Most companies have some form of timekeeping, whether it be a time punching machine or an attendance tracking spreadsheet.
Regardless of the method, it is absolutely necessary to track the hours of your employees because the information is required for tax purposes, loans and even personal reasons.
Timekeeping can be done through various programs and websites that are easy to use, for both you and your employees. Pen and paper timekeeping can be risky because employees may “steal time” and record more hours for overtime than they actually work.
For most businesses, even the basics of a daily work routine may trigger important adjustments. Depending on the profession, employees always wish to benefit from flexibility. In some profession, work-from-home (or telecommuting) falls front and center, while others are required to adjust to different working environments.
Some other part of the timekeeping scope of the company is the Schedule Adjustment.
The company now uses Sprout HR and Payroll. It is a web-based attendance and payroll software. Sprout HR & Payroll offers an easier, faster, and more accurate way to manage payroll processes.
Schedule Adjustment and Official Business are somewhat similar in Sprout HR.
To differentiate the two:
Schedule Adjustment: an application for any change of shift for a day, for a couple of weeks or months, and for Rest days and Holidays even.
Official Business: filed as proof for when an employee does his/her work outside the walls of the office; serves as an employee's biometric logs.
A thorough understanding of Schedule Adjustment is necessary to all users of Sprout HR. It is most applicable to employees who are often required to change their work schedules based on the company's needs. However, bear in mind that the Schedule Adjustment filed should always be based on the employee's Schedule Type.
1. Normal Shift
For employees assigned with a normal shift, the shift start and shift end should be always based on the employee's required number of hours to work for that specific day (inclusive of break).
For instance:
Schedule Type: Normal
Work Schedule: 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM (Monday to Friday)
No. of Hours to Work Including Break Hours: 9 hours
Scenario: Employee Santos was advised to change his schedule on April 16 (Friday) for an early in-home client meeting. His supervisor advised him to come to work on or before 8:00 AM. How should this look like on the Schedule Adjustment application?
To complete his required 9 hours of work (inclusive of break), Employee Santos needs to file a Schedule Adjustment for April 16 (Friday) from 8:00 AM up until 5:00 PM.
2. Flexible Schedule per Day
For Flexi per Day employees, the difference is that the details you need to input in new shift start is the latest time you can clock in the office and new shift end refers to the earliest time you can clock out from the office. When applying for a Schedule Adjustment, make sure you indicate the employee's assigned core hours (fixed block of time which an employee is expected to be at work).
For instance:
Schedule Type: Flexible Schedule per Day
Core Hours: 7:30 PM - 11:30 PM (Monday to Friday)
No. of Hours to Work Including Break Hours: 9 hours
Scenario: Employee Lim has to adjust his schedule on April 19 (Monday) to cover for his sick co-worker. His supervisor told him that he needs to come in on or before 5 PM to finish his co-worker's remaining tasks. How should his Schedule Adjustment application look like?
In order for his logs to be properly read by the system, Employee Lim needs to file a Schedule Adjustment for April 19 (Monday) from 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM. This means that for Monday, 5:00 PM will be the latest time he can clock, while 9:00 PM is the earliest time he can clock out from the office.
3. Flexible Schedule per Week
Similar to the Schedule Adjustment filing for Flexi per Day employees. The employee's adjusted core hours should be indicated on the Schedule Application. Please take note that there are no late minutes for Flexi per Week employees and undertime only reflects at the end of the week (specifically on a Saturday).
For instance:
Schedule Type: Flexible Schedule per week
Core Hours: 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM (Monday to Friday)
No. of Hours to Work Including Break Hours (for the whole week): 45 hours
Scenario: Company A has a 5 hour pre-shift and post-shift threshold. On April 16 (Friday), Employee Reyes clocked in at exactly 8:00 PM and clock out at 1:30 AM the next day (April 17, Saturday). She worked for 5 hour and 30 minutes that day (inclusive of break). Employee Reyes noticed that she has no logs on her Attendance Report, even though she clearly remembers clocking in and out of the office. To fix this, what should her Schedule Adjustment look like?
In order for his logs (8:00 PM - 1:30 AM) to be properly recognized by the system, her adjusted schedule should be changed from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM - 12:00 AM.
4. Exempted
Employees with an exempted shift-type are not required to log-in nor log-out at work at a specific time of day. This is often applicable to CEOs, Founders, and Presidents of a company. It is important to take note that their schedule discrepancies do not appear on the Resolution Center. Hence, these employees automatically have perfect attendance.
Note: Late and undertime minutes are documented, but not deducted.
Employees with this schedule type rarely file for a Schedule Adjustment, since schedule discrepancies do not affect their payroll in any way.
