Question 1

How can I try vivotempo?

Accepted Answer

You can try vivotempo free of charge for two months, with all features. After registering, you are the administrator of your company and can add employees straight away.

Question 2

What should I set up first after registering?

Accepted Answer

This order has proven to work well: create or import holiday calendars for your locations in the work schedule, define whether Saturday, Sunday or public holidays count as working days decide whether to allow half days of leave check the rules for remaining leave and carry-over for each work country add employees with role, holiday calendar, work country and leave entitlement if needed, appoint HR managers and define their permissions

Question 3

How do I add employees and how do they get access?

Accepted Answer

Administrators and HR managers add new employees in the employee overview: name, email, employee number, department, role, start date, holiday calendar and work country. Employees get access either via an access link sent by email (valid for 48 hours) or via a password that you set. You can send a welcome email in any of the available languages; the history shows when it was sent, clicked and redeemed.

Question 4

Is leave entitlement calculated pro rata for employees who join during the year?

Accepted Answer

Yes. When you add an employee, the “Calculate leave entitlement” tool helps: full-time entitlement multiplied by working days per week divided by five, multiplied by remaining months divided by twelve, rounded up. The result is saved as the pro rata entitlement for the year they join.

Question 5

Which modules are available?

Accepted Answer

Leave management with team calendar, half days, leave blackouts, logbook, two-factor authentication and email notifications is always included. In addition, time tracking with terminals and the sick leave module with health bonus can be activated. If a module is not active, its menu items do not appear.

Question 6

Which languages is vivotempo available in?

Accepted Answer

Currently German, English (UK and US), French, Italian, Latvian, Slovenian and Ukrainian; more languages will follow. Each employee chooses their language in their profile, along with the date format and a light or dark theme. Emails are sent in the recipient’s language, each terminal can have its own language, and page addresses are translated for each language.

Question 7

How does an employee request leave?

Accepted Answer

Under “Request leave”, the employee selects the days in the calendar and can add half days (if allowed) and a comment. vivotempo only counts working days: weekends and public holidays are not deducted, in line with the work schedule, and half-day holidays such as Christmas Eve cost half a day. Before submitting, vivotempo shows the remaining leave including requests still pending and points out when carry-over from the previous year that expires soon will be used first.

Question 8

Which types of leave are there?

Accepted Answer

Annual leave is deducted from the leave account. Unpaid leave and special leave can be requested as exceptions and do not change the account. Sickness is recorded in the sick leave module.

Question 9

Who decides on leave requests?

Accepted Answer

Administrators and HR managers approve or reject requests, each with a comment; a comment can be mandatory for rejections. There are also internal notes that only administrators and HR managers can see. Optionally, the four-eyes principle applies: requests from administrators and HR managers are then always decided by another person. You define in a list exactly who is responsible for this.

Question 10

What help is available when deciding?

Accepted Answer

The decision page shows everything at a glance: remaining leave after approval and the entitlement for the year in question other pending requests from the same person notices of overlaps with other absences a warning if the account would go negative, with the option to approve deliberately as an exception after the decision, a direct jump to the next pending request

Question 11

Can a request be withdrawn or changed?

Accepted Answer

Employees can withdraw pending requests themselves; for approved leave, they submit a change request. Administrators and HR managers can reverse an approval or rejection, and the request then returns to “pending”. Every step remains traceable in the logbook.

Question 12

Can administrators enter leave directly?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Administrators and authorised HR managers enter or remove annual leave, sickness, unpaid leave or special leave directly, including half days. vivotempo then shows the remaining leave and warns of overlaps or a negative balance. You can notify the employee in the app and also send an email, which you can edit before sending.

Question 13

Can I set leave blackouts?

Accepted Answer

Yes. In the holiday calendar you mark blocked days, for everyone or for individual employees. Requests for a blocked period are rejected.

Question 14

How do I keep track of absences in the team?

Accepted Answer

The team calendar shows leave, sickness and public holidays in monthly and yearly views, filterable by holiday calendar. Sickness can be shown neutrally as “Absent”. The overview can be exported as PDF, Excel, LibreOffice Calc, CSV or JSON, or printed, and the calendar can also appear directly on the decision page.

Question 15

How is the leave entitlement set up?

Accepted Answer

Each employee has a standard entitlement. Different entitlements can be set for the current year and the next five years, for example when switching to part-time; past years remain unchanged.

Question 16

How are remaining leave and expiry handled?

Accepted Answer

For each work country, you define the cut-off date by which carried-over leave must be taken, how many years after the leave year it remains valid, whether it never expires, and the maximum number of days that can be carried over. The usual rules are preset: Germany 31 March of the following year, Austria 31 December two years later, France 31 May, Latvia 31 December, Slovenia 30 June, USA without expiry. A cap can also be set for each employee; it takes precedence over the country rule.

