Clock in and out

You clock in and out with two devices. One screen shows a QR code, and you scan that code with your phone. Kelola checks who you are and where you are, then records the time. You do not need any special hardware. There is no Kelola app to install either: your phone opens a Kelola page in its web browser.

Before you begin

• Every role can clock in: Owner, Admin, Manager and Employee. You need a Kelola account that you have already activated.
• You need two devices, and you must be signed in to Kelola as yourself on both:
  • A screen that shows the code. This can be a computer, a tablet or a second phone.
  • A phone with a camera. Sign in to Kelola in the phone's web browser. Most phones open a scanned link in their default browser, so sign in there. See Sign in to Kelola.
• You sign in on your phone only once. Kelola keeps you signed in on that browser for 30 days, and the 30 days start again when you use Kelola.
• Your phone must be allowed to share its location with that browser.
• An admin sets up your company first. They add office locations and work schedules, and they choose the attendance mode. They also give you an Office location and a Work schedule, or leave you on Remote / unassigned. Admins, see Set up your company.

Open the attendance terminal

The Attendance terminal is the page that shows the QR code. Open it on your screen in one of these ways:

• Go to My space → Clock in / out. Everyone has this item.
• If you have the Employee role, you can also select Clock in / out on Home.
• Owners and admins also have Attendance in the sidebar. It opens the same page.

The terminal records your own attendance only. It does not show anyone else's clock-ins.

The code changes every few seconds, so keep the page open while you scan. The line above the code says what your next scan does, for example "Waiting for a scan · clock in".

Check your company's attendance mode

An admin chooses one attendance mode for the whole company, in Settings → Company. Look at the terminal to see which mode your company uses:

• Explicit clock in / out: the terminal shows a Clock in button and a Clock out button. You select one, then scan. This is the default mode.
• Automatic (first in, last out): the terminal has no buttons. You only scan. Your first scan of the day clocks you in. Each later scan that day becomes your new clock-out, so your last scan of the day is the one that counts.

In automatic mode, a scan closes your open shift if that shift started less than 16 hours ago, even after midnight. So a night shift from 22:00 to 06:00 is one shift. If your open shift started 16 hours ago or more, the scan starts a new shift instead. Kelola flags the old shift as unclosed, and you request a shift fix for it. After a shift is closed, a later scan moves its clock-out only on the day the shift started, in your company's time zone.

To change the mode, see Set up your company.

Clock in

1. Open the Attendance terminal on your screen. If you see the Clock in and Clock out buttons, check that Clock in is selected. It is selected when the page opens.
2. Open the camera on your phone and point it at the code. Tap the link that appears. The Confirm your attendance page opens in your phone's browser.
3. Tap Confirm. If the browser asks to use your location, allow it. The button shows Finding you… and then Confirming…. Finding your location can take a few seconds.
4. Wait for You’re clocked in. Below it, the phone shows the time that Kelola recorded and your status, the same as the terminal. For example: "Clocked in 08:58 · Late by 3m", "Clocked in 09:01 · On time" or "Clocked in 09:01 · Remote verified". You can close the page on your phone.

A moment later, the terminal changes too. It shows Clocked in with the time, and your status, such as On time, Late by 5m or Remote verified. To scan again on the same screen, select Start another.

The page on your phone uses the same language as Kelola in that phone's browser. If it shows the wrong language, open Kelola once in your phone's browser, for example Home. Kelola in that browser then switches to the language in your Preferences. See Set your preferences.

Use a shared kiosk

A kiosk is one screen at the door that everyone scans, instead of each person using their own computer.

1. An owner or admin opens My space → Clock in / out on a company computer or tablet, and selects Open kiosk mode. The kiosk opens in a new tab with a QR code that changes every few seconds.
2. Each person scans the code with their own phone, where they are signed in to Kelola, and selects Confirm.
3. In Explicit clock in / out mode, the phone asks Clocking in or out?. Select Clock in or Clock out. In Automatic (first in, last out) mode, Kelola decides.

The phone shows the result. The kiosk never shows who scanned. Kelola still checks the geofence, so a person must be at the office. Each code works once per person, so many people can scan the same code one after another.

Clock out

In Explicit clock in / out mode:

1. On the terminal, select Clock out. The line above the code changes to "Waiting for a scan · clock out".
2. Scan the code with your phone and tap Confirm, the same way you clocked in. Your phone shows You’re clocked out, with the time and how long you worked, for example "Clock-out 17:02 · 8h 2m worked".
3. The terminal shows Clocked out with the time and how long you worked, for example "8h 28m worked".

Always select Clock out before you scan to leave. If Clock in is still selected, Kelola tells you that you are already clocked in and records nothing.

In Automatic (first in, last out) mode, scan again when you leave. There is nothing to select. If you scan more than once, your last scan of the day is your clock-out.

Kelola checks your location at clock-out too. Scan before you leave the area around your office.

