Retail & hospitality
Rostered shifts with unpaid breaks, and the iNdex POS till doubles as the time clock. Cashiers can be linked to their POS login; kitchen staff need none.
07:56Time & attendance · Payroll · Africa
From the first clock-in to the final payslip.
Times is a clock-in app and payroll system for African businesses. Staff clock in on their phone inside a GPS geofence, at a shared kiosk, on the iNdex POS till or over WhatsApp. Times then turns approved hours into payslips, with PAYE, UIF and SDL worked out.
- Phone + geofence
- Site kiosk
- POS till
4
ways to clock in, with one set of rules and one audit trail
2026/27
SARS PAYE tables, UIF and SDL built into the rule pack
24 h
offline taps are kept on the phone and sent when signal returns
0
unchecked hours paid: flagged shifts block the pay run until reviewed
06:00Who it's for
Built for teams that start before the office opens.
Shops, kitchens, sites and night shifts: people who work in shifts, often in more than one place, and are paid by the hour or by the month.
Construction & field staff
Each site gets its own geofence. When data is thin, staff can clock in over WhatsApp, or the app saves the tap until signal returns.
Security & cleaning
Overnight shifts such as 19:00–06:00 count on the day they started, in the site's own time zone, with Sunday and public holiday rates applied.
Multi-site businesses
Several sites, each with its own radius, plus departments and positions. A live board shows who is in, on a break or out right now.
07:56Clocking in
Four ways onto the clock. One set of rules.
Every tap goes through the same checks, whichever way staff clock in: roster windows, the geofence, duplicate taps and the site's time zone. Anything unusual lands in a Needs review queue for a manager. It is never quietly paid.
01 · Own phone
Tap the green button. GPS confirms they're on site.
Employees sign in once with a company code, their employee number and a personal PIN. The account works on one phone at a time.
- The distance to the nearest site is measured at every clock-in, with up to 50 m extra allowed for GPS accuracy.
- Outside the radius? You choose: refuse the clock-in, or accept it and flag it for review.
- No signal? The tap is saved on the phone and sent later with its original time.
One tablet at the gate for the whole team.
Any signed-in device can become a site kiosk. Staff type their employee number and PIN, then tap Clock in, Start a break or Clock out. Six seconds later the screen is ready for the next person.
The till is already the clock.
On iNdex POS, the Clock in / out screen takes the same employee number and PIN, so you need no extra hardware at the counter.
04 · WhatsApp
Clock in by message, in their own language.
Staff message the business's WhatsApp number to clock in or out, take a break, check their hours or roster, ask for leave or get their payslip. They can write in isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Setswana, Afrikaans and more, and the assistant replies in English. The same geofence and roster rules apply, and you can switch it off for your business.
Demo Bakerybusiness accountSawubona, ngifikile emsebenzini
Hi Thandi 👋 To clock in, share your location: tap 📎 → Location → Send your current location. I'll do the rest.
Location shared
Clocked in at 07:56 — Morning
The replies use the system's own wording.
17:12The forgotten clock-out
Left at five. Clocked out at five, not midnight.
Forgotten clock-outs cause the classic timesheet dispute. Times treats them as something to check, not something to pay.
- 17:12The phone leaves the site
While someone is clocked in, the app watches the site's geofence in the background on Android and iOS, and notes the time the phone leaves.
- 17:13One tap to fix it
The app offers "Clock out at 17:12" or "I left at…". Nothing is clocked out automatically, and the manager can see that the employee reported the time.
- Shift endThe backstop
If nobody acts, the server closes the shift after its scheduled end and flags it as a missing clock-out. The pay run can't be finalised until a manager has checked it.
12:30Rosters & leave
The week, planned. Leave, counted properly.
Shift templates for each site, a roster on every phone, and leave balances that follow the Basic Conditions of Employment Act instead of a spreadsheet.
- Shifts with real breaks
Each shift shows its site, its hours and its unpaid break. Enforce the roster, so staff can clock in from 15 minutes before a shift starts, or let them clock in at any time.
- Public holidays built in
The South African calendar includes Good Friday, Family Day and the rule that a Sunday holiday moves to Monday. Holidays are marked on the roster.
- BCEA leave balances
Annual leave builds up at 1 day for every 17 days worked. Sick leave follows the 30-day, 36-month cycle, and staff get 3 days of family responsibility leave a year after 4 months. Requests for annual, sick, family, maternity, parental or unpaid leave come straight from the app.
- Decisions arrive live
When a manager approves or declines leave, with a note if they like, it shows on the employee's phone right away. Company notices land on the same screen.
25 SepPayroll that does the maths
PAYE, UIF and SDL, to the cent.
Times reads approved hours, applies the 2026/27 statutory rules and the BCEA minimums, and gives every employee a payslip they can open on their phone or share as a PDF.
Worked example
Monthly salary, employee aged 30R20,000.00
PAYER2,115.00
UIF (employee, 1%)R177.12
Net payR17,707.88
This exact case is one of the reference examples in the Times payroll's automated tests.
PAYESARS 2026/27 tables
The annual-equivalent method, with primary, secondary and tertiary rebates by age. Pre-tax retirement contributions are capped at 27.5% of pay and R350,000 a year.
UIF · SDLCeilings per pay period
UIF is 1% from the employee and 1% from the employer, on pay up to R17,712 a month, scaled for weekly and fortnightly periods. SDL is 1% unless you're exempt.
