Contents
What the levels are good for
A simple time account shows only a number. It only stands out once the balance is too high, and running it down is then hard. The levels force earlier action and spread the responsibility: green lies with the individual, amber with the manager, red with the business.
Legally the model rests on a works agreement or a collective agreement. The Working Hours Act does not know it but requires in any case that maximum working time be observed on average.
What belongs in the arrangement
The limits per level upwards and downwards, who is informed at amber and red, what measures are then to be taken, and what happens if the balance keeps rising despite the measures.
A cap also makes sense: hours above a certain figure do not expire but are paid out or transferred into a long-term account. Expiry without replacement would be a reduction of the pay entitlement and is as a rule ineffective.
- Green: balance between minus 10 and plus 30 hours, no measure.
- Amber: up to plus 60 hours, the manager agrees a plan to run it down.
- Red: above that, no more extra work, run down within eight weeks.
Example: a course over one quarter
- January: balance +18 hours, green.
- February: balance +41 hours, amber. A plan to run it down by the end of April is agreed.
- March: balance +38 hours, still amber, the plan is working.
- April: balance +22 hours, green again.
Common mistake
The levels get agreed but nobody is notified. A traffic-light account without automatic notification is an ordinary time account in three colours.
How MetronHR models itThe thresholds for amber and red are stored once for the business, separately for positive and negative balances, and then apply to everyone alike. What is measured is the accumulated balance, exactly the figure shown in the hours account. When an account reaches a level, a notification goes to the person concerned; managers and HR get one figure per level rather than one notification per account. What is reported is the change, not the state: anyone already on amber does not get the warning again every day. Nothing is booked or capped; the traffic light reports, it does not cut off.
This is not legal advice; for a specific case at your workplace you are better off asking someone qualified to give it.
Published by: AMNAU GmbH
Editorial responsibility: Ugur Aydogan, Product development.
Last reviewed: 12 September 2026