Automatic Breaks add breaks to your rostered shifts based on the break rule sets you create. They keep breaks in your roster costs, show staff which breaks to take, and can fill in breaks on timesheets.
What this guide covers:
Break Rule Configuration Cutover
Some accounts will see this new non-stacking version of break rules, while other accounts are still using the old stacking method (where breaks of a shorter length would carry across their breaks to a longer shift).
Accounts are being moved to this non-stacking version gradually. If you are still using the old breaks, you can refer to the previous help guide here.
When your account is moved to the new version, your shifts get the same breaks as before. In the previous layout, a shift got every rule it was long enough for. To keep that behaviour, each break is copied into every longer rule group it applied to, so you may see more rows in your rule sets than you had before.
When your rule sets are converted:
Two breaks set 0.01 hours apart (for example 10.5 and 10.51 hours) so that a shift got both are merged into one rule group at the shorter shift length.
Breaks already recorded on past rosters and timesheets don't change.
Once your account has moved, new default rule sets and rule sets created from award templates use the new layout.
The rule set summary on the Shift Breaks page lists each shift length range (for example 0-5 hrs and 5+ hrs), starting with the range that gets no breaks. Each break is labelled as paid, a meal break, clocked in and out, or limited to the first part of a shift.
Enabling Automatic Breaks
Automatic breaks are on by default. To turn them on or off, navigate to Settings > All Settings > Shift Breaks, then tick or untick Enable break rules.
Your Default rule set applies to everyone whose shifts don't match a more specific rule set. Open it and click Edit to see the break setup.
How Automatic Breaks Work
When a rostered shift is long enough, Tanda will add breaks to it automatically. Automatic breaks are optional, but they let you:
Include breaks in the roster cost without entering break start and finish times.
Show staff which breaks they need to take.
Add breaks to timesheets when staff forget to clock them.
Break rules are organised into rule groups, with the sets at the top of the list taking priority.
Each rule group has a minimum shift length and lists the exact breaks a shift gets once it reaches that length.
Each break in a group sets:
How long the break is.
Whether the break is paid or unpaid.
Whether staff need to clock in and out for the break.
Important: A shift only gets the breaks listed in the rule group for the range it falls into. Breaks from shorter rule groups aren't added on top—they do not stack. If a longer shift needs the same break as a shorter shift, list that break in the longer rule group too.
Breaks are added to a shift once it has both a start and finish time, and meets a rule group's minimum length. An unpaid break is deducted from the rostered time. A paid break leaves the rostered time unchanged.
Note: Automatic breaks and manual breaks can't be used together on a shift. Adding a manual break to a shift removes its automatic breaks.
Creating a Break Rule Set
Navigate to Settings > All Settings > Shift Breaks to open the Breaks Settings page, then click + Add new rule set or edit an existing one. The rule set window has three sections:
Who this applies to
Awards: the awards the rule applies to.
Award tags: the award tags the rule applies to.
Age: apply the rule to all age ranges, or to a specific age range by entering a minimum and maximum.
This section isn't shown for the Default rule set, because it applies to everyone not covered by other rule sets.
Options
The Breaks on rosters have times setting decides whether breaks should have start/end times on rosters. This is set for each rule set.
If breaks have times, whether they can start or finish in the first or last X hours of a shift.
Break Rules
This is where you add your rule groups and the breaks inside them. See the next section for how.
Click Save rule set when you're done. A summary of the rule set appears on the Shift Breaks page.
Rule groups and breaks
Under Break Rules, click + Add rule group, then enter the Shift length. Shifts of that length or longer, up to the start of the next rule group, get exactly the breaks listed in the group.
Enter the break details, including name, break length, if it should be paid, and if the employee must clock the break.
To add multiple breaks within a shift, click + Add Break for each additional break that should apply to shifts of that length:
A shift will not receive the breaks listed in shorter shift length periods.
Each rule group defines the complete set of breaks a shift receives when it reaches that shift length. Rule groups are independent of each other; they do not carry over breaks from shorter shift lengths.
For example, if you have a rule group at 4 hours with a 15-minute break, and another at 6 hours with a 30-minute break, a 6-hour shift will only receive the 30-minute break. The 15-minute break from the 4-hour group does not automatically carry across.
To give a 6-hour shift both breaks, you would need to add both the 15-minute and 30-minute breaks to the 6-hour rule group:
To change the order of the breaks in a shift, drag them into position using the handle next to each break. Breaks can only be moved within their own rule group.
To remove a break, click the Delete button next to it. Nothing is saved until you click Save rule set.
Advanced break settings
Click Advanced settings under a break to set Only apply within first N hours.
This is the latest a break can start. Tanda spaces breaks out through the shift, and a break starts at its usual spot unless that falls later than N hours into the shift. In that case, it starts at hour N.
For example, with N set to 5, a break that would normally land 4 hours into a shift still starts at 4 hours, but one that would land 6 hours in starts at 5 hours.
To stop breaks starting or finishing near the edges of a shift, tick Breaks on rosters have times under Options, then enter a value from 0 to 2 in Breaks cannot start or finish in the first or last X hours of the shift.
For example, entering 1 means a shift from 12pm to 5pm won't have a break start before 1pm or finish after 4pm.
Previewing how breaks apply
To see where the breaks in a rule set land in a shift, click How do these breaks apply? at the bottom right of the rule set on the Shift Breaks page.
Drag the slider to choose a shift length between 0 and 12 hours, and the breaks move to show where they'd be placed for that rule set. The preview shows:
Which breaks the shift gets and where each one sits in the shift.
Paid and unpaid breaks. Hover over a break to see its name, length, whether it's paid, and tags such as meal break or clocked in and out.
The total time worked. Paid breaks stay in the total and unpaid breaks come out of it.
Shaded areas at either end of the bar if the rule set stops breaks starting or finishing near the edges of a shift.
Breaks from Managed Award Templates
When you enable a Modern Award Template, Tanda creates automatic break rules that comply with the award and apply to staff on it. Where an award has different break rules for different types of employees, such as shiftworkers or casuals, each type gets its own rule set.
Breaks on Rosters
Once a shift has a start and finish time and meets the minimum length of a rule group, the breaks in that group are assigned to it. Shifts that aren't assigned to anyone don't get automatic breaks.
To see which breaks apply to a shift, click the shift card and check the shift summary on the left of the roster. You can also click the three dots (⋮) on the shift card and open the Breaks tab.
Break times only show in the Breaks tab if Breaks on rosters have times is on.
Roster validation warnings
A validation warning only appears when you manually add breaks to a shift that would otherwise get automatic breaks. The shift is checked against the breaks in its own rule group, not the whole rule set. You'll see a warning if:
The shift doesn't have enough breaks, paid or unpaid.
A break is too short for the break the rule group requires.
A break doesn't start before a specific time. This needs Advanced settings to be turned on, and Breaks on rosters have times to be on.
A break falls inside the first or last X hours of the shift, when you've set a buffer. This also needs Breaks on rosters have times to be on.
Breaks on Timesheets
Break information is on the right side of a timesheet.
It shows:
Total break time, paid and unpaid.
The number of automatic breaks, marked with a lightning bolt.
The number of paid breaks, marked with a dollar sign.
The number of manual breaks, marked with a coffee cup. This includes breaks the employee clocked.
View breaks when the timesheet can't be edited, for example when it's approved or exported, or Edit breaks when it can.
On the timesheet's coloured bar, an unpaid break is grey. A paid break isn't shown.
FAQs
What happens when break rule sets overlap on an employee, and how do I prioritise them?
What happens when break rule sets overlap on an employee, and how do I prioritise them?
Depending on how your rule sets are set up, an employee can match more than one. When this happens, the rule set with the highest priority applies. The lower-priority rule set shows a warning that says 'Some employees also match a higher-priority rule set'. Click View employees to see who is affected and which rule set applies to them instead.
The Default rule set is shown at the top of the list. It applies to anyone who doesn't match another rule set, so it's never competing for priority. All other rule sets are numbered at the start of their title, for example '1. Retail Award', and number 1 has the highest priority.
To change the priority, drag the six dots on the rule set you want to move. The numbers update automatically. New rule sets are added to the bottom of the list with the lowest priority.
I created or changed a break rule set, but it isn't applying to an employee's rosters or timesheets. Why not?
I created or changed a break rule set, but it isn't applying to an employee's rosters or timesheets. Why not?
When you create or change the rules in a rule set, rostered shifts from today onwards are updated a few minutes after you save, including published shifts. Past shifts and timesheets aren't changed, so breaks need to be added to those manually.
If you only changed who the rule set applies to (awards, award tags or age), existing shifts aren't updated straight away. They pick up the change the next time they're edited.
A longer shift is missing a break that a shorter shift gets. Why?
A longer shift is missing a break that a shorter shift gets. Why?
A shift only gets the breaks listed in the rule group for the range it falls into. If a longer shift should still get a break from a shorter rule group, add that break to the longer rule group too.
How do automatic breaks work on back-to-back shifts?
How do automatic breaks work on back-to-back shifts?
If an employee works back-to-back shifts on the same day, automatic breaks treat them as one continuous block of work instead of applying breaks to each shift.
Shifts are back-to-back when the gap between them is 60 minutes or less. By default, that gap counts as an unpaid break if it's at least as long as the unpaid break the rule set requires, so the rule set doesn't add another one.
For example, shifts of 4 hours or longer need a 30 minute unpaid break. If the gap between back-to-back shifts is only 15 minutes, it's too short to count, so the unpaid break is applied elsewhere in the shift.
Where can I see the history of changes to my break rules?
Where can I see the history of changes to my break rules?
An audit history is at the bottom of the Shift Breaks page, with one for each rule set, including Default. Expand it to see changes to the rule set and to each of its rules, including the action taken, who did it, when, and what changed.