Housekeeping Time Tracking

Track cleaning times for every room to measure productivity, identify efficiency opportunities, and ensure fair workload distribution. Time tracking runs automatically when cleaners use the Start, Pause, and Complete buttons.

Overview

HelloShift automatically tracks how long each room takes to clean:

  • Real-time timer displays elapsed time on mobile and desktop

  • Pause/Resume support for interruptions (guest requests, breaks, supplies)

  • Per-room duration stored for historical analysis

  • Performance reports compare cleaners and identify trends

How Time Tracking Works

The Cleaning Timer

When a cleaner taps Start on a room assignment:

  1. The timer begins counting from 00:00:00

  2. A live clock displays hours:minutes:seconds on their device

  3. Time accumulates until they tap Complete or Pause

Timer Status Flow

Status

Timer State

What Happens

Assigned

Stopped

Room assigned, waiting for cleaner to start

Started

Running

Timer actively counting

Paused

Stopped

Timer paused, duration saved

Restarted

Running

Timer resumed from paused duration

Completed

Stopped

Final duration recorded, room marked clean

Using the Timer

Starting a Room

  1. Open Housekeeping on your device

  2. Tap the assigned room

  3. Tap Start

  4. The timer begins and displays elapsed time

Pausing for Interruptions

If you need to stop temporarily (guest knock, supply run, break):

  1. Tap Pause

  2. The timer stops and saves your current duration

  3. Handle the interruption

  4. Tap Restart to resume where you left off

Your paused time is preserved - when you restart, the timer continues from your previous duration.

Completing a Room

When the room is fully cleaned:

  1. Tap Complete

  2. Confirm the completion in the popup

  3. The final duration is saved

  4. The room condition changes to Clean

Cleaning Again (Re-cleaning)

If a room needs to be cleaned again after completion:

  1. Go to the room's assignment

  2. Tap Start to begin a new cleaning session

  3. The timer resets and starts fresh

Viewing Cleaning Times

On the Room Page

After a room is completed, the cleaning time displays:

  • Desktop: In the assignment grid under "Cleaning Time"

  • Mobile: In the "Cleaning Time" section below the timer

Times display in human-readable format (e.g., "about 25 minutes", "less than 5 minutes").

In Reports

Access detailed time tracking data from Reports:

  1. Go to Reports in the left sidebar

  2. Scroll to the Housekeeping section

  3. View summary metrics for each cleaner

The overview shows:

Metric

Description

# Days Worked

Number of days with completed assignments

Average Rooms/Day

Rooms completed per working day

Average Duration/Room

Mean cleaning time per room

Average Duration/Day

Total cleaning time per day

Detailed Housekeeping Report

Click Detailed Housekeeping Report to see:

  • Per-cleaner stacked bar charts by date

  • Breakdown by cleaning task type (Checkout, Stayover, etc.)

  • Date range filtering

  • Excel export option

Exporting Time Data

Excel Export

Export detailed time tracking data for external analysis:

  1. Go to Reports > Housekeeping

  2. Set your date range using the calendar filter

  3. Click Excel to download

The export includes:

Column

Description

Room

Room number/name

Date

Assignment date

Description

Any notes on the assignment

Cleaner

Assigned cleaner name

Task

Cleaning task type

Duration (in seconds)

Raw duration in seconds

In

Start timestamp

Out

Completion timestamp

Credit Assigned

Credit value for this room

Credit Used

Credits counted (only if completed)

Inspector

Assigned inspector name

Admin Duration Override

Admins can manually adjust recorded cleaning times when needed (for missed timer starts, interruptions not paused, etc.):

Editing Duration

  1. Go to the room's assignment (after completion)

  2. Click the pencil icon next to the displayed duration

  3. Enter the new duration in seconds

  4. Click Save

Note: Duration must be entered in seconds. For example:

  • 30 minutes = 1800 seconds

  • 1 hour = 3600 seconds

  • 1 hour 15 minutes = 4500 seconds

Time Tracking Best Practices

For Cleaners

  • Start immediately when you begin a room

  • Pause for interruptions longer than a minute

  • Complete when done - don't leave rooms in "started" status

  • Check the timer is running before you begin cleaning

For Managers

  • Review weekly reports to spot efficiency trends

  • Compare task types - checkout cleans should take longer than stayovers

  • Investigate outliers - very fast or very slow times may indicate issues

  • Use credits with duration - compare actual time vs. expected credits

Setting Time Expectations

Use historical data to establish benchmarks:

  1. Export 30 days of cleaning data

  2. Calculate average duration by room type and task type

  3. Set credit values to match realistic cleaning times

  4. Monitor for improvements over time

Troubleshooting

Timer shows wrong time

  • The timer only runs when status is "Started" or "Restarted"

  • If you see time but didn't start, another cleaner may have started the room

  • Ask an admin to reset the duration if needed

Duration is missing after completion

  • Duration only records if the room went through Start → Complete flow

  • Manually setting room condition to "Clean" doesn't record duration

  • Always use the Start/Complete buttons for time tracking

Timer didn't pause during break

  • If you forgot to pause, the timer kept running

  • Ask an admin to manually adjust the final duration

  • Set a reminder to pause before stepping away

Can't see time tracking data

  • Time tracking requires rooms to be assigned and completed using the timer flow

  • Historical data only exists for rooms completed after time tracking was enabled

  • Check that cleaners are using Start/Complete buttons, not manual status changes

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