How to Approve and Sign Off on Time Cards in Raken

Raken offers two separate sign-off workflows for time cards — supervisor approval and worker sign-off. Supervisor approval confirms that hours are accurate and locks the time card from further edits. Worker sign-off lets employees acknowledge that their own hours are correct before payroll is processed. Both workflows help ensure your team gets paid accurately and on time.

To approve time cards as a supervisor or administrator (web):

To enable worker sign-off:

Approved time cards are locked from editing. Only supervisors and Account Administrators can unapprove a time card to unlock it.

Log into the Raken web app. Click Company in the left side menu. Click Time, then click Approvals. Toggle on Supervisor approvals. Set the day and time you want Raken to send approval reminder notifications to your supervisors.

This step is optional — you can approve time cards at any time without setting up notifications. Notifications are useful for ensuring supervisors complete approvals on a consistent schedule before payroll runs.

Click Time in the left side menu. Click Time cards, then click Summary. Use the date picker to select the pay period you want to review.

Review each employee's total hours for the pay period. The Summary view shows columns for Employee, Group, Status, Signature, Payroll notes, Attachments, RT, OT, DT, HT, and Total. The Status column shows how many time card entries have been approved for each employee (e.g. "0 of 3 approved"). The Signature column shows whether the employee has signed off on their hours.

If a warning banner appears — "Employees have used multiple time policies in the week" — click Filter to see employees to identify which employees are affected and review their hours carefully before approving.

To approve all time cards for the pay period at once, click Bulk actions in the top right corner and select Approve all.

To approve time cards for a specific employee, check the checkbox to the left of their name, then click Bulk actions and select Approve selected.

You can also approve time from the Entries view — check the checkbox next to individual time card entries, then use Bulk actions to approve.

Once approved, the Status badge updates to show all entries as approved for that employee. Approved time cards are locked — they cannot be edited, signed, or deleted until unapproved.

If corrections are needed after approval, a supervisor or Account Administrator can unapprove the time card to unlock it.

From the Summary view, click Bulk actions and select Unapprove all to unapprove all entries for the pay period — or select individual employees first and use Unapprove selected. Once unapproved, the time card is unlocked for editing, signing, or deleting. Regular employees cannot unapprove their own time cards.

Worker sign-off is a separate process from supervisor approval. It allows employees to acknowledge that their own hours are accurate before the pay period is finalized.

Log into the Raken web app. Click Company in the left side menu. Click Time, then click Approvals. Toggle on Employee sign-off. Set the day and time you want Raken to send sign-off notifications to your workers. Customize the sign-off disclaimer text if needed.

To ensure all employees receive sign-off notifications, make sure each team member and worker has a valid phone number saved in their profile.

On the scheduled day and time, workers receive a text message with a link. Tapping the link opens a web page that walks them through reviewing and signing off on their outstanding time cards for the pay period.

Workers and supervisors can also sign off directly from the Raken mobile app.

Log into the Raken mobile app. Tap Time in the bottom navigation bar. Tap the Review tab. Tap Sign off to view employees who have not yet signed off. Tap an employee's name. Tap the ellipsis (...) menu in the top right corner and select Add signature. The employee signs off on their time. Tap the orange Complete button in the top right corner.

The Review tab on mobile also shows Approvals, Time card issues, Photo ID, and Clock in/out questions — all in one place for easy field review.

Navigate to Time > Time cards > Summary. The Signature column shows Unsigned (grey) or Signed (green) for each employee. Use this as your final check before exporting time to payroll — if any employees show Unsigned, send a reminder or have a supervisor collect the signature before closing out the pay period.

To remind employees who haven't yet signed off, click Bulk actions in the top right corner and select Send reminders. A notification is sent to all employees with unsigned time cards for the current pay period.

Click the download icon in the top right corner of the Summary view. Select Time card by worker PDF to download a PDF report that includes weeks, projects, cost codes, totals, and signatures for all workers — ready for payroll compliance documentation.

Supervisor approval confirms that hours are accurate and locks the time card from further edits — this is the administrator's formal sign-off for payroll. Worker sign-off is the employee's acknowledgment that their own hours are correct. Both can be used independently or together depending on your organization's payroll workflow.

Yes. In the Summary or Entries view, check the checkbox next to the specific employees or entries you want to approve, then use Bulk actions > Approve selected.

Only supervisors and Account Administrators can unapprove time cards. Use Bulk actions > Unapprove all or Unapprove selected in the Summary view to unlock the time card, make corrections, then re-approve.

Supervisors and Account Administrators can approve time cards. Project Administrators can approve time cards for employees on their assigned projects only. Regular employees cannot approve or unapprove their own time cards.

No. Workers can sign off via the text message link sent by Raken — no app required. For workers who do have the mobile app, sign-off is also available under Time > Review > Sign off.

Yes. The Signature column in the Summary view shows Unsigned or Signed for each employee. Use Bulk actions > Send reminders to prompt unsigned employees.

Feel free to email us or call us at +1 866-438-0646. We're always glad to answer your questions!