WolfTime FAQs

General Questions

Why did NC State University implement a new time and leave tracking system?

WolfTime is our new electronic timekeeping and leave tracking system. NC State moved to this new system to be compliant with pay laws governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This ensures more accurate pay for non-exempt employees (those who are eligible to earn overtime and previously tracked their time on paper timesheets). WolfTime is a much more robust system that will be able to track every type of leave available to SHRA (Subject to Human Resources Act) and EHRA (Exempt from the Human Resources Act) employees.

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Does WolfTime work for timekeeping and tracking leave time

Yes, if you work in an exempt position (not subject to overtime pay), you will only use WolfTime to track and record your leave time (annual, sick, bonus, etc.). If you supervise people, you will also approve time and leave requests. If you currently utilize a paper time sheet, you will track your time in WolfTime and any leave taken through the week.

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Is NC State University changing its paid time-off policy?

Although some administrative practices will change, NC State’s Paid Time Off Policy will remain the same.

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I’m an exempt employee. How will WolfTime affect me?

If you work in an exempt position (not subject to overtime pay), you will only use WolfTime to track and record your leave time (annual, sick, bonus, etc.).

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What types of training is provided?

Online training resources for WolfTime can be found under “Training” on the WolfTime Home Page. There are also videos and user guides available under “Resources”.

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Wall Clocks

If a department wants a wall clock who will pay for it and what is the process of ordering one?

The college/division is responsible for purchasing wall clocks, if required ($2,750 per clock). Contact, Andy Naylor, ranaylor@ncse.edu, with the number of clocks to purchase, the college/division bookkeeping representative, and the account number the clocks should be charged to. Please allow 6-10 weeks for the clocks to arrive.

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Can Kaba time clocks be used off Campus?

No, Kaba clocks work by connecting to NC State’s Network.

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Is there a map of all of the Kaba wall clock on campus?

A campus map is currently being developed to highlight all of the Kaba Wall clock on campus. Please continue to check our website as more information will be added periodically. Click here for a listing of wall clock locations.

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Timekeeping & Clocking In/Out

Who will need to clock in/out?

All nonexempt SHRA/EHRA personnel.

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Will this system track my time down to the minute? What if I am late due to traffic?

Yes, the In/Out clock combination(s) will determine your total hours worked for the week. Clock In when you arrive to work. Being late for work is still a conversation between the employee and supervisor. WolfTime is a tool to track time and the implementation of WolfTime has not changed department or university policies regarding being tardy or absent.

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When do I need to clock in and out?

Non-exempt employees will need to clock in at the start of every work shift and clock out at the end of every work shift. If you take a lunch break, you will also need to clock out when you go on lunch and clock in when you return from lunch.

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I forgot to clock in/out how do I fix my time?

If you forget to clock in or out, notify your supervisor or department timekeeper. They will have the ability to make corrections for missed or inaccurate time.

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Am I able to use a wall clock in another location?

Yes, NC State university employees can use any Kaba Wall clock on campus.

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If I use a wall clock to clock in, can I clock out online?

We encourage employees to utilize the same clock device (wall or web) to complete a punch combination (a combination = In/Out). The wall clock device is purely a time collection device and will only see usage from a wall clock—it will not see any punches from online. The wall clock devices are always looking for the next punch type (IN or OUT) based on the initial wall clock submission. This could put your time out of sync and it would need to be corrected by your supervisor.

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If I don’t have 40 hours for the week, can I work additional time the next week to make up for the missing time?

If a non-exempt employee works 40 hours a week, the end of each week should reflect 40 hours—whether the hours are made up of hours worked, comp time, annual leave, sick or other forms of leave.

Comp time balances are only available to use after they have been earned and approved by supervisors. The employee cannot utilize comp time for leave requests for dates prior to the date of the comp time earned

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What happens if my supervisor forgets to approve my time each week?

Your monthly base pay will not be impacted. Additional pay items such as shift premium, holiday hours worked, comp time, on call pay, etc. must be approved by your supervisor before payments can be processed and comp balances updated correctly. Once the supervisor approves the employee timesheet the additional pay items can be processed correctly.

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Do I have to take a lunch break every day?

Federal law (FLSA) and state law do not require lunch breaks, but it is a best practice for employees to take at least a 30 minute break during the work day. We encourage employees to follow college/division departmental policy regarding lunch breaks and ask your supervisor/manager if you have questions.

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I am “on call” occasionally. How does this work in WolfTime?

Your supervisor or timekeeper will need to enter the on call hours on a weekly basis in order for the system to process payment correctly. On call pay is generated the month following when it has been earned. If you get called in, you will need to clock In and Out during the time you actually work.

