Handling short logged time entries, such as those lasting only a few seconds or minutes, can be challenging when finalising weekly or monthly payrolls. To simplify this process and ensure consistency, you can configure time rounding options to automatically adjust these micro time segments to more manageable intervals.

Note: Round-off-punch in and Round-off punch out, rules can be applied independently. 
You can choose to enable rounding for punch-in, punch-out, or both based on your 
organizational requirements.

Configurable Time Intervals for Rounding Rules

When setting up rounding rules for attendance, you can define the specific time interval to which punch times will be adjusted. The system provides a standardised set of duration options to ensure consistency.

The following time slots are available for configuration for each rule.

View Actual Punch-In or Out Times

You can view the actual punch-in and punch-out times in the attendance records. To enable this, simply check the boxes labelled "View Actual Punch In Time" and "View Actual Punch Out Time". Once enabled, both the actual and rounded times will be displayed for greater accuracy and transparency.

Rounding Off to Nearest 

The "Round Off to Nearest" option is used to adjust employee punch times to the closest specified time interval. This simplifies timekeeping by grouping punch times into standardized blocks. This rule creates uniform timesheet data, making it easier to calculate total hours worked for payroll by eliminating small, irregular time fragments.

• Round Off Punch In to Nearest: When configured, this setting will adjust employee clock-in times to the nearest specified interval (e.g., 5 minutes).

• Round Off Punch Out to Nearest: When configured, this setting will adjust employee clock-out times to the nearest specified interval (e.g., 10 minutes).

Rounding Off to Shift Start and End

The "Round Off to Shift Start" and "Round Off to Shift End" options are used to automatically adjust employee punch times to match their scheduled shift times, ensuring consistency and simplifying payroll calculation. These rules help create clean, standardized timesheets by aligning early or late punches with the scheduled work period, which is especially useful for calculating paid hours based on scheduled shifts rather than exact punch times. 

Round Off to Shift Start

This setting automatically adjusts an employee's punch-in time to their official shift start time.

• How it works: If an employee punches in within a configured grace period before their shift starts, the system will record their start time as the exact scheduled shift start time.
• Example:
  • Scheduled Shift Start: 9:00 AM
  • Employee's Actual Punch: 8:52 AM
  • Result with Rule Enabled: The system records the punch as 9:00 AM.

Round Off to Shift End

These rules help create clean, standardized timesheets by aligning early or late punches with the scheduled work period, which is especially useful for calculating paid hours based on scheduled shifts rather than exact punch times. This setting automatically adjusts an employee's punch-out time to their official shift end time.

• How it works: If an employee punches out within a configured grace period after their shift ends, the system will record their end time as the exact scheduled shift end time.
• Example:
  • Scheduled Shift End: 5:00 PM
  • Employee's Actual Punch: 5:07 PM
  • Result with Rule Enabled: The system records the punch as 5:00 PM.

Rounding Down to Shift Start and End

The "Round Down to Shift Start" and "Round Down to Shift End" options provide a specific method for aligning employee punch times with their scheduled shifts. This rule ensures that recorded times never exceed the scheduled shift boundaries when rounding is applied.

Round Down to Shift Start

This rule adjusts an employee's punch-in time to the scheduled start time, but only if they punch in before their shift. This can be used for particularly useful for controlling labor costs and ensuring consistency by preventing early clock-ins or late clock-outs from increasing the recorded paid hours beyond the scheduled shift period.

• How it works: If an employee clocks in earlier than their scheduled start time, the system will "round down" their punch time to the exact scheduled start time. Punches after the shift start are typically recorded as-is.
• Example:
  • Scheduled Shift Start: 9:00 AM
  • Actual Punch Time: 8:45 AM
  • System-Recorded Time (with rule active): 9:00 AM

Round Down to Shift End

This rule adjusts an employee's punch-out time to the scheduled end time, but only if they punch out after their shift.

• How it works: If an employee clocks out later than their scheduled end time, the system will "round down" their punch time to the exact scheduled end time. Punches before the shift end are typically recorded as-is.
• Example:
  • Scheduled Shift End: 5:00 PM
  • Actual Punch Time: 5:20 PM
  • System-Recorded Time (with rule active): 5:00 PM

Once you have completed the configuration of all rounding rules to your requirements, complete the process by clicking the "Save" button.

This action will store all settings within the selected Pay Policy, and the new rules will take effect for the relevant employees according to the policy's assignment.