Managing Clock Settings

⚡ What Are Clock Settings?

Clock Settings are part of the Time Tracking feature; whenever an employee clocks in and out, their worked hours are recorded as a clock entry. Clock Settings control how clock entries are compared to an employee's schedule and what happens when they don't align perfectly with a shift.

Instead of requiring manual review for every clock entry, Clock Settings lets you define what counts as On Time, Early, or Late, and decide whether those entries should be auto-approved or flagged for an administrator to review and adjust manually. Additional controls are available to further customize how your employees' hours are recorded, based on your business needs.

💡 | Tip: If you're not sure how strict or flexible your Clock Settings should be, start with the default behaviour and adjust from there once you see how clock entries come in.

🔎 Why Use Clock Settings?

Here are some common scenarios where Clock Settings can help streamline clock approvals and keep payroll accurate:

• Less manual review: Auto-approve clock entries that fall within your defined On Time window, so managers only need to review true exceptions. 
• Faster payroll processing: Once a clock entry is approved, it flows straight into payroll with the right hours already calculated — no manually adjusting or double-checking time before you run pay. 
• Built-in compliance checks: Automatically flag clock entries that need a closer look — long shifts, added comments, position mismatches, or forgotten clock outs — so nothing slips through before payroll runs. 
• Consistent break handling: Choose how break time is captured, from automatic deductions to employees breaking in and out themselves. 

• Built to fit your business: Every rule in Clock Settings can be tailored, so your setup reflects how your business actually operates rather than a one-size-fits-all default.

   

🔐 Access required

Clock Settings is part of the Time Tracking feature and is available on both the Signature and Supreme plans. 

Advanced tools such as Advanced Breaks, Break Compliance, and more are available exclusively on the Supreme plan.

Who can manage Clock Settings?

• Super Administrators: Full access to view and update all toggles under Clock Settings.
• Team Administrators: Can view and update the majority of toggles under Clock Settings if the Setup Clock Settings permission is enabled. Some toggles are only accessible to Super Administrators. If you are unable to access, please confirm your permissions with a Super Administrator.

📋 Topics covered in this article:

• Accessing Clock Settings
• Customizing Your Clock Settings
• Frequently Asked Questions About Clock Settings

📚 Related articles:

• How To Generate The Audit Clock Approvals Report
• Check out our dedicated Time Tracking section to find how-to guides, FAQs, and more.

Accessing Clock Settings

There are two ways to get to the Clock Settings page in your account, depending on where you're already working in the platform.

Accessing Clock Settings from Company Setup

1. Click the Company name in the top right-hand corner.
2. In the drop-down menu, click Company Setup.
3. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Clock Settings.

Accessing Clock Settings from the Employees Tab

1. Click the Employees tab.
2. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Clock Approvals.
3. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Clock Settings.

Customizing Your Clock Settings

Clock Settings are grouped into a few sections, each controlling a different part of how clock entries are compared, adjusted, and approved.

This section will guide you through the following:

• Clock Hours Comparison
• Compare Clock to Schedule
  • On Time
  • Early
  • Late
• Require Manager Review/Approval
• Automated Clock Out Settings
• Breaks
• Other Settings
• Tablet Device
• Saving Your Clock Settings

Clock Hours Comparison

This is the first section you'll see on the Clock Settings page, and it determines how clock hours are handled across the platform.

1. Under Clock Settings, toggle on one of the following:
   1. Compare Clock to Schedule: compares each clock in/out to the employee's scheduled shift, so you can define rules for On Time, Early, and Late entries (covered in the next section).
   2. Use Clock: uses the employee's actual clock time as-is, with fewer configuration options.

📌 | Note: Most businesses use Compare Clock to Schedule, since it gives you more control over how clock entries are handled. The rest of this article assumes this option is selected.

Compare Clock to Schedule

These settings determine whether a clock entry is treated as On Time, Early, and Late. Depending on how you configure each one, a clock entry will either be auto-approved by the platform or flagged for an administrator to review and potentially adjust manually. Whatever gets approved is what flows into payroll as Payable Hours.

On Time

Under On Time, fill in and select the relevant option for Clock In and for Clock Out:

• Within _ minutes of Scheduled: Sets a grace window around the scheduled shift start/end that counts as On Time. Give employees a buffer (for example, 10 minutes) so minor differences — like clocking in at 9:01 for a 9:00 shift — aren't flagged.
• Use Scheduled: Adjusts the clock entry to match the shift's scheduled time rather than the actual clock time and auto-approves the entry. Use this if you want the hours paid in payroll to consistently reflect the schedule, rather than minor variations in exactly when someone punches in.
• Use Clocked: Keeps the employee's actual clocked time, and auto-approves the entry. Use this if you want the hours paid in payroll to reflect exactly when the employee clocked in or out, down to the minute.

