How to set up attendance tracking that works for a small team: configuring work schedules, automatic late detection, check-in/out, holidays, and clean CSV/PDF reports for payroll.
SimpleHR Team
SimpleHR
For a small team, attendance tracking is rarely about policing clocks. It’s about answering three simple questions: who’s here, who’s not, and who has time off coming up. Get those right, and you save hours of manual record-keeping while keeping payroll on solid footing.
The key is to configure the system once so it does the heavy lifting, then let employees check in and out from a widget while you watch the analytics. Here’s how to set that up properly.
Everything in a good attendance system flows from the work schedule you define. In SimpleHR, that lives under Settings → Work Schedule, and it drives when records are created and whether a late check-in is flagged automatically.
How late detection works
Public holidays are managed in the Holidays section. The attendance system recognizes them automatically: on a configured holiday, no automatic ABSENT record is created (unless you specifically choose to “ignore holidays”).
Holidays are for reference and planning across the company (everyone can see upcoming holidays on the dashboard), and they don’t add or remove anyone’s leave balance.
Checking in should take one gesture, not a spreadsheet. Click and hold the work location (Office or Remote) until the action completes.
SimpleHR puts an Attendance Widget on the dashboard. Employees check in (choosing Office or Remote) and check out at the end of the day. If an employee is on leave, their status for that day is set to “On Leave” automatically, with no manual fix-ups needed.
| View | Who sees it | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Employee view | Each employee | Own records, monthly calendar, check-in widget |
| Admin/Manager view | Admins & managers | Today’s attendance for everyone, analytics, filters |
Admins and managers can update today’s status for any employee directly from the table, but past records are view-only, which keeps the history trustworthy. A Detail button opens any employee’s historical attendance at a glance.
Whether it’s a monthly payroll review or a conversation with an employee, you’ll want the numbers out of the app. Attendance exports cover a single date or a date range, respect your current filters, and come in two formats.
Good attendance tracking is configuration-first: define your schedule, add your holidays, and let the system keep records while employees check in with a tap. Set it up once, and you get accurate timesheets, fair late policies, and clean reports for payroll, without re-creating the wheel every morning.
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