Fridays have become my least favorite day

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I’m not in the restaurant business, but we generally just have people clock in when they get to work and clock out when they leave. I'm no business savant or anything. But I really think this whole "clock in/out " thing might have some legs behind it. I can definitely see it working in all different types of businesses.

What the fuck? No, just don't buy the fingerprint one. Nobody needs their employees fingerprints for them to clock in. That's fucking insane.

Maybe if instead of having to be all electric and dependent on software, we give people like a card and have a physical hole puncher (with a unique punch) that can punch out the actual time they got to and left work

Agreed. I use Homebase/Gusto and it meets our needs easily.

Couldn't agree more. My time in restaurant management ended before software packages were remotely affordable so that was never an option for me. I found myself trying to reconcile post-its on the office floor because they'd fallen off the door saying "Julie" (3 Julies) had switched with "Dana" (2 Danas) and it invariably added an hour to payroll every week. I made a half page paper form and an enclosed (not locked) bin to put them in and a rule that if it wasn't legible and fully complete, it didn't happen. Amazing how taking a couple of hours can save dozens down the road

Just pay for the software dude

🤯

I’m not in the restaurant business, but we generally just have people clock in when they get to work and clock out when they leave. Seems to work pretty well, it’s all through an app.

it sounds like the problem starts long before payroll day. by friday you're just dealing with the consequences of how hours were tracked during the week. we ran into the same thing until we started keeping everything in priority payroll instead of chasing texts. edit: grammar

Isn't this why time clocks exist?

One late text from an employee can somehow add thirty minutes to payroll. It's kind of impressive

Im gonna be suspicious of anyone that points this post to a specific software. This form of marketing is getting to be BS. Nobody talks like this without some agenda. Theres no way you've gotten this down to a RCA without knowing a tool exists to solve this exact problem. I'm calling BS

You don't have software or at least time cards? You can't eyeball time sheets any more than ECommerce inventory before you go crazy. Nevermind the inaccuracy and fraud your team is surely committing.

You realize there’s already software that does shift swapping directly with employees without involving you? If you’re manually doing timesheets, you need to stop. We use Deputy in conjunction with gusto and it works spectacular.

Homie, I hate to tell you this, but you gotta figure this out at systems level. Fair Labor Standards is going to chew your ass up and spit you out if they ever audit your books on hours worked. YOU the employer need to make a contemporaneous record of when employees clock in and clock out, or you're on the wrong side of labor law. Just get a punch card machine dude. You can get one from the internet for $150. If you get the fingerprinty kind, ask your favorite AI (or pay an attorney $500 if you have some moral objection) if you need a personal information waiver release for collecting your employee fingerprints to use it.

Before buying software, I'd fix where the change gets recorded. Pick one place for every swap, late stay, or coverage change, have the employee log it before the shift ends, and have the shift lead approve the exception. Don't make missing paperwork mean unpaid time; make it mean the lead has to resolve it before payroll cutoff. Even a simple form feeding one sheet would stop Friday from becoming a scavenger hunt, and then you can choose software around a process that already works.

Well just be thankful you have a least favorite day. That's positive.

Restaurants are tough because the schedule you planned is almost never the schedule that happened.

This sounds less like a payroll problem and more like the source of truth living in everyone’s texts. Even a tiny end-of-shift form for swaps and coverage might save Friday-you a lot of archaeology.

That usually means the real problem is not payroll, it is the handoff before payroll. Once shift swaps, late stays, and coverage live in texts, Friday turns into detective work. What has helped in a lot of service businesses is making one rule: if it is not logged in the same place, it did not happen. Even a very simple shared form or end-of-shift log where people submit date, hours changed, who approved it, and why will clean up a lot fast. I would start with: one place for shift changes only manager approval in writing before it counts a same-day cutoff so Friday is review, not reconstruction Most of the stress usually comes from chasing missing details, not from payroll itself.

Yes, what I have seen work is having a system that handles a lot of stuff before payroll comes around. For example, shift swaps going through one channel that creates a record automatically and gets submitted before the swap happens. Another useful arrangement is moving a lot of the documentation requirements to employees rather than yourself. That way you stop being the one piecing it together at the end of the week. An internal deadline also goes a long way. If payroll is due on Friday, try to set the internal cutoff on Wednesday or even Thursday.