you can set the number of minutes the punch time should be rounded to.
Targets and types - Depending on the setup of your Planday account, you can choose between the following to limit the application of the custom rounding rule:
Departments - Apply the rule to specific Departments only.
Employee groups - Apply the rule only to specific Employee groups
Employee types - Apply the rule only to specific Employee types
Note: Your employees will have to meet all three criteria for the rule to apply. For example, if you have an employee who is part of the department and the employee group but is not part of the employee type chosen in the filters, then the rule won't apply to them.
Press Save when done.
How does Punch Clock approval work with rounding rules
After adding some rounding rules, when you go to approve the clocked-in hours under Schedule > Punch Clock you can see two different flags:
🟨 A yellow flag indicates that there is a difference between the time of the scheduled shift and the punch time.
🟥 A red flag indicates that the employee has not punched out.
In the screenshot above, there are four Punch Clock entries:
Planday User One: The start time is affected by a general rounding rule, which states that when an employee punches in before the start of the shift, the shift's scheduled time must be used. Thus no flag. They punch out later than the scheduled time hence a yellow flag on the End time.
Planday User Two: Punches in before the time of the shift schedule and here the same rule applies as for User One, and therefore there is no flag. At the End time, there is a red flag indicating that a punch out is missing.
Planday User Three: Punched in and out too late, and as no rounding rules apply here, the punch times are suggested as the Start and End times. Both the start and end times are marked with a yellow flag as the times differ from the scheduled hours in the shift.
Planday User Four: The employee's scheduled time and punch time are identical, so here there are no flags for either start or end time.
The times in the Start and End fields can be edited here before approving hours for payroll.
See an example of a common rounding setup
See an example of a common rounding setup
Here, we'll show you an example of a setup that is popular with many Planday customers. The basic idea is that when employees clock in or out within a few minutes of their scheduled time, Planday will suggest the scheduled shift time for approval. When the difference between the scheduled time and clocked time exceeds a set number of minutes, Planday will suggest the punched-in time for approval instead. The manager can always edit what times to include for payroll depending on comments or company policy.
Scenario
When employees clock in or out within 5 minutes before or after the scheduled time, Planday will suggest the scheduled shift’s time instead of their clocked time.
When employees clock in or out outside of 5 minutes before or after their scheduled shift, Planday will suggest the clocked time instead. Start and End times will be flagged for review.
Setup
Go to Settings > Punch Clock > Advanced. Check that the dropdowns for Start and End are set to No rounding, show punch time under Common rules.
⬆️ These are the fallback settings for cases outside the rules you are going to set up under Custom rules.
Next, press the Create button under Custom rules.
⬆️ The first rule is for when the employees clock in before their shift starts:
Give the rule a name
Select Punched in early
Set the Rounding method to No rounding, show shift time
Max deviation duration decides for how many minutes before a shift’s start time the rule will apply. In this case, 5 minutes. After that time, the common rule no rounding, show punch time will apply.
Scroll down to make changes to Targets and types if needed.
Press Save
Then, create a second rule for when the employees clock in late after their shift starts:
Select Punched in late
Set the Rounding method to No rounding, show shift time
Max deviation duration decides for how many minutes after a shift's start time the rule will apply. In this case, 5 minutes. After that time, the common rule no rounding, show punch time will apply.
Scroll down to make changes to Targets and types if needed
Click Save
The third rule is for when employees clock out early before their shift ends:
Select Punched out early
Set the Rounding method to No rounding, show shift time
Max deviation duration decides for how many minutes before a shift ends the rule will apply. In this case, 5 minutes. After that time, the common rule no rounding, show punch time will apply.
Scroll down to make changes to Targets and types if needed
Click Save
Lastly, a rule for when employees clock out after their shift ends:
Select Punched out late
Set the Rounding method to No rounding, show shift time
Max deviation duration decides for how many minutes after a shift ends the rule will apply. In this case, 5 minutes. After that time, the common rule no rounding, show punch time will apply.
Scroll down to make changes to Targets and types if needed
Click Save
Note: Changing the number of minutes a rule is applied is an effective way to make further adjustments. If employees are usually paid from the start time of their shift, then it makes sense to increase the number of minutes under Max deviation duration for when employees clock in early.
See related articles:
ℹ️ Need more help?
🔍 Search the Help Center | See videos at Tutorials.Planday.com | Watch a webinar
💬 For personalised support
Login and contact our support team via the blue icon at the bottom if you have more questions or book a one-to-one professional training session with an expert.