Approve Shifts

foundU

February 10, 2025 04:02

Checking and approving shifts

Approve Shifts is a centralised view of your employees' rostered shift times, clocked times and approval times.

The best practice is that managers will approve the hours worked by employees at the end of each day or first thing the next day.

In Approve Shifts, times can be edited in the approved column to reflect the hours that the employee worked and should be paid for.

Managers can use this page to manage last-minute changes and scenarios that may occur on the day. This data, once approved, will then flow through to pay for payroll processing.

In this article, we will cover:

Approve time worked to be paid.
Decline shifts that are not to be paid.
Edit the times that your employees should be paid.
Add an allowance to an employee's shift or as a weekly allowance.
Adjust the break duration of the employee.
Apply leave to the shift such as personal leave (and optionally upload a medical certificate).
Change the employee's position.
Change the roster that the employee worked on.
Lock shifts so that no more edits can be made whilst payroll is being processed.

If you would like to see an overview of all shifts that have been approved or declined for a certain period to double-check your shifts before payroll, you can find information on Approve Shifts CSV here.

Navigating Approve Shifts

Using the Approve Shifts filters

Navigating to Approve shifts

Approve Shifts can be accessed from:

- The quick menu at the top of your platform or
- Directly from any roster.

To access Approve Shifts from the quick menu, navigate to Time & Attendance > Approve Shifts.

To access Approve Shifts from any roster, select the ellipsis at the top of the day you'd like to view the shifts for and then select View Approve Shifts.

Using this method, you will experience the added benefits of:

- Being taken directly to the Approve Shifts menu for the day you selected.
- The Approve Shifts menu will be loaded in a filtered state so that you're only viewing the roster that you selected.

Using the Approve shifts filters

We recommend always filtering your view; this allows the most relevant shifts to load quickly. Or you may prefer to leave the filters blank to show all.

You have a variety of filtering options.

- Date selector - This shows results starting from the date in the selector. This filter automatically defaults to the current week.
- Employee - Filter by a specific employee or multiple employees.
- Office Code - Filter by a specific office code or multiple office codes.
- Operation - Filter by a specific operation or multiple operations.
- Roster - A helpful option if you wish to focus on a particular roster.
- Show Status - Show all, or you can view all the unapproved shifts, unassigned, approved or declined shifts.
- Created by - Filter by shifts created by admins from the roster or employees (Submit shifts).

Select the 'X Clear filters' should you need to clear your filters and make new selections.

You can also use the tickbox selectors.

- Hide empty rosters- This removes the visibility of rosters without shifts. (on by default)
- Only employees with Wageflo access- Easily see Wageflo employees so that their shifts can be actioned quickly, allowing them to access funds seamlessly. (This tickbox will only show if your platform uses the Wageflo feature).
- Only shifts with questionnaire comments- Easily filter your view by shifts with comments from the clock-out questionnaire.
- Lock All Shifts button- if you're processing payroll and you would like to lock the shifts so that those shifts are not editable. Read here to learn more about locking shifts. This is a permission-controlled feature, so managers may not see this button.

You're also able to filter by a specific day by selecting the day dial in the Weekly Summary.

Understanding the dials and shift icons

There are many tools and features of the Approve Shifts page that can assist you in managing your approvals for the week in an organised fashion. In this section, we will discuss the following:

- Using the daily dial to track Approval progress throughout the week.
- Understanding the shift icons that may appear on individual shifts.

Using the daily dials

The colours of the dials will change depending on your daily progress for approving daily shifts. To properly manage your shifts, we encourage:

Addressing all shifts daily. Aim for each dial to reach 100% by the end of the day or first thing the next day.
And all dials to 100% for the week ending.

Here is a brief overview of the colours of shifts. These will assist you in understanding the status of these shifts. You can also hover over individual shifts to see the status.