Question 17

Are employees reminded about expiring remaining leave?

Accepted Answer

Yes, automatically in the app: from around 90 days before expiry and again from 30 days before. In December, vivotempo warns if days would expire because of the cap. Every reminder is documented in the logbook; in Germany, it is a prerequisite for leave being allowed to expire.

Question 18

What happens at the turn of the year?

Accepted Answer

With the year-end close, vivotempo carries remaining leave over into the new year, taking the caps into account; you see a preview beforehand. You then write off any expired days that have become due, in Germany only after a documented reminder. In January, vivotempo reminds administrators if the year-end close is still pending.

Question 19

Where can I see how a leave account has developed?

Accepted Answer

On the employee’s page, the leave account history shows the entitlement, carry-over from the previous year, and days taken and expired for each year. In the team calendar, an overview shows the chain from the opening balance through expiry and credits to the current and projected balance.

Question 20

What happens if someone falls ill during their leave?

Accepted Answer

With proof (an electronic sick note or an uploaded certificate), vivotempo credits the leave days back, in Germany under Section 9 of the Federal Leave Act (BUrlG). The rule automatically follows the work country or is permanently switched on or off, optionally with a minimum duration of sickness. If proof is missing, vivotempo sends a reminder.

Question 21

Can employees in different countries or federal states have different public holidays?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can create as many holiday calendars as you like, for example “Bavaria”, “North Rhine-Westphalia”, “Austria” or “Slovenia”, and assign each employee their calendar. Leave days, target working time and public holiday hours are then based on their calendar.

Question 22

Do I have to enter all public holidays myself?

Accepted Answer

No. Statutory public holidays can be imported for a large number of countries, with a region filter for federal states, cantons or regions. You can copy fixed holidays to the next year with one click; please give movable holidays a quick check.

Question 23

Can I add my own days off, such as bridge days?

Accepted Answer

Yes, as a full or half day. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are half days by default and cost half a day of leave in a leave request.

Question 24

What does an employee’s work country affect?

Accepted Answer

The work country determines which rules apply: expiry of remaining leave, credit for sickness during leave, working time law checks and the retention period for time entries. Germany, Austria, France, Latvia, Slovenia and the USA are currently available. The holiday calendar is assigned independently.

Question 25

Do weekends and public holidays count as leave days?

Accepted Answer

You decide this in the work schedule: whether Saturday, Sunday or public holidays are working days, for everyone or differently for individual employees. Only working days are deducted from leave.

Question 26

Can I print the holiday calendar?

Accepted Answer

Yes, as an annual calendar in PDF format, portrait or landscape. Holiday names appear in the user’s language.

Question 27

How do employees record their working time?

Accepted Answer

In the browser or on their smartphone under “Start / End”, or at the terminal in the company: start work, start and end a break, end work. Several sessions per day and work past midnight are possible. The monthly overview shows target and actual hours, overtime and undertime and, if enabled, the flexitime account.

Question 28

Which working time models are supported?

Accepted Answer

Flexitime or fixed hours, weekly and daily hours and working days per week, also individually for each employee. Optionally core hours (for example 09:00 to 15:00) or a start window (for example starting between 08:00 and 10:00); both serve as hints in the overview and report and do not block clocking in or out. Times can be rounded to 5, 10 or 15 minutes, either to the nearest value, up or down.

Question 29

How are breaks handled?

Accepted Answer

You define which minimum break applies after which working duration (default: 30 minutes after 6 hours, 45 minutes after 9 hours) and the minimum length a break must have to count as a rest break. Automatic deduction of missing break time can be set up, as can different values for each employee. At the terminal, employees can see before clocking out which deduction will be applied.

Question 30

Is there a flexitime account?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it can be switched on from a cut-off date of your choice. You enter an opening balance for each employee, which can also be negative. The account takes public holidays, leave, sickness and the start date into account.

Question 31

Are night, Sunday and public holiday hours shown separately?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if required, and each can be enabled separately: night hours with their own time window (default 23:00 to 06:00), Sunday hours and public holiday hours, from 14:00 on half-day holidays. For each employee you can choose “on”, “off” or “as set globally”. The hours appear in the monthly overview and the payroll export, in hours and minutes as well as in decimal.

Question 32

Can employees correct their own times?

Accepted Answer

You decide this for each employee: whether they may change working time and breaks themselves and how far back (one day, one week, one month, a custom number of days or without limit), separately for browser and terminal. Every change is logged with a reason. If administrators or HR managers change times, the employee can also be informed by email.

