Nowsta's overtime management includes:
Weekly and configurable overtime rules
Visual overtime indicators
Scheduling warnings
Automatic overtime prevention
Overtime reporting
Projected overtime visibility in Weekly View
How to Manage Overtime in Nowsta
1. Configure Weekly Overtime Rules
By default, the weekly overtime threshold is 40 hours. Hours worked beyond the configured threshold may be classified as overtime based on the company's overtime rules.
To configure overtime settings:
Go to Settings → Overtime Rules.
Configure the Work Week Start Day.
Set the Work Week Start Time.
Configure any additional overtime rules that apply to your organization.
The work week start time determines when the pay period opens and closes. For businesses with overnight shifts, setting the start time before the earliest shift can help prevent shifts from being split across work weeks.
2. Configure Overtime Pay Rate Calculations
When workers have different pay rates during the same work week, Nowsta can calculate overtime rates using the configured overtime method.
Depending on the company's settings, overtime may be calculated using:
The pay rate associated with the shift that incurs overtime
A blended average of the worker's rates for the week
The worker's highest rate for the week
Weekly overtime can also work alongside other configured rules, including:
Daily Overtime
Double Daily Overtime
Seventh Consecutive Day Overtime
Spread of Hours
3. Monitor Overtime Indicators
Nowsta displays overtime indicators in areas such as the Weekly View, shift allocation screens, and Worker List.
These indicators can help coordinators identify:
Workers who have already reached or incurred overtime
Workers approaching the overtime threshold
Workers whose proposed schedules may result in overtime
Overtime indicators may also appear when selecting workers for assignments, alongside other eligibility information such as availability or qualification conflicts.
4. Set Scheduling Warnings
You can configure a warning threshold below the overtime limit to identify workers who are approaching overtime.
For example, a company with a 40-hour weekly overtime threshold may set a warning at 35 or 37 hours.
When assigning, requesting, or confirming a worker whose schedule may result in overtime, Nowsta may display a warning with information such as:
Worker name
Projected overtime hours
Estimated overtime cost
Depending on the configuration, the coordinator may need to confirm that they want to proceed.
You can also sort workers by their confirmed or scheduled hours to help identify workers with fewer scheduled hours before assigning additional shifts.
5. Enable Automatic Overtime Prevention
For eligible W-2 employees, Nowsta can be configured to automatically help prevent unapproved overtime.
When this setting is enabled:
Workers may be prevented from confirming first-come-first-served shifts that would result in daily or weekly overtime.
Open shifts that would create an overtime conflict may be hidden from workers in the mobile app and notification feeds.
Coordinators may also receive alerts when a worker's confirmed schedule or clocked hours create an overtime risk.
Depending on the available resolution options, coordinators can:
Remove the worker and trigger autostaffing for the open shift.
Open the worker's weekly schedule to manually reassign shifts.
6. Review Projected Overtime
The Weekly View can display confirmed and projected hours and costs for individual workers and weekly totals.
Projected overtime can help coordinators identify potential overtime before shifts are worked.
This allows teams to review assigned, requested, and scheduled shifts and make staffing changes before additional labor costs are incurred.
7. Review Overtime Reports
Nowsta provides several reports and exports that can be used to review regular and overtime hours.
Depending on the report and configuration, available information may include:
Time & Attendance: Scheduled and actual hours for selected date ranges.
Payroll Reports: Regular and overtime hours organized by date.
Labor Market Billing / Actualized CSV: Shift-level labor costs and overtime information.
Worker Hours Export: Worker information along with scheduled and confirmed hours.
These reports can be used to audit overtime, review labor costs, and compare scheduled hours with actual hours worked.
Alternative Method
If automatic overtime prevention is not enabled, coordinators can use the Weekly View and overtime indicators to manually identify workers approaching the overtime threshold.
A common workflow is:
Review workers approaching the configured warning threshold.
Check their upcoming scheduled and confirmed shifts.
Identify shifts that could push the worker into overtime.
Reassign shifts when appropriate.
Use payroll and Time & Attendance reports to verify actual overtime after the work week.
Troubleshooting
A worker is showing as approaching overtime
Review the worker's weekly schedule and confirm the number of scheduled or confirmed hours. Also verify the configured work week start day and time under Settings → Overtime Rules.
A shift appears to create unexpected overtime
Check whether the shift crosses the configured work week boundary, particularly for overnight shifts. The work week start time can affect how hours are assigned to each work week.
Overtime appears differently in payroll and Time & Attendance
Time & Attendance and payroll reports serve different purposes. Review the report's scheduled versus actual hours and the configured overtime rules when comparing totals.
A worker cannot pick up an open shift
If automatic overtime prevention is enabled, Nowsta may prevent the worker from confirming a shift that would cause them to exceed applicable overtime limits.
Important Notes
The default weekly overtime threshold is 40 hours, but overtime rules can vary based on company configuration and applicable laws.
Overtime calculations may also be affected by daily, consecutive-day, and other configured overtime rules.
Projected overtime is based on scheduled or assigned information and may differ from actual overtime after the shift is worked.
Work week start day and time are important when managing overnight shifts.
Overtime prevention settings may affect which open shifts workers can see or confirm.
Always verify overtime rules against the applicable federal, state, and local requirements for your workforce.
Summary
Nowsta provides several tools for managing overtime, including configurable overtime rules, visual warnings, projected overtime, automatic prevention controls, and payroll reporting. Using these tools together can help coordinators identify overtime risks before shifts are worked and review actual overtime after payroll data is available.
Need More Help?
Please contact support@nowsta.com.