Most time and attendance software works the same way. You get a set of features, and you need to figure out how to make your business fit those features. If you have exempt employees, non-exempt employees, union workers, and contract staff all working under different rules, you end up either forcing everyone into the same template or managing multiple separate systems. Neither option works well.

Ecotime by HBS takes a different approach. Instead of making you adapt your policies to fit the software, Ecotime adapts to your policies. The system uses a profile-based method that lets you create exactly what you need, organize it based on how your business actually operates, and assign it to the right people.

The Profile-Based Pattern

Here’s how it works. You build libraries of options for pay rules, timesheet designs, pay codes, accruals, and security settings. Then you organize those options into profiles based on your business policies. Finally, you assign each profile to the employees who need it.

This pattern repeats across every part of the system. Whether you’re setting up overtime calculations or deciding who can approve timesheets, you follow the same process: create the options, group them by policy, assign them to people.

Building Your Pay Rules Library

Start with your pay rules. If you have overtime that kicks in after 8 hours a day, you create that rule. If you have shift differentials for evening work, you create those. If you have callback pay that calculates differently than regular overtime, you create that too.

Once you have all your rules set up, you group them. Your exempt employees might not need any overtime rules at all. Your non-exempt office staff might need daily overtime and weekly overtime. Your union employees might need overtime plus shift differentials plus premium pay for weekends.

You create separate pay rule profiles for each group. Then you assign those profiles to the right employees. When someone clocks in, Ecotime applies their specific rules automatically. The person working a second shift gets their differential. The person who hits 8 hours gets overtime. The exempt employee doesn’t trigger any overtime calculations.

Designing Different Timesheets

Not everyone tracks time the same way. Some employees need to punch in and out with exact timestamps. Others work standard schedules and only need to enter their total hours for the day. Some only report exceptions when they take time off or work extra hours.

Ecotime lets you create different timesheet designs for different needs. Your hourly workers can use a timesheet that shows clock in and clock out times. Your salaried staff can use a timesheet that just captures 8 hours per day. Your remote team can use a timesheet that includes project codes and task tracking.

You can add fields based on what each group needs to report. Construction crews might track time to specific job sites. Healthcare staff might track time to different departments or patient care units. Government employees might need to track time to grants or funding sources.

Build each timesheet design. Group them into profiles. Assign them to the employees who need them. Everyone sees only the fields they need to fill out, which cuts down on confusion and errors.

Controlling Pay Code Access

Your employees charge time to different pay codes. Regular time, sick time, vacation, PTO, holiday pay, callback, standby. But not everyone has access to all these codes.

Your full-time employees might be able to use sick and vacation codes. Your part-time employees might only have access to regular time and unpaid time off. Your union employees might have additional codes for specific contract provisions.

Create your pay codes. Group them based on who’s allowed to use them. Assign the groups to employees. When someone fills out their timesheet, they only see the pay codes they’re allowed to charge time to. This prevents mistakes and keeps your payroll clean.

Setting Up Multiple Accrual Policies

Accruals get complicated fast. Different employee groups earn time off at different rates. Some people earn sick time separately from vacation. Others get combined PTO. Union contracts often spell out specific accrual schedules that differ from your standard policies.

Ecotime handles all of this. You can set up as many accrual policies as you need. Create one for your standard full-time employees. Create another for your union workers under one contract. Create a third for union workers under a different contract. Create separate policies for part-time staff, temporary employees, or any other group with unique accrual rules.

Each policy can track multiple types of time off with different earning rates, caps, and carryover rules. Assign the right policy to each employee. The system tracks their balances automatically and updates them based on their specific accrual schedule.

Managing Security Profiles

Access control works the same way. Not everyone needs to see or do the same things in the system.

Your supervisors need to approve timesheets for their teams. Your payroll staff need to run reports and make adjustments. Your HR team needs to manage employee records and accrual balances. Your executives might only need high-level dashboards.

Create security profiles for each role. Give supervisors access to review and approve functions. Give payroll staff access to reporting and payroll processing. Give HR access to employee administration. Give executives access to analytics and summary data.

Each employee gets assigned the security profile that matches their role. They can only access the functions they need. This keeps your data secure and prevents people from accidentally making changes in areas they don’t understand.

Handling Complex Workforce Structures

This profile-based approach becomes powerful when you have a complex workforce. Say you have three locations with different local labor laws. You have exempt and non-exempt employees at each location. Some locations have union representation with two different bargaining agreements. Other locations are non-union.

With most time and attendance systems, you’d need to manage this manually or use workarounds. With Ecotime, you just create the policies you need and assign them appropriately.

Your California location gets pay rules that include meal break tracking and daily overtime. Your Texas location gets different overtime rules. Your union employees at the manufacturing plant get pay rules from their contract, plus accrual policies from their agreement, plus pay codes specific to their work. Your office staff get standard policies. Your executives get exempt policies with no time tracking requirements.

Everyone uses the same system. But everyone’s experience in that system reflects their actual policies and requirements.

Making Changes Without Breaking Everything

The profile-based approach also makes updates easier. When a union contract changes, you don’t need to reconfigure your entire system. You update the pay rules in that union’s profile. The changes apply to everyone assigned to that profile automatically.

When you hire employees for a new project that requires different tracking, you create a new profile with the rules they need. Assign them to it. Done.

When labor laws change in one state, you update the profiles for employees in that state. Employees in other states aren’t affected.

Starting With What You Have

Setting up a profile-based system might sound like a lot of work upfront. But Ecotime’s implementation process is designed to capture all your policies during the discovery phase.

Your implementation team asks about your overtime rules, shift differentials, bargaining agreements, and unique tracking needs. They learn about your exempt versus non-exempt breakdown, your union representation, your locations, and your reporting requirements.

Then they build your libraries and profiles based on that information. By the time you go live, your policies are already configured. Your employees are already assigned to the right profiles. The system works the way you work.

The Bottom Line

Most time and attendance software forces you to change how you operate to fit how the software works. Ecotime by HBS does the opposite. It builds around your policies, not the other way around.

You create the pay rules you need. You design the timesheets your employees need. You set up the accruals your policies require. You control who can access what. Then you assign everything to the right people.

The pattern is consistent across the entire system. Libraries, profiles, assignments. Create, organize, assign.

Your workforce gets a system that matches how they actually work. Your payroll team gets accurate data without manual corrections. Your HR team gets compliance without constant monitoring. You get a time and attendance system that handles complexity instead of creating it.

Request a demo to see how Ecotime’s profile-based approach can handle your specific policies and workforce structure.