The Time & Attendance feature is a new feature for Bezala. Some setting configurations are therefore not yet available in your Company’s Bezala (UI). Contact our support team to configure those settings.
Where to find Time & Attendance settings
Contact Bezala support to enable Time & Attendance feature in Bezala. Once our support team has enabled the feature Manager-/Accountant-role users can find the settings here:
Login into webversion of Bezala and click on main menu icon.
Company settings ==> Basic settings-tab.
Time & Attendance-tab: Sections available in the tab:
Time entry settings
Period lock settings
Work time calendars
Vacation settings
Absence types and approval
Long Term Absence
Work-time types
Remember to lastly click "Save" in lower right-hand corner, after you have done your edits.
Here you can do most settings on the Company level for Time & Attendance. Some features can be overridden on the user level in the user edit view, if needed (click Users in main menu ==> edit pen on the correct user's row).
a) Time entry Settings
Section available in Time & Attendance-tab.
Rounding settings: Configure how time entries are rounded:
Round time entry's time up to (minutes): Sets the rounding increment for work time (non-billable tasks).
Round time entry's billable time up to (minutes): Sets the rounding increment for billable hours (billable tasks).
b) Period lock settings:
Section available in Time & Attendance-tab. Here you determine how long you want to leave open a month for employees to create new/edit created time entries. You can also manually open a locked period for a day, if you need to make changes to an already closed period.
c) Work time calendars
Section available in Time & Attendance-tab but some of these settings can be overridden for individual users in their user edit view.
Work-time calendars define expected working hours for employees, and these settings are therefore essential for the total time balance for each employee.
Actual (time entries done by employee) - expected (what is defined in this section or on user level if not according to company level) = Total balance
Configure these settings i Time & Attendance-tab (Company level settings):
Work-week length in hours: The standard hours per week.
Country defaults:
Finland: 37.5 hours (7.5h/day)
Sweden: 40 hours (8h/day)
Working days: Select which weekdays are working days (Monday-Friday by default).
Timezone: Choose the timezone time entries are made in. Best practice is to choose the timezone, which most employees work in.
Default workday start: The typical start time for work entries (used for pre-filling forms).
Default break minutes: Standard break duration in minutes (used for pre-filling forms).
Some of these settings can be overridden in user edit view. Click Users in main menu ==> edit pen on the row for the specific user:
Working hours: 100%, 75%, 50% etc. A 100% is standard since it is according to Company settings (see above work week length in hours).
Working days: can be edited from company standard (Monday-Friday) to e.g. Monday-Thursday.
Work-Time Groups
Not available yet in Time & Attendance-tab. Read down below on what can be defined for a work time group and then contact Bezala support and give us the relevant information for each work time group you want to create.
Use work-time groups when you have employees with different working arrangements, for example:
Employees in different countries (Swedish employees in a Finnish company)
Different legal entities
Different collective agreements
Each work-time group can have its own:
Working hours per week
Vacation days and vacation year start
Work-time types (regular, on call, travel, staggered, training)
Long absence types
Absence approval settings
Flex time and overtime settings (see more down below).
Timezone for payroll
Users are assigned to a work-time group in their user settings.
d) Vacation Settings:
Section available in Time & Attendance-tab but some of these settings can be overridden for individual users in their user edit view.
Vacation days per year: Number of vacation days employees receive (e.g., 25 for Finland).
Vacation year starts on: When the vacation year begins (e.g., April 1 for Finland).
Allow vacation overdraft: If enabled, employees can request more vacation days than they have earned. This is useful when employees want to book vacation in advance.
Note: In user edit view it is possible to define specific vacation day balance for a user. Define from which date vacation balance is effective and the number of vacation days available. Click check mark to save edit to vacation balance correction. In screenshot the check mark (seen in screenshot with added blue frame) has not been clicked yet.
e) Absence Types and Approval
Section available in Time & Attendance-tab but name of User Approver needs to be defined in user edit view.
Configure approval requirements for vacations and sick leaves:
Vacations: Options for approval:
None: Auto-approved immediately.
