Overview of Shift Rules and Schedules

Shift Rules and Schedules are powerful features that can limit late arrivals, unauthorized working times, and overtime accumulation. Using the Shift Rules feature, management can apply rules to employee start times, stop times, and lunches and then assign these shift rules to individuals using the Schedules features. Shifts can also be applied to a whole group of users using Display Groups.

Note: Shift and schedule settings are not available in the Virtual TimeClock Basic Edition.

Creating a Shift
You can create an unlimited number of shifts to meet your business needs. For example, you might have a regular 8AM to 5PM shift for employees Monday through Friday, but need a different shift for employees who are on-call or work weekends. You can customize the start and end times of shifts as well as the shift rules that apply when users clock in or out. Learn more about creating a shift >

Configure Unique Shift Rules
For each unique shift, rules can be assigned to control time clock use. For example, users can be restricted from clocking in too early/late for a shift or taking a short lunch. There are many ways to utilize the shift rules depending on what how you want to use them. First, learn about clocking in rules, then learn about lunch shift rules and finally learn about clocking out rules.

Assign Shifts to Users and Groups of Workers
Shifts can be assigned to users individually or to groups of users. Assigning shifts to individual users is done through the scheduling feature or to groups using the Display Groups feature. Up to three shifts can be assigned to an entire group of users. Virtual TimeClock will automatically apply the appropriate shift rules based on the time of day a user begins work. Learn more about assigning shifts to users >

Note: Virtual TimeClock is not a scheduling software used to calendar employee's hours. The Scheduling feature is used to assign shifts with unique shift rules to users.

Report Shift Information
Reports can be customized to display key shift information for easy viewing and reporting. For example, the Shift Detail and Shift Summary reports are built in reports that display shift timecard data in summary or detail form. Another valuable report is the Late Arrival Report which is a simple way to monitor, manage, and limit habitual employee tardiness. Learn more about using shifts in reports > 

Split Shifts with Virtual TimeClock
If your employees work more than one shift in a day, review our Knowledge Base article about how to create and assign split shifts to users. Understanding how to assign shifts to split shift users in Virtual TimeClock is important, so that shift rules apply and overtime settings apply correctly. Learn more about assigning shifts to split shift workers >