Understanding Work and Travel Time

Modified on Fri, 28 Oct, 2022 at 11:51 AM

The time recording function in Pet Sitter Plus allows you to calculate "work time" and "travel time" separately in the Staff Activity Report. There are a number of configurations that need to be considered to ensure that the data that is calculated in the report is right for your business, and includes all you need to be able to calculate your Payroll accurately.

Put simply:

Time associated with work and travel outside of any shift is not recorded and is not payable.
Time associated with work and travel inside of any shift is recorded and is payable.

Tip: It will also help to have an understanding of how to use Shifts to record time. See How Shifts Work for more information.

Understanding How Work Time is Calculated

Once your staff member has clicked "Start shift" on their mobile phone, all time inside of the shift is recorded. See How to Start a Shift.
Staff "check-in" and "check-out" of their services as usual and all time spent in between services travelling is included in the shift.
The shift ends when the staff member clicks "End shift" on their mobile phone. See How to End a Shift.
This function is used to exclude "time" during the day that is not payable, ie. lunch or personal appointments.
It can include "time" used for work that isn't a scheduled service but may still be payable, such as meet & greets, vehicle maintenance, etc.
It can also be used for Admin and scheduling staff who don't have any services assigned but do want to record "work time" for their timesheet.
Exporting the Timecard contains all information required for calculating "work time" to ensure Payroll is correct.

Understanding How Travel Time is Calculated

Travel time is the time between checking out of one service and checking into the next.
All travel time within a shift is included in the staff activity report, unless you have NOT selected this option to be included on the settings for each service item. See Add Travel Time to Staff Activity Report.
An average travel allowance between services can be set to simplify the staff activity report calculations. See Set Travel Time Allowance for Staff.
You are able to change the settings to ensure that all travel time is calculated individually. See Set Individual Travel Time Allowance.