How do I configure MetronHR for my business?
Under Company sit the business-wide settings: master data and the logo, the data processing agreement, the rules for time tracking and absences, the limits of the Working Time Act including a separate set for young people, custom public holidays and their import. Language and appearance, by contrast, everyone sets for themselves.
As at:September 2026
Who can reach which setting
The settings do not all sit behind the same door. The business master data and sign-in security are reserved for management alone, while public holidays and employee protection are shared between management and HR.
None of these settings depends on the plan. The catalogue shows no plan gate for this area, so the business's rules are available on every plan.
Which role opens which area of the business settings.
| Area | Who may enter | What is set there |
|---|---|---|
| Company data | Management. | Name, industry, federal state, size band, logo and the data processing agreement. |
| Sign-in security | Management. | The requirements for signing in to an account. |
| Public holidays | Management and HR. | Create and maintain your own non-working days, import public holidays from a file. |
| Employee Protection | Management and HR. | Rest periods, maximum working times, breaks and the separate set for young people. |
Company data
- Who may enter
- Management.
- What is set there
- Name, industry, federal state, size band, logo and the data processing agreement.
Sign-in security
- Who may enter
- Management.
- What is set there
- The requirements for signing in to an account.
Public holidays
- Who may enter
- Management and HR.
- What is set there
- Create and maintain your own non-working days, import public holidays from a file.
Employee Protection
- Who may enter
- Management and HR.
- What is set there
- Rest periods, maximum working times, breaks and the separate set for young people.
How these roles otherwise take effect and which cases grant access independently of them is described in the guide to roles and permissions.
Master data, logo and the data processing agreement
The master data is short and reaches far: the business's name, industry, federal state and size band. The federal state is not an address detail but the basis of the public holiday calendar, and so it stands at the beginning of every target-hours calculation.
The logo is uploaded, served through an address of its own and then appears in the interface and in outputs. Removing it is the same process in reverse; a logo is not a one-off decision.
The data processing agreement is accepted in the same place. The time and the accepting person are recorded, so that the acceptance can later serve as evidence.
- Open the company data and enter the name, industry, federal state and size band.
- Upload the logo. It then appears in the interface and in outputs.
- Accept the data processing agreement. The time and the accepting person are recorded.
Rules for time tracking and absences
Two groups of settings determine how time is recorded and how requests are made. They deliberately appear in the catalogue as an overview; their rules belong to the respective subject area, which is why this page names the subject and not the calculation behind it.
For time tracking there are three things: an editing lock, a closing lock with an optional fixed date, and the choice of which channels may be used to record at all. What the two locks do and in what order a month is closed is described in the guide to the month end.
For absences there are sixteen settings, from automatic approval per absence type to the group that decides on paying out overtime. How a request then proceeds is described in the guide to holiday.
The steps here describe a running system. Anyone who does not have one yet sets it up during the trial and keeps everything created along the way.
The limits of the Working Time Act
Employee protection is the area in which the business stores its statutory limits: maximum working time per day and per week, continuous working time, the minimum rest period, break rules and the number of consecutive working days.
For young people there is a second, separately configurable set with tighter values. Beyond the general set it adds a permitted time window during the day, rules for Saturday and Sunday work and an industry exception.
Both sets take effect in two places: when recording time and when planning shifts and day plan blocks. What matters is what the check does not do. It warns, it does not block: a shift with a breach can be assigned and published, and there is no sign-off by a second person.
Two rule sets, separately configurable, checked together.
| Rule set | What it contains | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| General set | Maximum working time per day and per week, continuous working time, the minimum rest period, breaks, the number of consecutive working days. | All employees of the business. |
| Set for young people | The same values with tighter limits, plus a permitted time window during the day, Saturday and Sunday work and an industry exception. | Young employees. |
General set
- What it contains
- Maximum working time per day and per week, continuous working time, the minimum rest period, breaks, the number of consecutive working days.
- Who it applies to
- All employees of the business.
Set for young people
- What it contains
- The same values with tighter limits, plus a permitted time window during the day, Saturday and Sunday work and an industry exception.
- Who it applies to
- Young employees.
Both sets are evaluated when recording and when planning. The result is a warning, not a block.
Custom public holidays and the import
Beyond the statutory public holidays a business creates its own non-working days, such as a company shutdown or a regional custom. They carry a date and a name, can be changed and deleted and then affect target hours, holiday calculation and planning just like statutory public holidays.
Public holidays can also be imported from a file instead of created one by one. That is the same route by which other object types enter the application.
The statutory calendar itself, that is the business's federal state, selecting and deselecting individual public holidays and a different federal state per person, belongs to the setup and is described there.
What everyone sets for themselves
Three settings belong to the user account rather than the business. Anyone changing them changes their own view and nothing else, and there is no business-wide default for them.
- The colour scheme. The choice is stored on the account and additionally kept in the browser for the first render, so that the screen does not flash briefly in the wrong colour.
- The dark appearance. Switchable between light and dark, likewise stored per person.
- The language. The whole interface is available in German and English, and both languages are maintained equally.
Follow-up questions
- Why is the federal state such a central detail?
- Because the public holiday calendar depends on it, and target hours depend on the public holidays. Without a federal state set, the calculation would silently run without public holidays, which is why the interface shows a specific warning in that case.
- Does employee protection prevent an overly long shift?
- No. The check reports the breach, it does not prevent it. A shift with a breach can be assigned and published, and there is neither a sign-off by a second person nor a block that could only be overridden with a reason. The decision stays with the business; the application makes it visible.
- Can I set different values for young people than for everyone else?
- Yes, there is a rule set of its own for that. It keeps daily and weekly maximum working time, continuous working time, the rest period and breaks separately, plus a permitted time window during the day, rules for Saturday and Sunday and an industry exception.
- Can I set the language for the whole business?
- No. Language, colour scheme and the dark appearance belong to the user account. Everyone decides for themselves, and the application has no business-wide default for it.
- Do custom public holidays work the same way as statutory ones?
- Yes. A non-working day you create yourself affects target hours, holiday calculation and planning just like a statutory public holiday. The only difference is who maintains it.
Describes the state of the application onSeptember 2026. What changes in the product is in the product updates.
Published by: AMNAU GmbH
Editorial responsibility: Ugur Aydogan, Product development.
Last reviewed: September 2026
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