Working time annualization

Working time annualization is a French legal scheme (law of 20 August 2008) that allows working hours to be managed on an annual basis rather than week by week. Instead of triggering overtime as soon as an employee exceeds 35 hours in a given week, you set an overall annual quota (1,607 h for a full-time employee) and let the hours fluctuate according to activity. A busy 42-hour week can be offset by a lighter 28-hour week, with no premium.

It's particularly suited to sectors with variable activity: restaurants, hospitality, retail, tourism, logistics.

This module is free and available only to French customers. It must be enabled from the Shyfter Marketplace → Modules.

What Shyfter covers

The module handles the full cycle: initial configuration, employee assignment, weekly counter tracking, real-time alerts to stay compliant with labor law, period closing with four options for handling the balance, and a Silae-compatible export for payroll.

1. Create a configuration

Go to Annualization → Annualization configurations → New configuration.

The main parameters to fill in:

• Name: a clear name, for example "Annualization 2026".
• Calculation basis: choose between "Planned" (schedule hours), "Clocked" (actual hours) or "Mixed" (clocked as priority, schedule as fallback).
• Closing policy: the default behavior at the end of the period (pay the overtime, carry over, reset, partial payment).
• Annual reference hours: the target quota, generally 1,607 h for a full-time employee.
• Weekly basis: the contractual reference duration (usually 35 h).
• Weekly overtime threshold: above this threshold (e.g. 42 h), the hours are automatically pulled from the counter and paid as overtime that same week.
• Period (start / end): the dates of the reference period, often from 1 January to 31 December.
• Overtime premiums: 25% for tier 1, 50% for tier 2 (statutory default values).

2. Assign employees

From the configuration, click Manage employees → Add employees.

For each employee, fill in:

• Their contract hours/week (generally 35 h).
• The effective date (from when annualization applies). If this date is later than the start of the period, the annual quota will be recalculated on a pro-rata basis.
• An optional initial balance if the employee already had hours to carry over from another system.

3. Track counters from the dashboard

The dashboard (Annualization → Dashboard) shows for each employee their cumulative gap: green if they are ahead, red if they are in deficit.

Click an employee to access their detailed record, which shows:

• A chart of the weekly evolution (week-by-week gap bars, cumulative balance curve).
• The weekly detail: planned hours, assimilated absences, gap, cumulative balance and any removed hours (flush at the upper threshold).

Use Recalculate all counters if you have retroactively modified a schedule or a clocking.

4. Alerts and safeguards

The module flags at-risk situations in real time (Annualization → Alerts and safeguards):

• Exceeding legal limits (48 h max per week, 44 h average over 12 weeks).
• Modulation anomalies (a balance that evolves too fast, etc.).
• Risk of reclassification as full-time for part-time employees.
• Triggering of the upper threshold (automatic flush of hours as overtime).
• Schedule change within less than the statutory notice period (7 days).

Click Acknowledge to mark an alert as handled.

5. Configure absences

Each absence type can be configured individually for its impact on the annualization counter. Go to Settings → Absence types, select a type and edit it.

In the Working time annualization section, enable or disable the Absence assimilated to effective working time toggle. If enabled, choose the crediting mode:

• Daily contractual basis: credits the contract hours (e.g. 7 h/day for a 35 h contract). The most common mode, suited to paid leave and public holidays.
• Planned shift value: credits the hours of the shift planned that day. Useful if your days vary a lot.
• Fixed number of hours: a precise number defined in the company agreement.

6. Period closing

Closing is the final settlement step. Access it from Configurations → [your configuration] → Period closing.

For each employee, choose a decision:

• Pay overtime: the positive balance is converted into overtime with premiums (25% then 50%).
• Carry over: the balance is transferred to the start of the next period.
• Reset: the counter is reset with no settlement (useful for negative balances when the agreement provides for it).
• Partial payment: pay part as overtime and carry over the rest.

Then export the data to your payroll software via the CSV, Silae or Excel buttons at the top right of the closing screen.

Individual closing

To handle the case of a single employee (departure, contract change), open their record and click Close the period. The process runs in three guided steps: closing type, decision, validation.