Overtime management for retail chains

Where retail overtime comes from

Store overtime is mostly predictable. The first days of an end of season sale keep closing teams back until the queue at the tills clears. Quarterly and annual stock counts run after closing, often past midnight. Visual merchandisers change a store over for a new season overnight, and a new store launch needs a week of long days before the doors open. Because these dates are known in advance, the store manager can decide who stays back, take their consent and tell HR before the day, not after it.

• Sale launch days and festival weekends
• Stock counts after closing
• Season changeover and window dressing overnight
• New store opening or relocation
• Cover for an absent colleague on the closing shift

Counting overtime from punches

ZeniaHR detects overtime every night from punches, so nobody has to keep an overtime register at the till. You choose whether overtime starts after the shift end or only beyond full-day hours. Counting after shift end suits closing shifts, where staying past 10:30 pm is the overtime. A 30-minute minimum stops a few minutes of late billing from counting, and time is rounded down to 15 minutes. The store manager approves each claim in My Team, HR approves next, and HR can bulk approve a whole region's claims after a sale weekend.

A worked overtime calculation

Arjun is a stock associate on a monthly gross of ₹20,800. With a 26-day month, his gross day rate is ₹800 and his hourly rate is ₹800 / 8 = ₹100. On the night of the quarterly stock count he works 3 hours 20 minutes past his shift end. Rounded down to 15 minutes, that is 3.25 hours. At a working day multiplier of 2, his overtime is ₹100 x 3.25 x 2 = ₹650. Once the store manager and HR approve it, the amount reaches payroll as an overtime earning and appears on Arjun's payslip for that month.

Pay, comp-off and a monthly cap

Some associates would rather have a day off in a quiet week than extra pay. The overtime policy can pay as money, as comp-off or at the employee's choice, with 4 hours earning half a day and 8 hours a full day. Keep the legal rule in view: work beyond the prescribed hours is overtime paid at twice the ordinary wage, so take advice before you replace that pay with time off, and keep every pay multiplier, for working days, weekly offs and holidays, at 2 or above. A monthly cap per person protects staff from burnout in sale season and the store's wage budget at the same time.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. In the overtime policy, switch overtime on and count it after shift end, which fits closing and stock count work.
2. Keep the 30-minute minimum and rounding down to 15 minutes, and require approval so every claim passes the store manager.
3. Set the pay multipliers for working days, weekly offs and holidays at 2 or above, in line with the legal rate.
4. Choose payout as pay, comp-off or employee's choice, and set a monthly cap per person before sale season starts.
5. After each sale or stock count, let store managers approve in My Team and have HR bulk approve before the payroll run.

Read more about overtime in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions