This article was last reviewed on September 23, 2024.

There’s always more work to be done, but that work often comes at a cost. Paying employees extra wages for working overtime may seem like a quick way to get your schedule covered and increase output. But as quick fixes so often do, it can actually hurt your business in the long run. Not only does overtime mean that you pay more for the same work, but it also leads to lowered productivity, increased stress and sick days, and even higher turnover rates among your staff.

Sling helps you prevent scheduling employees into overtime, protecting them from overworking, while saving you significant amounts in overtime costs each week and month.

Sling helps you to set up the rules surrounding weekly overtime, daily overtime, and daily double overtime as well.

To reach these settings, from your Dashboard, select Settings > Labor cost.

Weekly overtime:

When an employee works over 40 hours in a workweek, you may be required to pay them additional wages at a higher rate (typically, 1.5 times the regular pay rate for hours worked above 40, and 2 times for hours worked above 60). Sling alerts you whenever you schedule employees into weekly overtime, and highlights the O/T cases both per employee and for the whole schedule.

Daily overtime:

Depending on which state you are in, you may also be required to pay daily overtime. It is due when time worked in any given workday exceeds 8 hours. The rate applied is typically 1.5 times the regular pay rate. Sling calculates the duration of a shift right when you schedule it and can alert you to any daily overtime cases, helping you prevent overspending.

Daily double overtime:

Employers in California are also required to pay double overtime on any hours worked over 12 in a workday. This overtime is paid to an employee at a rate of 2.0 times the regular pay rate per overtime hour. As with daily overtime, Sling calculates the duration of a shift right when you schedule it and can alert you to any double overtime cases, helping you avoid spending double for the same work.
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With Sling, you know when the overtime thresholds are encroaching right when you schedule, and can spot and avoid potential overtime costs before they become a problem.
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Sling helps you stay within your payroll budget and keeps your employees from overworking!

Please note: The overtime settings will only work most effectively if you have also configured settings for your first day of the week, payroll period, and hours of operation. Please refer to the helpful links below if you need directions about adjusting those settings for your account. Sling is not responsible for errors that result from missing settings details.

Learn how to establish the first day of your work week here.

For details about setting up labor cost settings, check out this overview.

Find out where to set up your payroll period here.

Need to adjust your hours of operation? Look here.