Rounding, breaks and unpaid time in time software

Two settings change the hours your software counts: rounding and breaks. Both can move a total by minutes a day, and minutes add up over a pay period.

Rounding

Rounding means moving a recorded time to a set interval. Simple, but the details trip people up.

• The interval. Common choices are five minutes, a tenth of an hour or a quarter of an hour.¹
• The direction. Up, down or to the nearest interval.
• Where it applies. To each entry, or to the total.

Clockify's help gives an example. With a 30-minute interval and rounding to nearest, a one to 14 minute entry shows as zero minutes.²

Order matters

In Clockify, each entry is rounded first and the rounded values are then added up.² That's different from adding the exact times and then rounding the total, and with a day full of short entries the two methods can land on quite different totals. Ask which one your software uses. It matters.

Rounding is a setting you can check

• Plan. Clockify says time rounding is a paid feature.²
• Reports. In Clockify it's applied in reports and exports. Other products may apply it as time is recorded instead.
• Stored times. Check whether exact times are kept as well as rounded ones.

What the rules say

Rounding rules are law, not software. This is general information for the US federal rules only.

• Practice. The Department of Labor's text says some industries have recorded start and stop times to the nearest 5 minutes, or to the nearest one-tenth or quarter of an hour.¹
• Condition. That text accepts the practice only if it won't result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate employees properly for all the time they've actually worked.¹

Other countries and US states have their own rules. Some limit or ban rounding. Ask your local labor agency or an employment lawyer. Don't assume a software setting is allowed just because it exists.

Breaks

Software usually treats breaks in one of three ways.

• Tracked. Staff press a break button. Clockify's kiosk has a setting to let users track break hours.³
• Deducted automatically. A fixed block comes off long shifts.
• Left to the worker. Staff stop and restart the clock themselves.

Each has a weak spot. Staff can forget a button. An automatic deduction takes time off even if the person worked through the break.

Paid or unpaid?

Whether a break is paid depends on its length and your local rules, not on the software. Don't let a default setting decide it for you.

• Short rests. Under the US federal text, rest periods of short duration, running from 5 minutes to about 20 minutes, are common in industry, and they must be counted as hours worked.⁴
• Longer meal breaks. The rules differ by place. Check with your labor agency.
• Awards and agreements. In Australia, an award or agreement may set break rules. The Fair Work Ombudsman is the place to ask.

A short checklist before switching settings on

• What interval and direction does the software use?
• Is rounding applied per entry or to the total?
• Can you still see the exact times?
• Are breaks tracked, deducted automatically or left to staff?
• Does your local rule allow what you've set?
• Have staff been told, in plain words?

Once the counted hours look right, they can pass on to payroll. If an entry was wrong in the first place, see corrections.