Meal vouchers: automate calculation with Payfit

> Scope: this article describes a French practice. Meal vouchers are a payroll benefit specific to France and a few neighbouring countries. There is no direct US equivalent. If you landed here looking for how to run schedules and hours for a small team, start with how to make a work schedule for a small business.

French labor law rules

Meal voucher allocation is governed by precise rules. An employee is entitled to one voucher per working day if the lunch break falls within their work schedule. Days of leave, sick leave, or remote work do not qualify for a voucher.

The calculation becomes complex when managing teams with variable schedules, part-time workers, and frequent schedule changes.

The nightmare of manual calculation

In many stores, meal voucher counting is done manually at the end of each month. The manager reviews the schedule, verified days worked, subtracts absences... This task easily takes 2 to 3 hours and is prone to errors.

A counting error means an employee receiving too many or too few vouchers, with complex corrections needed.

Automation with Squadra Planning

Squadra Planning fully automates meal voucher calculation:

1. Published shift analysis: the system identifies days where the employee has a shift including a lunch break
2. Absence deduction: leave, sick days, and absences are automatically deducted
3. Clock-in verification: only days actually worked are counted
4. Payfit export: the voucher count per employee is exported in 1 click to Payfit

The result: zero errors, zero time wasted, automatic compliance.

Native Payfit integration

Squadra Planning integrates natively with Payfit for bidirectional synchronization:

• Employee import from Payfit (names, contracts, schedules)
• Absence sync for precise voucher calculation
• Payroll export with hours worked, overtime, and meal vouchers

No need to re-enter data in Payfit. Everything is synchronized automatically.

Key takeaways

• Meal vouchers are subject to precise French labor law rules
• Manual calculation takes 2-3 hours per month and is error-prone
• Squadra Planning automates counting based on shifts and clock-ins
• Export to Payfit is done in 1 click, no re-entry needed
• This feature is included in the $29 per month plan

Check our pricing page to see everything that is included.