You've set up your team, published your roster, they've clocked in and out - it's the next day, or the end of the week and it's time to do the payroll. Let's take a look at the shift records from the team, get them approved and sent off!

Head to Staffing > Timesheets on your Bustle Hub

Select the week you are wanting to review and approve - or drill down day by day.

Get set up for streamlined approvals

There are two settings areas to help you get through approvals quickly with the right amounts sent to payroll. Let's take a look:

Timesheet Review Settings

Review Settings help you catch any unusual shift records before payroll goes through, or flags certain things for approval so you don't have to check everything!

Bustle will flag things on shift records, such as clock in/out time differences, missing information, or unexpected shifts - so you can quickly review, tweak if needed, and approve with confidence.

Everything is turned on by default, so nothing slips through to start. You can switch off any flags you don’t need as you go.

How to access your Review Settings

You can access Review Settings in two ways, depending on whether there are shifts to review.

If there are no shifts for the day, you’ll see a Review Settings button

If there are shifts on the selected date, Review Settings are located at the bottom of the Review section.

Here, you’ll also see a summary of anything being flagged (or ignored) for approval - in this image → shifts that weren’t rostered get ignored.

Click either of these to check your review settings

Review Settings are split into a few key areas, each focusing on a different type of check.

This includes timing differences, roster mismatches, notes, and common timesheet issues like missing or duplicate entries.

Example of how it works
The time you set in Timing Allowance is used by the timing difference flags that sit below it.

For example, if you set a 10 minute allowance, any shifts that start or finish within 10 minutes of their rostered time won’t be flagged.

Once a shift goes beyond that - even by a minute - it will be flagged for you to review.

Everything is turned on by default, so you won’t miss anything - but you can switch off any flags that aren’t relevant to your venue.

Penalty Rates

Penalty Rates let you apply different pay rates to shifts when needed.

These are typically used for things like overtime, weekends, or public holidays, and can be applied to individual shifts or across an entire day.

You can set these up under:
Staffing → Staffing Setup

Tap Add Penalty, then enter a name and the multiplier (e.g. 1.5x, 2x).
Press Save

Review and approve shift records

The timesheets page is split into two sections.

At the top we have all your Timesheets for Review, and below we display Approved Timesheets, day by day.

Think of the top section as your “needs a look” pile.

Any shift record caught by your Review Settings will appear here for review.
Check it, make any needed changes, then approve it.
Once approved, it moves to the Approved section - job done, no more reviewing needed.

Timesheets for Review

All shift records here have been flagged for review, based on your Review Settings and time allowances you’ve set - such as late starts, early finishes, or shifts with notes.

Your job here is to quickly review each shift, make any changes if needed, and approve it. Once approved, it will move to the Approved Timesheets section, ready for payroll.

The flags shown in the To Review column help guide your decisions. To make changes to a shift, simply press Edit.

Example of a flagged shift

Here’s an example of how a shift might be flagged for review. (Flagged with Started Late and Notes)

In this case, Harry forgot to clock in and started his shift later than scheduled. We highlight the difference between the rostered times and the actual times worked, and flag anything that falls outside your Review Settings.

You can then quickly adjust the paid hours, apply the correct rate, add notes if needed, and approve the shift for payroll.

Press Save, or if you are removing the record, press Delete.

After editing and adding an optional note - Harry's shift is good to go - press Approve.

Please Note: If you are viewing the current day, the shift records of staff who are currently working on shift will appear in the Timesheets for Review section. Use the filters under the Calendar to focus on specific days - and let today's shifts complete before review.

Approved Timesheets

This section displays all your approved shift records - but there are a few extra things you can do here:

Add a new Shift Record
- To record a staff member that worked but didn't clock in
- To record part of a shift at a different pay rate
Change Day Rates
- Set a day rate for all normal pay rates
- Set a day rate across all shift records

Let's break those down...

Add a New Shift Record (timesheet for the day)

Need to add a shift that wasn't clocked in, or create an extra timesheet entry? You can do that from the Approved Timesheets section.

Scroll to the bottom of the day you'd like to update and press Add Timesheet.
A new shift record will open.
Enter the staff member, start and finish times, and any other relevant details, then press Save.

💡 Any shift record created this way will be marked as Manually Recorded so it's easy to identify later.

Another handy use for Add Timesheet is splitting part of a shift onto a different pay rate, such as overtime, weekend rates, or public holiday rates.

For example, if a staff member worked 8 hours at their normal rate and 2 hours of overtime, you can create a separate shift record for the overtime portion and assign a different pay rate.

To split a shift across different rates:

Create a new timesheet for the portion that will be paid at the different rate.
Enter the staff member's name and the start and finish times for that portion of the shift.
Select the appropriate rate from the Work Rate dropdown and press Save.
Locate the original shift and press Review to move it back to the For Review section.
Open the shift, press Edit, and adjust the times so they no longer include the hours you've assigned to the separate rate.
Save and approve both records.

This gives you two timesheet entries - one at the normal rate and one at the penalty rate.

Changing Day Rates

When Monday is a public holiday or Weekend rates apply, once you approve all of your shift records for the day, you can apply the appropriate penalty rate across all entries.

Head to the day in the Approved Timesheets section
Click on Set Day Rate

Select the rate you want to apply and click the All x entries button

If you have some shift records on the day that already have a different rate applied, you can select to overwrite all, or just apply to the shift records using your normal rate.

Sending your week's Timesheets to Payroll

To send to payroll, all shift records for that week must be approved, or you will receive an error and the Lock for Payroll button will not be activated.

Once all Shift records are approved - you're good to go!
Press Lock for Payroll
Your timesheets are now locked and you can export the CSV file to import into your Payroll System.