EMPLOYEE BREAK TRACKING

Make room for a break.
Keep the hours clear.

A workday includes more than work. Record paid and unpaid breaks, give managers a clear review process and keep the right hours in the calculation.

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FOLLOW THE HOURS

One day. Three useful totals.

Illustrative example
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

9:00Work

11:00Paid rest15 minutes

11:15Work

1:00Unpaid meal30 minutes

1:30 – 5:00Work

Sequence shown for clarity; widths are not proportional to duration. In this example, neither break counts as work.

ELAPSED TIME

8 hoursThe full clock-in to clock-out span.

WORKING TIME

7.25 hours8 hours minus both recorded breaks.

PAYABLE TIME

7.5 hours8 hours minus the unpaid meal only.

What if the paid rest counts as work?

Working time becomes 7.5 hours. Payable time stays 7.5 hours, and elapsed time stays 8 hours. Authorized managers configure whether a paid break type counts as work. Recorded rules determine the totals.

YOUR POLICY, MADE PRACTICAL

Management sets the rules.
Employees follow the routine.

Break tracking is optional. Authorized managers enable or disable it in Company settings and configure the types and recording process their team uses.

Define the break types: Name the breaks your team uses, mark them paid or unpaid, and decide which paid types count as work. Choose which breaks qualify toward your configured break requirements.
Choose how to record them: Use live start/end tracking during a shift, or request-only recording after the shift. Live tracking can also allow requests to correct missed or mistaken breaks.
Decide what needs attention: Configure review for long breaks, interrupted or automatically ended breaks, and insufficient qualifying break time. Enable reminders separately when useful.

TWO WAYS TO RECORD

Fit break tracking
into the workday.

LIVE RECORDING

Start. Pause. Return.

During an active shift, employees select an available break type, start the break and end it when they return. Only one break can be active at a time.

At clock-out, company policy either requires the active break to end first or ends it automatically and marks it interrupted. Review of that flag is configurable.

REQUEST-ONLY RECORDING

Record it after the shift.

Employees request the breaks that took place on a completed shift. Managers compare the proposed details with the record before applying them.

Requests can also address missing breaks, incorrect times or a break recorded by mistake. Returned requests can be revised; declined or returned requests include an explanation.

A FEW DETAILS WORTH KNOWING

Keep the record
ready for review.

Breaks stay connected to their shifts. Corrections and review decisions retain their history, so a later reviewer has context.

See the full time-tracking workflow →

Does reviewing a break approve the time entry?

No. Completing a required break review acknowledges the issue; entry approval is a separate action. Required reviews and active requests must be resolved before entry approval. Another manager must complete a required review or decide a request concerning their own time.

What happens after a break correction?

Applying a break correction returns the entry to pending approval. It can also mark a submitted timesheet as changed and flag affected tracked exports for review. Managers should check the updated hours before continuing.

Can a break be changed in a locked period?

A request can be made for a locked completed shift, but applying the change requires authorized reopening of the affected locks. Break corrections follow the same date-cutoff and saved-period protections as other time changes.

What happens if we turn break tracking off?

New employee recording and requests stop. Existing active breaks can still end; recorded breaks still affect calculations. Managers can resolve existing records and requests, and lock protections remain.

Do policy changes rewrite old breaks?

Renaming or retiring a type does not rewrite recorded history. Existing recorded breaks retain their calculation rules. Correcting a break to a different type uses that type's current rules.

Does this automatically enforce local break laws?

The settings support your company's operational policies. They are not an automatic jurisdiction-specific compliance engine. Configure the rules appropriate to your team and review exceptions as part of your process.