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What Is the Difference between Planned, Clocked, and Actual Hours?

Understand the differences between scheduled, clocked, and manager-validated hours for accurate tracking and reliable payroll.

Updated today

What these hours represent

Term

Meaning

When It Appears

Planned

Hours scheduled on the published planning

As soon as the shift is created and published

Clocked (Realised)

Hours actually recorded via time-clock (clocking in and out)

After the employee clocks in and clocks out

Actual

Hours finally validated by the manager

After review and validation of the hours

🔎 In this case :

  • The employee was scheduled from 6:00 to 13:00

  • They clocked in from 5:57 to 13:57

  • The manager validates their actual hours as 6:00 to 13:57 — this is what gets used in payroll.

💡 If no time-clock is used, the Clocked line remains empty. You validate actual hours directly, based on the Planned schedule or manual adjustments.

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