How do I deduct lateness so the deduction grows each time it repeats in the month?

2026-11-10 | Intagya ERP

Two employees arrive 20 minutes late on Sunday. One has not been late in months; the other is late for the fourth time this month. On payroll day they both lose exactly the same amount.

The first feels he was treated like a habitual latecomer. The second learns that lateness has a fixed price, pays it, and carries on.

Why is a flat deduction per late minute not enough?

Because it cannot tell an accident from a habit. A flat rate treats a rainy-day traffic jam the same as someone who walks in late every morning. The punctual person gets upset and the habitual one does not change.

What most owners actually want is simple: let the first time go, deduct something fair the second time, and more each time it repeats. Many companies already do this on paper, and then it gets lost in a spreadsheet on payroll day.

How do I set the grace time and the deduction in an ERP system?

With lines in the attendance policy, one per threshold. In Intagya ERP open Attendance & Payroll, then Configuration, then Attendance Policies, and add a line per threshold on the Lateness tab.

• When More Than: where the line starts, such as 00:15, 00:30 or 01:00.
• Deduction Method: By Multiplier deducts the late minutes times the Multiplier; Fixed Amount deducts the Amount each time.
• Repeat columns: 1st Time through 5th Time and More.

The smallest threshold is the grace time: lateness below it costs nothing and is not counted as a time. When the lateness is past several thresholds, the line with the largest one applies, so someone 90 minutes late falls under the one-hour line, not the 15-minute one.

How does the deduction grow when lateness repeats?

Through the repeat columns on the same line. Each column is a figure that multiplies the deduction, following the order of the violation in the month.

An example only: a line When More Than 00:15 with multiplier 1, and the columns 1, 1, 1.5, 2, 2. Twenty minutes late the first time costs 20 minutes. Twenty minutes late the third time costs 30 minutes, and the fourth time 40 minutes.

The fifth column also covers the sixth time and later, so five columns are enough. A fixed-amount line works the same way: an amount of 50 with a column of 2 becomes 100.

Start with figures close to 1 in the first columns. A harsh policy in month one fills your office with complaints before the team is used to the system.

Does the same work for early leave and absence?

Yes. The Early Leave tab works exactly the same way: thresholds, a deduction method and repeat columns.

Absence uses steps instead of thresholds. Each step starts From Occurrence: the first day at multiplier 1, for example, and from the third day at multiplier 2, or a Fixed Penalty of a set number of hours. So the third absent day in a month is not treated like the first.

How does the deduction reach the salary without anyone copying it?

Through the monthly attendance sheet. It works out the lateness and early leave of each day, counts the times and applies the policy. The What Goes to the Payslip tab shows the hours and amounts before you approve.

Once the sheets are approved you create the payroll batch straight from them. Lateness and early-leave hours land on a deduction line of the payslip at the employee's hourly rate, together with any fixed amounts. No copy and paste.

Should I use this policy or penalties and rewards?

One of them, not both. When automatic penalties and rewards are on, lateness and absence go through them and their approval, and the policy does not deduct them a second time. The policy shows a note saying so at the top.

My view: minute-based deductions from the policy suit a company that wants quiet, automatic sums. Penalties suit one that wants every late arrival to pass a manager, with a notice and a warning before any money.

Where do I start?

In Intagya ERP attendance policies, attendance sheets and payslips live in one app, Attendance & Payroll. Tomorrow, write down on one page what your company really does: how many minutes do you let go, and what happens the third time? Put that in the policy, run one full month and compare the sheet with your old sums before you approve.

Read the Attendance & Payroll steps in the guide