Shift Type
The press line at the Nova Industries Pune branch already runs a Day Shift (09:00 to 18:00) and an Evening Shift (14:00 to 22:00). From Monday, 16 November 2026, it will also run overnight, from 22:00 to 06:00. Before anyone can be put on that shift, HR has to tell Frappe HR what the shift is.
Without it, a punch at 05:58 belongs to no shift, so it is saved as Off-Shift and ignored, and the night team would be marked Absent. The rules also matter: a night worker who takes a 30-minute break should not have the break counted as working time, and someone who arrives at 22:25 should be flagged late.
A Shift Type defines one working pattern: its start and end time, its holidays and its colour on the Roster. It also holds the rules that Auto Attendance uses to turn the shift's check-ins into Attendance. Employees are then put on it with a Shift Assignment or as their Default Shift. For how shift types fit with assignments, schedules and the Roster, see Shift Management.
Before you begin
- A Holiday List exists if this shift has holidays of its own.
- You have the HR Manager or System Manager role.
- To accept check-ins only near the workplace, create a Shift Location and add it to the employees' assignments.
- For Auto Attendance, check-ins reach Frappe HR as Employee Checkin records, from a device or the mobile app.
Create a Shift Type
- Open the Shift & Attendance workspace and select Shift Type under Shift Setup. Select Add Shift Type.
- In the dialog, enter the Shift Type Name, for example Night Shift, and the Start Time and End Time in 24-hour format: 22:00 and 06:00. Select Save.
- Open the new Shift Type. Select the Holiday List and a Roster Color, for example Violet. Tick Enable Auto Attendance if attendance should be marked from check-ins, then select Save.
An end time earlier than the start time makes it a night shift that starts on one date and ends on the next. Its attendance is dated by the day it starts.
Basic settings
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start Time, End Time | When the shift starts and ends, in 24-hour format. They cannot be the same. |
| Holiday List | Holidays for this shift. If it is empty, Frappe HR uses the Holiday List Assignment of the employee or their company. Auto Attendance does not mark holidays unless Mark Auto Attendance on Holidays is ticked. |
| Roster Color | The colour of this shift on the Roster. |
| Enable Auto Attendance | Marks attendance from check-ins for employees on this shift, and shows the settings below. |
Auto Attendance settings
These settings decide how check-ins become attendance. The Night Shift reads punches as alternating IN and OUT, counts only checked-in time so that breaks are left out, marks Half Day below 6 hours and Absent below 3 hours, starts on 16 November 2026, and updates Last Sync of Checkin automatically because all punches come from one device.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Determine Check-in and Check-out | Alternating entries as IN and OUT during the same shift treats the first punch as IN, the next as OUT, and so on, for devices that do not send a direction. Strictly based on Log Type in Employee Checkin uses the IN or OUT on each log, and then every log in the shift needs a Log Type. |
| Working Hours Calculation Based On | First Check-in and Last Check-out counts the whole time between them, breaks included. Every Valid Check-in and Check-out adds up only the time between each IN and OUT, so breaks are left out. |
| Begin check-in before shift start time (in minutes) | How early a punch still belongs to this shift. With 60, Night Shift accepts punches from 21:00. |
| Allow check-out after shift end time (in minutes) | How late a punch still belongs to this shift. With 60, Night Shift accepts punches until 07:00. |
| Mark Auto Attendance on Holidays | Marks attendance on holidays when the employee has check-ins. Otherwise holidays are skipped. |
| Absent Buffer (Days) | Days to wait after a shift before marking Absent for employees with no check-ins. Zero marks Absent the same day and needs Automatically update Last Sync of Checkin. |
| Working Hours Threshold for Half Day / for Absent | Working hours below these values give Half Day or Absent. Zero turns a threshold off. They apply only when the employee has at least one check-in; employees without check-ins are marked Absent after the Absent Buffer. |
| Process Attendance After | The first date to process. Set it to a date from which you have check-ins for this shift. |
| Last Sync of Checkin | The time up to which all check-ins have arrived. A device sync script updates it; otherwise update it by hand after entering logs. |
| Automatically update Last Sync of Checkin | Lets Frappe HR move Last Sync of Checkin forward after each shift. Use it for a single device or check-ins from the mobile app. |
See Auto Attendance for when shifts are processed and how to check the result.
Late entry, early exit and overtime
Tick Enable Late Entry Marking to flag attendance when the first check-in is later than the shift start plus the Late Entry Grace Period. Tick Enable Early Exit Marking to flag it when the last check-out is earlier than the shift end minus the Early Exit Grace Period. With 10 minutes, a night worker who arrives at 22:25 is marked Late Entry. The flags do not change the status.
Tick Allow Overtime and select an Overtime Type to record overtime on Present attendance marked for this shift. See Overtime.
Next steps
From a saved Shift Type, Shift Tools opens the Shift Assignment Tool with this shift selected, so that you can put employees on it, or opens the Roster. Mark Attendance runs Auto Attendance for this shift now instead of waiting for the hourly run.
Troubleshooting
Start time and end time cannot be same
Change one of the times. A 24-hour shift is not supported.
Please reduce Begin check-in or Allow check-out to avoid shift time overlapping with itself
The shift plus both check-in windows is 24 hours or longer, so a punch could belong to two days. Reduce the larger window.
Unmarked Check-in Logs Found
You changed the start time while check-ins on this shift are still waiting for attendance. Mark attendance for them first, with Mark Attendance, then change the time.
Enable Automatically update Last Sync of Checkin to mark absent on the same day
Absent Buffer is 0 but Last Sync of Checkin is not updated automatically. Tick that setting, or set the buffer to at least 1.
Mark Attendance did nothing
Enable Auto Attendance, Process Attendance After and Last Sync of Checkin must all be set, and Last Sync of Checkin must be later than the end of the shift window.
Frequently asked questions
Can two shifts share a Holiday List?
Several Shift Types can use the same Holiday List. Leave the field empty to use each employee's own Holiday List Assignment.
What happens to employees with no shift?
Their check-ins are saved as Off-Shift and Auto Attendance ignores them. Give them a Default Shift on the Employee record or a Shift Assignment.