Time and attendance, in plain English.

How Time and attendance works.

Time and attendance captures when employees worked, applies the rules that turn raw punches into payable time, then hands the result to payroll. The rules layer is where the complexity sits: rounding, grace periods, break deduction, shift differentials, and overtime thresholds that may be daily, weekly, or averaged across a period. Identical punch data produces different pay under different rule sets.

Where Time and attendance goes wrong.

• Rounding rules that are lawful in one jurisdiction applied to employees in another.
• Timesheets approved after payroll has calculated, so corrections land a period late.
• Breaks deducted automatically where the jurisdiction requires evidence the break was actually taken.

Where Time and attendance sits between HR and payroll.

Time and attendance does not stand alone. The concepts most often paired with it on a Workforce run are Scheduling, Overtime, Biometric clocking. Each is defined elsewhere in this glossary so you can trace the full chain without leaving the site.