Clock in when you work remotely

If your Office location is Remote / unassigned, you can clock in and out from anywhere. Kelola does not check how far you are from an office. Your clock-in gets the Remote verified status.

• Your phone still asks for your location, and you must allow it. Without it, the scan fails.
• Only an admin can change your office location, in People. There is no setting for a single remote day: you either have an office location or you are remote. See Edit an employee's record.

See how Kelola marks your arrival

Kelola gives each clock-in one status, at the moment you clock in. It compares the time with your work schedule. A work schedule is a start time, an end time and a grace period that your admin sets. The grace period is the number of minutes after the start time that still count as on time.

• On time: you clock in at or before the start time plus the grace period.
• Late: you clock in after that. Kelola counts the late minutes from the end of the grace period.
• Remote verified: your office location is Remote / unassigned. You are never marked on time or late.

If you have an office location but no work schedule, every clock-in is On time.

On a day with a published shift for you, Kelola uses the shift's start time instead of your work schedule's, and the shift's location if it has one. See Schedule shifts.

For example, your work schedule starts at 09:00 with a 10-minute grace period. A clock-in at 09:10 is On time. A clock-in at 09:15 is Late by 5m, because the grace period ended at 09:10.

A night work schedule, such as 22:00 to 06:00, ends the next morning. A clock-in after midnight and before 06:00 counts as late for the shift that started the evening before. With a 10-minute grace period, a clock-in at 00:30 is Late by 140 minutes.

Keep these points in mind:

• Only your clock-in gets a status. Your clock-out records the time and the hours you worked.
• Shifts in My space → My schedule do not change your status. Only your work schedule does.
• Kelola uses your company's time zone for the times it shows and for these statuses. An admin sets it in Settings → Company. See Set up your company. If the time on the terminal looks wrong, tell your admin.

Know what Kelola checks when you scan

Kelola makes it hard to clock in for someone else, or from the wrong place:

• A code works only for the person signed in on that screen, and only when the phone is signed in as the same person.
• Each code works only once, and only for about one minute. A photo of the code does not let anyone else clock in.
• If you have an office location, your phone must be inside its geofence. The geofence is a circle around the office. Your admin sets its size, and the default is 100 metres.
• Kelola saves your phone's location with each clock-in.

Fix a failed scan

When a scan fails, the phone shows That didn’t work and a message. The message says what went wrong and what to do next. Below it, Having trouble? opens this section in a new tab. Find the message in one of the two tables below.

Fix a problem on your phone

These problems happen before Kelola checks the code. For most of them, the phone shows Try again, which sends the same code again. The code works only for about a minute after the terminal showed it. After that, Try again tells you the code has expired.

Fix a problem that Kelola found

Kelola checked your scan and rejected it. Kelola uses up a code only when it accepts a scan. For most of these problems, a second try with the same code cannot work, so the phone does not show Try again. Fix the problem, then scan the code that the terminal shows now. The terminal keeps showing new codes, so you can scan again right away. The geofence messages are the exception: the phone shows Try again, so you can move closer and send the same code again.

See where your clock-ins show up

After a scan, Kelola saves your clock-in or clock-out. Here is who sees it:

• Admins see every clock-in on Reports. The page refreshes about every 30 seconds. See Export reports.
• Managers and admins see who in their team is in today on My team → Team overview. See See your team.
• Everyone sees Attendance today on Home. It counts how the whole company clocked in today.

You see your own clock-ins on My space → My attendance. See the next section. If you forget to clock out, Kelola later marks the shift as unclosed, and you can ask for a fix. See Fix a shift.

See your own clock-ins

Go to My space → My attendance. Everyone has this item. The page lists your own clock-ins for one month, newest first. It never shows anyone else's clock-ins.

• To see another month, use the arrows next to the month name. Select This month to come back. You cannot open a month in the future.
• At the top, Clock-ins counts your clock-ins in that month. Time worked adds up the hours of the shifts that have a clock-out.
• Each row shows the date, your clock-in and clock-out times, how long you worked, and your office location. A remote clock-in shows Remote instead of a location. If a shift ends after midnight, the clock-out also shows its date.
• All times are in your company's time zone. The page names that time zone below the list.

Each row also has a status:

While a shift is open and not flagged yet, the row shows In progress instead of a clock-out.

If an owner or admin corrected the record, it also shows Corrected. If they added it, it shows Added by admin. Point at the badge, or move to it with the keyboard, to see the original times and the reason. You also get a notification and an email when this happens. See Fix a shift.

An Unclosed shift has a Request fix button. It opens Shift fixes, where you ask for the missing clock-out. After you send the request, the row shows Fix requested and a View shift fix button. If the request is rejected, the row shows Fix rejected, and Request fix comes back. See Fix a shift.

Next steps

• Fix a shift
• Sign in to Kelola
• Set up your company
• See your team