Reporting absences

You can report an absence in advance with an absence booking and retrospectively from a staff member’s profile page.

The screenshot below shows the popup where the line manager can quickly add a day of absence. Access this under any staff member’s profile page who has been assigned an absence policy set (even if it’s empty).

Additionally, multiple absence types can be added within a single day. This might be used if a particular kind of absence covers some of a staff member’s hours. 
For example, with maternity pay, if a staff member is transitioning back to work and working half days, this is covered by maternity/paternity leave. But if a staff member is ill during this time, half the day they were off would be covered by maternity/paternity, and the other half might be covered by sick pay.
 

It is important to note that multiple absence types cannot be input in bulk. The two different types of absences must be entered individually for each day. 

This feature can be implemented when reporting an absence from a staff member’s profile page. When inputting the times for each absence type, ensure they do not overlap; otherwise, the absence will not go through. 

Additionally, the system can now automatically calculate part-day absences, ensuring that a holiday that is less than a day is calculated as such.

Reporting on absences via absence report

You can also access and adjust absences via the Absence Report, which can be found under a staff member's profile under absences. These reports will show you all instances of absence and how they are processed within the policy phases. Under duration, you can see the affected days and what that is in hours as well. For more information on how the absence report works visit our article on Absence Reports.

It is worth remembering that this page also gives you quick access to edit an absence or add an absence. 

Non-attendance record

You can see a record of all unattended shifts via a staff member’s profile under Shifts > Shift Stats. This record will remain in the system under Shift History (will appear as an unauthorised absence). 

You can also view the details of the missed shifts here and can add a note about an absence if you have any relevant information about the absence.

If a valid explanation is given for the unexplained shift absence and changed to sickness it will be removed automatically from this record.

Approving an absence

From your Dashboard you are able to edit ongoing absences and approve past absences. Any ongoing absences for staff members you manage will appear in the absences box. Here you can adjust the dates if the staff member has returned to work.

To approve an absence as a manager, simply go to your Dashboard and in your notifications you can see the option to review absence. This is a past sickness confirmation.

Past sickness confirmation process

If a staff member that has been sick and submitted it after a period of absence, it will automatically display within the notifications panel for any managers who have permission to review their absences.

Each absence will be shown with the type, reason and category (if applicable). It will include the dates and the number of working days affected.

It is worth noting that managers cannot confirm an absence while there are outstanding Performance and Welfare forms linked to that absence.

Absence Calendar

From this page you can also jump to the absence calendar in the Actions Bar. This will give you a calendar view of all absences. Additionally, when you click on any absence you can see its details.

Adjusting a time entry for an absence

You can also modify time entries for absence, holiday or normal time entries if there is an absence period in place. If you have a time entry in the system already but it is not reported as an absence or holiday (when it should be) you can simply change the reporting status rather than needing to remove and re-add it.

To use this you must make sure the time entry is covered by an absence or holiday period. Then, edit the time entry. You will be able to change the reporting option at the top of the time entry.

Note: You will only be able to change it to the correct reporting type that matches the period; e.g. if they are on holiday then you can change the time entry to a holiday time entry. If they are absent then it can be changed to an absence time entry only.

It is important to note that the system will automatically recalculate absences if changes are made to contract settings, staff contract history, or absence policies.