This article provides a summary of the different time tracking settings available for work schedules, and how they interact with other aspects of time management.
With these options, you can limit how long your employees work and fine-tune how they track their work and break times.
Note:
We're transitioning to our new attendance policies system. Some steps, navigation paths, or settings may not match what you see in your account. For more information on the new Attendance policies, read this article.
Time off entitlement proration based on working days
For time off policies set to prorate entitlements according to weekly working days, Personio compares the working schedule's days with the reference value you set here. This applies to both fixed and flexible schedules.
For example, if the schedule has 4 working days and the reference is 5, employees on that schedule get 4/5 of the regular entitlement.
For a multi-week working schedule, the system compares its average working days against the reference value.
Limit maximum hours worked per day
Set up a limit for the number of work hours that employees can track per day. After you set the limit, choose one of the following options:
| Setting | Description and notes |
| Alert people when tracking more than the limit |
Employees:
Attendance approvers see these requests as non-compliant through the Time Tracking Approvals. |
| Restrict people from adding work hours after reaching the limit |
Employees:
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Apply time tracking restrictions to past or future calendar days
You can restrict your employees from adding or editing time entries for days in the past or future. These rules impact if and how employees can track time in bulk. For example, if you disable adding new time entries to future days, employees can only track time in bulk for past days.
Employees with Attendance data edit rights can bypass these restrictions.
| Setting | Description and notes |
| Restrict adding new time entries to the past |
The employee can only add time entries to a limited number of past days. If you set this to zero, the employee:
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| Disable editing of existing time entries after they are approved |
The employee cannot modify a time entry after it’s been approved. With no approval workflow in place, time entries are automatically approved as soon as submitted. In this case, the employee can only edit an auto-approved time entry on the same day they enter it. |
| Lock previous month's attendance on a set day of the month | The employee can only add time entries for the previous month until a specific day of the next month. If you choose this option, you can’t choose either of the first two. |
| Disable adding new time entries to future calendar days | The employee can’t add time entries for days in the future. |
Configure breaks
Set minimum break duration
Employees see a warning when tracking a break shorter than the minimum, and can’t save the time entry.
Break rules
Add up to two break rules to define the minimum required break length for every set amount of work. You can't save a work schedule you're working on if:
- The required break length is shorter than the minimum break duration set above.
- The second break rule contradicts the first one. In other words, the second break rule can't establish a shorter break for a longer amount of work, or a longer break for a shorter amount of work.
After you define break rules, select one of the three actions described in the table. These actions trigger exactly as specified by the break rules and do not retroactively apply to already existing time entries.
| Setting | Description and notes |
| Alert people when breaks are missing or don't comply with the break rules |
Employees:
Attendance approvers see these requests as non-compliant through the Time Tracking Approvals. |
| Restrict people from saving time entries if breaks are missing or don't comply with the break rules |
Employees:
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| Automatically add breaks if they are missing or don't comply with the break rules |
When employees don't track enough break times, the system deducts the required break from their working time to comply with both break rules. If there isn’t enough working time to deduct the break, the system reduces the working time to avoid break rule violations. This applies to time entries tracked via Attendance tab, time clock, mobile app, and API (PAPI). Automatic breaks don't apply to time entries submitted via import. Employees:
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Break rules example
You set up the two break rules below, and choose the option to add breaks automatically.
- After 6 hours of work, employees must track a 30-minute break.
- After 9 hours of work, employees must track a 45-minute break.
Employee A tracks 8 hours of work, without any break. To comply with the first rule, the system automatically deducts 30 minutes of working time and adds the break after 6 hours of working time.
Employee B tracks 7 hours of work, 45 minutes of break, and 3 additional hours of work. The break added manually complies with the second rule, so the system doesn't change it. However, to make the time entry comply with the first rule, the system adds a 30-minute break to the first work period.
Employee C tracks 6 hours and 15 minutes of work. According to the first rule, the system should add a 30-minute break, but there’s not enough working time to do so. So, the system reduces the working time to 6 hours instead.
Understand the workday split threshold
This setting in work schedules defines how long a break can be during a night shift before the system treats it as the start of a new workday. The default setting is four hours, but the accepted range is between two and fourteen hours.
Here’s how it impacts time tracking:
- If a break is shorter than the set threshold (for example, four hours), Personio counts it as the same workday.
- If a break is longer than the set threshold (for example, four hours), Personio counts it as a new workday.
You can learn more about overnight time tracking in our dedicated article.
Examples:
| Workday split threshold | Time tracked | What Personio saves |
| Four hours |
Monday: Work: 22:00–03:00 (+1) (The employee tracks a break from 6:00–12:00 that is six hours long.) |
Monday: Work: 22:00–03:00 (+1) Tuesday: Work 12:00–16:00 |
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Monday: Work: 22:00–03:00 (+1) |
Monday: Work: 22:00–03:00 (+1) |
For daytime work, the same threshold applies. However, breaks longer than four hours don’t appear on the Attendance page, and they don’t start a new workday.
| Workday split threshold | Time tracked | What Personio saves |
| Four hours |
Monday: Work: 08:00–12:00 |
Monday: Work: 08:00–12:00 |
Track overtime and deficit hours
Overtime includes any time tracked beyond the hours set in an employee’s working schedule.
| Setting | Description and notes |
| Calculate overtime | Choose how often to settle overtime hours: daily or weekly. |
| Add monthly overtime cliff |
Define the number of overtime hours already covered by the monthly salary. They won't count towards the overtime balance. If an employee begins the month with a negative overtime balance, the cliff applies before their balance returns to zero. In other words, overtime hours offset against the cliff first. If you want the system to offset the negative first instead, Account Owners can contact Support. |
| Overtime limits | |
| Add a limit to people's total overtime balance |
Define an overtime limit for your employees. When this option is enabled, you can quickly see which employees are nearing or surpassing their overtime limit. To do so, go to People list and add the Overtime balance column. |
| Track deficit hours |
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| Deduct hours daily if no time is tracked |
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