Breaks
Taking breaks on your shift, and how scheduled breaks, paid and unpaid time, short shifts and rounding decide what comes off the hours.
Every break is recorded on the timesheet with its own start, end and length. That time comes off the worked hours of the shift, unless your admin marks breaks as paid or the shift is a short one (under 6 hours, unless your company changed that).
You start and end breaks in the phone app, on the same screen where you clock in. There are no breaks on the web.
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Tap Start Break
On the Active Shift card on Home, or on the Time clock (the round button in the middle of the bottom bar), tap Start Break. Your shift stays open. Starting a break never needs a tag.
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Tap End Break when you are back
Tap End Break. Where your location requires the tag, the app opens the tag scan, the same tap you use to clock out.
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Check My day log
Below the timer, My day log lists your shift and every break.
The tag will not read? Cancel the scan and the app asks End break without the tag? You can end the break anyway. Your managers are told straight away, and a manager reviews the shift after you clock out.
The limit. Once 30 minutes of break are recorded on a shift, Start Break is greyed out. A break that is already running is never cut off: one 45 minute break is recorded as 45 minutes.
Forgot to end a break? Tap End Break as soon as you notice: the break is recorded up to that moment, and a manager can correct it on the timesheet. During a break the screen has no End Shift button. If your shift is closed for you while a break runs, the break ends at that moment.
No NFC on your phone? Where the tag is required, such a phone cannot end a break. Do not start one there: see NFC tap to clock in.
No signal? Breaks still work. The app saves them on your phone and sends them later. See Clock in without a signal.
The scheduled break. Set Break Minutes on a shift in Schedules. A shift with no break length, and work with no scheduled shift at all, uses the location's Default break duration (minutes), under Locations, the location, Scheduling (a tab listed only while the Scheduling module is on). Type the default and save it once: until it has been saved, no default break applies. The first save of that tab also stores the opening hours it shows: check them before you save. While the short shift rule below is on, the field on a shift is greyed out for shifts under the minimum hours.
Company rules. Open Settings, then Scheduling, and find Breaks (the Scheduling module must be on to see this page):
- Add scheduled breaks when clocking out: off by default. When on, a shift that ends with no break recorded gets its scheduled break added.
- Display warning for shorter or missed breaks: flags a timesheet as Missed break or Short break. Only work that matches a scheduled shift is flagged. The notification to the employee, the admins and the location's managers is sent only after this page was saved with the switch on.
- Breaks are paid: off by default. When on, break time is never taken off the hours.
- Don't deduct break time for short shifts: on by default, with Minimum hours for break deduction at 6. Switch it off and the break rules apply to every shift.
Rounding, per location. Under Locations, the location, Timesheets, Break rounding, turn on Round break time up to scheduled duration. It is off by default.
Correcting breaks. In Timesheets, edit the entry. Every break has its own Brk Start and Brk End, and Add a break adds one. Each break must lie inside the shift and must not overlap another. See Editing and adding timesheets.
What comes off the hours#
The same rule runs when you clock out and when Atteny closes a forgotten shift.
- Breaks you recorded are kept as they are. Nothing is invented on top.
- No break recorded, and your company adds scheduled breaks at clock-out: the scheduled break is placed in the middle of the shift.
- Short shifts: while the short shift rule is on, nothing is deducted and no break is added on a shift shorter than the minimum hours. The time is measured from clock-in to clock-out, and a shift of exactly the minimum is not short. A break you took still shows on the timesheet.
- Rounding: where it is on, a break shorter than the scheduled one counts as the full scheduled break. A longer break stays as it is. The break keeps its real start and end on the timesheet.
- Paid breaks: nothing is deducted.
The hours are stored when a shift is closed. Changing a break setting later does not change what payroll uses for shifts closed before.
Hours not what you expected? See My hours or pay estimate look wrong.
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