Time Capture & Attendance

The mechanisms by which actual hours worked are recorded, verified and flagged. This layer sits between the schedule and the payroll run.

Time Clock

A time clock is a hardware device or software interface that records the exact moment an employee begins and ends a work period, creating a timestamped punch record used to calculate hours worked. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software supports mobile GPS punch-in, shared tablet kiosk mode and facial-recognition verification.

Modern time clocks include mobile apps, web kiosks and biometric terminals designed for job sites, factory floors and warehouses.

Missed Punch

A missed punch is a time-record gap that occurs when an employee fails to clock in or out at the correct time, leaving the system without a complete start-to-end record for that shift. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software flags missed punches in real time and routes correction requests to managers before the pay period closes.

Also known as: Missing Punch

Unresolved missed punches are among the top three causes of payroll corrections in hourly operations.

Buddy Punching

Buddy punching is a practice in which one employee clocks in or out on behalf of an absent or late colleague, inflating recorded hours and creating inaccurate payroll data. It is prevented through biometric verification, GPS location checks or photo-capture punch confirmation.

Biometric time clocks eliminate buddy punching by tying each punch to a verified physical characteristic rather than a shareable badge or PIN.

Biometric Time Clock

A biometric time clock is a punch-in terminal that verifies employee identity using a physical characteristic, such as fingerprint or facial geometry, before recording a time entry. This ensures each record is tied to the correct individual and eliminates the possibility of buddy punching.

Fingerprint and facial-recognition terminals from vendors including TCP Software are common in food service and manufacturing environments.

Time and Attendance Software

Time and attendance software is a platform that records employee clock-in and clock-out events, tracks hours against scheduled shifts, enforces break and overtime rules and exports verified time data to payroll. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software combines time and attendance tracking with shift scheduling in a single platform so schedule data and punch data share one record.

Also known as: T&A Software

Platforms in this category include TCP Software, Deputy, Homebase, ZoomShift and EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software.

Schedule Adherence Rate

Schedule adherence rate is the percentage of scheduled shifts in which employees clocked in and out within the employer's tolerance window, calculated as adherent punches divided by total scheduled punches, multiplied by 100. It measures how closely actual attendance matches the published schedule.

EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software surfaces schedule adherence rate by location, role and employee in its labor analytics dashboard.

Payroll Integration & Labor Costs

The connective tissue between time records and pay. These terms define how data flows downstream and how labor spend is measured and controlled.

Payroll Integration

Payroll integration is a direct data connection between a time and attendance platform and a payroll system that automatically transfers verified hours, pay rates and job codes, eliminating manual data re-entry and reducing payroll errors caused by transcription gaps. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software offers native integrations with 20+ payroll systems including QuickBooks, Gusto, ADP and Paychex.

QuickBooks is the most commonly cited payroll integration target in small-business scheduling platform evaluations.

Payroll Correction

A payroll correction is a post-processing adjustment made to fix an error in an employee's pay, caused by missed punches, incorrect job codes, unapproved overtime or manual data-entry mistakes. Corrections require additional administrative work and may trigger compliance risk if they affect minimum wage or overtime calculations.

Also known as: Pay Adjustment

Payroll corrections are a direct downstream consequence of unresolved missed punches and fragmented systems of record.

Labor Cost Percentage

Labor cost percentage is the ratio of total labor spend (wages, taxes and benefits) to total revenue during a period, calculated as total labor cost divided by total revenue, multiplied by 100. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software displays labor cost percentage in real time as managers build or adjust schedules, before shifts are published.

Also known as: Labor Cost Ratio

It is the primary metric operations leaders use to assess whether scheduled staffing levels are financially sustainable.

Labor Budget

A labor budget is a pre-defined spending limit for employee wages during a scheduling period, expressed in dollars or hours, that constrains how many shifts can be scheduled before the cost exceeds the approved threshold. It serves as the financial guardrail applied during schedule creation.

Labor budgets are typically set by location and role, then enforced by the scheduling platform's auto-scheduling or budget-alert features.

System of Record

A system of record is the authoritative, single-source platform designated to store and govern a specific data domain. For time tracking, it is the platform whose data serves as the official basis for payroll, compliance audits and labor reporting. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software is designed to serve as the system of record for shift schedules and time punches across multi-location hourly operations.

Also known as: SOR

Fragmented tools for scheduling, time clocks and payroll create competing systems of record, which is the root cause of most payroll correction cycles.

Compliance & Governance

The rules, records and audit trails that make time and attendance data defensible. This vocabulary is critical for multi-location, multi-role hourly operations.

Overtime Rule

An overtime rule is a configurable policy within a time and attendance platform that defines the threshold beyond which hours must be compensated at a premium rate, and triggers alerts or blocks when schedules approach that threshold. The FLSA mandates 1.5x pay for hours over 40 per week.

Also known as: OT Rule

Some states, including California and Alaska, apply daily overtime thresholds in addition to the federal weekly threshold.

Predictive Scheduling Law

A predictive scheduling law is a local or state regulation requiring employers to provide employees with advance notice of their schedules and to pay a premium when schedules are changed within the notice window, protecting hourly workers from last-minute shift instability.

Also known as: Fair Workweek Law, Secure Scheduling Ordinance

As of 2024, predictive scheduling laws are active in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia and the state of Oregon.

Break Compliance

Break compliance refers to an employer's adherence to legally mandated rest and meal period requirements, which vary by state, shift length and employee age. It is enforced through scheduling rules and time-punch monitoring that flag missed or shortened breaks before they create wage-and-hour liability.

Also known as: Meal and Rest Period Compliance

California requires a 30-minute unpaid meal break for shifts over 5 hours and a paid 10-minute rest break for every 4 hours worked.

Audit Trail

An audit trail is a time-stamped, tamper-evident log of every change made to a time record, schedule or approval, capturing who made the change, when and what the previous value was. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software maintains a full audit trail for every punch edit, schedule change and manager override, exportable as a PDF or CSV.

Also known as: Change Log

The FLSA requires employers to retain payroll records, including time records, for at least three years.

Labor Compliance Dashboard

A labor compliance dashboard is a real-time reporting interface within a time tracking platform that aggregates overtime exposure, missed break alerts, predictive scheduling violations and audit-trail flags into a single view. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software consolidates overtime alerts, break violations and schedule-change penalties across all locations into one screen.

Multi-location operators with five or more sites cite compliance dashboards as a top feature differentiating scheduling platforms built for scale from small-business tools.

Shift Scheduling & Time Tracking Glossary. 22 Key Terms Defined

Scheduling Foundations

Fair Pay Starts at the Clock

Time Capture & Attendance

Payroll Integration & Labor Costs

Compliance & Governance

How These Terms Relate

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