- Approved shifts - Green. The time you approve here will be paid to the employee.
- Declined shifts - Red. A declined shift will not be paid.
  - For example, if someone does not attend work, you may decline their shift and enter in a reason such as 'no show', and the employee will not be paid.
- On leave shifts - Purple. Purple will display when an approver has applied Leave to a shift in approved shifts.
  - For example, if a permanent employee does not attend work due to being sick, and you apply personal leave to the shift. This will then display as purple.
  - * Please note, that partial sick leave will display as Green if an employee worked part of the shift before going home.
- Unassigned Shifts - Yellow. You will come across when an employee has clocked in but was not rostered.
  - These shifts will be located in your Unassigned section for approval.
  - Unassigned shifts must be assigned to a roster to pay the employee. You'll need to select a position for the employee as well so the system knows their rate of pay.
- Unapproved Shifts - Blue. These shifts are still awaiting review from an approver or have not yet been worked.
  - At the end of each week, you need to have dealt with all blue shifts and either approved or declined them.

Please note: The day will not move as you progress through the week. The Approve Shifts page will always default to Monday. Please select the next day to be able to move on to approving more shifts.

You can navigate between days by selecting the dials at the top of the page or via the column heading at the top of each roster.

As you action your shifts, they will turn the appropriate colour to indicate their status.

Understanding shift icons

Each shift has additional shift icons. These icons tell you if there anything additional has been applied to the shift. For example, allowances, comments or clocking photos.

Each icon is as follows:

When something additional has been applied to the shift, for example, an allowance, the icon will highlight blue as per the below image.

Hot tip: These icons can be selected and will open the relevant menu in the edit shift screen.

In this example, we can see that Charlotte has an allowance. Selecting the allowance icon will open the allowance menu in the edit shift screen so any relevant changes can be made.

Read on for more information on viewing clocking data for your employees in Approve Shifts!

Viewing Clocking data and Approved hours for the pay period

When approving shifts for the week, you'll want to consider the employee's clocking times before deciding what hours to approve. You may also like to view the comments made from clocking to assist in determining what times you will want to approve or adjust.

Viewing Clock Information

For those platforms that use clocking either via the foundU Clock App or via the Employee App, you'll see the clocking times in the Clocked shifts column.

When applicable, you will also see:

- Clock Location.
- No end time (forgot to clock out)- this will show in red where the end time will normally display.
- Clock comments made by an employee. Comments may be recorded based on the following situations:
  - Employee clocks in too early/late.
  - The employee clocks out too early/late.
  - Employee clocks in without a rostered shift.
- Employees responding to the clocking questionnaires if you use this feature.

Hot tip: You may want to filter your Approve Shifts page so that you can see 'Only shifts with questionnaire comments'. To do so, use the tickbox in the top filter bar of the Approve shift page. You can also export these answers using the CSV Export option.

- When a comment is recorded, you can hover over the comment icon to get a preview.
- Alternatively, you can select the comment icon to open the Communication menu, which displays all comments and clocking photos for this shift.

Remember, although you cannot adjust the times an employee has clocked in and out, you can edit the approved column to adjust the amount of time that the employee will be paid for.

Understanding Approved hours for the pay period

You're able to see the total hours approved and the total leave hours approved below each employee in Approve Shifts. This feature allows you to easily check the employee's total hours worked/approved leave each pay period at a glance, as it allows you to see the total amount of hours already approved in your pay period.

- Weekly- where you can see the total hours of 38 displayed
- Fortnightly- where you can see the total hours of 76 displayed

In the Employee column, under the employee name, you'll be able to view (for the relevant pay period) the

- Total worked hours approved and
- Total Leave hours approved (includes all types of leave including LWOP)

Any hours that are not approved will not be included in the hourly totals. For example, unapproved leave and unapproved hours will not be shown.

Weekly Example

Jeremy has 25.47 hours approved for the week as well as 15.5 hours of approved leave hours. His business pays weekly (Mon-Sun) so these amounts will reset at the end of the week.

Fortnightly example

Melanie has 42.75 hours approved for the fortnight as well as 30.4 hours of approved leave hours. Her business pays fortnightly (Mon-Sun) so these amounts will reset at the end of the fortnight.

Hot tip: The hours displayed in these columns will include any approved hours across all Operations and Rosters.

