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Processing overtime in Sage HR

An overview of how tracking overtime works in Sage HR.

Written by Oliver Cook

You can use Sage HR to track employee overtime. Sage HR calculates overtime by comparing the hours employees work against the hours defined in their assigned working pattern.

If employees work outside their scheduled hours, Sage HR records the extra time as overtime.

How Sage HR calculates overtime

Sage HR uses the working pattern assigned to each employee to determine when overtime begins.

EXAMPLE: If an employee has a working pattern of 9am–5pm, Monday to Friday, and works 9am–7pm on a weekday, Sage HR records the time worked after 5pm as overtime.

Using overtime policies and categories

You assign employees to an overtime policy to organise and categorise their overtime hours. Overtime policies allow you to define different overtime categories based on how and when employees work extra hours.

For example, if your company pays different overtime rates for working extra hours on a weekday and working on weekends or holidays, you must create separate overtime categories within an overtime policy.

Working example

James has a working pattern of 8 hours per day, which applies Monday to Friday.

You’ve created the following overtime categories in Sage HR:

  • Rate 1: From 0h to 2h - Applies on working days

  • Rate 2: From 2h to 6h - Applies on working days

  • Weekend and Holiday rate: From 0h onwards - Applies on non‑working days and holidays

Scenario 1 - Two hours of overtime

James works 10 hours in one day:

  • 8 hours fall within his working pattern

  • 2 hours count as overtime

His manager pays him for a full working day plus two hours of overtime at 'Rate 1', because those hours fall within the 0–2h range.

Scenario 2 - Four hours of overtime

James works 12 hours in one day:

  • 8 hours count as normal working time

  • The first 2 overtime hours fall under Rate 1

  • The next 2 overtime hours fall under Rate 2

Sage HR automatically categorises the overtime based on the defined ranges.

Bar chart showing a total of 12 hours. 8 hours was work according to a working pattern. 2 hours at a a 'rate 1' overtime. 2 hours at a 'rate 2' overtime.

Scenario 3 - Working on a non‑working day

James works on a Sunday. His working pattern only covers Monday to Friday, so Sunday counts as a non‑working day. Sage HR automatically categorises all hours worked on Sunday under the 'Weekend and Holiday' rate.

Set up tracking overtime in Sage HR

To get started tracking overtime, use our Set up overtime article.

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