Introduction

Welcome to Clock – the time recording app for student assistants at Goethe University.

This brief manual should answer most of your questions. If you have any further questions, feel free to use the feedback form in the app to contact us or check the FAQ section in the app.

What is Clock?

The web application Clock is a tool for student assistants ("Hilfskräfte", "SHK", "HiWis") at Goethe University, designed to help you manage your Working Time Account (WTA) in accordance with German Minimum Wage Law (Mindestlohngesetz, MiLoG).

Clock is the official application at Goethe University and must be used by all student assistants.

What can Clock do for me?

Clock offers many functionalities:

• Clock allows you to record ("clock") your working time directly, as with a punch card on a time clock.

• You can also enter your working time manually, manage and change all your entries afterwards.

• You can schedule regular working hours in advance (e.g. for tutorials or according to duty charts) and enter repeating "scheduled" shifts.

• Clock reports the current balance of your account on the Dashboard.

• The Calendar View Mode provides an overview of your past / future working hours.

• Clock is able to manage different student assistant contracts, in case you hold more than one position at Goethe University.

• Clock completes the required calculations according to the regulations for Working Time Accounts, (e.g. carrying over a certain amount of hours into the next month).

• Clock calculates a holiday overview.

• If all your working times are documented at the end of the month and all looks well, you can submit your documentation digitally.

Clock is built around the principle that you, as the user, have full control over your data. If your entries do not comply with the regulations (e.g. the Work Time Act, ArbZG), you will be notified. You are free to save the entries nonetheless, at least most of the time.

Your responsible supervisor/manager can access and check your submitted time documentation.

What is this reporting business all about?

As a student assistant, you are obliged to document your working time. This is due to a legal obligation of the employer according to para. 17, German Minimum Wage Law (§17 MiLoG). The MiLoG was put in place to guarantee that all employees receive the statutory minimum wage and work under legally acceptable conditions.

Ultimately, the aim of this mandatory reporting is not to control you, but to document that you are working consistently under legally acceptable conditions. It is the duty of your responsible supervisors to ensure compliance with the regulations. This also includes regularly checking your working time recording data and ensuring that you are employed under appropriate conditions.

Your supervisors will not be able to access the data stored in clock. Only after you have locked your timesheet and submitted it to the TimeVault database, your supervisors will have access to it. Otherwise, nobody can view your data, not even the employees of PersonalServices.

The general legal regulations are not always made for what actually happens "on the ground" (e.g. if you do some of the correcting required for your tutorial at night). However, many student assistants cherish the freedom that a university job provides.

Who are the people behind Clock?

Clock originated as a student project at the "Zentrum Naturwissenschaften", initiated by a student-assistant annoyed by the time-sheet requirements. The service is now hosted by the Human Resources Department of Goethe University. Despite this official support and adoption by the University, Clock sees itself as a service for students by students: The app has been developed from a student perspective, guided by student interests - and students are still involved in the development, operation and maintenance of the app.

Clock does not contain any hidden or clandestine functions: its source code is open and all the software’s functions are publicly accessible and may be examined by everyone (provided they have the knowledge and expertise).

Read more on how Clock handles your data in the chapter on privacy.