Square timecards let your team clock in and out, and start and end breaks, right on your Square POS or in the Square Team app. Square then totals hours, applies the overtime rules you set and gives you timecard reports you can review, edit and send to payroll. For a restaurant or coffee shop, it replaces paper sheets and guesswork with a record everyone can trust.
This guide covers setting up timecards, handling breaks and overtime, reviewing hours each week and avoiding the most common errors.
How Square timecards work
- Each team member has a personal passcode. They enter it on the POS to clock in, start a break, end a break and clock out.
- Square records the time for each action and builds a timecard for the shift.
- Managers review timecards in Square Dashboard, fix mistakes and approve hours.
- Timecard reports show hours, breaks and overtime by team member and pay period, and can feed Square Payroll.
Step 1: Add your team and passcodes
Add each team member in Square Dashboard with their name, role, wage and a unique passcode. According to Square's support center, time tracking is generally turned on once team members have passcodes. If the clock in option does not appear on your POS, check the time tracking setting in your Point of Sale settings.
Set each person's job and hourly rate accurately. If someone works two roles at different rates, such as barista and shift lead, set up both so their hours are paid correctly.
Step 2: Set your work week and overtime rules
Square lets you set your workweek start day and turn on overtime rules, including daily overtime, weekly overtime, daily double time and seventh day overtime, each with its own hour threshold. Square also offers an option to restore your state's default settings.
Overtime rules differ by state and sometimes by city. Square's defaults are a starting point, not legal advice, so confirm your settings with your accountant or state labor department.
Step 3: Set up breaks
Create the break types your business uses, such as a paid 10 minute rest break or an unpaid 30 minute meal break. In Square's reporting, paid breaks count toward overtime calculations and unpaid breaks do not, so label them correctly.
Many states have meal and rest break requirements for hourly workers. Write your break policy down, make sure it meets local rules, and have staff use the break buttons every time so you have a record.
Step 4: Decide your clock in rules
Think about when people can clock in. Early clock ins before a shift starts quietly add up. Square offers controls such as blocking early or unscheduled clock ins and automatic clock outs, but its support center notes these require a paid Square Shifts plan (Plus or Premium). On the free plan, a written policy and a weekly review do the job.
Step 5: Review timecards every week
A ten minute review before payroll catches most problems. Look for:
- Open timecards: someone forgot to clock out, so the shift looks 14 hours long.
- Missing breaks: a long shift with no recorded meal break.
- Unexpected overtime: a team member close to the weekly threshold before Friday.
- Hours that do not match the schedule: shifts much longer or shorter than planned.
Square also lets team members request edits to their own timecards, which managers then approve. Keep a note of why each edit was made.
Example: a coffee shop with eight baristas
The owner adds every barista with a passcode and sets one unpaid 30 minute meal break plus a paid 10 minute rest break. Workweek starts Monday, and overtime is set to match the state's rules after checking with the accountant. Every Monday morning, the owner opens the timecard report for the previous week, closes two forgotten clock outs using the schedule and the closing shift lead's notes, and approves hours. Payroll then runs from those approved hours, with no handwritten sheets to decode.
Sending hours to payroll
If you use Square Payroll, approved timecards and tips can be imported into each payroll run, which removes manual data entry. If you use another payroll provider, export the timecard report and send it to them. Read using Square for payroll management for the full payroll workflow.
Common mistakes
- Shared passcodes. If staff clock in for each other, your hours stop being reliable. Every person needs their own code.
- Editing without a reason. Changes to timecards should be explained and, ideally, acknowledged by the team member.
- Mislabeling breaks. A paid break set up as unpaid changes overtime and pay.
- Waiting until payroll day. Fixing a week of errors in a hurry leads to more errors. Review weekly, or even daily for new staff.
- Assuming defaults are compliant. Always confirm overtime and break settings against your local rules.
To control who can edit timecards and see labor reports, set up permissions carefully. Our guide on managing employee permissions in Square explains how.
Where Orda fits
Labor is easier to manage when the counter is calmer. With Orda Express self-ordering kiosks, and branded apps and web ordering for order ahead, guests place and pay for orders themselves, and every order flows into Square POS. Your team spends less time taking orders at peak and more time making them, which helps you schedule the hours you actually need.