Skip to main content

How automatic pauses (breaks) work

Configure automatic break deduction so pause time is subtracted without employees pressing a button.

Written by Merilin Peetris
Updated today

Automatic pauses allow Begin to deduct break time from working hours automatically, without employees needing to manually register each break. This is useful for companies with fixed break policies. This feature is available to Admins.

How to configure automatic pauses

  1. Go to Settings → Pause.

  2. Configure the pause rules:

    • Pause duration — how long the break is (e.g., 30 minutes)

    • After which working hour will the pause be deducted? — how many hours the employee must work before the pause is deducted (e.g., after 6 hours)

    • Multiple pauses — choose whether a single pause or multiple pauses can be deducted per shift. When enabled, an additional pause is deducted each time the threshold is reached again.

    • Pause reset — set when the pause threshold resets, relevant for shifts that span multiple threshold periods

  3. Click Save changes.

How it works in practice

When an employee's working hours for the day exceed the configured threshold, Begin automatically deducts the pause duration from their total hours. The deducted pause appears on the timesheet.

If multiple pauses is enabled and the employee works long enough to exceed the threshold again, an additional pause is deducted.

Manual vs automatic pauses

  • Manual pauses — employees press the Pause button in the app or on a terminal. The actual break duration is recorded.

  • Automatic pauses — a fixed duration is deducted automatically based on rules. No action needed from employees.

Your company can use one or both approaches.

Per-employee overrides

Pause settings can also be overridden at the individual employee level. If an employee has specific pause rules configured, those take priority over the company-wide defaults.

Did this answer your question?