Bucknell has configured Workday to automatically round the time punch to the nearest 15 minutes as staff get used to using Workday, and in order to account for time at the beginning or end of a shift when staff may be waiting to use a single time capture station, or the time that is spent powering up computers and software systems, as examples. The Department of Labor allows employers to compute the time an employee spends working by rounding to the nearest 5 minutes, 6 minutes, or 15 minutes (one quarter of an hour). These rounding options are permissible methods of recording time for employees as long as it works both ways, meaning sometimes rounding to the preceding quarter hour and sometimes rounding to the next quarter hour. The rounding practice is intended to be used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in the failure to compensate the employees properly for all hours actually worked in that over the long term, the result of the rounding practice is that the time credited to both the employee and the employer average out..
For example, where an employee clocks in at 8:55 a.m. for the start of a 9 a.m. shift, the time will be rounded to 9 a.m. Similarly, if an employee clocks out at 4:55 p.m. for a shift ending at 5 p.m., the time will be rounded to 5 p.m.
Using the nearest 15-minute rounding method results in 7 minutes being the trigger point that forces the record up or down to the nearest quarter hour from that time.