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TimeTracking

Staff time tracking for daycare and after-school care

In childcare the roster follows the children: how many are booked, at which location and at what time of day. TimeTracking helps you plan staff hours around that, cover sick days quickly and get correct hours to payroll. It records staff hours only, never anything about children.

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Animated demo: the staff roster of a daycare location for one day, a staff member calls in sick early in the morning, her shift is offered as an open shift, a part-time colleague accepts it in the app and the day is covered. Day roster, Sick call, Open shift, Covered.

How childcare organisations use TimeTracking

  1. Plan per location

    Plan shifts per location and day, based on the staffing you need for the children booked. Recurring patterns cover the regular week of every part-timer.

  2. Staff record their hours

    Staff clock in at a tablet in the staff room with a personal PIN, or confirm their shift in the app. Breaks are recorded explicitly.

  3. Cover sick days

    When someone calls in sick, the shift becomes an open shift that colleagues can pick up in the app. The sick day is registered in the same place.

  4. Approve and export

    Location managers approve the period. Worked hours, leave and sick days go to payroll in one export.

Rosters that follow the children

The number of staff you need changes during the day: a busy drop-off, a quiet hour while the youngest sleep, a peak when school ends. Ratio rules depend on the age group and the country, and your planners know them best. TimeTracking does not calculate ratios or store children's details. It gives planners a clear roster per location, so they can put the right people in the right hours and see gaps straight away.

Shift templates and recurring patterns cover the standard week, and copying a week saves rebuilding the roster when little changes. Before a roster is published, planners get a warning when it would break the rest-time rules you configured.

  • Rosters per location and day
  • Templates, recurring patterns and copy week
  • Rest-time warnings before publishing
  • Planned versus worked per location

Part-time staff and split days

Most childcare teams work part-time, with fixed days, split shifts and the occasional extra afternoon. Every staff member sees their own shifts in the app, and extra hours are recorded on the day they happened. Planned versus worked hours per person and location show where extra hours build up before the end of the month.

After-school care adds its own rhythm: short afternoon shifts during term and long days in the school holidays. Term weeks and holiday weeks are simply different weeks in the roster, each with its own pattern.

Sick cover without a phone tree

A sick call at a quarter to seven is a familiar childcare morning. The planner marks the absence, the shift becomes an open shift and colleagues can pick it up in the app. The planner sees who accepted and the roster updates. Colleagues see open shifts in the app today; push notifications are coming soon.

The sick day is registered in the same system, so it ends up in the period and in the payroll export without a separate list.

  • Open shifts colleagues can pick up
  • Shift swaps between colleagues
  • Sick leave in the same period as worked hours

Leave around the school calendar

Leave requests peak around the school holidays, exactly when after-school care needs more hours. Managers see each request next to the roster for those days, so they know who else is off before they approve. Approved leave blocks the roster and updates balances immediately.

Public holidays are loaded per country, and you define your own leave types, such as annual leave, special leave or unpaid leave.

Staff only, never children

TimeTracking is a time tracking tool for your staff. It holds no data about children or parents, no attendance lists and no observations. That keeps it separate from your childcare management system and easy to explain to staff, parents and works councils.

The app does not track location and takes no screenshots. Data is hosted in the EU, in Ireland.

Payroll and costs per location

Approved periods are exported with worked hours, irregular-hours allowances, leave and sick days mapped to your payroll codes. Live today: an SD Worx-format export, configurable CSV and XLSX exports and the REST API. Connectors for Loket, Nmbrs and AFAS are coming soon.

Pricing is per active user: free up to 5 users, then €1 per user per month on Core, which includes rosters, leave and payroll exports. Pool staff who only step in now and then can be deactivated when they are not needed.

Frequently asked questions

Does TimeTracking register children or attendance?

No. TimeTracking records staff hours, leave and expenses only. It holds no data about children or parents.

Can TimeTracking calculate staff-to-child ratios?

No. Ratios depend on your bookings and local rules, which live in your childcare management system. TimeTracking gives you the staff roster per location to plan against them.

How do we arrange cover when someone is sick?

Mark the absence and offer the shift as an open shift. Colleagues pick it up in the app, the roster updates and the sick day is registered in the same period.

Can staff clock in without their own phone?

Yes. A tablet kiosk in the staff room lets staff clock in and out with a personal 6-digit PIN.

Are leave and sick leave included?

Yes. Leave requests, balances, sick leave and public holidays are part of Core at €1 per user per month.

What does it cost for a small daycare centre?

Free for up to 5 users. Above that, Core costs €1 per user per month, with no add-ons and no seat minimum.

Related pages

Try TimeTracking free

Free for up to 5 users. Core from €1 per user per month, everything included.

Start freeSee pricing