Service & maintenance

Late jobs that push back the next day

After a job an eleven-hour rest period applies, with no option to shorten it for service businesses. MetronHR calculates jobs running past midnight correctly and checks the rest period along the way.

  • Jobs running past midnight are assigned to the right day automatically
  • The eleven-hour rest period is checked on every entry
  • Hours per customer and job for invoicing

In short

Late jobs past midnight and eleven hours of rest under section 5 ArbZG, with no option to shorten it for this industry.

The job ends at 1:30, and then?

Call-out duty and maintenance windows fall outside office hours. That is where the problems start: the shift runs past midnight, and the rest period pushes back the next start of work.

Problem

Eleven hours of rest, no exception

Under section 5 (1) ArbZG it is eleven hours. The reduction to ten applies only to certain industries, and service and maintenance are not among them.

Problem

Jobs running past midnight slip

If a job from 22:00 to 1:30 is booked on a single day, the daily total and the rest-period calculation no longer add up.

Problem

Travel and jobs get mixed up

Several customers in one day means that without an assignment per job, at the end of the month you can no longer tell who pays for what.

Solution

Job, day change and rest period calculated together

If the end time is before the start time, MetronHR detects the day change itself and books the end on the following day. The rest period is checked along the way, and every hour stays assigned to its customer.

Result

Night jobs assigned correctly

For every job the daily total, the rest period and the customer assignment add up, even when it runs past midnight.

From the emergency call to the invoice

Three steps that keep late jobs and rest periods in order.

Step1

Record the job, even past midnight

Enter start, end and break, plus the customer. If the end is before the start, the following day is set as the end day automatically.

The daily total adds up, without mental arithmetic.
Rest period between two days unterschrittenMoritz Lang, Wednesday, 26 August
End of day22:30, start 08:00gefordert 11:00h
9:30h1:30h zu wenig
Reported toDr Anne Lindner, practice managerFoundtonight, automaticMarked in the planWeek 37, not published yet
Move Thursday early shift to 09:30

Step2

Agree on time off in lieu

The late job creates overtime. The employee requests payout or time off in lieu, and the manager decides.

Compensation is governed by rules, not negotiated.
Sophie KramerExtra hours17. bis 28. August
DayActualTargetMoreReason
Mon, 17.08.8:00h8:00h0:00h
Tue, 18.08.9:30h8:00h+1:30hVertretung
Wed, 19.08.8:00h8:00h0:00h
Thu, 20.08.8:45h8:00h+0:45hÜbergabe
Fri, 21.08.8:00h8:00h0:00h
Mon, 24.08.9:45h8:00h+1:45hNotdienst
Tue, 25.08.8:30h8:00h+0:30hÜbergabe
Wed, 26.08.10:15h8:00h+2:15hVertretung
Thu, 27.08.8:00h8:00h0:00h
Fri, 28.08.8:00h8:00h0:00h
Total+6:45hApproveAccount14:00h auf 20:45h

Step3

See availability for next week

Who has time off in lieu, who is on holiday, who is available? The team calendar shows absences and cover at a glance.

Dispatch plans with real availability.
MoDiMiDoFrSaSoMoDiMiDoFrSaSo
Sophie K.Holiday
Jonas K.Sick
Greta W.Holiday
Mara B.Training
Nora V.Parental leave
Moritz L.Holiday
Nele A.Holiday
Ben O.Training
Lena F.Sick
Tim W.Holiday
Ida N.Holiday
Present9877888877

What service and maintenance businesses need

Jobs outside office hours, several customers a day, rest periods under control.

Time

Jobs past midnight

If the job ends after midnight, the following day is recognised as the end day automatically.

Daily total, overtime and rest period are calculated correctly on that basis.

Security

Rest period and maximum working time

The eleven-hour rest period and the daily limit are checked on every entry.

The default is 10 hours a day; breaches are flagged.

Projects

Hours per customer and job

Several jobs in one day stay separately attributable.

