Part of the series on the Public Services, Administration and Chambers
Working time in a modern public administration is about much more than simply clocking in and out. Flextime, part-time work, mobile working, different working time models, working time accounts, overtime, absences and approvals all need to work together seamlessly. At the same time, the requirements for transparency, data protection and legally compliant processes are increasing.
For HR departments, this task is becoming increasingly demanding. In 2025, the public sector employed around 5.38 million people. At the same time, according to the dbb, there is now a shortage of around 600,000 employees needed to fully carry out the tasks assigned to the public sector. Every manual check therefore matters.
A modern working time solution needs to do more than serve as a digital time clock. It must support different working time models, reliably take regulations into account, involve employees and managers, and relieve HR departments of recurring administrative tasks. This is exactly where ZEUS® Time and Attendance comes in.
Flextime, part-time work, shift work, on-call duty, mobile working and individual service agreements are now part of everyday working life in many public authorities. The challenge arises when these different regulations are managed using Excel spreadsheets, paper forms, emails and standalone solutions.
Then a simple question can quickly turn into additional administrative work: How many hours are currently on an employee's working time account? Has a request already been approved? Which regulation applies to this employee? How much overtime has actually been accumulated?
ZEUS® Time and Attendance provides a shared digital foundation for working hours, time accounts, absences and approval processes. Employees, managers and HR departments work with the same up-to-date information. This creates transparency and reduces the need for manual queries.
Since the Federal Labour Court's ruling in September 2022, working time recording has been a key issue for employers. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) confirms the general obligation to record the start, end and duration of daily working hours, including overtime. At the same time, the specific legal framework for electronic working time recording continues to evolve.
For public authorities, this means that a modern solution should do more than simply store working hours. It must support different working time models and regulations, provide transparent time accounts and facilitate digital processes for absences, approvals and corrections. Traditional time tracking thus becomes a management tool for modern HR processes.
Flextime sounds simple, but it can quickly become complex in public administration. Different core working hours, part-time models, time credits and regulations for individual organisational units need to be taken into account reliably. With ZEUS®, individual working time models can be mapped digitally and working time accounts managed transparently. Employees can view their current time balance, managers receive relevant information for their decisions, and the HR department has access to a central data foundation. The working time account thus becomes a digital information tool rather than an administrative burden.
When employees work from home, on the road, across multiple locations or in the field, digital HR processes must not stop at the office door. With the ZEUS® mobile App, employees can record their working hours on the go and, depending on the configuration, use requests and other Self-Services. This reduces subsequent entries and media disruptions, while ensuring that information is available where it is needed. The process follows the employee, not the other way around.
Above all, a modern solution must be able to reliably connect the different rules and processes within a public administration. Working time models, time accounts, absences, approvals and mobile working must not exist as isolated processes. ZEUS® Time and Attendance provides a central platform for this purpose. Depending on requirements, personnel scheduling, HR Management, Access Control and Production Data Capture can also be integrated. This transforms individual applications into an end-to-end HR process.
The greatest benefit of digital working time management does not arise when employees clock in or out. It arises afterwards. When working hours are processed automatically, time accounts are managed centrally and requests are approved digitally, the effort required for recurring manual tasks is reduced. This is becoming increasingly important in light of growing staffing pressures in the public sector. The dbb currently estimates the public sector staffing shortfall at around 600,000 employees. Digitalisation cannot create new employees. But it can help ensure that existing capacities are spent less on administrative routines and more on the actual tasks of public administration.
Key factors include flexible support for working time models, transparent working time accounts, digital approvals, mobile access, analytics, interfaces, data protection, and a system architecture that is sustainable in the long term. It is also crucial that the solution can integrate with the agency’s existing HR processes. ZEUS® Workforce Management takes precisely this holistic approach: working time, personnel, and processes are all connected on a single central platform.
No. ZEUS® Workforce Management goes beyond traditional time tracking. Among other things, the platform can integrate Time and Attendance, Staff Scheduling, HR Management, Access Control, Production Data Capture, and mobile processes. This transforms time tracking into an integral part of a holistic Workforce Management system.
This is one of the key advantages of a professional workforce management system. Public institutions operate with different work schedules, service agreements, and organizational structures. ZEUS® can be configured to meet specific requirements. The administration should work with the relevant departments to determine exactly which regulations need to be implemented.
Yes. Depending on the configuration, the ZEUS® mobile App allows employees to track their work hours on the go and use other self-service features. This is particularly useful for field staff, employees working at multiple locations, or those who work remotely.
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