Early

Under Early, select one option for Clock In and one option for Clock Out:

• Use Scheduled: Adjusts the entry to the shift's scheduled time and auto-approves it. Use this if you want the hours paid in payroll to follow the scheduled start time rather than the exact early clock-in.
• Use Clocked: Keeps the employee's actual clocked time, and auto-approves it. Use this if early clock-ins should be reflected in payroll exactly as clocked in, such as for an employee who regularly opens the store early.

• Use Clocked (round up to the nearest 15 min): Keeps the actual clocked time, but rounds the hours paid in payroll up to the next 15-minute mark and auto-approves the entry. Use this if your rounding policy rounds early clock-ins up to the nearest 15-minute increment.

  Minutes Clocked	Rounds Up To	Example
  0th–14th minute	15th minute	9:10 AM rounds up to 9:15 AM
  15th–29th minute	30th minute	9:20 AM rounds up to 9:30 AM
  30th–44th minute	45th minute	9:35 AM rounds up to 9:45 AM
  45th–59th minute	00th minute	9:50 AM rounds up to 10:00 AM

• Use Clocked (round down to the nearest 15 min): Keeps the actual clocked time, but rounds the hours paid in payroll down to the previous 15-minute mark and auto-approves the entry. Use this if your rounding policy rounds early clock-ins down to the nearest 15-minute increment.

  Minutes Clocked	Rounds Down To	Example
  0th–14th minute	00th minute	9:10 AM rounds down to 9:00 AM
  15th–29th minute	15th minute	9:20 AM rounds down to 9:15 AM
  30th–44th minute	30th minute	9:35 AM rounds down to 9:30 AM
  45th–59th minute	45th minute	9:50 AM rounds down to 9:45 AM

• Require Manager Review/Approval: Keeps the actual clocked time, but flags the entry as unapproved until a manager reviews it. Use this if early starts require explicit manager review before approval.
• Prevent Clock In: Blocks the employee from clocking in early (e.g. if the scheduled shift is for 9 AM, the employee will not be able to clock in at 8:59 AM). Use only if your schedule is always kept up to date and you want to strictly enforce scheduled start times. Note, this can create friction for employees who arrive just a few minutes early.

Late

Under Late, select one option for Clock In and one option for Clock Out:

• Use Scheduled: Adjusts the entry to the shift's scheduled time and auto-approves it. Use this if you want the hours paid in payroll to follow the scheduled end time rather than the exact late clock-out.
• Use Clocked: Keeps the employee's actual clocked time, and auto-approves it. Use this in flexible workplaces where staying late or arriving late doesn't require special handling.
• Use Clocked (round up to the nearest 15 min): Keeps the actual clocked time but rounds the hours paid in payroll to the next 15-minute mark and auto-approves the entry. Use this if your rounding policy rounds late clock-outs up to the nearest 15-minute increment for pay or recordkeeping. 

• Use Clocked (round down to the nearest 15 min): Keeps the actual clocked time but rounds the hours paid in payroll down to the previous 15-minute mark and auto-approves the entry. Use this if your rounding policy rounds late clock-outs down to the nearest 15-minute increment. 

• Require Manager Review/Approval: Keeps the actual clocked time, but flags the entry as unapproved until a manager reviews it. Use this if lateness needs to be tracked for performance conversations, or if extra time should only be approved under certain conditions.

Require Manager Review/Approval

Even if a clock entry meets your Compare Clock to Schedule parameters and would otherwise be auto-approved, you can flag it for manual review by an administrator under specific conditions. When a clock entry is flagged under Clock Approvals, it's marked as unapproved, regardless of whether the employee clocked in or out on time. 

📌 | Note: Some of these options may not be available if you've selected Use Clock under Clock Hours Comparison, instead of Compare Clock to Schedule.

