In Playground, staff can clock in and out of work. Administrators can edit staff hours and generate reports for a comprehensive overview of tracked hours. This feature provides valuable insights into your team's logged hours, PTO, earnings, and more. Admins can pull the Total Staff Hours report to track hours with a payroll provider.
💡 If you are using Playground Payroll, staff hours will seamlessly flow into Payroll. You can view and edit hours while processing your payroll. Click here to learn more about getting started with Playground Payroll.
Clock In on School Tablet
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Staff members clock in and out using their Playground mobile app. Staff can clock in using the center's QR code or their unique staff PIN code.
QR Code Clock In
Staff can clock in via a printed QR code or a QR code posted on the center's tablet.
Staff will tap the Clock-in button in the top right corner of their Playground mobile app.
Staff will scan your center's QR code and tap their classroom.
A green banner will appear that they have successfully clocked in.
PIN Code Clock In
Staff can clock in on a center tablet in Kiosk Mode using their 4-digit PIN.
Staff will navigate to Enter PIN mode on the center's tablet.
Staff will enter their PIN code.
A green banner will appear that they have successfully clocked in.
Customize Staff PINs
Staff can locate their PIN code on their mobile app by navigating to Settings and then clicking View PIN Code. Administrators can change staff PIN codes by following the instructions below:
From the Admin Dashboard, navigate to the staff's profile.
From the Staff's profile, navigate to Settings.
Under general settings, navigate to Signing PIN.
Type a new PIN in the field and then click the blue Save.
Clock In on Personal Device
Administrators can also allow teachers to use their own devices to clock in/out.
💡 Administrators are the only users who can toggle this setting on. You can find this setting in your center's Settings under Teacher Permissions; toggle on the Clock In On Their Own Device setting.
Clock in/out via Kiosk Mode on Personal Device
If the Clock in on a Personal Device setting is enabled, staff can use the kiosk mode on their personal device to clock in.
On the staff side of the mobile app, navigate to the Kiosk.
Toggle over to Enter PIN.
Enter staff PIN and choose classroom.
A green banner will appear that the staff member is clocked in.
Restrict Staff Clock in Time
Administrators can restrict staff from clocking in more than 5 minutes before their scheduled shift time. This setting can be found in the General Settings under Teacher Permissions.
🚨 This setting does not apply to administrators.
Edit Staff Hours
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If a staff member forgets to clock in or out for an entire day, an admin can add a day to their timesheet and edit their clock-in or out time.
Add a Day for Staff Hours
In the Admin Dashboard, navigate to the Staff tab.
Click on the name of the staff member for whom you'd like to add a day.
From their Staff Profile, click the Hours tab at the top of the screen.
Scroll down to the Signing History section, and then click the blue Add Day button.
The Edit Times window will open. Enter the date you need to add and then click Add Check-in to add the time the staff member began work. Then select Add Check out and add the time the staff member left work or went on their first break.
You can add additional time entries for the day by repeating this process.
Click Save, and the day will be added to their Sign-in History.
Edit Staff Time Entries
From the Admin Dashboard, navigate to the Staff tab.
Click on the name of the staff member for whom you'd like to edit times.
Click on the Hours tab at the top of their Staff Profile.
Scroll down to the Sign-in History section and locate the date of the clock in or out you'd like to edit.
Click the Edit button to the right of the time entry. The Edit times window will open.
Edit the time and click Save once completed.
💡 If you are using Playground for payroll, you will have the opportunity to edit staff hours during the payroll flow.
Add Staff Absence
Staff can be marked absent with various absence types, including vacation, sick, bereavement, holiday, personal, and others. Absences marked as paid time off will be visible in staff hour reports.
💡 Any staff absence can be marked as a paid absence. If you are using Playground Payroll, paid absences will automatically flow to payroll. Click here to learn more about Playground Payroll.
From the Staff Schedule screen, click on the day/staff you would like to add an absence for and then click Mark Absence for Day.
The Record Absence Window will pop up. Confirm the date and add an absence type.
If the absence should be paid, click the check box next to Paid Time Off and then enter the number of hours that the employee should be paid for.
Click the blue Record Absence button to save.
The absence will now appear as an orange box on the scheduling table.
💡 To see how staff can submit requests for PTO, absences and vacations, click here: Staff Hours for Teachers.
Staff Hour Payroll Reports
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Admins can pull staff hour reports to view total employee hours and enter them into payroll.
From your Admin Dashboard, click on the Reports tab.
Select the Staff Payroll tile.
Browse the Staff payroll report types to see which best fits your needs. The most commonly used reports are the Daily Staff Hours report and the Total Staff Hours report. See the chart below for a description of each report.
Daily Staff Hours | Number of hours and breaks each staff member took by day |
Staff hours (PDF) | Generates a PDF for the daily and total number of staff hours for each staff member in a given time period |
Staff Information | Report on staff information |
Staff Pins | Lists the pin codes for check in/out for each staff member |
Teacher Hours Efficiency | Shows the approximate staff to student ratio for a given day. Useful to see if you can move staff around |
Total Staff Hours | Sums up the total number of hours and breaks each staff member took during a specific period of time |
W-2 Previews | Returns a preview of W-2 data for all employees as of the current date for a specified year. |
Generate the Report
In the Report Type drop-down, select the desired report.
Customize the Start Date and End Date for the time period for which you'd like a total.
If you'd like to pull the report for a specific subgroup of staff, select a grouping from the Group drop-down.
Click Generate Report at the top right of your screen. Once it is done generating, the report will appear. At the top right of the table, you can email, print, or download the report.
💡You can customize your report to include some or all of the columns below. Add columns by clicking the ⚙️ gear icon in the top right side of the table to select the desired columns.
Billable | Total number of worked hours an employee will be paid for. Sum of regular hours and overtime hours. |
Breaks | Times between clock outs and clock ins are recorded as breaks |
Regular Hours | Hours worked at a regular rate |
PTO Hours | Tracks approved PTO hours |
Overtime (>8/day) | Hours tracked at overtime rate in a day displayed as hours and minutes |
Overtime (>40+/wk) | Hours tracked at overtime rate in a week displayed as hours and minutes |
Billable (dec) | Total number of worked hours an employee will be paid for. Sum of regular hours and overtime hours displayed as decimals |
Breaks (dec) | Times between clock outs and clock ins are recorded as breaks displayed in decimals |
PTO Billable | Tracked from scheduled PTO |
Regular Billable | Dollar amount of regular billable hours |
Earnings | Sum of regular earnings and overtime earnings |
Overtime (>8/day) (dec) | Hours tracked at overtime rate in a day displayed as decimals |
Overtime (>40) (dec) | Hours tracked at overtime rate in a week displayed as decimals |
🚨 Overtime will not track unless your general payroll settings are set and your staff schedules are created. Learn more about these steps here.
Staff Training Time
Training time is used to record and track training or certifications your staff have completed on their teacher profile.
From the Staff tab of the Admin Dashboard, click on the staff for whom you'd like to record training time.
Scroll all the way down to the Hours tab of their Staff profile.
Click the blue Add Training button to record a training.
In the Add Training window, you can record the name of the staff training, date, total hours, and minutes and upload any file or certificate associated with the training.
Click Save once completed.