Question 33

Can I lock months already processed in payroll so they cannot be changed?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with “Locked until”. Up to and including this date, no one can create, change or delete time entries any more, not even administrators; ongoing clocking is not affected. Who locked the period and when is saved and displayed.

Question 34

What happens if someone forgets to clock out?

Accepted Answer

vivotempo sends a reminder when working time runs for more than 14 hours or a break for more than 8 hours, and ends it automatically after a configurable duration (default 18 hours), notifying the employee, administrators and HR managers. Optionally, vivotempo sends a reminder on Mondays about days in the previous week with no time recorded.

Question 35

Does vivotempo check compliance with working time law?

Accepted Answer

If you enable it, for each work country and each rule: mandatory breaks, maximum daily working time, rest periods between working days, a notice when weekly working time is exceeded and, in Germany, the flagging of Sunday work. The limits are stored for each country. By default, no checks are active.

Question 36

How do the times get to payroll?

Accepted Answer

The payroll export contains all employees for one month with working day, employee number, start, end, breaks, gross and net time (also in decimal), surcharge hours, absences and released health bonuses including the payroll code. If required, it is sent by email directly to defined recipients. There are also period reports for a day, week, month, year or custom period, as a PDF with a day timeline chart or as a table (Excel, LibreOffice Calc, CSV, JSON).

Question 37

What is the vivotempo terminal?

Accepted Answer

A tablet or screen in the company where employees without their own device can clock in and out. You can create as many terminals as you like; each gets its own address with a QR code and can be installed as an app that launches in full screen.

Question 38

How do employees sign in at the terminal?

Accepted Answer

Configurable per terminal, also in combination and in your own order: face recognition, PIN (4 to 6 digits), QR code, NFC card or Bluetooth. Alternatively, employees select their name from a list. Employees register their face, NFC card, QR code and Bluetooth themselves at the terminal.

Question 39

What does the terminal show after sign-in?

Accepted Answer

The status with the time, the day timeline with breaks (including past midnight), core hours or start window, the time worked today and any upcoming minimum break deduction. Also the employee’s own leave, the next public holiday within 14 days and notices such as “Forgot to clock out?”

Question 40

Can times be corrected at the terminal?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if this is enabled for the employee, within the configured period and with a reason.

Question 41

What can others see in the name list?

Accepted Answer

You decide per terminal whether the working or break status appears in the list (default: off). Leave is set for each employee: 30 days in advance, only during the leave or not at all. Individual employees can be hidden from a terminal’s list without losing the ability to clock in by card or face.

Question 42

How can the terminal be customised?

Accepted Answer

Configurable per terminal: background slideshow with up to 50 images or videos night dimming with separate times and brightness for weekdays and weekends break sounds at fixed times, from templates or as your own audio file personal images, videos or sounds for each employee when clocking in or out its own language, time zone and location

Question 43

What happens if the internet connection fails?

Accepted Answer

The terminal stores clock entries temporarily and syncs them as soon as the connection is back (for up to 24 hours). After updates, it reloads itself. A diagnostics view shows the version, clock drift, queue and last synchronisation.

Question 44

How does an employee report sick?

Accepted Answer

Under “Report sick”: for one day, several days or open-ended until further notice, with a note (no diagnoses) and a tick box for an electronic sick note. Sick notes can be uploaded as a PDF or photo. “Report recovered” ends an open sick leave. Administrators and HR managers can also record sick leave for employees.

Question 45

Which rules can be configured?

Accepted Answer

In the sick leave section of the settings: how far back sickness may be reported (default 14 days) the deadline for providing a sick note, with a reminder (default 3 days) credit for sickness during leave: by work country, always or never, with a minimum duration how long sick notes are kept (default 3 years after the end of the year, then deleted automatically) show sickness neutrally as “Absent” in the team calendar who is notified: administrators, HR managers, optionally also by email

Question 46

How is health data protected?

Accepted Answer

Diagnoses do not belong in vivotempo, and the form points this out. In the team calendar, sickness can be shown neutrally. Sick notes are visible only to the employee concerned, administrators and HR managers; uploading, viewing and deleting are recorded in the logbook, and the files are deleted automatically once the retention period expires.

Question 47

Are there statistics on sick days?

Accepted Answer

Yes: sick reports and sick days per employee and month, sickness rate and Bradford factor (number of sickness spells squared, multiplied by sick days, for the year or rolling over 12 months), with a comparison to the previous year and export. Filters show who is currently sick, open sick leave and sick leave without a sick note.

Question 48

What is the health bonus?