BCEAOvertime and premiums
Overtime starts after the daily limit and the 45-hour week, at 1.5× or more. Sundays are paid at 2× (1.5× for staff who usually work Sundays) and public holidays at 2×.
NMWMinimum-wage guard
If an employee's effective hourly rate falls below R30.23, the pay run is blocked until it's fixed.
Hourly · SalariedWeekly, fortnightly, monthly
Salaries are pro-rated for people who join or leave mid-period. Recurring allowances and deductions can be a flat amount or a % of gross, before or after tax.
AuditPayslips that stay put
Finalised payslips can't be changed. Corrections go into new adjustment or reversal runs, so the history stays intact.
- Payslip PDF
- EMP201 figures
- EMP501 CSV
- IRP5 / IT3(a) CSV
- UI-19 list
- Bank file · FNB or generic CSV
- Draft
The period is suggested for each pay frequency.
- Calculated
Issues such as unchecked shifts or a missing rate link straight to the fix.
- Approved
A manager signs off the figures.
- Finalised
Hours lock, loan repayments and leave accruals post, and payslips reach phones.
- Paid
Upload the bank file and mark each line paid.
Each runLoans, advances & deductions
Advances that pay themselves back.
No more loans kept in a notebook. Staff ask in the app, a manager approves, and each pay run takes the next instalment.
- Ask from the phone
Choose an advance on the next pay run, or repay over 2, 3 or 6 runs. Each person can have one open loan at a time.
- A balance everyone can see
The amount repaid, what is still owing and the next instalment show on both the employee's screen and the manager's.
- Reversals that add up
Repayments post when a run is finalised. If a run is reversed, its repayments are reversed with it, and the loan never grows by mistake.
- Pay so far, kept private
The Hours tab estimates what the employee has earned this period from approved hours. Amounts stay hidden until they tap the eye, and hide again after 20 seconds.
All dayWorks with iNdex POS
Same business, same staff, same login.
Times runs on the same iNdex account as iNdex POS, so your shop, team and sites are already there. Switch Times on under Settings → Modules, and the till's Clock in screen, the live attendance board and the employee app all work from the same records.
iNdex POS
Point of sale
For every shop. Nothing in the POS depends on Times.
Times
Staff, rosters, clocking, leave, loans
The live board updates as people clock in.
+ payroll
Pay runs, payslips, statutory figures, payouts
Payroll builds on attendance, so it switches on the rest of Times too.
A shop that only uses the POS never sees, or pays for, Times. Times is quoted for each business, with or without payroll: ask for a quote or compare the POS plans.
Day oneHow it works
Set up in one sitting, paid at month end.
- 01
Create your account
Sign up with Times for attendance, or Times with payroll, switched on. Already on iNdex POS? Switch it on under Settings → Modules.
Get started - 02
Add sites & shifts
Stand at the shop and use the device's location for the site. Then set the radius, shift templates and clocking rules.
Times settings - 03
Add your team
Add each person's employee number, PIN, pay profile and roster. They sign in with your company code and choose their own PIN.
Team → Add employee - 04
Run payroll
Start a run, fix any issues, approve and finalise it, then download the bank file and mark it paid. Your EMP201 figures are ready before the 7th.
Payroll → New pay run
Is the Times payroll SARS compliant?
Times works out PAYE from the SARS 2026/27 tax tables (annual-equivalent method with age rebates), UIF at 1% for the employee and 1% for the employer up to the ceiling for the pay period, and SDL at 1% unless you are exempt. It gives you EMP201 figures every month and CSV working papers for EMP501, IRP5/IT3(a) and the UI-19 list. The rules are kept as a versioned rule pack that is reviewed every tax year, and each pay run records the version it used.
How do employees clock in?
Four ways, all with the same rules: the Times app on their own phone (location checked against the site geofence), a shared tablet in site kiosk mode with employee number and PIN, the Clock in screen on the iNdex POS till, or a WhatsApp message to the business number.
How does the GPS geofence work?
Each site has a location and a radius (100 m by default). When someone clocks in on their phone, the distance to the nearest site is measured. You choose whether a clock-in outside the radius is refused or accepted and flagged for a manager to review.
Does Times use fingerprint or face scanners?
No. The fingerprint on the clock button is only the icon. Identity comes from the employee's own phone, which is linked to one account at a time, or from the employee number and PIN at a kiosk or till. Five wrong PINs lock the account for ten minutes.
What happens if someone forgets to clock out?
While someone is clocked in, the app watches the site geofence. If their phone leaves, the app notes the time and offers to clock them out at that time; nothing is clocked out automatically, and the manager sees that the employee reported the time. If nobody acts, the server closes the shift after its scheduled end, marks it for review, and payroll waits until a manager has checked it.
Does the clock-in app work without signal?
Yes. With no signal, a tap is saved on the phone and sent automatically when the phone is back online, with the time of the original tap. The server accepts saved taps up to 24 hours old.
Can I use Times without the payroll?
Yes. Attendance (staff, rosters, clocking, leave, loans and the live board) and payroll (pay runs, payslips, statutory figures and payouts) are separate modules on your iNdex account. Switch on Times for attendance alone, or add payroll when you are ready.
How much does Times cost?
Times is quoted for each business, with or without payroll, based on the size of your team and the number of sites. You can create an account and try it with your own team on the free trial, ask us for a quote, and see the iNdex POS plans on the pricing page.
Your timeGet started
Start with your own team.
Create your account, add a site, a shift and a few staff, and clock in a test shift. Rather have us walk you through it? Talk to us and we follow a test shift all the way to a payslip with you.