Clock ins/outs

How does the night shift configuration work?

Sesame HR includes a configuration called Night shifts within the advanced configuration. This option lets you define how night shift clock ins/outs are assigned according to your company's needs.

This way, clock ins/outs from a night shift, even when they include breaks that cross midnight, can be assigned to the corresponding day according to the configured criteria.

In Sesame, whenever an employee has a fixed night schedule or a night shift assigned and clocks in/out within that schedule, all working time will be counted on the start date of the schedule or shift.

This configuration defines what happens with night clock ins/outs made outside a fixed night schedule or a night shift.

Important: this configuration is not retroactive. If you switch from one option to another, the new logic will only apply to clock ins/outs assigned from that point on.

In Advanced configuration >> Night shifts, you can decide which day overtime worked past midnight is counted on, to adapt it to your company's needs.

In Sesame, a clock in/out is always assigned in full to a single day. It is never split between the start day and the end day, regardless of the option selected.

This configuration only determines which day each clock in/out is assigned to when it is not made within a fixed night schedule or a night shift.

💡 Please note

If you see a night shift spread across two days, it means that during that night there were two separate clock ins/outs. For example:

Clock-in 22:00 – clock-out 01:00
Clock-in 02:00 – clock-out 06:00

In that case, each clock in/out may have been assigned to a different day. This does not mean that a single clock in/out has been split.

What options are available?

Assign to the clock-in date only if a fixed night schedule or night shift exists

With this option, the clock in/out is assigned to the start date of the fixed night schedule or night shift, as long as the clock in is made within that schedule.

If the employee does not have a fixed night schedule or a night shift assigned for that day, each clock in/out is counted on the calendar day on which the clock in was made.

Examples with a schedule or shift from Monday 22:00 to Tuesday 03:00:

Clock ins/outs for that night	Result
Single clock in/out: clock-in 22:00 – clock-out 06:00	All time is counted on Monday, because the clock in was made within the night schedule.
Two clock ins/outs: 22:00–01:00 and 02:00–06:00	Both are counted on Monday, because both clock ins were made within the night schedule.
Two clock ins/outs: 01:00–02:00 and 04:30–06:00	The first is counted on Monday because the 01:00 clock in is within the night schedule. The second is counted on Tuesday because the 04:30 clock in is outside the night schedule.

Assign to the clock-in date regardless of schedule or shift, by setting a continuity margin

With this option, a clock in/out made without a fixed night schedule or a night shift can be considered a continuation of the previous clock in/out.

For this to apply, the interval between the clock out of the previous clock in and the new clock in must not exceed the continuity margin you have configured in minutes.

If this condition is met, the new clock in/out is counted on the same day as the previous clock in/out.

When calculating this margin, any interval between clock ins/outs is taken into account, regardless of whether the previous clock in/out corresponds to working time or a break.

If the interval exceeds the configured margin, or if there is no previous clock in/out, the new clock in/out is counted on the calendar day of its clock in.

In no case is a clock in/out split between two days. The only thing that changes is which day each clock in/out is assigned to.

Examples without a night schedule and with a continuity margin of 120 minutes:

Two clock ins/outs: 22:00–01:00 and 02:00–06:00.
Between the 01:00 clock-out and the 02:00 clock in, there are 60 minutes. As the interval is less than the 120-minute margin, both clock ins/outs are counted on Monday.
Two clock ins/outs: 22:00–01:00 and 04:00–06:00.
Between 01:00 and 04:00, there are 3 hours. As the interval exceeds the 120-minute margin, the first clock in/out is counted on Monday (the day of its clock in) and the second on Tuesday.
Single clock in/out: clock-in 22:30 – clock-out 06:47.
The entire clock in/out is counted on Monday, the day of the clock in. In this case, the continuity margin does not apply because there is only one clock in/out.

In summary

A clock in/out is never split between two days. It is always counted in full on a single day, regardless of the option selected.
Time recorded within a fixed night schedule or a night shift is always counted on the start date of that schedule or shift.
If there is no fixed night schedule or night shift:
- With option A, each clock in/out is counted on the day of its clock in.
- With option B, a clock in/out can be counted on the same day as the previous clock in/out if it is considered a continuation within the configured margin.
The configuration is not retroactive: it only applies to clock ins/outs made after the change.
Reports reflect the day on which each clock in/out was counted according to this configuration.

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