Understand pay periods and how hours add up
A plain-English walkthrough of the Friday-to-Thursday week, how early and late punches are counted, how lunch breaks are deducted, and what "approved" hours mean.
This page explains, in plain language, how Tiny Time Keeper turns clock-ins and clock-outs into the hours you get paid for. Read it once and the numbers on every timesheet will make sense.
The week runs Friday to Thursday
A pay period is one week, Friday through Thursday. Each employee gets a fresh timesheet every Friday, and it fills in automatically as they punch. When you look at hours — on the dashboard, on a timesheet, or in the portal — you're always looking at one Friday-to-Thursday week at a time.
How a punch becomes worked time
Each employee has a schedule — a start time, an end time, and a lunch length. The schedule is what decides how their punches are counted:
- 1
Clock in early — time starts at the scheduled start
If someone is scheduled for 8:00 and clocks in at 7:45, their paid time still starts at 8:00. Coming in early doesn't add extra hours.
- 2
Clock in late — time starts when they actually punch
If they clock in at 8:20 for an 8:00 shift, their time starts at 8:20, and the day is flagged as late so you can see it.
- 3
Clock out early — time ends when they actually punch
Leaving before the scheduled end simply ends their paid time at that moment. Nothing extra is added.
- 4
Clock out late — extra time waits for your approval
Working past the scheduled end is treated as possible overtime. Those extra minutes don't count toward pay until you approve them on the timesheet.
Lunch comes from completed break punches
Every schedule includes a lunch length, usually 30 minutes. Lunch is deducted only when an employee clocks out for break and clocks back in. If the completed break is shorter than the scheduled lunch, the scheduled lunch is deducted. If the break is longer, the actual break time is deducted. If there is no completed break pair, nothing is deducted.
An example day
Scheduled 8:00–4:30 with a 30-minute lunch. The employee clocks in at 8:00, clocks out and back in for a 30-minute lunch, then clocks out at 4:30 — that's 8.5 gross hours, minus 30 minutes for lunch, leaving 8 hours worked.
What "approved" hours mean
Hours show up on a timesheet the moment someone punches, but they're not final until you review and approve the week. Approving confirms the totals are right before payroll. Anything still waiting — like overtime you haven't signed off on yet — is marked pending, and the employee sees that note in their portal too.
Missing punches leave gaps
Hours only add up when there's both a clock-in and a clock-out. If someone forgets to clock out, that day shows zero hours until you fix the punch. Reviewing flags before you approve catches these.