Your guide to managing shift times that are affected by Daylight Saving!
Daylight Saving Time (DST) is a biannual process that involves adjusting the time to take advantage of longer, more productive summer days.
If you are a customer located in New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, or Tasmania, you need to keep in mind some key factors when approving overnight shifts and payroll checks during the switch to and from DST.
The details of Daylight Saving Time (the time of day and date it occurs) may vary from state to state, so please consult your state's details.
Some general rules of daylight saving time are:
- On the first Sunday in October, the clocks move forward by an hour
- On the first Sunday in April, the clocks are set back by an hour
Don't worry; we've got you covered with all the information you need to make the transition seamless for any Overnight Shifts (starting before and ending after 2 am) that the transition can impact.
This article will cover:
- Considerations for rostering overnight shifts during daylight saving transition
- Clocking and approving overnight shifts during daylight saving transition
- Pre-payroll reports for checking DST hours
Hot tip: You should consult your state's official website for precise information regarding the transition from and to Daylight Saving Time (DST). The initiation and conclusion of DST may vary from state to state, making it imperative to confirm the details.
Before creating a roster, it is recommended to review your Award's interpretation to check for any specific rulings or rates concerning shifts during daylight saving time changes.
Any required updates should be made to the Award before building your rosters. If you have any inquiries about updating an award in foundU, please refer to our guide on how to Build or Update an Award or Agreement.
Considerations for rostering during DST
Building your roster for the Daylight saving period will not be difficult at all, but there are a few key things to be aware of:
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Overnight shifts - Only overnight shifts spanning the time of the 2 am changeover will be affected.
- If you do not use shifts that span this time period, DST will not affect your shifts; you can roster and approve them as usual.
- Additionally, the times displayed in the Employee App for your employees are based on the time zone set on their roster.
- Shift durations - If you use the 'shift total hours' display feature on your roster, you may note some changes (1 hour more or less, depending on the time of year) in shift durations. Please disregard these discrepancies on your roster, as all changes will be made in Approve Shifts to remedy shift times.
SCENARIO
We'll use the following example to show a typical roster using overnight shifts during the DST period.
Conor, an employee based in NSW, works regular overnight shifts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. During his Saturday overnight shift, Daylight Saving Time will commence at 2 am on Sunday morning.
What we can note from the image below:
- All 3 of Conor's shifts have been entered as 11pm -6am the next day.
- We note that your platform has amended the Shift Duration for Saturday's shift by 1 hour due to DST. (6 hrs instead of 7hrs)
- Please ignore the difference in shift duration. There are no further changes to be made at this time. This roster can be published as normal and employees can clock in and out as normal.
As an additional idea, the rostering admin users may want to leave shift notes on overnight shifts, as a reminder to:
- Inform employees of the DST time change.
- Request for the approving shift admin users/ payroll team to review these shifts before payroll processing.
Warning: foundU will not automatically adjust shifts for DST. Please ensure you edit and adjust these shifts when approving in Approve Shifts.
If you are an admin responsible for shift approvals, this section is a must-read. In the content below, we will cover:
- How employee clock-out times may be affected during DST and,
- Most importantly, how to edit approval times so that the correct hours are pulled through to payroll
Before we cover our Approval scenario, let's look at how your device settings will affect employee clock times in Approve Shifts.
Understanding how device time affects clock-out times
When employees clock in for shifts, the time recorded in Approve Shifts is accurate to the time on their specific device (phone/ iPad/ browser). Whether or not your device uses 'automatic date and time settings' will affect how employee clock times display in Approve Shifts.
The following are all true for employee clock times in Approve Shifts during DST
- The clock start time will not be affected
- Your platform will display the clock-out time as listed on the device
- The end time will be affected by DST time if automatic date and time are enabled on the device
- The end time will be in AEST time (regardless of the device location) if the device does not enable automatic date and time
In all cases, you can disregard the likely hourly DST change in clock times and make adjustments in Approve Shifts.
Approving shifts during DST
This is the most important part of the process, correctly editing the end times for shifts that need adjusting.
The key message in approvals for shifts that span the DST changeover is to:
- Edit as there has been no DST, to ensure the shift end time in the approval column is the same as the rostered shift end time.
- Ignore the shift durations (grey badge under shift times) for these shifts.
- Perform pre-payroll checks to verify correct hours have been pulled according to the guidance above.
Please note: The system will use the approved shift start time and approved shift end time to determine the total number of hours to pay the employee. Not the shift duration that appears in the Approve Shift page.
The following 2 examples will help illustrate when you may or may not need to make edits to the shift end time. These steps will help ensure that your payroll records are accurate.
SCENARIO A
No edits are required.
In the example below, the employee has clocked 10 pm - 5 am (a 1-hour change due to DST), and the system has pulled through the rostered times; no edit is required.
- Disregard the shift duration time.
- Approve as normal.
SCENARIO B
An edit is required for the shift end time.
In the example below, the employee has clocked 10 pm - 5 am (a 1-hour change due to DST), and the system has pulled through the clocked times (likely due to the chosen clock settings for this business). An edit is required.
If your approved shift time is using clocked time:
- Edit as there has been no DST, for example, the same as the rostered shift end time.
- I.e. Edit the 5 am end time in the approval column as if DST had not occurred.
- If the employee had clocked out at 5:36, please account for this in your edits and change the end time to 6:23.
- Approve the edited shift.
- Disregard the shift duration time, as there may be a discrepancy. Instead, just ensure the shift start and end time is correct, disregarding DST.
In both of the above cases, the final approved shift will look like the image below.
Hot tip: Once you feel confident about how you would like to update multiple employees, the above process can be followed to edit shifts in bulk.
When processing payroll for a pay period that includes a Daylight Saving Time (DST) transition, it is crucial to double-check the total number of hours worked by your employees before generating payroll. This will help you avoid mistakes and save time on necessary edits, adjustments, and deductions later on.
Below are a few reports that can help you check the total number of hours worked during these shifts:
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Approve Shifts Export - This export report is widely used and extremely useful as it allows for easy comparison between approved shifts and clock time duration. This report helps you quickly identify any shifts that have not had their approved end times edited.
When using this export, we suggest using the following options:- Employee Name
- Worked Start Date, Worked Start Time, Worked End Time and Total Worked Hours
- Shift Start Time, Shift End Time and Total Shift Hours
- Comments
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Labour Management Report (LMR) - This report is a helpful tool for verifying labour costs against approved shift hours prior to payroll processing.
When using this report, we suggest setting a specific date and using these groupings:- Employee ID
- Times
By utilising these groupings, you'll see the total duration of approved shifts for each individual on the date of change.
- Exporting Pay Data - As part of your pre-payroll checks, it is recommended that you export the pay data for review. By exporting the pay data, you can easily check the total number of hours worked by each employee per pay period, as well as review individual line items.