Approving and Bulk Approving shifts

Approving single shifts

By approving a shift, you indicate that you would like to pay the time in the Approve column.

You can approve single shifts or shifts in bulk once you have reviewed the times. As mentioned before, it is best practice to Approve Shifts at the end of each day.

Hot tip: To assist you with getting shifts approved, you can set up a weekly reminder. This reminder will automatically be sent to specific admins when a roster contains shifts that have not yet been approved. You can find a guide on how to set it up here.

To approve a single shift:

First review the clocked and rostered times and then move to the right to review the suggested Approve times for this shift.
Select the green tick / Approve Button on the shift you want to approve. The shift will turn green once approved.

Hot tip: If the shift has not yet finished (or it's in the future), it will be marked as 'Pre-approved' (see image below). To learn more about Pre-approving shifts in your platform, read here.

Shift Minimum

Before approving shifts, it is essential to know if any positions in your award have minimum shift hours set. Minimum hours will dictate the number of hours paid to the employee regardless of actual hours worked and clocked.

Shift minimum hours are inclusive of any paid or unpaid leave applied while approving shifts.

To check if Minimum hours are set, you will need to look at your Position & Pay Rules. If you do not have access to Awards & Agreements in your platform, please consult your manager to understand the shift minimum.

Unassigned Shifts

You may have unassigned shifts to manage. Instances where shifts will appear as Unassigned, include:

- An employee clocked in who was called in last minute and wasn't on the roster.
- A roster wasn't published, and employees clocked in for shifts.
- The employee has clocked out instead of starting a break, so clocking back in will create a new shift.

To manage unassigned shifts:

Select the Edit icon to update the missing details.
Fill in the Position worked, Roster, and Approve the shift as needed. You can also decline using the red 'x' if need be.

Addressing your unassigned shifts tells your platform what roster and position to pay this employee.

If an employee clocks in and selects the wrong roster, admins can edit the correct roster from the drop-down box.

Bulk approvals, adjust times and bulk decline shifts

You can also approve an entire day which will approve all shifts on a specific day for a specific roster. You can Bulk Approve Shifts in 2 methods:

- Use the 'Select all Shifts' button on the right-hand side opposite the Roster name.
- or by selecting multiple shifts using the tick boxes on the far left.

To Approve an entire day using the 'Select all shifts' button:

Select the 'Select all Shifts' button. This will select all shifts however, it will not apply to any shifts you have already approved/edited/declined.
In the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, choose whether you would like to:
- Adjust times in bulk
- Decline Shifts in bulk
- or Approve Shifts in bulk
Once selected, a modal will appear and summarise how many shifts have been selected and how many will be approved (see the below image).

Please note: Before bulk approving, ensure that you have checked the Approved column details correctly otherwise if the times are incorrect, employees will be paid based on the incorrect data. If you need to make a change to times, select the Edit pencil and resave the shift.

Watch this short video to see bulk approval in the demo. You'll also note that shifts can be edited even after approval if you have made an error in your approvals.

To Approve specific shifts in bulk using tick boxes & bulk adjust shift times:

Using the checkboxes, you can approve multiple, decline multiple and adjust the end times of multiple employees in bulk.

Select the checkboxes next to all the shifts you wish to approve.
Select Approve Shifts in the taskbar. You can also use this method to decline multiple shifts or adjust the end times in Bulk.
Once selected, a modal will appear and summarise how many shifts have been selected and how many will be approved (see the below image).

What if I don't want my managers to approve or decline in bulk?

You may not want your managers to have the ability to approve, decline or make adjustments to shifts in bulk. If this is the case, you can disable this functionality.

To adjust this setting:

Navigate to Platform Settings > Time & Attendance.
Locate the setting 'Bulk approve, decline and edit shifts from the approve shifts page' and select No.
To save your changes, select Save from the taskbar.

When the 'Yes' option is selected, bulk approval and decline is allowed. The image below highlights what is seen with this enabled feature.

