Time & Attendance
The Time & Attendance module tracks weekly hours, calculates overtime against provincial ESA thresholds, and manages timesheet approvals. For accounting firms, it also carries a billable_hours weekly split per timesheet so utilization can be reported without a separate practice-management tool.
Every province has its own overtime threshold — Hibiscus HR applies the correct rule automatically based on each employee's province.
[Screenshot: Time & Attendance module — week navigation, summary cards, overtime warning, and timesheet table]
Overview
The page is organized into:
- Week navigation — move between weeks
- Summary cards — key stats for the selected week
- Overtime warning banner — alerts when staff exceed provincial thresholds
- Toolbar — approve all, export, add entry
- Timesheet table — editable hours per employee per day, with a billable split
- Week totals footer — daily and weekly totals
- ESA Overtime Reference — quick reference for provincial thresholds
Week navigation
Prev and Next move between weeks. The week always runs Monday to Friday and the current week label appears between the arrows.
Summary cards
| Card | Description |
|---|---|
| Total Hours | Sum of all hours logged this week |
| Overtime Hours | Hours above provincial thresholds |
| Approved | Timesheets with Approved status |
| Avg Hours / Employee | Average this week |
Overtime warning banner
If any staff have exceeded their provincial overtime threshold, a yellow banner appears listing the affected staff and their OT hours. Informational — it does not apply overtime pay rates automatically. Review and approve before passing to payroll.
The timesheet table
Columns
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Employee | Name and province |
| Mon – Fri | Editable hours for each day |
| Total | Sum of Mon to Fri hours |
| Billable | Sum of billable hours for the week (the accountant-firm split) |
| OT | Overtime hours (above provincial threshold) |
| Status | Pending or Approved |
| Approve | Approve button (Pending rows only) |
Editing hours
Click a Mon–Fri cell to edit. Enter hours (decimals accepted, 7.5 = 7 hrs 30 min). Press Enter to save.
Billable hours
Each timesheet carries a billable_hours weekly field. Enter the billable subset of the employee's total hours; this feeds Reports → Utilization. Karbon and QuickBooks Time can populate billable hours automatically if you have those integrations connected — see Integrations.
Note: Approved timesheets are locked. To correct an approved timesheet, contact an admin.
Salaried lock
Salaried employees' Mon–Fri cells auto-populate to a standard 40 hours and remain locked. Billable hours can still be edited on salaried rows because the utilization report cares about the billable split.
Approving a timesheet
Click Approve in the rightmost column. The status badge flips from Pending to Approved and the row locks.
Approve All
Click Approve All in the toolbar to approve every pending timesheet for the displayed week. Confirmation required.
Week totals footer
At the bottom of the table:
- Daily totals — total hours across all employees for each day
- Weekly total — total hours across the week
- Billable weekly total — total billable across the week (feeds utilization)
Useful for spotting anomalies (an unusually short Tuesday, a whole week with zero billable hours logged).
Adding a timesheet entry
Click + Add Entry to open the drawer.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Employee | Select from active staff |
| Week | Select the week start date (Monday) |
| Mon–Fri hours | Enter hours for each day |
| Billable hours | Weekly billable subset (defaults to 0) |
If a timesheet already exists for that employee and week, the entry updates the existing record.
Exporting
Click Export for a CSV of the selected week. Includes employee, province, daily hours, total, billable, overtime, and status.
Provincial overtime thresholds
Overtime is calculated against the employee's province:
| Province | Weekly OT Threshold | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario (ON) | 44 hours/week | Hours above 44 are overtime |
| British Columbia (BC) | 40 hours/week | Daily threshold: >8 hrs/day also triggers OT |
| Alberta (AB) | 44 hours/week | |
| Manitoba (MB) | 40 hours/week | |
| Saskatchewan (SK) | 40 hours/week | |
| Nova Scotia (NS) | 48 hours/week | |
| New Brunswick (NB) | 44 hours/week | |
| Prince Edward Island (PE) | 48 hours/week | |
| Newfoundland & Labrador (NL) | 40 hours/week | |
| Federal jurisdiction | 40 hours/week | Federally regulated staff |
Important (BC): BC has both a weekly threshold (40) and a daily threshold (>8 in a day). A BC employee working 9 hours on Monday accrues 1 hour of daily overtime even if the weekly total stays under 40.
The ESA Overtime Reference panel at the bottom of the page shows these thresholds as a quick reference.
Time & Attendance and the Reports module
For weekly summaries and overtime by province, navigate to Reports → Time & Attendance. For firm-average utilization and per-employee billable-hours percentage, navigate to Reports → Utilization. See Reports for the full picture.