User Approver: Approved by the employee's designated approver. This means that the approver is the same user as the user's edit view approver.
Specific Users: Approved by selected users (e.g., HR team).
If this is selected in the drop-down a new "Approvers" field appears, where you can choose the specific approvers.
Note: Non-approved vacations are automatically approved when the vacation start date arrives.
Sick Leaves: Configure approval the same way as vacations. Typically assigned to payroll team members.
f) Long Term Absences:
Section available in Time & Attendance-tab.
Create custom absence types for your organization:
Click "Add Long Term Absence"
Enter the name (e.g., "Parental Leave", "Child Care", "Unpaid Leave")
Save to configure approval settings
Select approval type (and approvers if Specific approvers)
Click Save again.
Note: You cannot remove an absence type if absences of that type already exist.
Flex Time and Overtime
User level edits can be made on flex time but otherwise contact Bezala's support for work-time group settings.
Flex time (work-time group or user level):
Enabled by default. Allows employees to accumulate extra hours as time off.
Can be turned off using "Hide flex time" setting in user edit view. Remember to lastly click "Save".
Paid overtime (work-time group level only):
Disabled by default.
Enable with "Allow paid overtime" setting.
When enabled, employees choose between flex time or paid overtime for extra hours.
Viewing Employee Time Entries & Absences
Managers and accountants can view all employee time entries and absences. Approvers can see entries for users they approve. Filter by employee, date range, project, or status.
Go to "Time & Attendance" in main menu.
Click "Work time"/"Project time"-tab to view work time entries. Absences-tab for absences.
Filter according to employee, date range, project or/and description.
In the list you see specific time entries/absences made by employee.
In work time/project time-tab:
Total balance: shows current total balance (true hours-work time)
Negative: Means that employee owes work time to employer
Positive: Balance value available as flex time for employee
Work time calendar view: Click arrow next to today's balance. Time stamps are written in HH:MM format (H for hours, M for minutes).
In example below 5.2 balance is true hours (i.e. actual hours done by employee): 07:45, work time (i.e. expected hours by employer): 07:30. Balance for 5.2: 07:45-07:30 = 0:15
Payroll Integration
Absences reported to payroll cannot be updated or deleted. Absences are typically reported to payroll the following month.
Public Holidays
Public holidays are determined by the employee's country setting. On public holidays, employees are not expected to work, and these days don't count against vacation balances. If you need to configure these settings into something else than your country default contact Bezala support.
User-Level Settings (User edit view)
Individual employee settings can override company defaults:
Part-time percentage: Set if employee works part-time (affects vacation calculation)
Working days: Override company's default working days
Flex time: Can be turned off for individual users (if enabled at group level)
Balance correction:
Vacation
Time Balance: If time balance is imported from other system
Some Time & Attendance settings are also defined in the user edit view:
Work time group: The user can be assigned to a specific work time group by choosing it from drop-down list. To create alternatives in drop-down list contact Bezala support.
User approver: If absences are approved by the user approver, the specific user approver is set here. See more here.
Country-Specific standard rules
Finland:
Standard work week: 37.5 hours
Default vacation days: 25
Vacation year typically starts April 1
Some collective agreements include "Pekkaset" (additional comp-time for 8h vs 7.5h workdays)
Sweden:
Standard work week: 40 hours
Various collective agreements may provide additional vacation or comp-time.
FAQ
How do I set different rules for employees in different countries?
Create work-time groups for each country with their specific work-time calendar settings. Think about what values you want for each group and contact Bezala support to create those work time groups.
Can I change the default working hours?
Yes, update "Work-week length in hours" in Time & Attendance settings or create work-time groups with different settings.
How do I enable paid overtime instead of flex time?
Paid overtime is configured at the work-time group level. Contact Bezala support to create work time groups.
What work-time types are available?
Regular, On call, Travel, Training, and Staggered. Types can be enabled/disabled per work-time group. Regular type cannot be disabled.
How do I assign users to work-time groups?
Select the work-time group in the users edit view and click Save in the lower right-hand corner. If you cannot find the work time group in the list, write down values for new work time group and give those values to Bezala's support team so new work time group can be created.