Clock Lockout
Clock lockout prevents employees from clocking in early through the Intelligent Clock. The employee's IN punch at the start of their shift is compared to the schedule and, if they are earlier than allowed, the clock rejects the punch and notifies the employee that they cannot clock in. Employees who are noted scheduled are also prevented from clocking in.
This article explains how to implement clock lockout and describes how it works.
Requirements
Clock lockout requires the following:
- Intelligent Clock Functionality - Clock lockout is only available for certain clocks which support Intelligent Clock. These include: WebClock, TimeWorksPlus Employee (the latest mobile app), TimeWorksTouch/TUFF, Swipeclock Touch, and Swipeclock Vision/Vision+. If you are unsure whether you use these clocks, contact your provider.
- Scheduling - Either TimeSimplicity advanced scheduling or the TimeWorksPlus Basic Scheduler.
Clock Lockout is NOT available on:
- TimeWorksPlus Mobile (the legacy mobile app)
- WebClock 1.0
- Basic clocks, like Punch, Punch+, and the Z-Series clocks
- Any account using TimeWorks instead of TimeWorksPlus
Setup
Clock lockout only applies to employees that have Enforce Schedule enabled in Employee Setup. If you do not see this field on the employee record, contact your provider. They will have to enable Clock Lockout for your account and set the threshold.
FOR PROVIDERS:
To enable clock lockout for a company:
- In timekeeping, select your client, and go to Settings Menu ⇒ Client Configuration and select the Clock Management tab.
- Under Integrated Scheduling Options, enable Restrict employees from Clocking In.
- Set the allowable early punch threshold to any 5 minute increment between 0 and 120.
- Select SAVE to save your changes.
In addition to having the feature enabled for your account, the following needs to be in place in order for Clock Lockout to function:
- The employee must have a schedule. If you are using TimeSimplicity, make sure the schedules for the Workgroup are published.
- Enforce Schedule needs to be set to "Enforce" on the employee record. This field is under the Employee Data section.
Clock Lockout Functionality
With Clock Lockout enabled, the following situations result in an employee's IN punch type being rejected:
- Not Scheduled / More than 8 Hours to Shift Start - When no schedule is present for the employee or the start of their shift is more than 8 hours away, they are notified that they are not scheduled.
- Early Punch - If the employee clocks in before the configured threshold and they are within 8 hours of their scheduled start time, they are notified of when they can clock in.
- Clocking In after the Scheduled Out Time - Lockout only allows employees to punch in during their scheduled shift. If an employee works beyond their scheduled shift, the Intelligent Clock does not allow another IN punch.
What if an employee needs to clock in and they can't?
In instances where an employee is not scheduled or needs to start their shift early, a manager can alter the schedule and within 10 seconds, the clock should update and allow the punch. Another way to get around Clock Lockout is for a manager to edit the employees time card with the in time.