Optionally also per service, such as maintenance or fault clearing.

Apps

Recording on site, even offline

iOS and Android, in the basement, in the lift shaft, with no signal.

Can be recorded in a shaft or boiler room without a network, transmission follows afterwards.

Tools

Job supervisor enters time for others

Anyone who heads a department or has technicians reporting to them records their times as well.

For colleagues who no longer enter their own times after a night job.

Team

Availability and cover

Absences and days off in lieu in the team calendar.

The basis for planning next week's on-call duty.

Reports

Record per technician and month

Target, actual and the difference, with a daily breakdown.

Download as Excel or CSV for invoicing and the payroll office.

Simplicity

No terminal required

Runs in the browser and as an app.

Invite new technicians by email, even in the middle of the heating season. If you still want a time clock on the workshop wall, you can connect a terminal.

For management, dispatch and technicians

Four roles, four reasons, from the emergency call to payroll.

Service business owners

Knows what a job really cost

Travel and jobs for several customers cannot be separated at the end of the month.

Hours per customer, job and service, the basis for invoicing and costing.

How the recording works
Technicians

Books right after the job, not the next day

Writing a timesheet after a night job never gets done.

Start, end and break on the phone, even without a signal and past midnight.

See the app
Operations manager

Plans with real availability

After a late job it is unclear who is even allowed to work the next morning.

Rest-period checks, days off in lieu and absences in one place.

Working Time Act check
Accountants

Gets job hours without reconstructing them

Night premiums and job hours that first have to be reconstructed.

One file per month with job hours, balances and absences.

Timesheet template (Excel)

Rest periods documented, not estimated

Under section 16 (2) ArbZG, working time beyond eight hours must be recorded and kept for at least two years. With night and late jobs that is the rule, not the exception.

  • Overtime is calculated from the entries and stays traceable
  • Time entries stay stored as long as your account exists
  • Servers in Germany, transferred and stored encrypted, GDPR compliant
  • Every change to a time entry is logged, with an audit trail on the Professional plan

Trust Center

Rest period: 11 hours checked

Servers in Germany, operated by AMNAU GmbH in Hanover
See the ArbZG check

Frequently asked questions from service & maintenance

Night jobs, rest periods and invoicing per customer, answered briefly.

You enter the start and the end. If the end time is before the start time, MetronHR detects the day change and sets the end on the following day automatically. The daily total, overtime and rest period are calculated on that basis.

Under section 5 (1) ArbZG, at least eleven uninterrupted hours. The reduction to ten hours under section 5 (2) applies only to certain industries such as hospitals, care, hospitality or transport operations; service and maintenance are not among them.

Yes. Rest period, daily maximum working time and the break rule are checked on every entry and breaches are flagged. You set the limits centrally; the defaults are 11 hours of rest and a 10-hour daily limit.

Yes. Every entry is assigned to a customer and optionally to a service such as maintenance or fault clearing. In the report you filter by customer, period and technician and download the result as Excel or CSV.

The app stores the entry locally on the device and transmits it as soon as there is a connection again. Recorded times are therefore not lost when there is no signal in a basement or shaft.

Overtime is calculated from the entries. The employee requests payout or time off in lieu, and the manager decides. Approved days off in lieu appear in the team calendar and in availability planning.

Yes. Anyone who heads a department or has employees reporting to them can create time entries for those employees, which is handy after a night job. Management may record time for everyone.

Time tracking with customer assignment, absences, overtime, working-time models, Working Time Act checks and Excel/CSV export are included in the Team plan at 5 € per user per month. Analytics, the personnel file and the change history of time entries are part of the Professional plan at 10 €.

Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.

Record night jobs correctly and keep rest periods?

Try MetronHR free for 14 days, no credit card. Team plan from 5 € per user per month.

Questions about rest periods and night jobs? Write to us, answer within 24 hours, within 8 hours on the Professional plan.