Time Clocking in Hospitality: Managing Rotating Shifts Without Complications

Time Clocking in Hospitality: The Sector Where Time Tracking Gets Most Complicated

Hospitality is the heart of the Spanish economy. Bars, restaurants, hotels, cafes, beach bars… More than 1.7 million people work in this sector, with schedules that defy any definition of “standard working day”.

Split shifts, intensive weekend shifts, reinforcements during peak season, schedule changes from one day to the next, overtime that accumulates without anyone counting it properly… Time management in hospitality is a puzzle, and traditional time tracking isn’t designed to solve it.

But the law makes no distinctions: time recording is mandatory for all sectors, and the new Royal Decree will require it to be digital. So it’s better to find a solution that adapts to the reality of the business rather than complicating it.

Why Time Tracking Is Especially Difficult in Hospitality

Any restaurant owner or hotel manager knows that hospitality has unique work dynamics. These are the ones that most impact clocking:

Rotating and Split Shifts

It’s common for a waiter to work from 12:00 to 16:00, rest, and return from 20:00 to 00:00. Split shifts mean multiple clock entries in a single day - entry and exit for each section of the working day. And rotating shifts mean the schedule changes every week or even every day.

A time tracking system that only records one entry and one exit per day won’t work here. You need one that allows multiple clock entries and groups them correctly into the same working day.

Seasonality and Demand Peaks

Christmas, Easter, summer… Hospitality lives on seasonal peaks, and that means hiring temporary staff who need to clock in from day one. The system must allow registering and deregistering employees quickly, without bureaucratic processes that slow down operations.

Overtime: The Great Unfinished Business

Let’s be honest: hospitality has a historical problem with overtime. Many are worked, few are recorded, and even fewer are paid or compensated correctly. With mandatory digital recording, this ends - and that’s good for both workers and employers who want to do things right.

A good system calculates overtime automatically from clock entries, compares with the planned schedule, and generates alerts when legal limits are exceeded.

High Staff Turnover

Hospitality has one of the highest turnover rates of any sector. That means there are constantly new employees who need to learn how to use the clocking system. If it’s complicated, it becomes a problem. Simplicity is crucial.

Multiple Locations

Restaurant chains, hotel groups, or businesses with multiple venues need a centralised system that allows managing time tracking for all locations from a single panel, but with the flexibility to configure different schedules and shifts for each one.

Clocking Solutions That Work in Hospitality

The key is choosing tools that adapt to the business workflow, not the other way around. These are the most effective:

Kiosk Mode: A Clocking Point in the Venue

Kiosk mode consists of placing a tablet at an accessible point in the venue (the bar, the kitchen, the back office) where employees clock in on arrival and departure. Clocking is done with PIN, employee code, or even facial recognition.

It’s the ideal solution for hospitality because:

• Doesn’t require each employee to have the app installed on their personal mobile.
• It’s fast: clocking literally takes 5 seconds.
• It’s visual: the manager can see on the tablet who has clocked in and who’s missing.
• Works with temporary staff: they only need their employee code.

With Cleverfy, activating kiosk mode is as easy as opening the app on a tablet and selecting the corresponding mode. No special hardware, no complicated installations.

Mobile App for Mobile Teams

For catering, home delivery services, or employees who work at different locations, the mobile app is the perfect alternative. Each worker clocks in from their own smartphone, and the record is associated with their profile with exact time and location.

Web Clocking for the Back Office

Administrative staff at the hotel or the manager who works from the computer can clock in directly from the browser. With Cleverfy, you just access the web platform and press the clock button - no downloads needed.

Chrome Extension for Shared Desktops

In hotels or restaurants where several employees share the same computer (reception, back office), the browser extension allows each person to clock in with their own account quickly, without logging out the previous person.

Managing Rotating Shifts: How to Do It Right

Rotating shifts are hospitality’s great challenge. A good time tracking system not only records clock entries but helps you plan and control shifts efficiently:

Weekly Shift Planning

Define each employee’s shifts for the week: morning, afternoon, night, split, intensive… The system automatically compares actual clock entries with planned shifts and detects deviations: lateness, early departures, unjustified absences.

Split Shifts: Multiple Daily Clock Entries

As we mentioned, split shifts require the system to allow several entry-exit pairs in a single day and group them correctly. This is fundamental for calculating worked hours and breaks correctly.

Last-Minute Shift Changes

In hospitality, last-minute changes are daily bread. An employee gets sick, another needs to swap their shift… The system must allow quick adjustments without messing up the records.

