One of the first steps when running payroll is to total up and enter hours for each employee. If you're employees use OnPay to clock in and out, the bulk of this work is done for you. No physical time cards to sift through, and nothing to import. Just review and approve. You can even let employees approve time cards for their direct reports.
If you haven't already done so, you'll need to set up a Time Clock for the worksite where you want employees to clock in and out.
Time clock setup→
What is a time card?
A time card (sometimes called a timesheet) is a record of an employee's paid time, as measured in hours (or fractions of hours), within a pay period. These hours are calculated based on time card entries, which are made by clocking in and out, or by manual entry directly on the time card.
Times cards also record:
- When paid breaks are started and ended
- When paid time off balances are used
- When hours begin to qualify for overtime pay
When processing a pay run, approved time cards are used to calculate employee wages for the pay period.
More general information about time cards→
Who can approve time cards?
Employee time cards can be approved by any Company Owner or Administrator. Additionally, if you have employees with direct reports (other workers who they manage or supervise), you can choose to let them view and approve time card records for their team. You can also let them approve time off requests for reports.
Supervisor time card permissions→
Time card filters
Time Tracking displays time card totals within a scheduled pay period. By default, you'll see information for the next upcoming pay run, but you can use filters to view historical time cards, or time cards for other pay schedules.
Pay schedule
The "Pay Schedule" menu in the upper right is useful if your company has multiple pay schedules. Check here first to make sure you're looking at the right schedule.
Pay schedules can be:
- Weekly (paid on the same day each week)
- Bi-weekly (paid on the same day every other week)
- Semi-monthly (paid twice per calendar month)
- Monthly (paid on the same day/date each month)
Find more articles about managing pay schedules in our payroll planning section→
Pay period
By default, you'll see the current pay period for the selected pay schedule. Use the "Select Pay Period" menu to view previous pay periods.
Quick filters for overtime and time off
You'll see running totals for overtime, double overtime, and time off. Click any of these to quickly filter employees by these pay types. Click Total to return to the full list.
Filter employees by worksite and location
Click the filter "funnel" icon above the employee list to view employees by Worksite or Location.
Time clock settings
You won't need this to approve time cards, but you can create custom overtime rules or set up new time clocks by clicking the gear above the employee list. See our article on time clock settings→
Review and approve time
You can approve time at a glance in the employee list, either one at a time, or in bulk.
Use the "Approved" toggle to approve an employee's time, or use the checkboxes to select multiple employees.
If one or more checkboxes are selected, you'll see options to mark them "Approved" or "Not Approved".
Click View to get a closer look at an employee's time, where you can make adjustments, add breaks, and communicate with an employee about their time.
Viewing employee time card entries
When viewing an employee's time, you'll see their name and the pay period in the upper left, above a toggle to approve their time. In the upper right, a summary of their hours with a breakdown of regular and overtime. Use the next or previous buttons to review time cards of other employees on the pay schedule.
Time card entries are organized by workday, with columns for hours, totals, and details.
Day
Rows represent calendar days in the pay period.
Hours
Time clock entries marking the start and end of the employee's shift for each day.
Total
The total hours worked in each day, after subtracting unpaid break hours.
Details
See detailed information about paid and unpaid breaks, and read and respond to comments.
Missing time punches
If an employee clocks in for a shift, but never clocks out, you'll see a warning for that day in their time card. Employees can also see this on their time card in the OnPay app.
Click in any hours field to add or edit a shift to that day.
Breaks
Breaks are taken during an employee's shift, indicated by the taco icon, which will also display the break duration. Breaks can be paid or unpaid. The duration of an unpaid break is subtracted from the total hours for the shift.
In the example below, Matthew is missing a break for Tuesday, and has no time entered for Thursday or Friday. If this is unusual, you may need to make an adjustment, or leave a comment asking Matthew for more information.
Comments
Comments are a great way to ask questions about an employee's time, right in the employee's time card, so the conversation's well documented, and easy to keep up with. Employees can communicate if they forget to clock in or out, or miss a break, so you (or their supervisor) can help correct their time.
Here's an example of an employee who forgot to clock out for their unpaid meal break during the day. They've since logged into OnPay and added their break, but wanted to let their supervisor know why they'd made the correction.
To add a new comment, hover over the day's details, and click Add comment.
A new row will appear where you can type and post a reply to their comment. They'll be notified by their OnPay app that you've replied to their comment.
Comments are saved permanently, to serve as a record of time card entries.
Adding / adjusting time card entries
Click in any hours field to add or edit a shift to that day.
Tip
You can also add second shift to the day by clicking the grey "Add" bar below the shift time and details.
Click to enter the employee start and end times under "Clock In" and "Clock Out". Be sure to add a leading zero (0) for times below ten (10), and enter "A: for AM, or "P" for PM. You can also add a paid rest break, or an unpaid meal break.
Click Save. You can return to make further edits, if needed.
Paid time off (PTO)
Employees can submit paid time off requests using the OnPay app, or in their OnPay profile. Pending and approved time off requests appear on time cards along with entered hours, to make it clear when PTO balances are being used.
Requests can be approved by Owners, admins, and supervisors (if enabled).
You can also hover over to leave a comment, to ask for more information about the request, or to just tell your employee to enjoy their time off!
About Supervisor time card permissions.
You can also view and respond to PTO requests in the employee profile.
Closing the pay period
Running payroll
WHen running pay
Addressing warnings and alerts related to time cards.