When the 'No' option is selected, none of the admins for your platform will have the ability to approve or decline shifts in bulk. The image below highlights what is seen with this disabled feature. You will notice the tick boxes next to each shift (allowing you to multi-select) will also be missing.

If you want supervisors to review and approve each shift with care, so that errors are reduced and shift approvals are accurate, then consider turning this toggle off and removing the option to bulk approve, decline or adjust.

Adding a shift in Approve Shifts

There will be cases where you may want to add a shift directly into Approve Shifts.

You should only need to do this if:

- The employee wasn't on the roster
- The employee didn't clock on

Before you add a shift directly in Approve Shifts, be sure to check the 'Unassigned section' at the top of the roster Approval sections. As, even if an employee wasn't on the roster, if they clocked in, their time would flow through to the unassigned section.

To add a shift into Approve Shifts:

Select on the Add button at the bottom of the specific roster. If the roster is not available, ensure you have the 'Hide empty rosters' tick box ticked off before applying filters.
Press the Create shift button on the appropriate roster.
Enter all the shift details including shift times, break duration, employee's position and name, as well as any allowances or comments on the shift that may be necessary.
Select Save Shift (to approve later) or turn on the toggle to 'Approve shift Upon saving' and Save shift (to save and approve at the same time).

You will then see the shift appear with your other shifts and once approved the employee will be paid.

Editing and declining shifts

Editing shift times and applying leave in Approve Shifts

If you would like to change the times in your Approve column, you can do so by using the edit button. Use the edit button to:

- Adjust the start or end approval times.
- Adjust the break start or duration.
- Add an allowance to the shift (read more here).
- Change the employee's position (covered below).
- Adjust a roster the employee's shift is attributed to.
- Add a comment to the shift.
- Apply leave to the shift, and attach a supporting document.

In the below examples, we will cover some of the more common examples.

Editing the time an employee will be paid and/or Editing a break duration

If you need to adjust the times an employee is paid for, you can do so using the edit icon.

In the below example,
Hayley Smith was rostered from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm, but she arrived and stayed until 6:15 pm. She wasn't scheduled for a break, but we know she had a break from 12:00 pm for 30 minutes. These things will happen, using the edit icon, we will adjust:

- The end time to be 6:15 pm
- Add in a 30-minute break duration starting at 2:00 pm
- And leave a note (optional) for her, so she knows why we have adjusted her time.

As you can see in the video below, after we have made our edits, the coloured pills will indicate the times that will be paid in green and the break time in Blue.

Please note that depending on how clocking is set up in your platform, many of the times in the Approve column may adjust automatically and you may not need to make so many changes.

Hot tip: When you edit shift times in Approve Shifts, these updated times flow through to Work > Rosters and will change the times on the roster.

The original rostered shift time will remain under the Rostered Shift column in Approved Shifts, ensuring that you retain a record of the original rostered shift.

Changing the Employee's position

An employee may attend a shift that they were rostered for and work a different position or higher duties than originally rostered for.

You will want to amend the employee's position so that they are paid the correct level under the award. To do so:

Select the edit icon next to the shift.
Choose the new position from the drop-down box.
You may like to add a comment to the shift for your notes (Nick worked as a Runner today instead of as a Duty Manager).

In the below example, Nick was originally rostered as a Duty manager for the day, however, he performed the role of a runner, so we have adjusted his position to ensure he gets paid the right level under the Award.

Editing a shift and applying personal leave

You can use this process to apply for any type of leave. In the below example, we will use personal leave but annual leave, compassionate leave, or leave without pay could also be used. For more information on applying a half day of leave to a shift (the employee went home sick), you can refer to our dedicated article on Applying leave in Approve Shifts.

In our example, Kai was rostered for an 8- 4:30 pm shift but called in sick prior. We need to apply personal leave to his shift and remove the hours that were not worked.

To apply leave to a shift:

Navigate to Time & Attendance > Approve Shifts.
Select the Edit pencil to the right of the shift.
Select Add Leave and from the menu on the right, select the Leave type, Leave amount, Reason, and any additional comments. Optionally, upload a supporting document if you like.
Turn off the 'Include shift hours' toggle.
Select Save and approve X hours.
A shift with no approved work hours but approved leave will display purple.

