Understanding “Open Schedule” vs “Scheduled” Employees

The Open Schedule feature lets employees clock in even when they don’t have a defined schedule for that day. This is useful for workers who:

• Come and go without a regular schedule, or
• May show up on days when no schedule exists.

How to Enable Open Schedule for an Employee

You can turn on open scheduling from the employee’s profile:

1. Go to EMPLOYEES
2. Find the employee, click EDIT
3. Click the SCHEDULING tab
4. Choose one of the following options:
   • Not scheduled and can check in/out at any time
     This allows the employee to clock in/out without any scheduled shifts.
     
   • Scheduled and must check in/out, and then check the box for “Can check in/out on days without a schedule”
     This lets employees scheduled on some days also clock in on days with no schedule.
     

⚠️ Important Considerations

• Timecards from open schedules must always be reviewed and approved manually – because there’s no predefined shift to validate against.
• If setup as NOT SCHEDULED, their time cards will only be assigned to their primary department. If you want to assign multiple departments to the employee you must select the SCHEDULED option and then add the “can punch in/out without a schedule” option.
• Break rules do not apply automatically for open schedule timecards. Since there’s no scheduled shift to base break rules on, employees could take multiple breaks in a short working window.

When to Use Open Schedule

Use this option when:

• An employee’s schedule varies frequently.
• Employees are allowed to work ad-hoc or on-call hours.
• You want flexibility for team members who don’t work regular shift patterns.