With Gusto Time tracking, you can track, review, and approve your US-based team’s hours in Gusto and then run regular payroll as usual—it’s all automatic. For now, time tracking hours only sync to regular and dismissal payrolls.
Admins can also:
Gusto Time Tracking is included in the Plus, Premium, or Time & Attendance Plus Simple add-on plans—you can upgrade at any time.
Gusto Time tracking is available to hourly employees, salaried employees, and U.S.-based contractors paid by the hour. Time tracking for international contractors and commission-only employees is not supported at this time.
Time tracking hours will be recorded by the minute and hour an employee clocks in.
Important: All overtime-eligible employees must be assigned to an overtime policy before you can start using time tracking.
To review or edit the start of workweek after setup is complete, navigate to the Pay section and select Pay settings. From there, go to the Pay schedule section.
Admins with the required permissions can edit overtime policies—make sure to review your state's over time laws before creating overtime policies.
Important reminders
If you have overtime-eligible employees in states with different overtime rules, follow the steps below to assign them the appropriate set of rules.
If you're using Gusto Time tracking and have employees with multiple pay rates, wage calculations and hours worked at each rate can sometimes be difficult to visualize and understand.
Review the table below and explanations beneath it to learn more about how this works in Gusto.
Important: Hours for employees with multiple pay rates are tracked on a per-workweek basis. When reviewing the table, only compare to one workweek's worth of hours, not the total hours from a pay period.
Column A | Column B |
What multiple pay rates looks like in Time Tracking | What multiple pay rates looks like in the run payroll flow |
Rate 1: $10/hr
Rate 2: $15/hr
Total hours earned at overtime*
Total hours earned at double overtime*
*Hours earned at overtime/double overtime of the total 50 hours worked. | Rate 1: $10/hr
Rate 2: $15/hr
Total hours confirmation
|
A: Overtime hours at Rate 1
Use the ratio of hours worked at each rate to allocate across rates. Inputs come from Column A.
B: Double overtime hours at Rate 1
Use the ratio of hours worked at each rate to allocate across rates. Inputs come from Column A.
C: Overtime hours at Rate 2
To avoid rounding issues, take the difference between total overtime hours (column A) and the overtime hours allocated for Rate 1 (column B). The remainder is allocated to Rate 2.
D: Double overtime hours at Rate 2
To avoid rounding issues, take the difference between total double overtime hours (column A) and the double overtime hours allocated for Rate 1 (column B). The remainder is allocated to Rate 2.
E: Total hours confirmation
Inputs come from Column B.
The equation: (Regular hours at Rate 2) + (Overtime hours at Rate 1) + (Double overtime hours at Rate 1) + (Regular hours at Rate 2) + (Overtime hours at Rate 2) + (Double overtime hours at Rate 2)
The math: 16 + 2 + 2 + 24 + 3 + 3 = 50 hours
Admins with the required permissions can configure their timesheet settings to:
These settings apply to all employees on Time tracking—different rules cannot be applied to different employees.
The version history shows various events which represent changes to shifts on different workdays for that timesheet. It'll show the editor's name, the timestamp of the change, and a description of the change, including:
You can also sort the version history for a given workday by the time at which the edit was made (by default, you'll see the oldest edit to newest).
Once you've set up Gusto Time tracking, admins can add and remove employees, and change their assigned overtime policy (if they are overtime-eligible).
For information on how employees enter hours, go to this article.
Once an employee has been added, they'll be able to track time, and edit their hours if allowed.
When you go to run payroll, all overtime-eligible employees' synced hours will appear. If you need to edit hours from the Run Payroll flow, you can do so, but it is not recommended because they will not be updated in the time tracking log for you or the employee.
Several states require that employees be given an unpaid meal break and paid rest breaks after working a certain number of hours each day. Make sure to check your state laws before creating break policies.
Note: Gusto supports paid and unpaid breaks. You’ll see an alert on employee timesheets when they've reported too many hours worked without a break.
Many states require a meal break around the middle of a non-exempt (overtime-eligible) employee’s workday. Employers usually do not have to pay for these meal breaks as long as the employee is completely relieved of any duties.
Not tracking meal breaks properly is a common work violation that can be very costly and put employers at risk of a wage and hour lawsuit.
The distinction between meal and rest breaks is that rest breaks are often shorter in time (less than 20 minutes) and considered paid time. Because they're usually viewed as compensable working time, rest breaks will also count towards overtime.
