Employee guide: clock in, report, swap — what you handle yourself

This page is for everyone who is set up in Zeitflex as an employee — in the kitchen, on the building site, in the shop, on the ward. It explains what you do yourself without asking, where management is needed, and why the line is drawn exactly there. Management sees the same processes from the other side; the rules are the same for both sides.

Clocking in and ending your working day

1. Open the Dashboard — that is where the time clock is — or the mobile app.
2. Clock in when you start work, Clock out at the end. You clock breaks the same way.
3. At the wall tablet your PIN applies; in the browser and in the app, your account.

If a clock-in stays open for longer than 14 hours, Zeitflex reminds you with the message “Still clocked in?”. The reminder does not ask you to clock out now — that would record all the hours since the morning as work. Instead, tell your management when you actually finished work. They add the time as a late entry and receive their own reminder for the same clock-in.

View, but not change

Your times are shown in full under Timesheets. What you will not find there is a button to change them — not even for your own entries. Only owners and managers may correct entries and add late entries, and only with a reason of 5 to 500 characters.

The change history of a time (which version replaced which, and when) can be seen by owners, managers and the tax adviser. You see the current state. If you want to know what was corrected, ask your management — or request your data access report (see below), which contains every time relating to you.

How a forgotten clock-in is added later is explained under Correcting a forgotten clock entry.

Requesting vacation, reporting sickness, withdrawing a request

1. Open Absences → Submit request.
2. Choose the type: Vacation, Sick leave, Child sick, Unpaid, Special leave, Vocational school or Other.
3. Enter From and To, half day if needed, and submit.

Only one open or approved request can exist for the same period; a second one is rejected. Vacation and the other types wait for management’s decision. Sick leave and Child sick take effect immediately — nobody has to approve them.

You can withdraw yourself:

The day counts by the clock in Germany, not by server time. So a typo in the sick note is your business until midnight; after that, management helps. A request that has not yet been decided, on the other hand, can still be withdrawn even if the month has already been closed — it is not part of any payroll.

In the browser, you attach a doctor’s certificate to the request, in the field Sick note (optional) — as JPG, PNG or PDF up to 10 MB. Submitting it later only works in the mobile app; in the browser there is no button for it. Only you, owners and managers may see the certificate — colleagues never, the tax adviser never. Every time it is opened, this is logged; you will find the list of these accesses under Settings → Data & deletion → Access to my documents. More on this under Recording a sick note.

Swapping a shift

If your business uses the shift plan, you swap a shift in three steps:

1. In the Shift plan, open your own shift → Request swap. Other people’s shifts cannot be requested, and neither can a swap with yourself.
2. Choose the person who should take over and, if needed, write a message (up to 300 characters). Only one open request can run per shift.
3. The person asked confirms or declines. Only then does management approve.

As long as it has not been approved or declined, you can withdraw your request yourself. As the person asked, you can decline as long as you have not yet confirmed. Only owners and managers may approve. Details under Shift swap.

Shift plan in your own calendar, peace at night

Under Settings → Calendar you create up to five subscription links (phone, tablet, Outlook). The calendar only shows your published shifts and, if you wish, your approved absences — no drafts, no colleagues, no pay. It goes back 60 days and 180 days ahead; you choose a reminder between 15 minutes and one day beforehand.

Under Notifications you switch off individual types and set quiet hours, for example 20:00 to 7:00. Messages during quiet hours are suppressed, not delivered later — the content is in the app anyway. For the team chat, a fixed night-time silence from 21:00 to 6:00 also applies, which nobody can switch off.

Your own documents and your data access report

Under Documents — a module that is switched on by default and that your business can switch off — you upload your own documents: doctor’s certificates, photo records of a job and other documents as JPG, PNG or PDF up to 10 MB. Contract documents are filed only by management. You see your own files and the business’s photo records; you do not see other people’s documents.

Under Settings → Data & deletion you will find My data access request (Art. 15 GDPR): everything Zeitflex stores about you, as a readable file and as a machine-readable file, with purpose and storage period per category. This is possible three times per hour.

You request the deletion of your account in the mobile app under Delete account; in the browser there is no such button. You receive a reference number. The deletion is not carried out immediately, because working-time records are subject to statutory retention periods; the operator will get in touch by email. More under What Zeitflex stores about me.

What you do not see — and why

• Working-time check: the page with notes, warnings and violations is reserved for management, because it shows the names and violations of all employees. There is currently no separate view of your own findings; your times are in the timesheet.
• Other people’s certificates and contracts: never, in no list, under no filter.
• Shift plan drafts: you only see shifts once they have been published.
• Other people’s pay and premiums: not part of your views.

Still stuck?

Ask support — or read on under Your first clock-in and Requesting and approving vacation.