TimePilot Definitions

Auto Lunch

What’s Auto Lunch?
At many companies, hourly employees are not paid for the time they take for lunch. Without TimePilot's Auto Lunch feature, employees would have to clock out for lunchtime, then clock back in when they returned to work. With the Auto Lunch feature turned on for an individual employee, the TimePilot software assumes that if the employee is on the clock for a certain number of hours (which you'll determine), he or she has taken a lunch break. The software automatically inserts an "out" transaction and an "in" transaction separated by the amount of time you'll specify. This eliminates the need for the employee to clock out for lunch and back in again when he or she returns.

First, you'll set up the amount of time the employee must work before Auto Lunch can be used, then you'll enable it for individual employees.

To set up Auto Lunch, do the following:

  1. Start TimePilot Central.
  2. Click on the "Administrative" menu at the top of the screen, then choose "Auto Lunch Setup."
  3. Enter the number of minutes an employee must be on the clock before triggering the Auto Lunch function.
  4. Click "Save."

Now you'll enable the Auto Lunch feature for individual employees. 

  1. Open the employee's profile (Setup menu > Profile Setup > Click employee's name > Edit Employee Profile).
  2. At the bottom of the profile, click the "Enable Auto Lunch" checkbox.
  3. Enter the number of minutes of the employee's lunch period. This will be the amount of time between the "Out" transaction that the Auto Lunch feature automatically inserts and the "In" transaction that it inserts. 

Example

An employee works a 7.5-hour shift, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a half-hour unpaid lunch break. If Auto Lunch is not used, the employee must clock out and in for their lunch break. If Auto Lunch is set at 6 hours, Auto Lunch is triggered when the employee's worktime passes 6 hours, and he or she is automatically taken "off the clock" for a half hour. If it is set at 8 hours, the Auto Lunch feature is not triggered (the employee only worked 7.5 hours) and no lunch will be recorded unless the employee clocks out and in on his or her own.