Check the boxes for any of the following you'd like to enable:

• Require approval when clock duration (less breaks) exceeds _ hours: Mark the clock entry as unapproved if the shift length, minus breaks, exceeds the number of hours you set.
  • Fill in the field with the numerical value for the number of hours (e.g, 9 or 10 hours)
    💡 | Tip: Good for catching unauthorized overtime or unexpectedly long shifts that may need a closer look for future shift coverage. 
• Require approval when an employee enters comments during clock-in/out: Mark the clock entry as unapproved if the employee added a comment.
  💡 | Tip: Good for making sure any context an employee shares, like explaining a late arrival or flagging an issue that prevented them from clocking in, actually gets reviewed by a manager.
• Require approval when there is a mismatch between the employee's scheduled position and clocked position: Mark the clock entry as unapproved if the scheduled and clocked positions don't align.
  💡 | Tip: Great if you have employees working multiple positions with different rates of pay, so you can confirm they're paid correctly and worked under the right role based on the schedule.
• Require approval when a clock photo fails facial recognition: Mark the clock entry as unapproved if the photo taken at clock-in/clock-out doesn't match the employee's historical reference photos. 
  💡 | Tip: Good for an added layer of security against buddy punching, where one employee clocks in on behalf of another.
• Prevent clock-in when an employee is unscheduled: Block an employee from clocking in on the Push Time app or Push Employee app if they aren't scheduled.
  💡 | Tip: Strictly enforces that only scheduled employees can clock in. We generally don't recommend this option, as it could create additional work for administrators and prevent employees from starting their shifts. 

Automated Clock Out Settings

This section determines what happens when an employee forgets to clock out. Without an automated rule in place, a clock entry could remain in progress indefinitely, only ending when the employee next enters their Clock ID to start a new shift. 

Enabling this setting lets the system close out and flag those forgotten clock entries automatically, so your team is aware and can make the necessary adjustments before payroll. 

📌 | Note: When an auto clock-out is triggered, the system fills in the clock entry's end time with the time the auto clock-out happened, and flags the entry for review. A manager can go in and adjust that end time if needed.

By default, one rule applies to all employees, hourly and salaried alike:

• Automatically clock the employee out: Check this box to automatically clock out employees who forget to end their shift. Then choose one of the following to determine how the auto clock-out occurs:
  • After: Choose this if you want the auto clock-out to happen once an employee's shift passes a certain number of hours. Enter the number of hours in the field provided (for example, 10 hours).
  • At: Choose this if you want the auto clock-out to happen at the same time every day, regardless of when the shift started. Enter the specific time of day in the field provided (for example, 11:00 PM if no one is scheduled to work past 10:00 PM).

If you'd like different auto clock-out rules for Salaried employees instead of following the rule above, check the box for Handle salary employees differently. This turns the setting above into an hourly-only rule and reveals additional toggles below for configuring salaried employees on their own.

Even though a salaried employee is paid the same set amount each pay period, their annual salary is simply divided across their pay periods. Some businesses may choose to have them clock in and out anyway. This helps track their actual hours worked (for reporting purposes only), so you can identify ways to improve labour budgeting or confirm they aren't working unpaid overtime.

When a Salary employee clocks themselves out, choose one of the following:

• Require manual approval: Flags the clock entry for a manager to review and approve if it falls outside the rules set above. 
•  Approve automatically: Finalizes the clock entry the moment the employee clocks out, with no manager review needed. Good if you'd rather keep payroll moving without adding an extra review step, since the clock entries don't affect their pay. 

If a Salary employee forgets to clock out: Check the box for Automatically clock the employee out, then select After or At the same way as above, and choose one of the following:

• Require manual approval: Flags the clock entry for a manager to review and approve if the automatic clock-out falls outside the rules set above. Good if a forgotten clock-out should always get a second look before it's finalized.
• Approve automatically: Finalizes the clock entry automatically at the time of the auto clock-out, with no manager review needed. Good if you'd rather keep payroll moving without adding an extra review step, even for forgotten clock-outs.

Breaks

These settings control how break times are captured within a clock entry.

⚠️ | Important: The ability to break in and out is part of our Advanced Breaks feature, which is exclusive to the Supreme plan and only works on the Push Time app. 

