The Working-Time Account, Calculated Month by Month

The working-time account shows, for each person, how many hours more or fewer they have worked than their contract says. There is no statutory template for it; rules such as an overtime cap or whether minus hours are carried forward are set in the employment contract, a collective agreement or a works agreement. In Chrontic these rules are therefore terms of each person's contract, not a company-wide setting.

Each person has one working-time account per employment. It starts on a set date with a carried-over balance, for example the figure from an earlier spreadsheet or another system. Nothing before that date counts.

For every month Chrontic calculates:

• Target: the contracted hours per weekday, minus the public holidays at the person's work location.
• Actual: the confirmed time entries of the month. Entries still waiting for confirmation don't count yet.
• Credited: approved vacation and other paid absences, full and half days. A vacation day or public holiday therefore never shows up as missing hours.
• Adjustments: manual credits or deductions, each with a reason.
• Balance: the opening balance plus the month's difference, applying the rules from the contract.

If the contract changes during the month, each day uses the contract in force on that day.

Two contract terms control overtime:

• Overtime covered by the salary: how many overtime hours a month are covered by the salary. Only hours above that go into the balance.
• Carry-over cap: the most balance that is carried into the next month.

Hours above the cap are not deleted when the month is locked; they are recorded as an open liability. All open overtime and vacation liabilities are listed on the Open Liabilities page and can be settled in full or in part, with a note on each settlement. While a month is open, Chrontic shows whether locking it would create a liability.

Whether a month below target is carried forward is a contract setting. On new contracts minus hours are switched on: the balance can drop below zero and is paid back by later overtime. A negative balance is never quietly set to zero. With the setting off, the balance stays where it was after a short month.

Time off in lieu is its own absence type: a day or half day off booked against the overtime balance. The day counts in the month like vacation, and its hours are taken from the balance. If the balance isn't enough, Chrontic refuses the request unless the contract allows minus hours; then the request is possible but needs approval.

While a month is open it is recalculated from the current data every time it is viewed. Once the month is over it can be locked: the closing balance is frozen and becomes the opening balance of the next month.

• A month can only be locked when the month before it is locked.
• The current month and future months can't be locked.
• In a locked month no adjustments can be booked, and no absence can be requested, approved or cancelled any more.
• Anyone who needs to correct a month unlocks it with the matching permission; that is recorded as well.

The payroll export checks that the exported months are locked. An override is possible and is recorded too.

• Employees see their own working-time account: one row per month with opening balance, days, target, actual, credited hours, time off in lieu, difference and balance. The current month is marked as in progress and counts the target only up to today.
• Managers see the months of the people they have permission for, and can lock finished months where they are allowed to.
• Payroll and controlling use the Balances report: vacation, absences, overtime balance and open liabilities for the company, teams and people, with a CSV export.