Work patterns are used to specify what days an employee works, when they work and how much would be deducted from their entitlement if they were to have a specific day off. 

Work patterns can be used if employees work set shifts every week, or are on rotating shift patterns. If the employee does have set days but also works a lot of overtime, you can still use work patterns for their set working days, then use assignments to log the overtime.

You may not want to use a work pattern:

This article explains how to create a new work pattern, as well as how to assign an employee to an existing work pattern. Scroll down to the relative header to find the instructions you need.

1. Go in to your 'Settings'

2. Then please click into the 'Work Pattern' sub-section

3. Click on the '+' icon to add a new work pattern

You will then be presented with this screen:

5. Use the 'Work Pattern' drop-down if you'd like to copy from an existing work pattern and edit. If not, you can leave this option and create a brand new pattern.

6. Name your work pattern accordingly.

7. You can then specify how many hours an employee works on that day, and also specify the amount of day that it equates to. 

This is to state what will be deducted from their entitlement if they book a holiday on this day. Advisories below:

If the employee’s entitlement is measured in hours, it is the ‘Hours’ value on a specific day that will be deducted when booking a holiday on that day. If measured in ‘Days’ this will deduct the set 'Days' amount. 

Quick Tip: If an employee works 8 hours on one day and 4 on the next, in the 'day' field, you may wish to specify the 8 hour day as '1' day and the 4 hours as '0.5'. This means that only half a day will be deducted if they book that off.

Consideration: For a part-time employee who works 4 hours every day, do you want to specify this as equating to 1 day or half a day? The question you'll need to ask is - if they book a holiday on that day, do you want a full day to be deducted from their entitlement, or only half?

8. The Start, End and Break fields are optional - these are for reference purposes only.

9. Once the work pattern is created correctly you can then tick 'In Use' to make this live.

If you have rotating work patterns, you can follow the instructions above and then click on 'Add Week' to add an extra week to the work pattern. Please note: If you do not have the option to add a rotating work pattern (as shown below), please contact ecb@peoplehr.com

If an employee works a week on and a week off, simply leave the second week as blank. 

1. Click on the 'Employees' tab

2. Locate and select the employee you wish to change work pattern for.

3. Go into their personal 'Planner' tab

4. On the right-hand side, select the work pattern drop-down box, and select the work pattern you wish to change to. 

You will then be presented with the new work pattern settings:

5. Effective date - specify the first day the employee begins on this work pattern. If you are setting them up for the first time, this would be their start date. 

6. Contracted Hours - this field is pre-populated based on what has been added in the work pattern itself. If the 'Contracted Hours' value is incorrect, this will be down incorrect hours input when first creating the work pattern.

7. Full-Time Hours - specify here the weekly hours worked by a full-time employee in the same sector. This information is vital to calculate the correct FTE (Full Time Equivalent) for the employee. 

8. Full-Time Entitlement - how many hours/days holiday does a full-time employee receive for a full working holiday year. This information is required to calculate a pro-rata entitlement for this employee. 

9. Once all of the above information has been added, the 'This Year' and 'Next Year' entitlement box will be populated to show the employee's calculated pro-rata entitlement:

If you would like to know how this was calculated, specific to the employee, click on the question mark icon next to the entitlement to be shown:

If you have already discussed a specific entitlement with the employee/manager that is different from the entitlement provided by the system, you can simply overwrite that value within the text box - shown in the quick video below:

To learn more about the system calculating entitlement, please see: http://help.peoplehr.com/holiday-entitlements-requests/calculating-holiday-entitlement

Thanks,

Customer Services Team.