From punch to payslip
Rounding, pay rules, premiums and the translation layer nobody has read.
Between the Punch and the Payslip
A punch is a timestamp and a payslip is money. Between them is a layer of rules nobody has read in full, and it is where the record stops being a record.
Rounding, and Where It Happens
The increment matters less than the point of application. Rounding four punches a day compounds; rounding the daily total does not.
The Rules Nobody Has Read in Full
A mature time system holds dozens of pay rules, written over years by people who have left. Reading them is a week's work that nobody has ever budgeted.
Crossing a Threshold by Four Minutes
Pay rules have cliffs. A punch four minutes either side of one changes what a shift is worth, which makes the position of the terminal a financial decision.
The Shift That Crosses Midnight
A night shift belongs to two dates and every system has to pick one. The choice affects daily thresholds, weekly totals, premiums and the clock change.
Following One Day All the Way Through
Take one real shift and trace every transformation from the timestamps to the amount. It takes two hours and nobody in the organisation has ever done it.
Hours Recorded Against Hours Paid
The time system and payroll hold the same month and disagree. Nobody reconciles them, so the disagreements persist as errors that surface one person at a time.