Attendance: punching, leave & approvals

Punch in and out on the mobile Attend app (GPS geofence, offline punches, badge scans), check your records, request leave and punch fixes — and for supervisors: approvals, dashboard, reports and attendance rules.

The Attend app is how frontline staff punch in and out. This guide has two parts: the first half is for employees (punching, records, leave, punch fixes), the second half is for supervisors and admins (approvals, dashboard, reports, rules). Everything below is in the product today — the mobile Attend app plus Attend in the desktop system.

Before you punch: you need an employee profile#

Punching works only if HR has created your employee profile and linked it to your login account. If the app shows "No employee record found", nobody can punch for that account yet — this is the #1 reason a new hire cannot punch on day one. Ask HR to create the profile (People → Employees) and link your login; after that, punching works immediately.

• Employee profile created by HR and linked to your login account.
• Location permission allowed for the app/browser — punches record GPS to check the geofence.
• Know your shift and attendance group — your supervisor assigns them; late and early-leave are judged against your shift.

Punching on the mobile app#

Open the Attend app. The big button always shows your next punch — Clock in, Lunch out, Back from lunch, Clock out — so you never pick the wrong one. After each punch the screen shows the time, whether you were inside the geofence, and any late or early-leave minutes. Today's punches appear as a timeline under the button.

Off-site punches need a note

If GPS puts you outside your work site's geofence, the app asks for a short note (for example "client visit") before the punch goes through. The punch is saved but flagged as off-site/abnormal so your supervisor can see why. Working off-site is fine — just write the reason.

No signal? Punches are saved offline

In a dead zone the punch is stored on the phone and uploads automatically when the connection returns — the punch page shows how many are pending, with a "Retry now" button. Don't uninstall the app or clear its data before pending punches upload. If the phone clock is off by more than 10 minutes versus the server, the punch is flagged as a time-skew exception for review.

Punch for a coworker: scan their badge

Tap "Scan badge to punch" and scan a coworker's badge QR code — the punch is recorded for them (useful at a shared entrance device). The result shows their name so you can confirm it is the right person. Common errors: "Badge code expired" (they regenerate their badge code), "Employee is not active" (their profile was deactivated — see HR), and scanning too often is rate-limited to 3 scans per minute.

Zone pickers: choose today's zone at clock-in

If you are bound to warehouse zones (zone picking), the clock-in screen lists your zones — pick the one you will work in today. This tells the zone picking board where you are. If you are not bound to any zone, you will not see this step.

Your records#

The Records tab shows today's timeline, this month's stats — days present, late count, early-leave count, makeup punches — and the punch detail for each day. Punches that came from an approved punch fix carry a "makeup" tag; off-site punches carry an "Off-site" tag. Check here first if a day looks wrong, then use a punch fix (below) to correct it.

Leave requests#

Open Leave & Makeup → Leave. At the top you see your leave balances by type (days left / used). To apply: choose the leave type, start and end dates, write the reason, and submit. Your request goes to your supervisor as "pending"; you can follow its status in My requests — pending, approved or rejected. Balances only go down once a request is approved.

These four are the built-in defaults (your admin can seed them with one click and add custom types). Your organization may use different types — what you see in the app is what counts.

Missed a punch? Request a punch fix#

Open Leave & Makeup → Punch fix: pick the date, which punch was missed (clock in, lunch, clock out…), the actual time, and the reason, then submit. Once your supervisor approves it, the punch appears in your records with a "makeup" tag. There is a monthly cap on punch fixes — 3 per month by default, set per attendance group — and the app stops you when you hit it, so save fixes for real misses.

For supervisors: approvals#

On desktop, open Attend → Approvals. Two tabs — Makeup punches and Leave requests — list everything pending: applicant, type, date and reason. Approve or reject one by one, or use Batch approve for a clean stack. Approved leave deducts the balance; an approved punch fix writes the makeup punch into that day. Rejected requests stay visible to the employee with the rejected status, so people are never left guessing.

For supervisors: dashboard & reports#

Attend → Attendance Dashboard shows today at a glance: the attendance rate and an exception list (who was late, left early, missed a punch or punched off-site, with details and times) — work the exceptions here instead of reading raw punches. Attend → Attendance reports gives the monthly per-employee summary: present days, late, early leave, absences, leave days and work hours, with an Export CSV button for payroll.

For admins: attendance rules#

Attend → Rules has six tabs. Shifts: start/end times, a grace period (10 minutes by default — punches inside it are not counted late), whether lunch punches are required, and workdays (Mon–Fri by default). Attendance groups: each group points at a shift and one or more geofences, sets the late grace and the monthly punch-fix limit (3 by default), and holds the member list — an employee's group decides how their punches are judged. Geofences: the GPS areas around your sites. Leave types: seed the four defaults or add your own (paid or not, with or without balance). Holidays: days that are not workdays. Leave balances: where HR grants leave days to employees (next section). Set the rules once; the mobile app follows them automatically.

For HR: granting leave balances#

Leave types that work on a balance (PTO, Sick Leave) start at zero — an employee cannot request that leave until HR grants days. Granting takes a minute:

1. On desktop, open Attend → Rules → the "Leave balances" tab. Pick the year — the table shows every employee's balance per leave type (granted, carried over, used, balance).
2. Click "Grant balance" at the top right — or "Grant / Adjust" on an employee's row, which fills in the employee and type for you.
3. Choose the employee, the leave type and the year.
4. Enter the change in days. A positive number grants days; a negative number takes days back. Balances are counted in days — 8 hours = 1 day, so 80 hours of PTO is entered as 10, and 40 hours of sick leave as 5.
5. Write the reason (required), for example "2026 annual PTO grant", and save. The new balance takes effect immediately — the employee sees it in the app right away.

Every grant is kept in the grant history under the balance table — who granted it, when, how much, the balance before → after, and the reason — so any balance can be traced back later. A take-back can never push a balance below zero; the system refuses it and tells you to reduce the amount.

FAQ#

• Q: The app says "No employee record found" and I cannot punch. A: HR has not created your employee profile yet, or it is not linked to your login. Ask HR to create/link it — punching works right after.
• Q: I forgot to punch. A: Use Leave & Makeup → Punch fix with the real time and a reason; your supervisor approves it. Remember the monthly cap (3 by default).
• Q: I work off-site today. Will my punch be rejected? A: No — punch as usual and add a note. It is flagged off-site so your supervisor sees the reason; it is not an error.
• Q: A badge scan says the code expired or the employee is not active. A: Expired — that person regenerates their badge code. Not active — their profile was deactivated; only HR can reactivate it.
• Q: I punched with no signal — did it count? A: Yes. It is queued on your phone and uploads automatically when the connection returns; the punch page shows the pending count. Just do not uninstall the app before it uploads.
• Q: Why was I counted late when I arrived on time? A: "Late" starts after your attendance group's grace minutes (10 by default) past the shift start. If your shift changed recently, check with your supervisor which group and shift you are on.
• Q: How does sick leave grow? A: With the default Sick Leave type, you earn 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, up to 80 hours, and you can start using it after 90 days.