# Keep employees, attendance and leave

> Add every employee, with or without an EaseDesk login, let them punch in and out with lunch and other breaks from the Dashboard, keep attendance in a month grid or from your biometric export, set holidays and leave types, and let managers approve leave and punch fixes.

In EaseDesk: HR & payroll (its own tab) → Employees, Attendance and Leave

## Steps

1. In the sidebar, click HR & payroll, which opens in a new tab with its own menu. Open Employees and click New employee. Enter their name, branch, joining date and who they report to. Link their EaseDesk login if they have one, so they can punch in, ask for leave and see their payslips.
2. In Settings, Organisation, Payroll, set your weekly offs and add the year's holidays for each branch, or for all of them.
3. Mark attendance on People, Attendance by clicking a day in the month grid, or import your biometric machine's export (employee code, date, in and out). People with a login punch in on the Dashboard's My day card (or the button at the top of the screen), start and end their breaks there, and punch out. Their place is noted at each punch.
4. In HR & payroll settings, under Punching and Breaks, choose whether the place is off, noted or required, whether people may punch in again the same day, and your breaks (lunch, tea or your own), each paid or unpaid with the minutes allowed.
5. Open Attendance, Day and punches to see each person's punches, breaks and where they were; the Register lists in, out, breaks and worked time for any dates and exports to Excel.
6. Leave is asked for under My leave. The person's manager is told and approves or refuses it, and approved leave appears on the attendance grid by itself.
7. Opening balances and corrections go on the employee's Leave tab, under Adjust.
8. For shifts, open HR & payroll settings and add a shift (start, end, grace minutes). Punches and imported times then mark late arrivals and overtime; approve overtime for pay in the list under the attendance grid.

One list of your people feeds attendance, leave, payroll and the books, so nobody is typed in twice.
A month that has been paid is frozen: its attendance and leave no longer change for the people paid.

## Questions

### Can HR approve their own leave or mark their own attendance?

No. Your own leave, punch fixes and attendance go through a request that someone else decides, such as your manager or the Owner. Leave or a claim you enter for someone else is decided by another person too.

### Does leave marked on the attendance sheet use the balance?

Yes. A day marked as paid leave on the sheet is taken from the employee's balance, as an approved request is.

### Why was a punch photo refused?

A punch takes a new photo each time. An older photo, or one used for an earlier punch, is refused. HR also sees a Check mark on punches with a vague or repeated location.

### Can people punch in only at the office?

Yes. In HR & payroll settings, switch on Punch only at the branch and, standing at each branch, press Use my location here. Every punch then needs the phone's location within the radius you set; switch on the photo at punch in (or out) for a selfie too. Without it, a punch elsewhere is allowed and marked Away from the branch. The place is kept only at each punch, never in between.

### How do lunch and other breaks count?

People start and end a break from the Dashboard. Unpaid breaks come off worked time, which decides half days and overtime; paid breaks count as work. Overtime counts from the shift less the unpaid breaks allowed, so a lunch break does not cut it. On a night shift, arriving after midnight is late too. A break longer than its allowance is marked Long break for you to decide; nothing is cut by itself.

### What if someone forgets to punch out?

The day is closed at the end of their shift (or 23:59 without a shift), marked Not punched out, and they are told. They can ask to fix the day from My day; their manager or HR approves it under Approvals, Punch fixes.

### Do punches feed payroll?

Yes. Each day's worked time, half days, late marks and approved overtime come from the punches, so the month's loss of pay and overtime are ready when you run payroll.

### How much earned leave is carried into the new year?

What was left of last year's allowance (prorated for someone who joined during the year, with its own carry and adjustments), up to the carry limit of the leave type. Leave that runs over the end of the leave year comes out of each year's balance for its own days.

### When do late marks cost pay?

Every three late days in a month (or the number you set) cost half a day of pay. Set it to 0 to keep late marks for information only.

### Does every employee need an EaseDesk user?

No. Factory and field staff can be on the payroll without a login. Only people who punch in, ask for leave or see their payslips need one.

### Which days count as loss of pay?

Days absent, half days, unpaid leave, and days before joining or after leaving. Weekly offs, holidays, paid leave and days not marked at all are paid.

### Who can see an employee's salary and bank details?

Only people whose role can run payroll, and the employee themself. HR without payroll sees everything else.

### Can a manager approve their own leave?

No. Leave goes to the person's reporting manager, or to HR when they have none.

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Source: https://www.easedesk.com/help/people/employees-attendance-leave · Updated 2026-10-26 · EaseDesk