# Late and missing clock-in alerts

> Every 30 minutes Timed emails managers about employees who clocked in late or didn't clock in at all. Here's who gets what.

Every 30 minutes Timed checks the last half-hour of expected shift starts. If an employee was due to clock in within that window and either clocked in **after** the grace period or hasn't clocked in at all, Timed emails an alert to the people responsible for that location.

The check runs automatically for every company. There's no on/off switch. Who receives the alert depends on roles and location manager assignments, explained below.

## What counts as a late or missing clock-in

For each active employee with an active shift:

1. Timed works out today's expected start time from the shift schedule, in your company's timezone.
2. It adds your company's **grace period** (in minutes) to get the alert deadline.
3. If the alert deadline falls inside the 30-minute window being checked, the employee is checked.
4. If the employee is **on approved leave** for that date, they're skipped.
5. If their first clock-in for the shift happened before the deadline, they're skipped.
6. Otherwise, they're added to the alert with either an "actual in" time or "Not clocked in" status.

Because the check runs every 30 minutes, an alert arrives roughly 30–60 minutes after a missed shift start, depending on when the check lands relative to the deadline.

## Who receives the alert

| Recipient | What they get |
|---|---|
| Users with the **field-manager** role | One email per check covering **every** location with late or missing employees. |
| Users assigned to a location as a **Location Manager** (branch managers) | One email per check, covering only their assigned locations. |

If someone is both a field manager and a location manager, they only get the location-scoped email, so nobody receives duplicates.

If a location has no manager assigned and your company has no field managers, nobody is emailed about that location's late staff.

## Assigning recipients

To set who's responsible for which locations:

1. Open **Locations** in the sidebar and click into the branch.
2. Go to the **Managers** tab.
3. Add the relevant users. They'll start receiving alerts from the next check.

To set company-wide field managers:

1. Open **Users** in the sidebar.
2. Edit the user and set their role to **field-manager**.
3. From the next check they'll receive the company-wide alert for any location they're not already assigned to as a location manager.

There's no separate "alert subscribers" list. Alerts follow who actually manages each branch, so the recipient list stays current as your managers change.

## What's in the alert email

A simple table with a row per late or missing employee:

- Location
- Payroll number
- Name
- Scheduled start
- Actual in (blank if not clocked in)
- Minutes late
- Status: `Late clock-in` or `Not clocked in`

Rows are grouped by location so a branch manager can quickly see which sites need attention.

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Nobody got an alert for a clearly late employee | Either there's no field manager in your company AND no manager is assigned to that location, or the employee is on approved leave. Check both. |
| A branch manager gets too many alerts | Reduce their location assignments under each location's **Managers** tab. |
| A field manager gets alerts for branches they don't oversee | Field managers see every location. If you want them limited to specific branches, give them the **manager** role instead and assign them only to those locations. |
| Got an alert for someone who DID clock in | Their clock-in was after the deadline (shift start + grace period). The **Minutes late** column shows by how much. |

If an alert didn't arrive when you expected one, contact Timed support and we'll look into it.