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Take the work out of adding breaks to shifts with Tanda’s automatic break functionality. This feature is optional, and can simplify your rostering processes by:

Each automatic break rule takes into consideration:

When a shift meets the minimum length defined, breaks are automatically added to the shift upon creation.

If a break is set as unpaid, the break length will be deducted from the total rostered time.

If a break is set as paid, the total rostered time remains as is.

Automatic break rules and manual breaks are mutually exclusive, so creating a manual break on a roster will disable automatic break rules and remove them from the shift. Deleting the manual break will re-trigger the automatic breaks.

Break rules can be created through Settings > All Settings > Shift Breaks. When creating a new rule set, you'll need to enter the following details:

A summary of the break rule set will appear at the bottom of the page, and will update to reflect any changes you make to the values.

With the Breaks on rosters have times setting enabled, you'll have the option to View advanced break settings. Here, breaks can be configured to start at or before a certain number of hours have been worked.

By default, the break will commence at the latest point it can within the parameters, so a break set to start at or before five hours will start on exactly on the fifth hour.

With the Breaks on rosters have times setting enabled, you can configure 'buffers' where breaks cannot begin in the first or last specified hours of a shift.

Values from 0 - 2 can be entered in this field, and when configured, no automatic breaks will be placed within the specified number of hours at the start or end of a shift.

For example, setting the buffer to 1 hour means a shift from 12pm - 5pm will not have a break occurring before 1pm or after 4pm.

When enabling the following templates, automatic break rules compliant with the award will be created and apply to staff under the award automatically.

Some templates that stipulate more specific break rules based on employment classification are also covered by these templates. The current list of covered templates and classifications is listed below:

Accounts with these templates already enabled will not have these breaks automatically created.

These automatic rule sets can be removed through the red Delete button in the bottom right corner of a rule set, or automatic break rules can be disabled altogether with the check box near the top of the page.

Depending on how rule sets have been configured, an employee may have more than one break set applicable to their profile.

Should this overlap exist, an orange warning will appear on the affected rule set, listing the affected employees and which rule set will take priority and apply instead. Continue reading to learn more about prioritisation with rule sets.

If an employee qualifies for multiple rule sets, you can prioritise which set should apply when rostering.

While the Default set will always take the lowest priority, any newly added rule sets will be numbered, with Set 1 taking the highest priority. To change the priority of rule sets, click and drag the six dots on the rule set you'd like to move, and the set number will automatically update.

Any new rule sets will take the lowest priority (excluding the Default set) when first created.

When a rostered shift meets the requirements of an automatic break rule set, the relevant breaks will be assigned to the shift once both a start and end time are entered.

To view breaks that are applying to a shift, click on the shift card and refer to the shift summary left of the roster or select the three dots in the corner of a shift card and then click the Edit Breaks option. For a quick check of the total number of breaks for a shift, refer to the teacup icon next to the shift times.

Times will only appear on the Edit Breaks option if the Breaks on rosters have times is enabled for the rule set in the Shift Breaks settings page.

A validation warning can only be triggered when breaks are manually added to a shift that would otherwise meet the requirements for an automatic break rule.

These warnings will highlight if:

Break information can be found on the right side of a timesheet, and includes:

On a timesheet's coloured bar, an unpaid break will appear grey, while a paid break will not be visualised.

When engaging task-based rostering or back-to-back shifts if staff are working in multiple teams for a day, automatic breaks will consider the total time worked when applying automatic breaks, instead of each individual shift.

Shifts will only be considered back-to-back if the gaps between the shifts are less than or equal to 60 minutes. Any gaps up to 60 minutes will be recognised as unpaid breaks, and will appropriately skip assigning auto unpaid breaks if the gap is long enough to accommodate the break.

For example, shifts 4 hours or longer require a 30 minute unpaid break. If a gap between back-to-back shifts is only 15 minutes, the unpaid break will apply elsewhere in the shift.

On the mobile app, employees can see the total break time for each shift that has breaks assigned.

To see automatic break start and finish times on the app, the Breaks on rosters have times setting will need to be enabled.