Overtime management for schools

When overtime happens in a school

The school calendar tells you when to expect it. Annual day and sports day need peons, the electrician and ayahs until 9 pm for two or three evenings of rehearsals. Excursions and inter-school competitions keep drivers and attendants out until evening. Admission test Sundays in December and January bring the office and some teachers in on a weekly off. Board practical exams and result days keep the exam cell late. A guard doing a double shift because the night guard called in sick is overtime too, and often the biggest item in the month.

• Annual day and sports day rehearsals
• Excursions, educational trips and inter-school events
• Admission tests and orientation on Sundays
• Guard double shifts to cover leave

Rules, approval and the legal rate

Under the OSH Code, ordinary daily work is capped at eight hours, and work beyond the prescribed hours is overtime, paid at twice the ordinary wage rate, with the worker's consent. Read the working hours and overtime rules before you fix your policy. In practice, the admin officer approves event overtime in advance, takes the staff member's consent, and confirms the hours after the day from punch times. Count nothing below 30 minutes, and cap the hours per month so that one busy event month does not turn into a habit.

Worked example: a school excursion

Ramesh, a bus driver, has a gross salary of ₹20,800 a month, and the school works out his day rate on 26 days, so one day is worth ₹800 and one hour ₹100. On an excursion to Ranthambore he punches in at 6:15 am and out at 5:45 pm, which is 11.5 hours on duty. The school counts overtime beyond an eight-hour day, so he has 3.5 hours of overtime. At twice the rate he earns 3.5 x ₹100 x 2 = ₹700, added to that month's salary as an overtime earning.

Comp-off for teachers and Sunday duty

Teachers who come in on a Sunday for an admission test, a workshop or a school fete usually get comp-off instead of pay. Credit a full day for a full Sunday of duty and half a day for a morning, and give it an expiry, such as 60 days or the end of the term, so it is used while it still helps. Office staff can be offered a choice between pay and comp-off. Whatever the mix, keep approval with the admin officer and the record with HR, so annual day month does not end with a list of promises nobody can verify.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. In the Overtime policy, count overtime beyond full-day hours, with a minimum of 30 minutes and rounding down to 15 minutes, and set approval as required.
2. Set pay multipliers for working days, weekly offs and holidays at 2 or more, so no event day is paid below twice the ordinary rate.
3. Choose payout as pay for drivers, guards and support staff and as comp-off for teachers, with 4 hours earning half a day and 8 hours a full day.
4. Set a monthly cap on overtime hours, so heavy event months stand out and repeated double shifts get questioned.
5. Let nightly overtime detection pick up extra hours from punches, then have the manager and HR approve them, using bulk approve after big events.
6. Approved overtime flows into Direct Payroll as an earning, or becomes a comp-off credit with an expiry in the Leave Ledger.

Read more about overtime in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions