How confirmation and approval work#
For: Manager | Admin You’ll need: Nothing.
Worked hours move through two steps before they reach payroll: someone confirms the hours are correct, then they’re approved. This article explains who does each step, and how the three company-wide modes differ.
The three modes#
The mode is set in the ‘Time approval mode’ dropdown of the company settings — see How to choose the time approval mode. It applies to the whole company.
Manager approval only. A manager approves the hours. Confirmations still happen — most come from clocking out — but approval never waits for one. One person signs off. This is the simpler workflow.
‘Person confirmation + manager approval’ (dual approval). The person confirms their own hours first — they’re telling you “yes, these are the hours I worked.” Only then can a manager approve. This is the four-eyes control: the person who worked and the person who pays both sign off.
‘Automatic’. An hourly sweep records the scheduled hours of shifts nobody clocked, confirms them on the system’s behalf, and approves finished rows. Nobody confirms by hand — trying is refused with “Time approval is automatic — manual confirmation is unavailable.” — except on shifts that ended before the mode was switched on. A manager approves the rows the sweep holds back for review, such as hours people typed in themselves.
Note
New companies start in the mode that fits their country. Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and France default to dual approval (the law makes the employer responsible for recording each person’s hours, and employee self-declaration is the customary way to meet that). Italy, the UK, and the US default to manager approval only. You can switch anytime.
Who confirms#
The person, by clocking out. In every mode, a self clock-out — in the mobile app or at the kiosk tablet — is their confirmation, see How a worker uses the kiosk. So is their answer when Shiftavo asks when they finished a shift they forgot to clock out of, see What happens when someone forgets to clock out.
The person, on the timesheet. On the web or in the app, a worker can confirm their own finished shifts — except in ‘Automatic’ mode, which has no ‘Confirm’ action for shifts that ended after it was switched on.
Whoever saves corrected times. Saving new clock times or a break on a finished shift confirms the hours as the person who saved them, in every mode. No second click needed.
A manager, on the person’s behalf. A manager can confirm any row in their locations — use this when someone has left, is off sick, or simply can’t get to a device. The row records that you confirmed it (not the person), so on-behalf confirmations stay visible. This is the escape hatch: a row is never stuck waiting on a confirmation that can’t happen.
Shiftavo, in ‘Automatic’ mode. Hours the sweep records from the schedule carry a system confirmation instead of a person’s.
What confirmation does#
Confirming a row, in any mode:
Records scheduled hours when nothing was clocked, with the expected breaks unless the break policy’s ‘Breaks must be punched’ is on. Existing attendance is preserved, and scheduled hours are never recorded over the person’s approved leave. See Record and review breaks.
Triggers leave and time-compensation accruals — see Leave requests and Time compensation.
Sets the status to ‘Confirmed’.
May approve the row immediately: ‘Auto-approve timesheets’ is off by default, with a default tolerance of 5 minutes. Automatic approval requires variance within that tolerance and no open recorded-break issues, and it never re-approves a row someone unapproved. Where the break policy asks the break questions, a break issue stays open until an answer or a manager’s reason explains it — see How to review break answers.
Confirming needs a shift that has ended — or an early clock-out — and it’s refused on a shift the person declined.
The approval gate (dual approval only)#
In dual-approval mode a manager cannot approve a row until it’s confirmed. There is no “approve without confirmation” shortcut — the only way past the gate is a real confirmation, by the person or by a manager on their behalf. Until then the row shows ‘Awaiting confirmation’ where ‘Approve’ would be, and a bulk ‘Approve’ skips the row and leaves it exactly as it was. A confirmation Shiftavo recorded on its own in ‘Automatic’ mode doesn’t count here: after a switch to dual approval, those rows still need a person’s confirmation.
In manager-approval-only mode there’s no gate. On the web and in the app, ‘Approve’ on a row with no hours yet records the scheduled hours, confirms them as you, and approves the row — one click.
Note
Editing a row’s clock times replaces its confirmation: whoever saves the new times confirms them, and the row records who that was. In dual-approval mode a manager’s correction therefore counts as a confirmation on the person’s behalf. A save that changes nothing leaves the confirmation as it was. Whether the save also approves the row depends on the mode — see How to edit clock-in and clock-out times.
Verify it worked#
In dual-approval mode, a row nobody has confirmed shows ‘Awaiting confirmation’ where ‘Approve’ would be. Click ‘Confirm on behalf’ in its kebab menu (⋮) — or let the person confirm — and ‘Approve’ appears. The row’s ‘Confirmed’ badge names who confirmed it on hover.