Set up and manage Gusto Time tracking

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. 

First: Enable Time tracking

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Settings section on the left-hand side.
3. Select the Customization tab.
4. Click edit next to Time tracking.
5. Toggle to Enabled.
6. Click Save.

Next: Set up Time tracking

1. Click the Time & Attendance section and select Time tracking.
2. Click Set up Time Tracking.
3. The workweek in Time tracking corresponds with your pay schedule. To change the workweek, you'll need to update your pay schedule. Make sure your pay schedule is set up in arrears, a requirement for this feature. 
   
   • If you need a new pay schedule to use Time tracking, click the in Gusto to contact us.
4. All eligible team members will be selected to participate in Time tracking by default. Click into the dropdown to remove anyone you do not want tracking time.
   
   • Ineligible team members are listed below the dropdown.
   • Gusto Time tracking is available to hourly and salaried employees and U.S.-based contractors paid by the hour. They must also have an email address added to their Gusto profile, which allows them to log in and track time.
     
     • To give an employee login access, add their email in the People section.
     • For overtime-eligible salaried employees, only overtime hours are synced to payroll.
     • For overtime-ineligible salaried employees, hours are not synced to payroll at all. 
   • Employees, contractors, and managers will get Gusto Time Tracking welcome emails with steps to track their hours.
5. Click Next.
6. Choose how you want your team to clock in and out:
   • Your team can clock in and out on their own personal devices, by downloading the Gusto app on their mobile phone, or using a browser to visit Gusto.com.
     
     • At this time, contractors do not have login access for the Gusto app, but can clock in and out using Gusto.com on their phone or computer. Their access cannot be restricted.
   • If you do not want your team to be able to clock in and out on their own devices, set up a kiosk on-site in the workspace. You can use a tablet or computer as a kiosk and your whole team will be able to use it to clock in and out. 
7. Customize timesheet settings—from where employees can clock in and out from and whether employees can edit their timesheets.
   
   • If you do not want employees to be able to make changes to their own timesheets, toggle the “Employees can edit timesheets” to Disable. They'll now have to ask their manager or admin to make any changes.
     • Due to their legal categorization, contractors can always view and edit their timesheets by logging into Gusto.com. Their edit access cannot be restricted. 
   • If enabling employee edits, check the box if you'd like to require employees to leave a note explaining changes made to their hours.
   • Check the box if you want to see an alert on time entries where edits have been made. Edit alerts will also show the option to view the version history of that time entry.
     • This will automatically be checked if you also require a note for making changes.
8. If you're operating in a state with break requirements, we'll ask you to set up your team's break policies and give you some suggestions (based on your state's laws). You can learn more about meal and rest breaks here. 
   • Break requirements help you stay compliant by flagging violations for admin review. We recommend adding anyone employed in a state with break laws.
     • We'll add some suggested policies based on the states you're in.
     • Click the X if you want to clear the suggestions, or click Add a policy to add your own.
   • Click Review & add to review or edit meal and rest break details like those below. When you're ready, you can click Create policy to save the details. 
     • Policy nickname
     • People assigned to the policy
     • Meal and break rules
     • Is it a paid, or unpaid, break?
     • Do you want to skip breaks for shorter shifts?
   • Click Skip break policies if you want to skip the set up of them for now. 
9. When all break policies look good, click Next.
10. Set an overtime policy for your business.
    • Gusto may suggest a policy (or set of policies) for your business, based on the work addresses added to your overtime-eligible employees’ profiles.
    • The suggested policies are based on general state and federal overtime laws. Exceptions exist, so double-check the laws in your jurisdiction to make sure the policy applies compliantly to your situation.
    • All overtime-eligible employees in time tracking must be assigned to an overtime policy before you can start using time tracking. 
11. Click Save and finish set up.

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

• Changes to overtime policies take effect during the current workweek and apply to the entire workweek. For prior workweeks, we'll use the overtime settings that were in effect during that workweek.
• If you're using Gusto Time Tracking and change your start of your workweek (used in overtime calculations), the change will begin with the next pay period.
  • The current pay period will still use the old workweek to figure out overtime. The new setting will only apply to future pay periods.