Accepted Answer

A voluntary bonus that you offer employees if they have few sick days within a 12-month period. You set a maximum amount and a sick-day limit for each employee. The administrator enables the feature in the settings; administrators and authorised HR managers can manage it.

Question 49

How is the bonus calculated?

Accepted Answer

Linearly and to the cent: maximum amount multiplied by (limit minus sick days) divided by limit. Example with €1,000 and a limit of 10 days: no sick days €1,000, one day €900, five days €500, ten days or more no bonus. Sick days on working days are counted; public holidays and leave do not count, and half days count as half.

Question 50

How is part-time work taken into account?

Accepted Answer

Pro rata: the amount is based on weekly hours relative to full-time, and the limit on working days per week. If someone’s working hours change during the period, vivotempo calculates pro rata over time; the history is recorded automatically and can be corrected. Employees see their share in their own view.

Question 51

What period does a commitment cover?

Accepted Answer

Ongoing from a given date, or from a start date to an end date. The reference period is always 12 months from the start; if the last period is shorter, amount and limit apply pro rata, as they do for employees who join during the period. If an employee leaves before the cut-off date, the bonus is forfeited or applies pro rata, depending on the setting.

Question 52

Does all sick leave count?

Accepted Answer

Individual sick leave records can be excluded, each with a reason: work accident, pregnancy-related or other reason. Optionally, longer unpaid leave, such as parental leave, reduces amount and limit pro rata, from a configurable minimum duration.

Question 53

How does the payout work?

Accepted Answer

On the cut-off date, the period is finalised and then released for a payroll month, individually or for many employees at once. Released amounts appear in the payroll export, optionally with the payroll code. Finalised periods can only be reopened with a reason; if a sick leave record changes afterwards, vivotempo indicates that a recalculation is needed. Reminders are sent 14 days before and on the cut-off date, and an annual report shows the totals per department.

Question 54

Is such a bonus legally permissible?

Accepted Answer

That depends on the country and on how the scheme is designed, for example reduction limits and the co-determination rights of a works council. The employment law review is the company’s responsibility; vivotempo only implements the calculation.

Question 55

What roles are there?

Accepted Answer

Employee, HR manager and administrator. Employees manage their own requests, times and sick leave. HR managers decide on leave and manage employees, public holidays and settings. Administrators have all permissions and are the only ones who can assign the administrator role.

Question 56

How do I make someone an HR manager?

Accepted Answer

When adding a new employee, select the role “HR manager”, or change the role of an existing employee and save.

Question 57

What additional permissions can an HR manager be given?

Accepted Answer

The administrator grants these permissions individually in the settings: Reset passwords Lock and unlock users Reset two-factor authentication Set terminal PINs for employees Enter and remove leave manually Manage health bonuses Adjust minimum breaks for each employee Set the retention period for time entries

Question 58

What notifications are there?

Accepted Answer

In the app via the bell icon, and optionally also by email to an address of your choice: new, approved and rejected requests, sick leave and missing sick notes, credits, expiring remaining leave, pending year-end close, missing or unusually long time records, health bonus and more.

Question 59

Who receives an email about new leave requests?

Accepted Answer

You decide whether administrators, HR managers or both receive an email. Individual recipients can unsubscribe in their profile. An overview in the settings shows who receives emails at which address.

Question 60

Can administrators see who is currently working?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in the working time overview as tiles or a list. Optionally, a short live notification appears for each employee when they arrive, leave or take a break.

Question 61

What is recorded in the logbook?

Accepted Answer

All important events with the time, the person who carried out the action and the person affected: requests and decisions, manual entries, changes to employees and settings, reminders, year-end close and expiry, locking, deletions, sick leave and sick notes, and the health bonus. Filterable by action and person; entries are archived after 24 months.

Question 62

How do I secure sign-in?

Accepted Answer

With two-factor authentication, which each user chooses themselves: code by email, confirmation link by email, Threema message or Passkey (fingerprint, face recognition or device PIN, also on several devices). After five failed attempts, the account is locked; administrators and authorised HR managers can unlock it or reset two-factor authentication.

Question 63

How long is data stored?

Accepted Answer

Time entries are kept permanently by default. You can have them deleted automatically after 2 to 30 years (for employees whose work country is in the EU), always whole calendar years on the first of the month and with an entry in the logbook. Sick notes are deleted after the configured period, and the logbook is archived after 24 months.

Question 64

How much does vivotempo cost?

Accepted Answer

Billing is per user, with a choice of monthly, six-monthly, annual or two-year terms, in your country’s currency; longer terms cost less. Current prices are on the pricing page, and the first two months are free.

Frequently asked questions

Getting started and setup