Indian week-offs are not a checkbox
Most workforce software assumes Saturday and Sunday are off and lets you tick which. That covers a fraction of how Indian companies actually work.
Alternate Saturdays. Second and fourth Saturday off. A six-day week on the shop floor and five in the office. A rotating week-off so the counter is always staffed. A half day every Saturday. Each of these is a normal arrangement, and each breaks a system that stores week-offs as seven booleans.
Working patterns: four weeks, seven days, three states
A working pattern in HivePayroll is a grid of four weeks by seven days, and each day is one of three states: working, half day or off.
That shape covers the arrangements above without a workaround:
| Arrangement | How it is expressed |
|---|---|
| Second and fourth Saturday off | Saturday set to off in weeks 2 and 4, working in weeks 1 and 3 |
| Alternate Saturdays | Saturday off in weeks 1 and 3, working in 2 and 4 |
| Every Saturday a half day | Saturday set to half in all four weeks |
| Six-day week | Sunday off, the rest working |
| Rotating week-off | A different day off in each of the four weeks, as its own pattern |
Each pattern is named, one can be the organisation default, and you can see how many employees are assigned to each — so a factory pattern and an office pattern coexist in the same company without anyone maintaining a parallel calendar.
The pattern drives what counts as a working day, which is what loss of pay, attendance percentage and leave proration are all calculated against. Getting it wrong quietly distorts all three.
Shifts
Shifts and shift configurations sit alongside the patterns. A company running a general shift in the office and rotating shifts on a floor sets up both, rather than modelling one properly and handling the other by hand.
Overtime, and the register you actually have to produce
Overtime is derived from attendance against the shift and pattern, not typed in. Two registers come out of it: an overtime register for management, and a separate statutory overtime register for inspection.
Comp-off is handled as a policy, including the part most systems leave out — when unused compensatory off expires. Comp-off that never lapses becomes an unfunded liability nobody has counted.
Holidays, per site
Holiday calendars can differ by location, so a Bengaluru office and a Pune plant do not have to share a list. Where you run optional or floating holidays, employees choose their own from the list and those choices go through approval.
Short hours: measured, deducted only if you say so
A monthly hours check shows who fell short of their required hours and what the shortfall equals in days.
Short hours are only ever deducted from pay if you switch that on, and it is off until you do. The review exists so you can see the position and decide.
Getting the attendance in
Shifts only matter if attendance reaches them. HivePayroll takes it from web and mobile check-in with an optional office-location boundary, directly from a biometric device, from a spreadsheet, or by hand. Days where somebody forgot to check out are closed automatically, with a record of who closed them. See attendance and timesheets.
Frequently asked questions
Can HivePayroll handle second and fourth Saturday off?
Yes. A working pattern is four weeks by seven days, so Saturday can be working in weeks 1 and 3 and off in weeks 2 and 4 — without a workaround or a manual adjustment each month.
Can different teams have different week-offs?
Yes. Patterns are named and assigned per employee, with one set as the organisation default, so a plant on six days and an office on five run side by side.
Are half days supported?
Yes. Each day in a pattern is working, half day, or off, so a standing Saturday half day is part of the pattern rather than a monthly correction.
Does HivePayroll produce a statutory overtime register?
Yes — an overtime register for management and a separate statutory overtime register, both derived from attendance rather than entered.
Does comp-off expire?
If you configure it to. Comp-off policies cover both earning and expiry, and you can see what is about to lapse.
Can different locations have different holidays?
Yes. Holiday calendars can be set per site, and optional holidays can be chosen by employees and approved.
Bring your week-off rule
If your company has a week-off arrangement that your current system cannot express, that is the thing to test. Book a free demo and ask for it to be configured on the call. Or see HivePayroll pricing — every plan includes a 15-day free trial.
Related: attendance and timesheets · leave management · reports
