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An overtime request workflow is a systematized process for employees and employers to manage, track, approve, and record additional hours worked beyond an employee’s scheduled shift. This allows employees to request permission for overtime and ensures the counting and documenting of those hours via a structured workflow.
An overtime work request workflow can include the use of online forms, management approvals, HR, and payroll. The process serves as a transparent way to manage overtime work and prevent abuse by making sure they are being compensated appropriately. It’s an important part of human resources management for a business with variable workloads, project deadlines, or emergency ticket work.
The overtime request workflow is an important component of managing workers and payroll. Here are five reasons it is important in today’s workplaces:
When workers work over their scheduled hours, they should be compensated according to federal/state labor laws or their company policy. A good workflow will help to ensure that fair and consistent worker payments are upheld.
A defined process makes it easier to track who is requesting overtime, how much, and for what reason. This helps to avoid mistakes, favoritism, or fraud.
Many labor laws require employers to be able to track overtime hours worked and pay for such hours. A formal workflow could keep the organization clear of any legal issues or penalties.
In reviewing the frequency and hours of overtime, the HR department can quickly see if employees are overworked and intervene if necessary.
The workflow acts like my phrasing in my first sentence, because it fosters the connection between the employee, the manager, and HR. Each person involved in the overtime request process is aware of their responsibilities and the steps being taken.
A site supervisor stays late (for 2 hours) to manage a safety inspection. They log on to the company's workforce portal and submit an overtime request, which includes the reason for the overtime and the number of overtime hours. The project manager reviews and approves the overtime request. Payroll gets the approval of overtime, and adds the overtime hours to the supervisor's next paycheck.
An IT support technician attends to a late-night server issue. The technician logs an overtime request the following day that provides the details of the emergency. Once approved by the department head, HR gets the request for tracking of remuneration provided for the after-hours work.
A call centre agent covered a coworker's shift. They entered an overtime request in the attendance management system. Their team lead checked the shift schedule and verified the request. The attendance management system logged the request for payroll processing automatically.
An employee works overtime due to deadlines, emergencies, or due to work shortages within the team. It gets flagged as overtime.
The employee completes a request form for the overtime, manually or digitally. The form usually includes:
The direct supervisor of the employee reviews the request. They check for:
The manager approves or rejects the request. If approved, it would go to human resources or the payroll department next.
The approved overtime request is imported into the payroll system. It ensures that the employee receives the correct pay in the next pay cycle, or according to your organizational policy, at the next possible opportunity.
The entire request and approval trail is imputed and stored (in case of audits, legal policies, etc.) for the future.
Many work environments use automation, ie. HR software, time tracking, etc., if you were to use those systems, the overtime requests are managed electronically, which would eliminate the amount of lag time and room for errors.
Captures precise overtime hours and avoids manual errors from arbitrary entries.
Overtime processes help to ensure employees are accurately compensated for the extra time.
Managers can see when there is more work than they account for in the staffing mix.
The transparency that allows an employee to see their submitted request and subsequently know that their effort has been acknowledged fosters goodwill.
Provides proper documentation to demonstrate compliance with labour law requirements, or in the event of an audit.
Unorganized overtime processes can lead to employees regularly working overtime, leading to burnout.
Over time, approval processes and requests are sometimes cumbersome, which can delay access to payroll based on the timing of approval.
Without validation, incorrect requests submitted incorrectly, can impact employee wage calculations.
Some employees may submit requests representing work that is not essential. A check on the request must be maintained.
Time Champ is a streamlined and automated solution to manage your overtime requests with its thoughtful features. This is how Time Champ supports your workflows:
Time Champ automatically identifies hours worked outside of scheduled shifts and queues them for review.
Employees can submit overtime requests using the Time Champ dashboard, where they complete the request form with time, reason, and notes.
Managers instantly receive the request, can review and accept or reject the request with a simple click. Managers can also check employee work history to help determine the necessity of overtime work.
Once approved, overtime hours are exported to the payroll module, so the compensation will be timely and precise.
Time Champ provides you with a complete history of all overtime requests, actions, and approvals for compliance checks or audits.
Employers can set rules that Time Champ enforces, i.e., maximum overtime hours, and limits on weekend shifts.
In conclusion, Time Champ's features will help minimize administrative work, support fairness, and maintain accurate records.
