Introduction
The Empeon Workforce Attendance Module is a comprehensive tool used for tracking employee daily working hours. Whether employees punch in and out using Empeon's physical time clock, or through Empeon ESS, the Time Card section of an employee's Workforce profile is regularly synced with the device employees use to punch. Administrators and supervisors can review, adjust, and approve Time Cards to ensure employee worked hours flow to payroll and reports as needed.
Approval and adjustment processes vary from one organization to the next, so Workforce's Time Card includes a variety of features and functions designed to streamline the review process and ensure all recorded time is accurate and ready for processing.
Reviewing Time Cards
To review the time card for an employee, navigate to the Employee Profile for that employee and then select the "Time card" button. The time card can also be accessed within the Attendance section of the Employee Profile as well.
Punch Methods
The employee’s time card will show time punches along with the method used to record them. Various punch methods are available, but their availability may depend on the type of timeclock being used.
The original punches recorded in real time that have not been adjusted will appear with a blue icon, while punches that have been adjusted will be marked with an orange icon. To make any manual adjustments to the recorded time associated with any punch, simply click on the box where the time is recorded and update the punch time accordingly.
Editing & Adjusting Punches
In addition to adjusting the punch time, several other options are available for making adjustments to these punches, if necessary.
Add punch line
For instances where an employee works a second shift on the same date, clicking this icon adds another row to add a separate punch record within the same day.
Comment Clipboard
This feature allows for adding a comment associated with the punches on this line. For example, if a punch reflects a time or date that is atypical for when the employee usually works, a comment can be added to explain the special circumstances for that date and time.
Allocation Overrides
Sometimes different job information needs to be applied for an individual shift compared to the employee's default job information assigned within their profile. A straight forward example of this is an RN who occasionally fills in as the RN Supervisor. o address these instances on the Time Card, use the Allocation Overrides option to assign different job codes, such as departments, positions, or locations, toward a particular shift.
Override Pay Record
This feature allows for an authorized User to override the employee's default pay code, pay rate, and/or dollar amount for any shift.
- Pay Code - By default, punches are recorded using two default Pay Codes representing Regular or Overtime for over 40 hours a week. hen a supervisor needs to apply different Pay Codes for a shift based on the type of work (e.g., a "Training" Pay Code), use this field to apply the appropriate Pay Code.
- Rate & Dollar Amount - Depending on the Workforce User's access level, there are also fields available to to override the employee's pay rate or dollar amount for an individual shift.
Move To Next Calendar & Transfer Punch
Move To Next Calendar - This option moves a punch to the next pay period while retaining the original date and time. It is useful for correcting punches not recorded at the correct time. In this scenario, add a manual punch on the time card within the previous pay period. Then click this button to ensure the corrected date and time appear in the next pay period's time card.
Transfer Punch - When an employee works in multiple positions, departments, or locations during a single shift, this feature splits the shift into two lines to indicate when each change occurred. Upon selecting Transfer Punch, the system requires entry of the time within the shift when the change occurred.
After entering the time, the system will automatically add a second line for the punches where the transfer occurred. It is on this punch line where an Allocation Override should be entered.
Delete
This option will remove all recorded punches for the specific date in the selected row.
Save Timecard
Any adjustments made to the time card need to be saved. In some cases, the changes may save automatically. If the "Save Timecard" button is blue, it needs to be clicked in order to save the Time Card's most recent changes.
Manual Time-Off Requests
Next to the Save Timecard button is a button for "Time-off Request". An authorized User can manually apply an approved paid time-off request to any date(s) within the pay period, if needed.
The toggle for "Auto-Approve" is activated by default in order to have the changes be immediately reflected on the time card. For instances where the request needs to be escalated to an approval process, turn the toggle off.
Please Note: Employees who punch on a date previously approved for time-off will not be blocked on the Time Card. The time-off or punch record will need to be removed to avoid duplicate pay in error. It's important for the administrator to apply time-off and worked hours appropriately for partial day off needs. For example, if an employee works for two hours before going home sick, the time punches should reflect the two hours worked, and the time-off request should cover the remaining time the employee was expected to work.
Many organizations using Empeon have their employees request paid time-off through their ESS Hub. Approved time off requests from ESS will automatically apply on the employee's time card. Using the Time-Off Request feature within the time card is usually only for cases where employees can't request time off through ESS or when the administrator needs to address paid time off recording manually.
Please Note: Previously approved time-off requests already applied the time card cannot be reversed/deleted straight from the time card. For any need to remove approved paid time off on a Time Card, click the "Requests" button on the right side of the Employee Profile to display all Pending, Approved, and Denied requests for the specific employee.
When clicking this button, navigate to the "Approved" tab, and delete the approved time-off request. Then, return to the employee's time card by clicking the "Time card" button.
Show Details
Once all punches on the time card have been addressed, use the "Show details/Hide details" option to view a breakdown of the Earning Codes (Pay Codes) being applied and their associated hours. This section will default to the Pay Details to view this information, however there are also tabs for "Daily" and "Weekly," providing a breakdown of the hours recorded for each earning on a daily or weekly basis.
Manage Unpaid Hours
Within the Show details section is a button for "Manage Unpaid Hours" which displays any unpaid hours often relating to the employee's breaks for lunches or dinners for a shift. Workforce automatically applies unpaid hours for each shift, which can usually be left as is. However, if an employee worked through a break or lunch, options are available to pay partially or in full as needed.
Add manual pay items
Depending on a Workforce User's access level, next to the Manage Unpaid Hours button is a pencil icon for "Add manual pay items" for manual pay entry needs. Usually manual pay items are only applicable for pay that is not associated with hourly work. For example, in the image below, a one-time "Referral Bonus" dollar amount is being added to the Time Card. All manual pay items entered here will automatically be included with the employee's check when Attendance is applied to the payroll batch.
Approving Time Cards
Once all things on this screen have been viewed and attended to accordingly, click the "Approve" button to officially approve the time card.
After approving the time card, it will provide the email of the Workforce Administrator or supervisor who approved it. If the time card needs to be un-approved for any reason, simply click on the arrow to the right of the "approver".
Verifying Attendance Punches for Multiple Employees
To review Attendance records for all employees or a specific group, navigate to the Attendance section within the Actions tab, and remain in the Time Sheet Processing section.
Punch Review
Within Time Sheet Processing, it defaults to the Punch Review section where it will show any missing punches, absences, or early/late punches in reference to their assigned schedule. To further examine the time card for any employee flagged within this section, simply click on their name and it will pull up their time card. In many instances Attendance can't be processed if there are any incomplete items in the Punch Review.
Verification
To view a summary of approved and pending time cards, select the "Verification" tab. The screen defaults to a "Summary" view, showing a one line per employee report with the total pay period hours and the Approval status of each. For a detailed per line breakdown of all employees punches click the "Detail" tab. The "Detail" tab can also verify nuanced records like if the hours were regular or overtime, shift differentials, and other per day details. The Verification Summary and Detail can both be exported for further review.
Please Note: If reviewing the Verification detail for the first time, you may need to use the Column Chooser per the image above to pull in helpful fields like the employee Position and the Detail Begin Date (aka Clock-In). The fields pulled in are saved for the User when the Verification is ran again in the future.