Industries / Publishing
Time tracking for publishing teams
Everyone’s time off goes on one shared calendar, and hourly production staff can clock in and out. Manuscripts, issues, and deadlines stay in your content tools.
- 14-day trial
- From $15/mo
- Live demo
From $15/mo billed annually. Starter $15/mo · Growth $25/mo · Scale $49.99/mo.
How a publishing team uses it
Every request and its status
See time off before deadline week
When a time-off request is buried in email, the day off can land right on top of a deadline.
Staff request time off in TimeOff Manager. Once it’s approved, it shows on the team calendar, so you see it before you plan the week.
Clocking in from the phone
Hourly production staff clock in
Press staff, hourly designers, and the front desk often track their hours on a separate spreadsheet.
They clock in and out on their phone or a shared tablet, in the same account as the editors. All the hours end up in one place.
Your employee list
Only your employees use it
Freelance writers send you invoices. They aren’t employees, so they don’t belong in your time-off system.
Only the people you add as employees can clock in or request time off. Outside contributors are not included.
Requests and balances on the phone
Approvals in one place, not in email threads
An editor approves a day off in an email thread, and later nobody can find it.
Staff send requests from their phone, and every request and answer is saved in TimeOff Manager. You always have a record of who approved what.
Days off left for each person
Everyone can see their days left
Someone asks how many vacation days they have left, and you have to go look it up.
Each person’s balance is on their profile, based on the time-off policy you set.
Approved hours, ready for payroll
TimeOff Manager tracks hours. It doesn’t pay anyone. At the end of the pay period, a manager reviews and approves the hours. Then you download them as an Excel or CSV file and send it to whoever runs payroll: your bookkeeper, your accountant, or your payroll software.
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Hours are approved first
A manager checks the hours before they go anywhere, so payroll gets real numbers, not guesses from a group text.
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Overtime is flagged
Extra hours show up on the timesheet, so you can see overtime before you pay it.
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Excel or CSV
One download your bookkeeper or payroll software can open.
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Payroll happens elsewhere
TimeOff Manager does not calculate pay, print checks, or file taxes.
The hours report, ready to download
See it on the real product
These are real TimeOff Manager screens. Open the live demo to click around them yourself.
A typical week
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1
Someone asks for a day off
An editor or a coordinator requests the day in the app.
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2
A manager approves it early
Approve requests before the week the issue closes, not in the middle of it.
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3
Production staff clock in
Hourly staff clock in on their phone or a shared tablet.
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4
Hours go to payroll
Download the approved hours and send them to finance. The issue itself stays in your content tools.
This is not a content system or a rights database
TimeOff Manager does not store manuscripts, manage rights, or schedule issues. It tracks staff time off and clock-in hours for hourly staff, and lets you download approved hours for payroll.
Also see time tracking software, TimeOff Kiosk, PTO software, and pricing.
Approved time off can sync to Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. Approved hours can go to QuickBooks Online or FreshBooks.
You can also ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Cursor questions about your account, like who is out next week, through Model Context Protocol.
Simple pricing
From $15/mo billed annually. Starter $15/mo · Growth $25/mo · Scale $49.99/mo. Every plan includes time off, clock-in, GPS, a shared-tablet kiosk, mileage, and hour downloads.
Common questions from publishers
Can freelancers use it?
Only if they are employees you add to TimeOff Manager. Outside contributors are not users unless you add them.
Does it know about our deadlines?
No. It shows who is off. Your deadlines stay in your other tools.
Can production staff clock in while editors don’t?
Yes. Clock-in can be just for hourly staff. Editors can use TimeOff Manager only for time off.
How much does it cost?
From $15/mo billed annually after a 14-day trial. Starter is $15/mo for 1–20 people, Growth is $25/mo for 21–50, and Scale is $49.99/mo for larger teams.
See who is out before the issue closes
From $15/mo billed annually after a 14-day trial. Starter $180/year (1–20 users), Growth $300/year (21–50), Scale $49.99/mo or $479.90/year (51–1,000).