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Short, step-by-step guides for owners and managers — with pictures.

Start here — new account setup

Follow these 9 steps in order and you'll go from empty account to live break monitoring.

  1. 1Create your accountFrom the Get Started button to your first login: the signup form, the email setup link, your password, and plan activation.
  2. 2Choose how your team clocks inPick between POS integration, SafeShift's own clock (mobile app and/or kiosk tablet), or schedule-based clocking.
  3. 3Add your employeesFour ways to build your roster: manual entry, CSV upload, live POS sync, or a photo of your current roster.
  4. 4Invite your team to the appSend app invitations in bulk so employees can see shifts, get break reminders, and clock in from their phones.
  5. 5Get the mobile appDownload SafeShift from the App Store or Google Play — scan a QR code — for employees and managers alike.
  6. 6Collect SMS consent (TCPA)Text-message break reminders legally require each employee's opt-in — SafeShift collects and records it for you.
  7. 7Build and publish a scheduleCreate the week's shifts on the grid, then publish so employees are notified and reminders arm.
  8. 8Work the Compliance pageHow violations are detected, what the buckets mean, and the three actions that resolve a day: confirm, void, or fix punches.
  9. 9Add more locations as you growOpening a second site? Every plan supports unlimited locations — each with its own crew, clock setup, legal entity, and subscription.

All guides (40)

Team & onboarding

Add employees, invites, consent, HR actions.
Add your employees
Four ways to build your roster: manual entry, CSV upload, live POS sync, or a photo of your current roster.
Invite your team to the app
Send app invitations in bulk so employees can see shifts, get break reminders, and clock in from their phones.
Collect SMS consent (TCPA)
Text-message break reminders legally require each employee's opt-in — SafeShift collects and records it for you.
Employees who work at multiple locations
One business: assign extra locations on one record. Separate legal entities: keep one record per entity and link them.
Departments
Group each location's team into crews — filters for you, focused views for shift leads, targeted announcements.
Send announcements
Broadcast to your whole team or a targeted slice — in-app with push, SMS, and email, with one attachment.
Time off & PTO
Turn on PTO per location, set advance notice and blackout dates, and approve requests with balances and coverage in view.
HR actions & AI-drafted notices
Issue documented HR notices — warnings, policy acknowledgments, and more — with AI-drafted text and tracked employee signatures.
Access levels: give someone manager access
Access levels — Team member, Shift Lead, Manager, Location admin — decide what a person's login can do. Job titles are just labels.
Onboarding documents & the digital W-4
Send new hires a signing packet — WTPA notice, I-9, handbook and more — and let them complete the official IRS W-4 through a guided form.
Other documents on file
Keep one-off files — a garnishment order, a signed offer letter, a doctor's note — in a person's file, on the reports, never deleted.

Time tracking & kiosk

Clock modes, the entrance tablet, and PINs.
Choose how your team clocks in
Pick between POS integration, SafeShift's own clock (mobile app and/or kiosk tablet), or schedule-based clocking.
Set up the entrance tablet (PIN kiosk)
Turn any tablet into a punch clock: employees clock in/out and start breaks with a 4-digit PIN.
Lock the tablet to the kiosk (manager passcode to exit)
Stop employees from swiping out of the kiosk: use the tablet's built-in lock mode with a passcode only managers know.
PINs explained: punch PIN vs Manager PIN
Every employee has a 4-digit punch PIN for the kiosk; every owner and App Manager has a 6-digit Manager PIN for authorizations. Here's where each lives.
Lock punches to the schedule
Two optional per-location controls: early clock-ins and short breaks (meal or rest) require a manager's 6-digit PIN.
Early clock-ins and late clock-outs
Punches outside the published schedule are flagged — on the Clock Station, the Time Entries report, your daily digest and payroll review — whatever clocks your team.
The Time Entries report, column by column
What every column means — total, unpaid meal, paid hours, regular vs overtime — and how the CSV rolls it up per person for payroll.
Employees can ask for a punch correction — you approve or deny
An employee asks to fix one of their own punches from their portal; a manager approves (which applies the correction) or denies with a reason. Every request and decision is kept on record.
Connect DailyPay (earned wage access)
Send DailyPay a nightly file of clocked-out shifts so employees can draw on wages they have already earned — payroll stays in ADP.
Tip declarations at clock-out
Tipped employees are asked what they took home in tips when they clock out — here's what to declare, why, and how to turn it off.
Set up the Attestation Station
A question-only tablet for POS-clocked teams: employees PIN in after punching out and confirm their breaks on the spot.

Break compliance

Violations, attestations, and evidence.
Work the Compliance page
How violations are detected, what the buckets mean, and the three actions that resolve a day: confirm, void, or fix punches.
Paid sick leave: policies and balances
Enable sick leave per location, let balances build from hours worked, and enter starting balances for existing staff. California locations are on by default.
Customize attestation questions
Adjust the wording of the break questions your team answers at clock-out — and add your own questions, like an injury declaration.
Pay period review & certification
Each pay period, employees review their time records and certify them — or report a concern, a claim, or that they can't certify. What the form asks, what you see, and what to do with each answer.
Training: library, assignments, records
How the Training tab works end to end — the catalog and your custom trainings, assigning and reminding, what each status means, certificates, exports and renewals.
Cal/OSHA restaurant safety training
A built-in safety module for California restaurants: employees read the official Cal/OSHA guide, pass a 20-question quiz, e-sign, and SafeShift issues the training record your IIPP requires.
Get ready for a Cal/OSHA or OSHA inspection
What an inspector actually asks for, what SafeShift can show for you, what only you can confirm, and why no one can sell you an "OSHA certified" badge.