Shifts, Rates, Advances: Automating Employee Payroll

Shifts, a rate, advances, and bonuses — this is usually a separate notebook or spreadsheet that the Owner reconciles at the end of the month, apart from the till. In RentOS it's a separate module, "Work Time" — and it's tied to that same point's till, instead of living as its own separate bookkeeping.

A Shift — Manual or Automatic

The Owner decides exactly how an employee logs their time: manually — entering "arrived/left" after the fact by picking a time; or automatically — tapping "Start Shift" on the way in and "End Shift" on the way out, with the server recording the time instead of the employee's memory. In automatic mode, the screen shows a live counter of time worked, and it survives an app restart — because the real time is stored on the server, not on the phone.

The Rate Is Calculated by the Minute, Not "Roughly"

Every employee has their own hourly rate, and the shift payout is literally minutes multiplied by the rate. If the rate changes, past shifts aren't recalculated retroactively — the system keeps a history of rates and applies the new one only from the date it changed.

An Advance From the Till — With a Real Balance Check

If an employee takes an advance or a bonus themselves, in cash, at the end of a shift, RentOS doesn't just log the number — the system checks that the point's till physically has that amount, and won't let more be paid out than is actually there. If the Owner enters the same kind of operation manually (say, the money was handed over separately, not from that till), it's no longer the point's till being checked, but the employee's personal payout balance.

A Running Balance, With No "Payday"

There's no separate "payroll payment" event — there's just a "to be paid out" balance that grows with every shift worked and shrinks with every advance. You can ask "how much do I currently owe this employee" at any moment, without waiting for the end of the month.

Transparency in Both Directions

An employee sees only their own: their timesheet, their rate, their balance — someone else's data isn't visible to them at all. The Owner sees everyone and can correct any shift, but every correction stays in a log — who changed what, and when. The employee sees a short note about the correction; the Owner sees the full history.