Please note: The leave icon in the Additional column is now highlighted. Selecting on this icon will display the details of the leave. You can also see different coloured bubbles in the Approve column, highlighting what is being approved. Green is hours worked, blue is an unpaid break, and purple is leave.

The gif below highlights the same example used above.

In our example, Lisa has a rostered shift from 8 to 4:30 pm and calls in sick. The shift hours are removed and personal leave is applied at the same time in the Approve Shifts menu.

Adding an allowance in Approve Shifts

If you need to add an Allowance in Approve Shifts, you can do this easily by using the edit icon.

Adding Allowances to a shift

Select the edit icon.
Select the Add allowances.
From the drop-down choose an Allowance and assign the Quantity (where necessary).
You can add multiple allowances by selecting the Add an Allowance button again.
To finish, select Save and approve X hours.
Shifts with allowances applied are noted by the allowance icon (coin in had) under the 'Additional' column on the shift. (see below). Selecting the icon will display the allowance details.
This allowance will now be paid with the hours worked.

Adding an Allowance/s to a shift with no worked hours

There may be a case where you need to pay an allowance on a shift where there were no shift hours.

This can be done by:

Adding the relevant allowance in the same manner as listed above.
Slide off the Include shift hours toggle so that no shift hours will be included.
Select Save and approve 0.00 hours.

You will then see the completed shift appear with the worked hours crossed out. The allowance icon will be displayed in blue, indicating the allowance will still be paid.

Declining shifts

There will be occurrences where shifts flow through to Approve Shifts that you do not wish to be paid. Examples of this will be:

- An employee doesn't attend work for the day.
- A casual employee calls in sick and does not work (no personal leave).
- An employee does not work a shift because someone covers for them.
- A shift is published that was never used (no one works it).

In all of the above instances, you will want to decline the shift so that the hours will not be paid.

To Decline a shift:

Select the 'x' icon.
In the review screen, select the Reason for declining and add a comment providing more explanation. These reasons and comments will be available to report on from your Performance and Attendance Report.

Hot tip: You also have the option to customise and add extra attendance codes to better fit your business needs. For further reading, refer to our article here.
Press Accept Changes. The shift will now appear in red on your screen. You can hover over the blue 'icon' under the Additional column to review the reason and comment.

You can also view the person who declined the shift and the date it was declined under the wording 'shift declined'. (see above).

Approve Shifts tools

Approve Shifts Import

The Shift Approvals Import allows you to view a report of the shifts for approval, make changes and import the report back in and Approve the shifts by updating the Shift Status in the report.

- The Shift Import is easy to export and send to different managers and teams to make changes and Approve.
- It can also be sent directly to Clients for shift Approvals. For example, if you work in Labour hire and do not wish to add your clients as users in the foundU system, this report can be used for your clients to Approve the Shifts worked (you'll need to import the report once they have emailed the changes back).

Watch the short video below or if you prefer more detail, please read this guide.

Please note: This Screen Navigation has no sound, please watch and follow along for helpful tips on importing Shift Approvals.

Approve Shifts CSV Export *NEW

Exporting from Approved Shifts provides a wealth of data points that can be used for various purposes. With so many benefits, you should be utilising this export to report on weekly, fortnightly or even monthly data. This export now can export up to 3 months' worth of data in one export!

Data points for the Approve Shifts page

The Approve Shifts page pulls data from various places including:

- All Rosters once the shifts are published.
- Clock data when employees clock in and out.
- Submit Shifts.
- As well as, all information managed and edited from the Approve Shifts page itself.

To see the Approve Shifts CSV export in action and learn more about it, please refer to our detailed guide.

Once you have a combination of export options that you like to use, it's a good idea to save this export as a template for future use.

To do this:

Under Export Options > enable the 'Save as template' toggle > Name your export description.
Make all of your relevant selections for the template then select Export CSV.
Your CSV will export and the template will be saved in the same action.