Learn how to configure and manage employee breaks in GuardTek m-Post, and GuardTek Post and apply them to Smartforce to ensure compliance.
Overview
Break Management is a Trackforce Valiant feature to ensure security guards take their required breaks. If the necessary breaks are not taken, and you are a bundle user, penalties are sent to Smartforce and can be applied to payroll. The most common use case is to comply with different governmental labor laws.
Before you start
You must adjust the following User Rights:
- To display the Break Management tab on the Account Settings page, enable: ALLOW_BREAK_MANAGEMENT
- To edit break schedules in Client/Account Management, enable: SETTINGS_CUSTOMERS_BREAK_SCHEDULE_SELECTION
- Switch the Enable Breaks toggle in Account Settings to ON
Setting up
Once you have configured the appropriate User Rights and adjusted the Enable Breaks toggle, you can apply a break schedule. We’ve provided a schedule based on California break rules, or you can create a custom one to suit your needs.
Periods of time when staff can take breaks are referred to as Break buckets. There can be multiple break buckets per shift length. The legal requirements for breaks vary based on shift length. For example, an eight-hour shift in California requires two 10-minute rest breaks and one 30-minute meal break. In the example below, any shift from 07:01 to 08:01 in length would have three Break buckets
Considerations for using break management on GuardTek m-Post
- For guards to receive break notifications on m-Post, and for GuardTek Post/Smartforce to track those breaks, guards must perform their entire shift on m-Post.
- Once Break Management is enabled and a Break Schedule is applied to the hierarchy, notifications will appear the next time the guard clocks in, and Guardtek will send penalties to Smartforce for missed breaks.
- A break tile is displayed at the beginning of each bucket, and a pop-up notification will appear halfway through the bucket.
- Guards may ignore the pop-up. It will disappear when they can no longer take the break and finish it on time. m-Post will block them from starting any new task until the pop-up is dealt with or disappears.
- If a guard ends their break before they should, it will count as a penalty
- If a guard takes a break outside a bucket, they can use break types set up in Client/Account Mgmt. Breaks taken outside buckets are not considered Break Management breaks.
Break Management on GuardTek m-Post step-by-step
Using break management in m-Post allows security guards to acknowledge and waive breaks as necessary to maintain accountability and compliance.
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The break available card appears when the start of the bucket time has arrived.
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Tapping the start break button within a break bucket window highlights the break that is supposed to be taken.
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At any time during a shift, within a break bucket or not, you can take an unscheduled break.
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Halfway through the bucket, the It’s time for a break modal appears. The modal disappears at the end of the bucket duration.
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Tapping Waive takes you to the Waive comment box.
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Filling in a comment enables the WAIVE button.
Break Management on GuardTek Post
Break Management introduces new functionality to Command Center, Client/Account Management, Account Settings, and the Logbook.
Command Center
- The Command Center shows all scheduled Break Management breaks for guards clocked in at guardrooms where break management is enabled. It allows supervisors to manage their security guards' breaks proactively. It displays the Guard, Guardroom, Start/End Shift, Status, and all scheduled breaks.
- There are four different Status values: Ok (green), On break (blue), Overdue (orange), and Went over (black).
Client/Account Management
Once Break Management is turned on, users can apply a schedule at each hierarchy level if they have the user right SETTINGS_CUSTOMERS_BREAK_SCHEDULE_SELECTION. It is read-only if you do not have this user right. If no selection is made at a lower level, the selection above will apply. For example, if the California schedule is applied at the top level, it cascades to all levels below.
Client Level
Site Level
Location Level
Guardroom Level
Account Settings
- Break End Tolerance – Guards can't be expected to end their break precisely on time. A “Break time exceeded” GuardTek will not trigger a notification if they finish within the tolerance. This also applies to the “Went over” status on the Breaks tab in the Command Center
- Choose a Break Schedule – Select an existing schedule to view or update it
- Manage Break Schedules – Create, rename, or delete a Break Schedule
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Exclude waived breaks from penalties – Some customers want penalties applied when guards waive their breaks. For rest breaks in California, this is not legally a penalty because the guard was allowed to take a break, and they chose not to. Typically, a waived break would consume a bucket. If this setting is on, it will not, and a penalty will be applied.
Notifications
Three notifications included with Break Management can be set in the Account Settings tab.
- Overdue for break – The bucket window has passed, and the guard has not started their break
- Break time exceeded – Guard went over the allowed time
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Waived break – Guard has waived a break
Logbook
There is a new Waived Break activity in the logbook. It has a filter and can be exported via the logbook. The additional information column contains the break type and the waived reason. Break type is listed first, waived reason is listed after the colon.
Break Management in Smartforce
Penalties are calculated in GuardTek Post and sent to Smartforce with the rest of the end-of-shift information. Smartforce has filters, reports, and payroll settings to ensure that the penalties are visible can be reported on, and are automatically applied to your guards’ paychecks.
CA Meal Time Support – Phase I is to integrate CA meal and break management in Smartforce
- If enabled for the Business Unit, calculate the penalties as 1 hour of regular rate pay per penalty counter
- Enhance Tour Transaction Detail and Tour Transaction Timesheet By Employee to include meal/break details and penalty counter information. Also, filter by meal and break penalties
- Smartforce UI Changes:
- Make penalties visible on Schedule Show/Edit/Details Pages
- Add the ability to set penalty values on Confirm Out/ Confirm Detail
- Add indicator icons to denote Meal and Break Penalties
- Add filters for Penalties (Meal and Break)
See also
Next steps