PunchWhat's New in Punch 3.8: a Payroll Role, Manager Hierarchy, and 50 Countries
The short answer: Punch 3.8 ships four things. A dedicated Payroll role, so the person who runs payroll can mark pay periods paid without touching approvals or settings. Second-tier managers, so a senior manager can oversee other managers and their teams. Overtime and local currency for 50 countries, with ten new this build across Asia-Pacific, the Gulf, and Latin America. And more dependable offline punches, so a shift taken without signal never gets stuck open.
This release is about structure. Bigger teams have layers, and the people inside a company don't all do the same job. Punch 3.8 lets you model that without giving everyone the keys to everything.
A dedicated Payroll role
Until now, marking a pay period paid was an owner's job. That worked for a one-owner crew. It does not work when the person who runs payroll is not the person who owns the company.
Punch 3.8 adds a Payroll role. An owner assigns it from the team screens, the same place roles are set today. The person you assign sees the pay periods that are ready to pay and marks them paid. That is the whole job, and it is enough.
A Payroll role does not approve or reject shifts. It does not change settings. It does not touch anyone's pay rate. The work is scoped to exactly what payroll needs and nothing more. Your bookkeeper can close out a pay period without being able to alter the org around it.
This is the principle Punch holds across every permission. Give people the access their job requires, not the access that happens to be lying around.
Second-tier managers
Small teams are flat. One owner, a handful of managers, everyone visible to everyone. Bigger teams are not. A regional lead oversees site managers. A shift lead oversees a crew. The org has layers, and a manager should see their own people, not the whole company.
Punch 3.8 adds a manager hierarchy. An owner turns on a reporting structure, then a senior manager can oversee other managers and the teams under them. Each manager sees only their own people, their own team plus the managers and teams that report to them. Nothing above them, nothing beside them.
It is off by default. Existing setups do not change until an owner turns it on. If a flat team is working for you, leave it flat and nothing moves. When you are ready for structure, the structure is there.
This pairs naturally with the Payroll role. A senior manager runs their slice of the org, a payroll person closes out the books, and an owner sets the shape of both. Each person sees what they need to do their job.
Overtime and local currency for 50 countries
Punch now supports 50 countries. Ten are new in this build: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam across Asia-Pacific, Saudi Arabia in the Gulf, and Colombia and Chile in Latin America.
You pick your country when you create your org. That one choice attaches the right currency and the right overtime rules automatically. A crew in Vietnam sees dong and Vietnamese overtime math. A business in Chile sees pesos and Chilean rules. A team in Saudi Arabia sees riyals. The currency follows the country. The overtime follows the country. There is nothing to look up and nothing to configure by hand.
This is the same pattern Punch has had since it first crossed a border, now reaching across three more regions. Every supported country works the same way from the first day of your trial, not as a limited preview and not as a separate product.
More dependable offline punches
Punch's people work where signal drops. Construction crews on a new pour. Landscapers at the back of a property. Cooks in a basement kitchen behind thick walls. A time clock that needs a live connection at every tap fails at exactly the moment those crews need it.
Punch has queued offline punches for a while. A punch taken without service is held on the device and synced when signal returns. Punch 3.8 makes that sync more dependable. When connectivity comes back, the queued punch lands cleanly, so a shift never gets stuck open waiting on a connection that already returned.
The recorded time reflects when the employee actually tapped, not when the sync caught up. A punch-out from inside a walk-in cooler at the end of a shift records the real end time, then syncs the moment the phone gets a bar.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can a Payroll role do?
A Payroll role sees the pay periods that are ready to pay and marks them paid. That is the full scope. It cannot approve or reject shifts, cannot change settings, and cannot change anyone's pay rate. An owner assigns the role from the team screens.
Does turning on the manager hierarchy change my current setup?
No. The manager hierarchy is off by default, and existing setups stay exactly as they are until an owner turns it on. When you do turn it on, each manager sees only their own people, their own team plus the managers and teams that report to them.
Which countries did Punch add in 3.8?
Ten: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam in Asia-Pacific, Saudi Arabia in the Gulf, and Colombia and Chile in Latin America. That brings Punch to 50 countries, each with its own currency and overtime rules applied automatically at signup.
How do I get the right overtime rules for my country?
Pick your country when you create your org. Punch attaches the correct overtime rules and your local currency automatically. You can still adjust the settings later, but you do not have to know the right numbers to start.
What happens to a punch taken without cell service?
It is held on the device and synced the moment signal returns. The recorded time reflects when the employee tapped, not when the sync happened. Punch 3.8 makes that sync more dependable, so a shift never gets stuck open.
What this means
Every feature in Punch 3.8 is on every plan. The Payroll role, the manager hierarchy, all 50 countries, offline punches, none of it is gated behind a higher tier. Punch charges one flat price per organization, not per user, and owners are never counted.
It works the same way on iPhone, iPad, and the web, and it is fully translated in Spanish and Canadian French. A crew that punches on iOS, a manager who approves on the web, and a payroll person who closes the books from a laptop all see the same product.
If you are running a service business, in one country or several, with a flat team or a structured one, Punch is built for it. Try it free for 14 days. No card required to start.