Access Options for Time & Attendance

The article provides a comprehensive guide on managing access levels for BambooHR Time & Attendance. It outlines the purpose of the system, which is to control scheduling and time tracking for employees. The guide details three access levels: Employee, Manager, and Custom. Each section specifies permissions related to timesheets, shift schedules, and time clocks. Employees can be granted varying levels of access to view or edit their timesheets, while managers can access their direct reports' timesheets based on their settings. Custom access levels allow for tailored permissions, including approving timesheets and managing attendance settings. The article emphasizes the importance of configuring access appropriately to ensure effective management of time and attendance within the organization.

Jul 6, 2026
Knowledge

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What are the access options for BambooHR Time & Attendance?

Purpose: Take control of your team's scheduling and time tracking. This guide shows you how to manage employee, manager, and custom access levels for BambooHR® Time & Attendance, ensuring everyone has the appropriate timesheet and scheduling permissions.

Table of Contents

Employee access level
Manager access level
- Manager time tracking permissions
- Manager access levels with time clocks or time kiosks
Custom access level
Schedule Manager access to shift schedules

Anyone with View or Edit access to an employee's Timesheet tab can print a PDF version of the employee's timesheet.

Employee access level

Employee time tracking permissions

Before granting employees access to Time & Attendance, review the viewing permissions of the Timesheet tab. Automatically, the permission will be set to Edit access, meaning that employees can edit time entries they have previously added via their time entry method. While no notification goes out when an employee makes an edit, all changes are tracked in the Timesheet Change History modal. However, you can customize this access through employee access level settings so that another user edits timesheet information for the employee, and the employee can only view their timesheet.

To edit timesheet access for employees:

Navigate to Settings and click Access Levels. Select the corresponding employee access level, click the gear icon, and choose Access Level Settings. Under "What Can People with this Access Level See?," click See About Themselves, and select the Timesheet tab. Here, you can change the access setting.

Please note that only employees with Time & Attendance enabled can access the Timesheet tab. Access settings apply to all information on the Timesheet tab and are not field-specific.

If you want to restrict your employees to use only the clock-in and clock-out feature, instead of editing or adding entries manually, you will need to grant employees View Only access to timesheets.

Employee access to shift schedules

When a manager publishes a shift schedule, the employee will be able to see any shifts they have been assigned to from the My Time widget and from their timesheet. These schedules are available on the web and mobile versions of BambooHR and in the Time kiosk app. There are no employee permission settings for shift scheduling. They will only see their own schedules, never the schedules of other employees. For more information about the employee experience with shift scheduling, click here.

Employee access levels with time clocks or time kiosks

There are no special permissions for time clocks for an employee. If you are using a BambooHR Time Clock or Time Kiosk as a clock-in station for your employees, they will only be able to access their own information on the device. Check out our help guides to see the employee experience for BambooHR Time Clocks and Time Kiosks.

Manager access level

Manager time tracking permissions

By default, employees in a manager access level have View Only access to the timesheets of their direct reports, or both direct and indirect reports, depending on their manager access level settings. If you need your managers to edit timesheet information or prefer that they not view it at all, you can customize this access via the What this Access level Can See tab.

To edit timesheet access for managers:

Navigate to Settings and click Access Levels. Select the corresponding manager access level, click the gear icon, and select Access Level Settings. Under "What Can People with this Access Level See?," click See About other Employees, and select the Timesheet tab. Change the tab to the desired access and save your changes.

Manager access levels with time clocks or time kiosks

Employees assigned to a manager access level do not have access to any administrative settings on the time clock or time kiosk. They will only have access to their own information on the device itself.

Custom access level

Custom access level users do not automatically have access to the Timesheet tab or BambooHR Time & Attendance settings. If you need custom access level users to view or edit other employees' timesheet information, you can customize this access via the What this Access level Can See tab. You can also determine their access for approving timesheets, managing Time & Attendance Settings, enabling Time & Attendance for employees, and managing additional features like hours imports, project tracking, shift differentials, and meal or rest breaks.

