Overview: With Buddy Punch, you can track both paid and unpaid breaks. Breaks can be set up to automatically occur based on the number of hours worked per day or between punches. Breaks can also be manually entered by employees or management.
Important! Break rules and breaks on scheduled shifts serve different purposes in Buddy Punch:
Break Rules: These are configured settings that automatically deduct unpaid break time from an employee's total hours. For example, if a 60-minute break rule is applied, this time will be deducted from the total hours worked.
Scheduled Shift Breaks: Breaks shown on the schedule are informational only and do not affect time calculations. They are used for planning purposes but do not result in any automatic deductions.
Instructions:
Paid/Unpaid Manual Breaks
1. To set up a paid or unpaid manual break, start by clicking Settings --> Break Rules:
2. On the Break Rule page, click +Add a New Break Rule:
3. When creating a manual break, you'll need to specify the:
Break Rule Name: What employees will see when adding or taking a manual break.
Pay Status: Paid or Unpaid
If the employee can enter the break. (If the "Employees can enter this break" option is left unchecked, only managers or administrators can add the break to employee time cards.)
The minimum amount of time the employee is required to stay on the break. (If there's no minimum, please enter 0.)
Which employees are assigned to the break
4. Once you've made your selections, make sure to Save.
Note: Manual breaks will not be applied to past punches automatically, and instead must be added manually using the Add Break option on the time card. Steps and screenshots for adding a break to a time card can be found here.
Paid/Unpaid Automatic Breaks
Automatic break rules affect paid hours by automatically deducting unpaid break time from the total hours worked without any action required from the employee, ensuring payroll calculations align with company policies.
1. To set up a paid or unpaid automatic break, start by clicking Settings --> Break Rules:
2. On the Break Rule page, click +Add a New Break Rule:
3. When creating an automatic break you'll need to specify the:
Break Rule Name
Pay Status: Paid or Unpaid
If the break should be applied based on the total time between each punch in/out or based on the total time per day.
How many hours an employee needs to work before the rule triggers.
The total break time in minutes.
Which employees are assigned to the break.
Important! Employees can only be assigned to 1 automatic break rule at a time. Additionally, automatic break rules apply only to punches recorded after the rule is created and do not retroactively affect past punches.
4. Save your selections when done.
Activate/Deactivate Breaks
Breaks cannot be deleted if they've previously been used by employees, but they can be deactivated directly from the Settings --> Break Rules Page:
1. Once on the Break Rules page, click Edit next to the break rule you want to deactivate:
2. Uncheck the box next to Active and Save once done:
3. The break rule will now be moved to the Inactive tab:
4. You can also activate codes from the Inactive tab by clicking Edit next to the rule you want to activate, checking the box next to Active, and Saving once done.
FAQs
Q: How do I remove a break rule when the Delete button is grayed out?
A: If the Delete button is grayed out, this means the rule has been applied to an employee's punches and cannot be deleted. While it can't be deleted, it can be deactivated as detailed here.
Q: Why can't I assign an employee to multiple automatic breaks?
A: Employees are only able to be assigned to 1 automatic break rule at a time in order to prevent duplicate breaks being added automatically. If you assign an employee to a second automatic break rule, they will be automatically unassigned from the first.
Q: I created and assigned a new automatic break rule, why wasn't it added to my employees' past punches?
A: New automatic break rules don't apply retroactively to existing punches in order to ensure that breaks aren't added to time cards when they shouldn't be. To retroactively apply breaks to existing punches, you'll need to do so with a manual break rule by following the steps here.