This article focuses on meal breaks, but rest break requirements also vary by state, and in some cases, by city or county. Consult specialized employment counsel to make sure you're meeting the rest break requirements applicable to your company.
Q: Can my employee choose to skip their meal or rest break?
A: In most states, employees who are provided the opportunity to take a break can choose to skip that break. In some states (ex. California), employees may only skip their meal or rest breaks under certain circumstances. Consult an HR professional or your legal counsel to confirm what break policies you should create for your employees.
Q: Are employees entitled to both meal and rest breaks?
A: Many of the states that require employers to provide breaks will require employers to provide both rest and meal breaks. Consult an HR professional or your legal counsel to confirm what breaks you must provide to your employees.
Consult an HR professional or your legal counsel to make sure you're meeting the requirements applicable to your company. When you're ready, learn how to set up breaks in Gusto.
This table includes information about the length of the meal and rest breaks, when they should be taken, and important notes to consider.
This table was last revised Nov 2022
If you haven’t added any break policies yet, Gusto might suggest one based on where your employees work. These suggestions follow general state and federal laws, but there may be exceptions. Always check your local laws to make sure the policy fits your needs.
For the employees who have a break policy assigned to them:
Changes you make to break policies will take effect the same day, and do not apply retroactively.
Currently, shifts that go past midnight are not supported. If a worker does not clock out of a shift before midnight, Gusto automatically ends the shift at 11:59:59pm and starts a new shift at 12:00:00am that'll end once the employee clocks out.
For example, if an employee works an overnight shift from Thurs 10pm - Fri 2am, the shift will appear as two shifts in Gusto:
If an employee forgot to clock out, you can edit hours manually in the Time tracking tab.
U.S.-based contractors must have an hourly rate (rather than a fixed wage) assigned to use contractor time tracking. Multiple rates for U.S.-based contractors are not supported. Time tracking for international contractors is not supported at this time.
This feature is available on Plus, Premium, or Time & Attendance Plus Simple add-on plans—you can upgrade at any time. Keep in mind that this feature is not available on the Contractor Only plan type.
Contractors added will be able to clock in and out, or manually enter their hours right from their Gusto account, or from a Kiosk if you have set one up.
Once you dismiss a team member, their tracked hours in Gusto will branch off your regular active pay period into an off-cycle pay period. Admins can access this off-cycle pay period from a card on the time tracking dashboard, or by choosing it from the dropdown above the team’s timesheets. The new pay period will have the same date range as your active pay period, but will include the label “off-cycle.”
Hours for dismissed team members can be reviewed, edited, and approved just like any other hours. Managers who can review and approve time for their direct reports will see the “off-cycle” label when reviewing the dismissed employee's hours, but will not see anything regarding dismissal. Admins can also sync dismissed workers timesheets directly to a dismissal payroll by selecting sync hours to payroll and sync hours and go to payroll.
Dismissed team members will not see any changes to their time tracking experience until their last day has passed. They'll also still have access to their timesheet in their Gusto profile. There, they can review and confirm previously tracked time.
Disabling Gusto Time tracking will affect all employees enrolled. If you're looking to remove an employee from time tracking, follow the steps in the manage employees dropdown above.
Q: Will employees and managers be notified about deadlines?
A: Employees and contractors will receive an email on the final business day of the pay period, usually in the afternoon, reminding them to get their time entered. Managers will receive an email the business day after the pay period ends reminding them to review hours.
Q: Can I use Gusto Time Tracking and Autopilot together?
A: Gusto recommends not using these features together to allow time for managers and admins to review and approve hours before processing payroll.
Q: How will Gusto Time Tracking affect an employee’s default hours?
A: Time Tracking will overwrite the default hours with the clocked hours.
Q: Can my employee choose to skip their meal or rest break?
A: In most states, employees who are provided the opportunity to take a break can choose to skip that break. In some states (ex. California), employees may only skip their meal or rest breaks under certain circumstances. Consult an HR professional or your legal counsel to confirm what break policies you should create for your employees.
Q: Are employees entitled to both meal and rest breaks?
A: Many of the states that require employers to provide breaks will require employers to provide both rest and meal breaks. Consult an HR professional or your legal counsel to confirm what breaks you must provide to your employees.
Q: Can hours for the future be entered in?
A: Not at this time.