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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.

Every punch is compared to the published schedule. Clock in earlier than the scheduled start, or clock out later than the scheduled end, by more than the location's grace window and the shift is flagged. It works the same whether your team punches on the SafeShift kiosk, their phones, or directly on your POS — with POS punches we can't stop the punch, but we can make sure you see it.

  1. 1

    Set the grace window

    On Settings → Locations, each location card has ⏰ Flag punches beyond N min of the schedule (default 10). Punches inside the window are normal; beyond it they're flagged. It's separate from the early clock-in *lock*, which only applies to kiosk and app punches.

  2. 2

    Where the flag shows

    The Clock Station row gets an amber chip like *In 12m early · Out 25m late*. Reports → Time Entries adds Early In / Late Out columns and a filter for only the flagged punches (the CSV carries the columns too). Your daily digest lists who punched outside the schedule. Payroll review shows an FYI per person with the minutes for the period.

  3. 3

    What it does not do

    Nothing changes on the punch: worked time pays as recorded, and no pay is trimmed to the schedule. The employee isn't nagged. It's a coaching flag — unscheduled minutes are unapproved overtime exposure, and now you know where it comes from.

Good to know

  • A shift with no published schedule has nothing to compare against, so it is never flagged — publish schedules for the flag to mean something.
  • Late clock-ins and early clock-outs aren't flagged here; they're under-work, already visible as short hours on the Time Entries report.
  • If your team punches on the kiosk or the app, turn on the early clock-in lock as well — that one refuses a too-early punch unless a manager overrides it with their PIN.

If something goes wrong

We punch on our POS. Can SafeShift stop an early clock-in?

No — the punch is the POS's record and reaches SafeShift a few minutes later. Your POS's own time-clock settings may offer a restriction; SafeShift flags the variance so you can coach it.

Does the flag change what the employee is paid?

Never. Punched time pays as punched. The flag tells you the minutes fell outside the schedule so you can decide whether they were needed.

Related guides

See also