Overtime policies

• Weekly overtime: After working this number of hours in a workweek starting on the workweek (calculated using the workweek start date set under your Pay settings), an employee will be paid at a weekly overtime rate of 1.5x their regular hourly wage for additional hours worked.

   

• Daily overtime: After working this number of hours in a workday, an employee will be paid at a daily overtime rate of 1.5x their regular hourly wage for additional hours worked.
• Daily double overtime: After working this number of hours in a workday, an employee will be paid at a daily double overtime rate of 2x their regular hourly wage for additional hours worked.
• 7th consecutive day overtime: Upon working the 7th consecutive day of work in a workweek (calculated using the workweek start date set under your Pay settings), overtime is earned at 1.5x an employee’s regular hourly wage for additional hours worked.

Add overtime policies

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Time & Attendance section and select Time tracking.
3. Click Settings & policies in the top-right corner.
4. On the General tab, find the “Overtime policies” section. 
   • Click edit to change the existing rules.
   • Click Create new overtime policy to add new policies.
5. Add a nickname for the set of policies.
6. Choose the team members to assign to the policy.
7. Specify the overtime policy.
8. Click Create policy.

Assign overtime rules to employees

If you have overtime-eligible employees in states with different overtime rules, follow the steps below to assign them the appropriate set of rules.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Time & Attendance section and select Time tracking.
3. In the upper-right corner of the screen, click More.
4. Choose Settings & policies.
5. On the "General" tab, scroll down and review the “People assigned to time tracking” section. Click Add or remove people.
6. If needed, you can add or remove people from time tracking:
   • To remove someone: Under "Time tracking team members," find the team member and click the x next to their name.
   • To add someone: In the "Search for a team member..." search bar, start typing their name and select them. 
7. The next page is where you'll assign each person's policy. Click Next.
8. For each team member, select the overtime policy that should apply to them.
9. Click Save.

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 Total hours: 20 Rate 2: $15/hr Total hours: 30 Total hours earned at overtime* Overtime hours: 5 Total hours earned at double overtime* Double overtime hours: 5 *Hours earned at overtime/double overtime of the total 50 hours worked.	Rate 1: $10/hr Regular hours: 16 Overtime hours: 2 Reference: Explanation A Double overtime hours: 2  Reference: Explanation B Rate 2: $15/hr Regular hours: 24 Overtime hours: 3 Reference: Explanation C Double overtime hours: 3 Reference: Explanation D Total hours confirmation 50 Reference: Explanation E

Explanations for Column B

A: Overtime hours at Rate 1

Use the ratio of hours worked at each rate to allocate across rates. Inputs come from Column A.

• The equation: {(Hours at Rate 1) / [(Hours at Rate 1) + (Hours at Rate 2)]} x Total overtime hours
• The math: [20 / (20 + 30)] x 5 = 2 hours

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.

• The equation: {(Hours at Rate 1) / [(Hours at Rate 1) + (Hours at Rate 2)]} x Total double overtime hours
• The math: [20 / (20 + 30)] x 5 = 2 hours

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.

• The equation: (Total overtime hours) - (Overtime hours at Rate 1)
• The math: 5 - 2 = 3 hours

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.

• The equation: (Total double overtime hours) - (Double overtime hours at Rate 2)
• The math: 5 - 2 = 3 hours

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:

1. Specify which devices/locations employees can clock in/out from:
   • Time Kiosk—if you have multiple Kiosks set up, you cannot restrict employees to a specific Kiosk.
   • Gusto mobile app 
   • Web (Gusto.com) 
   • (At least one of the above must be selected)
2. Disable or enable the ability for employees to edit their timesheets.
   • If timesheet editing is enabled for employees, admins can also choose to require a reason/note from employees when editing.
   • Admins and managers will always be able to view and edit timesheets.

These settings apply to all employees on Time tracking—different rules cannot be applied to different employees.

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.

