Configuring overtime counters

The overtime counter automatically measures, week after week, the gap between what an employee should have worked and what they actually did. It feeds the hours balance (overtime or in recovery) that you find in their profile and in the mobile app. For this calculation to be accurate, three things are needed: enable the module at the account level, correctly fill in the employee's data and choose their calculation method. This article details the whole journey, screen by screen and popup by popup.

Overview of the journey

1. At the account level: enable the overtime counters and set the fallback values.
2. At the employee level: complete their contractual data and choose their calculation basis.
3. On a daily basis: read the counter, open the detail of a week, export, and correct the balance with a manual adjustment if needed.

Step 1: enable the module at the account level

Go to Settings ⚙️ → HR → Settings, section Settings for overtime, absences and base hours.

• Enable overtime counters: the switch that starts the automatic calculation for the whole account. As long as it is disabled, no counter is calculated.
• Default working day hours: the values (weekly hours and number of working days) used as a fallback when the system does not find this information in an employee's profile. They serve to calculate the number of daily working hours.
• Display absence counters in: choose to display absence counters in days or in hours. You can change this mode at any time, but you will then have to manually adapt the values already entered.
• Full leave day: beyond a certain number of hours, Shyfter considers a leave day as a full day.
• Month for resetting absence counters: the month from which the absence counters restart from zero (leave period).

Click Save. Once the module is active, the settings specific to each employee become available in their profile.

Step 2: fill in the employee's data

Open the profile via Team → Users, select the employee, then go to their profile. Two areas concern us: the contractual data and the calculation method.

The contractual data (HR Settings)

These are the numerical values that serve as a reference for the calculation:

• Days worked per week: the number of weekly working days planned in the contract (for example 5). Used to reduce a weekly norm to a daily norm.
• Number of hours per week: the contractual weekly volume (for example 38). It is the central reference when the calculation basis relies on profile data.
• Yearly hours limit and Quarterly hours limit: caps, useful in particular for statuses with a quota (students).

These two values are indispensable: without the number of hours per week and the number of days worked, the system cannot calculate the daily volume and falls back on the default values defined in step 1.

Choosing the calculation basis

Still in the profile, in the HR section, two drop-down menus drive the method.

The first, Working time calculation method, indicates whether to start from scheduled hours or clocked hours.

The second, Overtime calculation basis, determines what Shyfter compares the hours against to spot an overrun. The options are grouped into three families, each with a colour label:

Difference (green label)

• Difference between scheduled and clocked: directly compares the scheduled shifts with the hours actually clocked, without reference to the contract. Available only if you have both the schedule and the clocking.

Schedule (blue label): the scheduled shifts are compared with a contractual reference.

• Schedule template: comparison with the employee's schedule template. Only appears if a schedule template has been applied to them.
• Contract hours: comparison with the number of hours written in their contract. Only appears if the Contracts module is active.
• Profile data: comparison with the number of hours per week entered in their contractual data. Always available.

Clocking (red label): the same logic, but applied to the hours actually clocked.

• Schedule template, Contract hours, Profile data: same definitions as above, calculated on the clocking.

Choose according to your management: the scheduled/clocked difference to strictly track schedule gaps, a contractual basis (contract, template, profile) to measure the gap against the contract norm. Finish with Save.

From when the calculation starts

The starting point depends on the chosen basis:

• Profile data: as soon as the employee is added to Shyfter.
• Contract hours: at the start of the contract.
• Schedule template: at the date the schedule template is applied.
• Difference between scheduled and clocked: depending on the data already present in the schedule and the clockings.

Step 3: read the counter

In the employee's profile, open the Counters tab, then the Overtime sub-tab. This is where everything is read.

The header

At the top, the title Overtime and recovery hours. Just below, the Calculation basis label recalls the active method or methods, in the form of coloured tags (blue for Schedule, red for Clocking, green for Difference). If recovery hours are already scheduled for the current year, a Recovery hours already scheduled badge indicates it.

On the right, two buttons:

• Download: exports the counter detail in Excel format.
• The red refresh button (sync icon): forces an immediate recalculation, useful after a change to the contract, settings or schedule.

The evolution chart

Below the header, a chart shows the evolution of the counter's cumulative total over time. Weeks containing a manual adjustment are flagged there with a specific marker, to spot corrections at a glance.

The week-by-week table

The table lists each week with:

• Date: the week concerned (week number and date range).
• Scheduled: the total scheduled hours for the week.
• Clocking: the total clocked. A warning icon signals a clocking without a scheduled shift.
• Contract: the contractual reference retained for the week.
• Balance: the gap for the week (positive = overtime, negative = hours owed).
• Total: the cumulative balance up to that week.

Weeks containing recovery appear highlighted. Click a row to open the detail of the week.

The detail of a week (popup)

Clicking a week opens a window with the day-by-day detail of that week.

The table shows each day, and summary lines are added at the bottom:

• Hours worked: the total actually worked over the week.
• Absence hours: the absence hours of the week (displayed if they exist).
• Recovery hours: the recovery hours of the week (displayed if they exist).
• Contract total X h / week: the contractual reference norm for the week.

If the current week is not finished, a message indicates that the detailed daily calculation is not yet available.

Manually adjusting the counter (popup)

Sometimes a balance must be corrected by hand (carryover of an old counter, regularisation, particular agreement). From the table, the adjustment action on a week opens the Adjust the counter window.

It contains:

• Adjustment (in hours): two fields, one for the hours, the other for the minutes. The value can be positive (add to the balance) or negative (remove).
• Comment: a mandatory field to justify the adjustment. It keeps a record of the reason for the correction.

Confirm with Save. The adjustment is applied to the balance and the week is marked with a flag on the evolution chart. To undo, the delete action removes the adjustment after a confirmation prompt.

The other Counters sub-tabs

Next to Overtime, the Counters tab offers, depending on your configuration:

• Summary: the summary of the employee's counters.
• Amendment: the tracking of contract amendments.
• Hours worked and Absences: the detail of hours worked and absences.

Best practices and pitfalls to avoid

• Always fill in the hours and days per week in the profile: without them, the calculation falls back on the account's default values, which distorts the norm.
• Before changing the number of hours per week of an employee who already has counters in progress, keep in mind that the balance will be recalculated on the new basis. Use a documented manual adjustment to freeze a starting balance rather than letting everything recalculate.
• The current week is not final: its daily detail only appears once the week is finished.
• After a correction (clocking, contract, setting), click the refresh button to see the result immediately rather than waiting for the automatic recalculation.