The time clock device can be used for more than just tracking staff attendance.
Shift questions display a custom question or message when staff clock-in or out of their shift. Shift questions can be used to record responses or acknowledgement.
Example use cases include:
Recording the reason for clocking in or out before or after the scheduled time
Recording acknowledgement of a policy
Recording information about what happened on shift, such as how many kilometers were driven
How to create a shift question
Navigate to Settings > All Settings > Shift Questions > Set up shift questions
For example, to ask the question ‘Why are you leaving early?’, and offer a set of options for the employee to select from, configure the following steps:
Select which Workforce.com device should receive it: Time Clock or Mobile app or Both
Configure when to be asked: e.g. Clock out
Add a condition (only if): e.g. Earlier than scheduled
Add lenience (minutes): e.g. 10
Determine an action: ask a question
Choose to whom this applies (based on tags): e.g. All staff
Add the question phrase (if applicable): e.g. Why are you leaving earlier?
Add an action (then): e.g. Add a timesheet comment
Mark the ‘Is Required?’ field and click Create.
You can add Quick responses for the staff members to select as an answer: e.g. Shift supervisor allowed me.
Responses can also be recorded as a free text field, allowing employees to type a response to the question. To allow employees to type an answer to the shift question, leave section 2. 'Add Quick Responses' blank and select 'Add a timesheet comment'. The employee's type response will be visible in the comment section of the timesheet.
You can also use this feature to tag a shift, calculate pay at an alternative rate, or apply an allowance. For example, a staff member clocking out can enter an amount for allowance purposes, such as kilometers traveled.
Preventing clock-ins or clock-outs is available when determining the conditions for the question, so for example, if an employee is clocking in/out earlier than scheduled or if they are not scheduled at all.
When adding new questions, expect your device to take 10 minutes to sync the new questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the period of time before a clock-in/out is considered early/late?
10 minutes either side of when scheduled is the base set up, however, you can now edit the time frame to your needs by adjusting the lenience.
How can I find the comments added to the timesheet?
When an employee leaves an answer and you choose to add it to the timesheet, there will be a red notification sign for each shift. Clicking on it will show the answer:
All the comments will be stored in the Excel summary as well which you can download by going to Timesheets > Preview and Export > Download Excel Summary. There will be a tab in the excel file called "By Comment".
FAQs and Troubleshooting
If there is more than one shift question asked, how is the order of questions determined?
The shift question order is determined by the order that the shift questions were created, with the earliest created shift question asked first.