Add or remove employees 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Time & Attendance section and select Time tracking.
3. Click Settings & policies in the top-right corner.
4. On the General tab, find the “People assigned to time tracking” section and click +Add or remove people.
5. To add or remove an employee from Gusto Time tracking:
   • To add an employee: Click into the “Time tracking team members” dropdown and select the person you want to add. You can start typing their name to search through all eligible team members.
     • Only hourly contractors and non-exempt (eligible for overtime) employees with a Gusto login are eligible—these can be non-exempt hourly or salaried employees.
       • Ineligible team members are listed below the dropdown. 
     • If an employee is enrolled after a pay period has already passed, Time Tracking will be available to them after the next pay period has started.
   • To remove an employee: Click the x next to their name.
     • For employees on payroll, removal will take effect on the following pay period—they'll remain on the timesheet until the current pay period ends.
6. Click Next.
7. Assign an overtime policy (required for overtime-eligible employees) and a break policy (optional) to any new employees.
8. Click Save.

Once an employee has been added, they'll be able to track time, and edit their hours if allowed. 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Go to the Time & Attendance section and select Time tracking.
3. In the "Open employee timesheets" section, select View for active pay periods or View & sync for past pay periods.
   • Only the first three open timesheets will display by default. If the timesheet you’re looking for is not visible, select View more.
   • "Open Timesheets" are timesheets for pay periods where payroll has not been run yet. Once payroll has been run for a pay period, the timesheet will be removed from this list. To view past timesheets where payroll has already been run, click View timesheet history and select the pay period from the dropdown.
4. Employees' total hours will appear for review. Click View timesheet for more detail about the time reported or to make any edits.
   • To make an edit:
     • Scroll to the day that needs hours changed and select Edit.
     • Make necessary edits.
     • Click Save.
5. Toggle to Approved when hours are confirmed. This can be done in the top-right corner of the employee pay period view, or from the main page.
   • To approve all hours at once, click Approve all timesheets on the top-right of the "My Team's Hours" page.
   • View edits made to an employee's hours by scrolling to the bottom of the pay period's hours and clicking the "Version history" dropdown.
   • Important: Approving hours will prevent any further editing by everyone, including employees, managers, and admins.
6. Select Sync hours to payroll when all hours have been confirmed and approved.
   
   • You can un-sync, edit, and re-sync hours until payroll has been run.
   • To change approved hours in Time tracking, you must un-approve the hours, edit them, and then re-approve them. Edited hours can be re-synced, and the new value will overwrite the old value in payroll.
   • Synced hours will automatically be reflected in the workweek breakdown by workweek when required. 
   • There are two ways to sync approved timesheets to payroll:
     • Click Sync hours to payroll or Sync hours and go to payroll.
     • If you have permissions to run payroll, click Sync hours from approved timesheets from the alerts on the top.
   •  For salaried, overtime-eligible employees, only overtime hours will sync.
   • For salaried, overtime-ineligible employees, no hours will sync.

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.

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:

• One shift on Thurs from 10pm - 11:59pm
• A second shift on Fri from 12am - 2am

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.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Time & Attendance section and select Time tracking.
   
   • If you’re new to Time tracking, click Set up time tracking to be guided through the setup process, including adding contractors to track their time.
3. Click Settings & policies in the top-right corner.
4. On the General tab, find the “People assigned to time tracking” section and click + Add or remove people.
   • Click into the “Time tracking team members” dropdown and select the contractor you want to add. You can start typing their name to search through all eligible team members.
     • Only hourly contractors are eligible for time tracking.
     • Ineligible team members, including any ineligible contractors, are listed below the dropdown.
5. Select the person.
6. Click Next.
7. Click Save.

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. 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Time & Attendance section and select Time tracking.
3. Scroll to the "Contractor timesheets" section.
4. Click View & sync.
5. Select the date range you’d like to pay your contractors for.
6. Click View timesheet to review the hours or make any changes.
7. Once reviewed, click Sync hours to payments.
   • This will send the total hours reported by your contractors to the Pay contractors tab for payment.
8. Once in the Pay contractors section of your account, you can begin processing payment(s).

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.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Settings section on the left-hand side.
3. Click the Customization tab.
4. Scroll to the Time tracking headline and click edit.
5. Toggle to disabled. 
6. Click Save. 

Q: Will employees, contractors, and managers be notified about deadlines to enter time?

A: Here are the reminder notifications different users get:

• Employees get an email on the final business day of the pay period (usually in the afternoon) reminding them to enter time.
• Contractors get an email every Friday afternoon reminding them to enter their time.
• Managers get 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.