After the punch
Handover, closing down, waiting to leave, and the task that overran.
Handover, Paid Twice or Not at All
In continuous operations one shift has to tell the next what happened. The minutes belong to both shifts and in most rotas they are scheduled into neither.
Shutting Down
The end of a shift has its own sequence — closing, cleaning, returning, reconciling — and it is shorter than the start sequence and much less examined.
Waiting to Be Released
A person who has finished but cannot leave is in the least examined category on the edge, and the test that applies is not about what they are doing.
The Task That Did Not Stop at the Hour
Work does not end when the shift does. What happens in the twenty minutes afterwards is decided by whether recording them is easy or awkward.
The Search on the Way Out
A security search is required by the employer, happens after the punch, and is the single largest post-shift item on the sites that have one.
The Message at Nine in the Evening
Work that arrives after the punch out, on a phone, is the newest part of the boundary and the one no clock system has any way of recording.
Punching Out and Carrying On
A sharp cluster of punch-outs exactly on the hour is not discipline. It is a sign that the hour is the target, and the work after it is happening off the record.