Time clock overview

Bookinda's time clock records exactly when each colleague arrived and left, how long they were on break, and how much real working time they put in. Replace your paper attendance log, and your payroll, overtime calculation, and commission accounting all become cleaner.

Where to find it

Sidebar → Working hours tracking (or Team → Time Clock). There's also a quick-clock card on the top bar so you can clock in/out without leaving your current page.

What happens in a normal day

1. The colleague arrives at the salon.
2. She opens Bookinda (web or mobile app), or the front desk tablet, and taps Clock in.
3. The system records the time and (if enabled) her location.
4. During the day she can start and end breaks (Start break / End break buttons).
5. End of day: she taps Clock out.
6. Total working time is calculated: clock-out minus clock-in minus unpaid breaks.

What the manager sees

The Team status card shows in real time:

• Who's in (green dot + clock-in time)
• Who's on break (amber dot + break start)
• Who's not in (grey)

The Timesheet tab has the full history: daily working hours, overtime, break time, GPS status, manual corrections.

What it's good for, what it isn't

Good for

• Accurate payroll: pay actual hours, not estimates.
• Overtime tracking: if someone routinely works 9.5 instead of 8 hours, you see it and compensate.
• Commission base: some commission models pay on time too, not just revenue.
• Break compliance: if labor law requires paid breaks, you have to document them.
• Audit-ready: if a labor or tax inspection asks for attendance, you don't shuffle through paper.

Not good for

• Micromanagement: don't surveil colleagues by the minute. Use it to audit actual work, not police it.
• Booking capacity: customer-facing availability comes from the schedule (a separate module), not the time clock.

Use case scenarios

Scenario 1: Seasonal-peak overtime tracking

Mid-December, everyone's overworking. From the clock data, the owner pays month-end overtime to the exact hour each colleague worked. No "wait, you forgot to pay me for the 11-hour shift on Dec 23".

Scenario 2: New hire probation

A new junior is on a 3-month probation. Clock data shows she averages 28h/40h committed. If the weekly hours fall short, that's a conversation.

Scenario 3: Lunch hour blackhole

The salon complains that 13:00-14:00 nobody's at reception. Break data reveals: 4 stylists all break at 13:00 sharp. Solution: stagger breaks (see Scheduling best practices).

Scenario 4: Dispute over actual hours

A staff member claims she worked 9 hours. The clock says 7h 45m, with a 1h 15m break. The manager shows the clock-in and clock-out timestamps. Dispute resolved.

Scenario 5: Labor inspection

A labor inspector asks for the last 3 months of attendance data. The manager exports the timesheet to Excel, hands it over. Seconds, not days.

What to set up before going live

1. Enable the time clock under Settings → Modules.
2. Set salon coordinates (Settings → Locations) if you want GPS verification.
3. Tell the team they'll be clocking from now on (and give them the how-to).
4. Make it mandatory: if there's no clocked day, no payroll either. The team adopts it fast that way.

Tips

• Set the 100m radius realistically: if your salon is in a mall, GPS is fuzzy, push to 200m.
• Manual corrections are a thing: if someone forgot to clock, the manager can add a post-hoc entry with a note ("Anna forgot to clock in, confirmed by the team").
• Mobile app is fastest: the Staff app is a one-tap clock, no need to open the web.
• Wire it to payroll: monthly hours feed the Payroll module, so payment is one click away.