Mandatory Rest Period Control

Regulations establish minimum rest periods between shifts (12 hours) and weekly (one and a half days). A good time tracking system alerts when shift planning doesn’t respect these minimums, avoiding legal problems.

Overtime in Hospitality: Transparency and Control

Overtime is a sensitive topic in hospitality. These are the key points:

Automatic Calculation

From the ordinary working day agreed in contract or collective agreement, the system automatically calculates each worker’s overtime. No estimates, no manual calculations, no errors.

Legal Limit: 80 Hours Per Year

The Workers’ Statute establishes a maximum of 80 overtime hours per year per worker. The system should keep a cumulative counter and alert when an employee approaches the limit.

Recording and Communication

Overtime must be communicated monthly to worker representatives and kept for 4 years. With a digital system, this information is always available and exportable at any time.

Correct Compensation

Overtime can be paid with a surcharge or compensated with rest time, according to what the applicable hospitality collective agreement establishes. Detailed recording ensures this compensation is done correctly.

Hospitality-Specific Regulations

In addition to general time recording regulations, hospitality has particularities worth knowing:

Hospitality Collective Agreement

Each autonomous community has its own hospitality agreement that regulates maximum working day, rest periods, shifts, overtime, and specific conditions. It’s important that the time tracking system can be configured according to the agreement applicable to your business.

Maximum Working Day

The agreement usually establishes a maximum annual working day (typically between 1,776 and 1,826 hours). The system should be able to do cumulative tracking to not exceed this limit.

Rest Between Shifts

Minimum 12 hours between the end of one shift and the start of the next. In split shifts, this rest is counted from the last exit to the first entry of the next day.

Work on Holidays and Sundays

Hospitality is one of the few sectors with regular activity on holidays. The system should identify these days and apply the surcharges or compensations established by the agreement.

Practical Case: Restaurant with 15 Employees

Let’s imagine a medium restaurant with 15 employees between kitchen, floor, and bar. Here’s how time tracking works with a digital system:

Initial setup (10 minutes):

1. Create the account and register the restaurant as a work centre.
2. Add the 15 employees with their basic details.
3. Configure the usual shifts: split (12-16 / 20-00), morning (8-16), night (16-00).
4. Install the app on a tablet for kiosk mode in the back office.

Day to day:

• Employees clock in on the tablet when arriving and leaving each shift.
• The system automatically records the hours and compares them with the assigned shift.
• The manager receives alerts if someone hasn’t clocked in or if there are significant deviations.

End of month:

• The system generates a report with each employee’s hours, overtime included.
• Data is exported for payroll with one click.
• Records are stored and available for any inspection.

Cost: With Cleverfy, 15 employees x 1.50 EUR = 22.50 EUR/month. Less than what a dinner for two costs.

FAQ: Time Clocking in Hospitality

Is time tracking mandatory in bars and restaurants?

Yes, without exceptions. Since 2019, all companies in Spain must record the daily working hours of all their workers. This includes bars, restaurants, hotels, cafes, and any hospitality business, regardless of size.

How do I manage split shifts with a clocking system?

You need a system that allows multiple daily clock entries. The employee clocks entry and exit for each section of their day (for example, entry at 12:00, exit at 16:00, entry at 20:00, exit at 00:00). The system groups all the day’s clock entries and calculates total hours.

What about temporary staff in summer?

They’re registered in the system like any other employee and start clocking from day one. When their contract ends, their profile is deactivated. With systems like Cleverfy, this process is immediate and has no additional setup cost.

Can I use a tablet as a clocking point for the whole team?

Yes, this is exactly what kiosk mode does. You install the app on a tablet, place it at an accessible point in the venue, and each employee clocks in with their personal code. It’s the most practical solution for hospitality.

How do I control my employees’ overtime?

A digital time tracking system automatically calculates overtime by comparing actual clock entries with the ordinary working day. It shows you a cumulative total per employee and alerts you when someone approaches the legal limit of 80 annual hours.

Do I need a different system for each venue if I have several?

No. Good time tracking systems allow managing multiple venues from the same account. Each venue is configured as an independent work centre with its own shifts and employees, but management is centralised in a single panel.

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Do you have a hospitality business and want to simplify clocking? Discover our solution for hospitality or start free with Cleverfy and forget the headaches with shifts. Prefer to see it first? Book a 15-minute demo and we’ll show you how it works.