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What if I work on Saturday?

If you are required to work on Saturday (beginning of a workweek), you will need to clock In and Out during the time you actually work to track your hours on the timesheet. Your supervisor will have to approve the hours if it is outside of your normal scheduled workweek.

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Why are my hours worked displayed in decimals?

It is the standard PeopleSoft format to display minutes in decimal instead of minutes. The “View/Print Monthly Timesheet” option available under the “Employee Self Service/WolfTime” icon will display the daily rounded processed timesheet. Please see the Rounding Guidelines, Minute to Decimal Conversion Chart.

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When does the rounding of time occur?

Rounding doesn’t occur until supervisor approval. If the timesheet has been approved the “View/Print Monthly Timesheet” option available under the “Employee Self Service/WolfTime” icon will display the rounded processed timesheet.

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I need to travel for work, what should I do about clocking In/Out?

Non-exempt Employees can utilize the Remote Employee WolfTime Timesheet when in a remote location or when traveling to remote locations without access to a wall mounted time clock, computer (with internet), or a smart device (with signal or WiFi) to track their time. All time is to be reported on a weekly basis.
Please see the State’s HR Manual. Section 4, page 55 provides information on the travel policy for State of North Carolina employees.

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If a SHRA employee is traveling on a day trip (and their travel authorization has been approved for mileage), does the time they spend actually traveling count in their hours for the work day (i.e., they have a regular workday of 8-5pm, but leave at 6am and return at 7pm)?

For an SHRA employee, time spent driving a motor vehicle when traveling for the state on business, except for meal times, is recorded and paid as work time (this does not apply to time commuting to work from home or vice versa). This applies during regular working hours and also outside regular working hours. If the individual is a passenger in the vehicle, they still get compensated for the time spent traveling but time outside of their regular work hours do not count towards determining overtime.

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Comp Time

If I am manager and I do not approve for my employee to work over 40 hours but they worked more than that, what do I do?

Have a conversation with the employee to find out why they are exceeding their standard workweek hours and set the department expectation. If the employee’s submitted weekly time is correct and it exceeds 40 hours, the employee must be compensated correctly. If the situation turns out to be a performance related issue, consult with the HR Employee Relations team for advice on addressing the situation.

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What happens if I work more than 40 hours in a week?

If you are a non-exempt employee (subject to overtime and currently complete a paper timesheet), any time worked over 40 hours in a week will go to your comp time balance at time and half. Ex. you work 42 hours in a week. You would receive 3 hours of comp time. WolfTime will have you use comp time hours first in lieu of annual/vacation or bonus leave. Remember that overtime should be approved by your manager/supervisor prior to earning it.

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I thought comp time had to be paid out at time and a half?

State and local government employers can choose to allow for comp time accrual earned at time and half for hours worked over 40 in a week. The WolfTime system defaults all overtime to comp time banking. If a department needs to pay out comp time, the timekeeper can make that happen through an exceptions process.

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I work 30 hours a week, will I accrue comp time if I work over my 30 hours?

You will accrue comp time for all hours worked above your standard work week requirements. Because of federal regulations, only hours worked over 40 hours will be paid time and a half. If you work over 30 hours then you will get comp time at an hour for hour basis until you reach 40 hours for that week.

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What types of comp time can I earn?

There are several different types of comp time that can be earned. You can find a list of these categories on the HR Benefits Website. The order in which they are listed on the site is also the order in which they are used or paid out. Ex. Holiday Comp Time will be used prior to Overtime Comp Time.

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Do I get paid out for comp time if I don’t use it?

The Office of State Human Resources requires that all comp time be depleted prior to the use of an employee’s annual or bonus leave. This does not apply to the Special Bonus leave received in July 2017.If you take any vacation or bonus leave, the WolfTime system will automatically use comp time first. Whenever comp time is earned in WolfTime, it is date stamped. If comp time is not utilized within 12 months from the date it was earned, the system will automatically process the aged out hours to be paid out.

The Office of State Human Resources also states that if an employee reached 240 hours in a category of comp time, they will be paid out all hours above 240. There are several categories of comp time. This does not apply to your comp time totals, as a whole, it is 240 hours per category.

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I earned comp time last week and the week before. Why has my comp time balance not changed?

The adding of Comp time to your balance relies on your manager approving your time. The approved comp time is added to your balance after the absence management system runs, every Tuesday.

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Understanding Your Time

Why can’t employees put in their own time into the system?

NCSU decided to implement an electronic/automated time tracking system to accurately track employee workweek hours that allows the supervisor to review/approve time worked each week.

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When does the system process time for employees?

