Introduction to Official Work Hours with Net Hours

Standard hours where the total net hours for the workday are entered are used when employees do not have a fixed start and end time, but the total work hours per day are known – for example, 7.5 hours.

This method is typically used for groups of employees with more flexible work schedules and forms the basis for calculating flex time, time off, and absence.
Official work hours are usually not suitable for hourly paid employees who register their own work hours.

If employees have fixed work hours with specific clock times, we recommend instead using official work hours with start and end time.

Choosing a Standard Hours Method

BitaBIZ supports three options:

Start and end time per workday
Used when employees have fixed daily work hours.
Net hours per day (this article)
Used when work hours vary, but the total number of hours per day is known.
No standard hours
Recommended for hourly paid employees who register their own work hours, and where you do not want automatic creation of work hours. Can also be used for fixed paid employees without an hour bank and without standard hours management, but with the option to earn overtime.

Set Up Official Work Hours with Net Hours

Set Official Work Hours for a Staff Group on the Policy

Official work hours entered on a policy automatically apply to all employees on that policy.

To set up work hours on a policy:

Setup Admin → Modules → Edit Policy → Working Week

Choose the standard hours method:
“Enter only net hours per workday”
Enter the number of net hours for each workday
Save

Breaks

When setting up the working week on the policy, you need to decide how to handle breaks.

If breaks are unpaid, they should be created on the policy so they are deducted from work hours
If breaks are paid (e.g., paid lunch), you should not create a break, as it would otherwise be deducted from work hours

Read more about setting up your own paid breaks here.

Set Official Work Hours for an Individual Employee

If an employee has different work hours than the rest of the staff group, standard hours can be set individually.

To set up work hours for an individual employee, go to:

Setup Admin → Edit Employee → Working Week

Select: “The daily work hours are created and managed here”
Enter net hours per day
Save

Important:

The employee's personal data always overrides the policy
Standard hours can vary between even and odd weeks
Changes only apply going forward

Max Plus Hours per Day (Flex Time Only)

If you use flex time, you can limit how many overtime/plus hours an employee can earn to the hour bank per day.

Set this by going to:

Setup Admin → Modules → Edit Policy → Working Week → Enter the number in the “Max. plus hours” field

If the employee registers more plus hours than allowed, only the maximum number will be added to the hour bank.

Changes to Standard Hours

It's important to know how the system handles changes to work hours:

When standard hours are changed on a policy or on an employee's personal data card, the historical standard hours are kept for previously saved registrations.
The change to standard hours will only apply to new future registrations.

So when standard hours are changed, the history is kept for previously registered work hours, and changes only apply going forward.

Registrations That Use Net Hours

Time Registration Without Hour Bank

The method “Edit today's standard hours if deviation” requires standard hours.

The system automatically creates the day's net hours at 9:00 AM on workdays where no absence is registered, and the employee only edits in case of deviations.

Time Registration With Hour Bank

Flex Time Flex time uses net hours to settle work hours to the hour bank with the day's plus or minus time.
Time Off - Full Day A full day of time off is converted to the day's net hours. If the day's net hours are set to 7.5 hours, these are deducted from the hour bank.
Time Off - Hours From/To Time off registered in hours is settled directly to the hour bank. There is no restriction on from and to times. The employee therefore needs to know their normal workday.

Absence

Supplementary Balance - Full Day A supplementary balance day is converted to the day's net hours. If the day's net hours are set to 7.5 hours, these are deducted from the supplementary balance savings.
Supplementary Balance - Hours Supplementary balance hours are settled directly to the supplementary balance hour bank. There is no restriction on from/to time. The employee therefore needs to know when the workday starts and ends.
Sick Hours If sick hours are enabled, hours are converted to days in the employee's statistics. Conversely, a full sick day, with standard hours set, can also be settled in hours.

Related Guide

If employees have fixed start and end times, official work hours can be set up with start and end time per day.

FAQ

How do we know if we should use start and end time or net hours?

Use start and end time if employees have fixed work hours with specific clock times (e.g., 08:00–16:00).

Use net hours if employees do not have fixed start and end times, but work a set number of hours per day (e.g., 7.5 hours).

Should hourly paid employees have standard hours?

No, generally not. Hourly paid employees typically register their work hours manually (e.g., via check in/out or entering hours), so standard hours are not recommended.

If you need to plan expected work hours, this can instead be done with custom registration types, where shifts are created, but employees register their work hours as usual.

Create Official Work Hours – Using Daily Net Hours