Configure rules for mandatory breaks

Objective

This page describes the configuration of Mandatory breaks.

You can find an example page showing the Mandatory Break Configuration according to German law here.

Process

HR Manager
Set up Mandatory breaks
Automated process
Use those settings to properly calculate the attendance
Employee
Can use the system to register their attendance

Prerequisites

Click Through

  • Start in HR HUB
  • In the lower left corner, switch from Overview to Settings
  • Under Time & Attendance, click on Attendance Calculation Configuration
  • Open the attendance configuration
  • If the status reason (top right corner) of the template is Valid: 
    • Deactivate the record using the "Deactivate" button in the top menu bar
    • Activate it again
    • Set the status reason to Draft
  • Open the tab Mandatory Break Configuration
  • Select you desired Calculation Mode
    • Total: Mandatory Breaks are calculated at the end of the total working time
    • Blockwise: Mandatory Breaks are calculated at the end of each work block
  • Select your desired Hour Base
    • Net: Mandatory break calculation is based on the work time without breaks
    • Gross: Mandatory break calculation is based on the total work time, including breaks
  • In Skip Break Blocks Smaller Than, add the number of minutes a tracked break needs to have before it is considered a break. If this value is not specified, every single minute is counted as a break.
  • Add the Mandatory Break Block Size in minutes (we recommend 1 - explanation below)
  • In the table Mandatory Break Rules
  • Click on + New Mandatory Break Rule
  • Select the tab Rule
  • Select your desired Rule Type
    • Total Work Time: Mandatory Breaks are calculated based on the total work time of a day
    • Time block: Mandatory Breaks are calculated based on each time block (e.g. from 'Start work' until the first break is taken)
  • Select the Operator (the mode in which the defined Work Time is considered - e.g. "greater than")
  • Add the Work Time in minutes (minimum work time after which a break is required)
  • Add the Mandatory Break in minutes (duration of the break)
  • If there also is an Age Related Rule, mark the checkbox in the tab General (optional) 
    • Go to the tab Age Related Rule
    • Select an Age Operator and the add Age it relates to
    • You can, for example, define different break rules for underage employees. In that case, the Age Operator would be 'Less Than' and the respective Age the age when people come of age in your country, e.g. 18
    • Add the duration of the age related rule in minutes
    • Careful: if you have age related rules, you need to define one inside every mandatory break rule you create to make sure they are considered in all cases.
  • Save & Close
  • Optionally add more Mandatory Break Rules to the table until all Mandatory Break Rules in your company are in the list
  • When you're done, set the status reason of the configuration to Valid
  • Save & Close

Hint

  • Mandatory Break Block Size: Specify the mandatory break blocks size (in minutes) used to fill missing break times.
    • Example 1: An employee only takes a 20-minute break instead of the fixed 30-minute break. If the mandatory break block size is 1, the missing 10 minutes are filled exactly (using 10 blocks of 1 minute each). However, if the mandatory break block size is 15, the missing 10 minutes are filled with one block of the size 15 minutes. This results in a total break time of 20 + 15 = 35 minutes.
    • Example 2: Same situation as example 1, but the employee only takes a 10-minute break. With a block size of 1, the block is filled exactly to 30 minutes, so the missing 20 minutes are filled by 20 1-minute mandatory break blocks. However, if the mandatory break block size is 15, one block is not sufficient (10 min + 1 block = 25 min). This means that 2 blocks are filled. This results in a total break time of 10 + 15 + 15 = 40 minutes.
    • For maximum flexibility, we recommend setting the Mandatory Break Block Size to 1.
  • For a tutorial on how to specify Mandatory Break Rules according to German law, see this page.

Result

When you're done, your Mandatory Break configuration could look like this:
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HR