Time is automatically processed four times a day, (4AM, 11AM (except for Tuesday), 2PM, and 7PM). It takes approximately 90 minutes to complete the processing cycle from the time its starts.

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Why didn’t my monthly timesheet generate all of the weeks in the month?

The monthly time sheet will only display days which the employee’s worked time has already been approved by the manager. If the time has not been approved by the manager, the time will not appear. Please ask your manager to approve the weeks that are blank in the monthly time sheet and allow the system to run and update overnight. Additionally, vacation time will not appear in the monthly timesheet.

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I work later than 5:00 pm, do I get a shift premium?

In order to be eligible for a shift premium you must work a regular and recurring shift where greater than 50% of your shift is between the hours of 4:00 pm and 8:00 am.

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Adverse Weather

How does adverse weather work in WolfTime?

When the university declares adverse weather, non-mandatory employees can use comp, annual leave, bonus leave, and special bonus leave to make up time under condition 1 or 2. With management approval, non-exempt employees may be able to earn comp time to offset the leave time used for adverse weather. Employees may also work remotely during adverse weather with management approval.

Mandatory employees who work during adverse weather will receive hour for hour adverse weather comp time. This comp time can never be paid out and must be used within 12 months of earning it.

Please see go.ncsu.edu/adverseweather for more information.

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Leave

How do I request time off?

Please view our helpful video.

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How can I verify my paid time off balances?

Please view our helpful video.

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If I have a request for leave and I choose “Save for Later” will my supervisor be able to see the request?

No, Your supervisor will not be able to see your saved request

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What if I’m on vacation and I decide to work some?

If you return from leave earlier than expected clock In/Out if you work and make any necessary adjustments to the initial leave request, cancel the request, have the supervisor deny the request so you can re-submit a new one or the college division Leave Administrator may have to intervene if the leave request has been processed.

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Can the employee modify their absence request if they no longer need the full hours requested?

Employees can cancel submitted leave requests or the supervisor can deny a leave request if the initial hours need to be modified. If a leave request has already been approved, the employee can submit a request to cancel the leave. The supervisor will receive an email to approve the cancellation request. The leave will not cancel until it has been approved by the supervisor.

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Does anything change regarding how I take time off?

No, other than you will now track your time off in WolfTime instead of the former Web Leave System. Balances were transferred over to WolfTime on July 10, 2017.

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What if there is a time when I need to go into negative leave—what happens?

Per state rules, you can go into a negative leave balance. WolfTime knows how much you will accrue for the year and allows up to that amount in the negative. It does require supervisor approval so employees should always communicate any potential negative amounts to make sure their supervisor will approve the request.

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Do I have to use leave time if I am short of my 40 hours at the end of the work week?

Monthly wages are based on working your designated standard workweek hours so, yes employees will need to submit the necessary hours to meet that expected total for the workweek, comp, annual, bonus, or sick can be used.

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Why do leave balances only update once per week?

WolfTime is the integration of two large systems—time keeping and leave recording. In order to process the information in these systems, it takes time and system bandwidth. In order to balance the desire to keep employee leave balances as up to date as possible and the system requirements to run the update process, it was determined that a once weekly system update would be best. Leave balances are updated on Tuesday morning (before the work day starts). All leave and time information approved prior to end of work day Monday will process with the weekly system update.

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Is there a way I can review my accurate balances before the weekly WolfTime update?

Any additions to your leave balances will only reflect after the weekly system update. This includes monthly leave accrual and comp time earned with supervisor approval.

You have the ability to see your updated balances after a leave request has been submitted, even before the weekly system update. To do this, go to your WolfTime, select Absence Balances. At the bottom of the page, select Forecast Balance. The “As of Date” will default to today’s date. Select the type of leave you would like to view and select Forecast Balance. The Forecast Details will display and include your leave available as of today’s date. This takes into consideration all leave submitted as of today’s date and may be different from the “Current Balance” displayed.

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Approving an Employees Leave

How will Supervisors receive their employee’s leave request?

Supervisors will continue to receive email notifications when an employee enters a leave request. Additionally, supervisors are able to view leave request from all of their employees via their manager dashboard.

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Can a Supervisor designate someone to approve leave for their employee?

The supervisor and leave coordinator within the college division are the only personnel able to review/approve employee submitted leave request.

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What If I’m a Supervisor and I am out and not able to approve my employees time?

Although time is to be approved on a weekly basis, a salaried non- exempt employee will continue to receive their pay. If supervisors are unavailable to approve employee timesheets on a weekly basis they should work directly with their assigned college division timekeepers.

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I am a supervisor who manages temporary and permanent employees, will they both show up in the manager dashboard?

Yes.

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