1. Click the drop-down menu and select one of the following:

• None: There's no option for employees to record their break time during clock-in or clock-out. If break time still needs to be reflected, it must be entered manually by an administrator in the Payable Hours section of the clock entry. 
• Automatically deduct breaks: Automatically deducts a set amount of break time from an employee's clock entry once they've worked a certain number of hours. 
  • Fill in the fields with the numerical values (for example, deduct 30 minutes for 5 or more hours of work).
• This is the default setting for your entire company, and applies to all positions unless you set a position-specific override.
  • To set a different rule for a specific position, click Add New Custom Break. Select the Position this should apply to from the drop-down menu. Fill in the same minutes of break and hours of work fields.
• Employees enter break time when they clock out: Employees enter their total break time at clock out, which is deducted from their total hours worked. This appears as a single-select question for the employee (options include 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or no break). 
• Employees break in and out: Employees clock in and out for each break they take, separate from their normal shift clock-in and out; but recorded as one clock entry. 
  •  For example, an employee clocks in at 9:00 AM, breaks out at 12:00 PM, breaks back in at 12:15 PM, then clocks out at 2:00 PM to end their shift — all recorded within a single clock entry.
    📌 | Note: If you're on the Supreme plan and don't see Employees break in and out as an option, contact our Support Team, who can enable this in your account.

Other Settings

This section includes additional toggles that let you customize how employees clock in and out.

Check the boxes for any of the following you'd like to enable:

• Allow employees to take photos of themselves during clock-in and clock-out: Requires employees to take a picture of themselves when clocking in and out from the Push Time or Push Employee app. 
  📌 | Note: The employee must allow camera access on the Push Employee app.
• Allow Employees with certain positions to clock in and out using the Push Employee app: Allows employees to clock in and out using the Push Employee app (mobile device). You also have the ability to choose which Position(s) should have access. For more details on enabling this and position filtering, see our "Setting Up & Managing Mobile Time and Attendance" article.

Tablet Device

Any device used to clock in and out via the Push Time app must be registered before employees can use it. This section lists every device currently registered to your account, and you can filter which Positions can clock in and out on each one, if applicable. 

📌 | Note: Only Super Administrators are able to access this section of Clock Settings. Team Administrators will not be able to, even with permission to Update Clock Settings. 

There are two ways to register a device:

1. Manually enter the Device ID here after you've downloaded the Push Time app.
2. Or complete the registration workflow directly from within the Push Time app.

📌 | Note: For the full walkthrough of both registration methods and position access, refer to our Registering & Managing the Push Time App article.

Saving Your Clock Settings

Once you've made your changes, click Update Clock Settings in the top-right corner or at the bottom of the page to save them.

You'll also find a History of Changes section at the bottom of the page (hidden in a collapsible menu). This lists every change made to Clock Settings across your administrators. It will include the administrator's first and last name, the type of change made, and the date and time it was saved. This is helpful for troubleshooting unexpected behaviour or confirming when a setting was last updated.

Frequently Asked Questions About Clock Settings

Have questions about configuring Clock Settings? Whether you're wondering what happens when you change a setting, who can make changes, or why you don't see every option listed here, this section provides quick answers to help you configure Clock Settings with confidence.

Q: What's the difference between "Use Scheduled" and "Use Clocked"? 
A: Use Scheduled adjusts the clock entry to match the employee's scheduled start or end time. Use Clocked keeps the employee's actual clocked time as entered.

Q: Why don't I see all of these settings in my account? 
A: Some Clock Settings options, like Advanced Breaks and Facial Recognition, are exclusive to the Supreme plan. If you'd like to learn more about upgrading, contact our PUSH Support Team.

Q: Can an employee update Clock Settings? 
A: No. Only Super Administrators and Team Administrators with the Setup Clock Settings permission can make changes. Note that some sections under Clock Settings, such as Tablet Device, are accessible only to Super Administrators. 

Q: Does rounding change an employee's actual clock-in and clock-out time? 
A: No. The Use Clocked (round up/down to nearest 15 min) options only adjust the Payable Hours used for payroll. The original clock-in/out time on the entry stays the same. Refer to the Compare Clock to Schedule section above for the full rounding breakdown.

What are the default settings for On Time, Early, and Late? 
A: You can set your own parameters for what counts as On Time, Early, and Late to help auto-approve or flag employees' clock times, but by default:

• Any clock-in/out 1 minute before or after the scheduled shift counts as On Time.
• Clocking in earlier than 1 minute before the shift starts will automatically push the clock in time to your schedule start time (Use Scheduled).
• Clocking in later than 1 minute after the shift starts will keep the clock in time (Use Clocked)
• Clocking out earlier than 1 minute before the shift ends will keep the clock-out time (Use Clocked)
• Clocking out later than 1 minute after the shift ends will be flagged and sent to clock approvals for a manager to review.

Additional Information

Need further help? Refer to our Getting Help & Contacting Support article for the latest support options and ways to connect with our team.