Access to other employees' timesheets

To grant users access to other employees' timesheets, navigate to Settings and click Access Levels. Select the corresponding custom access level, click the gear icon, and select Access Level Settings. Under "What Can People with this Access Level See?," click See About other Employees, and select the Timesheet tab. Change the tab to the desired access and save your changes.

Access to Time & Attendance settings

There are additional access options for Time & Attendance settings, combined in two locations: Time & Attendance and Settings under "What can People with this Access Level Do?

Time & Attendance

1. Approve Timesheets: The user can approve employee timesheets that they have access to view.

2. Enable/Disable Time & Attendance for all Employees: The user can add or remove employees from BambooHR Time & Attendance. Users with this permission can also perform actions on BambooHR Time Clocks and Time Kiosks. Users with this permission do not automatically gain access to shift scheduling. If you would like them to access shift scheduling, a full admin must grant them access as a schedule manager on a schedule-by-schedule basis.

3. Manage Hour Imports: The user can add, edit, or delete hours from the hours importer and hours API.

4. Manage Project Tracking: The user can add, edit, or delete projects and assign employees.

5. Manage Shift Differentials: The user can add, edit, or delete shift differentials and assign employees.

6. Manage Meal and Rest Break Tracking: The user can add, edit, or delete meal and rest breaks.

Settings

7. Time & Attendance: The user can access Time & Attendance in Settings to view all enabled employees and manage the Time & Attendance setup. This permission is not limited by the "This Access Level can access the Information below for" filter in the What This Access Level Can See settings.

Please note if you grant users access to Time & Attendance in Settings, they will automatically gain access to project tracking, shift differential, and meal and rest break settings, as these are integrated within Time & Attendance settings.

If you use BambooHR® Payroll, please note that those in the Payroll Admin access level will have access to all timesheets. If you do not use BambooHR Payroll and want to learn more, click here!

Custom access levels with time clocks and time kiosks

If a user has permission to "Enable/Disable Time & Attendance for all Employees," they will have full access to time clock administrative settings. This includes adding employees to the clock through Time & Attendance settings on the web, and managing the following settings on the time clock: registering keypad IDs, employee badges, and biometric data on employee profiles.

Custom access level users with this permission can also add new time clocks and set up the BambooHR Time Kiosk app. They do this through the Devices tab in Time & Attendance settings.

They will have full access to this tab, allowing them to:

View and edit device names
Check time clock statuses
Determine a time clock's timezone

Their ability to review employee clocking events will depend on their specific permissions on the See About Other People tab within access level settings.

Custom access levels with shift scheduling

There are no custom access level permissions associated with shift scheduling. Users with the Enable/Disable Time & Attendance for all Employees permission will be able to add employees to a Time & Attendance group, which may make the employee eligible to be assigned a shift, but they will only be able to assign the employee to a schedule and add them to a shift if the custom access level user is added as a schedule manager.

Once added as a schedule manager, those users can perform all associated actions.

Schedule Manager access to shift schedules

Shift scheduling access is configured on a schedule-by-schedule basis through the Time & Attendance tab rather than through access levels. Full Admin users must create new schedules. During schedule setup, they can designate which managers have permission to create and manage shifts for that schedule.

Action	Account Owner & Full Admin	Schedule Manager
Create new schedules	Yes	No
Grant users schedule manager access during schedule setup	Yes	No
Add employees to a schedule	Yes	Yes
Create shift schedules	Yes	Yes
Edit shift schedules	Yes	Yes
View scheduling conflicts and shifts across schedules	Yes	Yes
Publish shift schedules	Yes	Yes
Print shift schedules	Yes	Yes

Schedule managers can add any employee who belongs to a Time & Attendance group that uses the Start & End time entry method and has the time clock enabled, regardless of the manager's access level permissions for employee information.

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