How to turn on automatic clock-out#
For: Manager | Admin You’ll need: Owner or Admin role to change the settings; manager rights on the timesheet to clear the badge.
You’ll switch on the backstop that closes a forgotten clock-out nobody ever answered, and you’ll learn to read the ‘Auto clock-out (verify)’ badge it leaves behind. The backstop is the last step of the ladder, not the first — see What happens when someone forgets to clock out for the reminder and the kiosk prompt that come before it.
Turn it on#
Open the account dropdown (top-right) and click ‘Settings’.
In the right column, find the ‘Attendance’ section.
Turn on the ‘Automatic clock-out’ toggle. Two more fields appear.
Click ‘Save’.
The four settings#
Setting |
Default |
What it does |
|---|---|---|
‘Stale open punch after (hours)’ |
4 |
How long after the scheduled end an open entry stops blocking the person’s next clock-in and starts asking “when did you finish?” instead. Applies whether or not automatic clock-out is on. |
‘Automatic clock-out’ |
Off |
The master switch for the backstop. |
‘Auto clock-out after (hours)’ |
24 |
How long after the scheduled end a still-open, still-unapproved entry gets closed automatically. Kept long on purpose, so the employee gets to answer first. At least 12, and never less than ‘Stale open punch after (hours)’. |
‘Auto clock-out allowance (minutes)’ |
0 |
Added to the scheduled end when closing — for businesses where running over is normal, like hospitality. |
The last two only appear once the toggle is on. A delay shorter than 12 hours, or shorter than the stale-punch window, is refused on save with “Automatic clock-out must allow at least 12 hours and the stale-punch window.”
What the backstop writes#
Every hour, Shiftavo looks for open entries whose shift ended longer ago than your delay and that aren’t approved yet. For each one it:
Sets the clock-out to the scheduled end plus your allowance — never “now”, because that would invent hours nobody claims to have worked. It’s capped by your work policy’s maximum shift length and by the current time, and can never land before the clock-in.
Closes a break that was still running at that time. A break that started only after that time is removed.
Leaves the row’s status untouched. Nothing is confirmed, nothing accrues, nothing is approved — those things happen when a person attests to the hours.
Puts an orange ‘Auto clock-out (verify)’ badge on the row.
No notification is sent. The badge and the approval block are what carry the message.
Warning
Approval is blocked while the badge is there. The row offers no ‘Approve’, and a bulk ‘Approve’ skips it with “Can’t approve — the clock-out was recorded automatically. Verify or correct the time first.” This holds even for companies in the Automatic time-approval mode. A time the system guessed must never reach payroll without a human looking at it.
Clear the badge#
Three things clear it, and all three are a person vouching for the hours:
A real clock-out arrives late — for example a kiosk that was offline finally syncs. It overwrites the row, clears the badge, and the row carries on as normal.
Someone corrects the time — edit the clock-out on the timesheet to what actually happened. The corrected value is the human’s own claim, so the badge clears. Saving the guessed time unchanged counts too. See How to edit clock-in and clock-out times.
Someone confirms the hours — if the guessed time is right, just confirm the row. Confirming is attesting: the badge clears and the hours accrue at that moment. Confirm these rows one by one: a bulk ‘Confirm’ skips them with “Verify or correct automatic clock-outs individually.” In Automatic mode, where there’s no ‘Confirm’, save the time instead.
Once the badge is gone, it doesn’t come back — not even when a confirmation is undone later.
Verify it worked#
Open Planning → Management → Timesheet the day after a forgotten clock-out. The row shows a closed clock-out time with an orange ‘Auto clock-out (verify)’ badge, and it offers no ‘Approve’ until you correct or confirm it. Once you do, the badge is gone and the row approves like any other. The Attendance report counts these rows separately as ‘Auto clock-out (verify)’.
Entries completed or approved while automatic clock-out is running are skipped, together with their breaks.