Contract Restrictions

Contract restrictions are a new way to restrict working practices on each contract. You can manage them under Pay > Contracts > Restriction Rules. You can add as many restrictions as you wish, and each can be assigned to any number of contracts.

The most important setting to choose is which restriction type you want to create. There are several types of restriction, some pertaining to time restrictions, such as how long a staff member can work before they need to take a break, some preventing certain types of shift.

There are several types of restrictions:

• Limit of hours (averaged over period)
  This is a limit of the maximum number of hours over a set time range. The range can be between one day and a year. The system will add up all of the hours and will not allow a staff member to be scheduled in excess of these hours. The averaged option looks at a period each side of a shift and averages the hours. It’s great for a general limit. Choose the maximum number of hours during the time range, this can be set to a decimal point.

   

• Limit of hours (strictly never any period over hours)
  This is a limit of the maximum number of hours over a set time range. The range can be between one day and a year. The system will add up all of the hours and will not allow a staff member to be scheduled in excess of these hours.
  This is a stricter version which will look at the period of time immediately around the shift and ensure that the period where the shift falls in the middle of will not be over hours.
   
• Limit of hours (Monday - Sunday)
  This is a limit of the maximum number of hours over a set time range. The range can be between one day and a year. The system will add up all of the hours and will not allow a staff member to be scheduled in excess of these hours.
  This is a simpler version of the limit that looks at the week the shift falls within and applies the limit to the shifts within that week.
   
• Limit of operating hours per day
  With this option you can set a maximum number of operating hours (from start of the first shift to end of the last shift). This is the maximum number of hours you want from the start of the first shift to the end of the last shift (where the shifts start on the same physical day). Once set, contracts will not be able to allow shifts outside of these hours unless exemptions are created.
   
• Maximum number of weekends worked
  This is a limit of how many weekends are worked during the set time range. A working weekend includes any weekend where there is a shift on one or both of the days.

• Required break duration
  This restriction allows you to enforce a single break period of a number of hours during the set time range. For example, you can enforce an 11-hour rest within every 24 hours. You can also enforce 48 hours of rest every 10 days. This can go up a maximum of 12 months.
   
• Limit of Similar Shifts
  This restriction allows you to enforce a rest period after the staff member has completed X shifts in a row between certain times. It’s perfect to prevent a staff member from being scheduled for a 5th night in a row and will ensure they receive a full rest period before working again.
   
• Prevent shifts between certain times
  This restriction allows you to enforce set the times between which shifts can be scheduled, and shifts cannot be added at any other time.
   
• Limit shifts between certain times
  This restriction allows you to select the time period during which shifts can be added and how long the time range you are working with will be. You must also select the maximum number of hours that can be assigned within that time range. Remember that shifts can only be assigned within the set time period. For example, you might say there can only be a maximum of 40 hours assigned within a week, and the hours assigned must be between 8am - 8pm. This is a helpful feature if you have a certain period within the year that requires very specific restrictions.
   

• Prevent a gap between Shifts
  This restriction allows you to implement a maximum gap between shifts to ensure staff do not need to wait for extended periods between shifts. This means you can set the maximum time allowed for staff to wait between shifts. 

  This option prevents staff from having a large gap between shifts (hours long) within the same day. This option can be set up to allow a short gap (e.g. 0.5 hours, 2 hours) between shifts, but a bigger gap (5 hours, for example) would be blocked. So, under the ‘Block a gap between shifts longer than’ option, you might choose 4 hours as the maximum gap.

  
  This means that if a staff member works until 1pm, they could be asked to work again at 2pm, but would not be able to work at 6pm as the gap between shifts is too big. This is set up so that managers can ask someone to work again if they are likely already on site, but it prevents a situation where they would be waiting around for hours for a second shift.
   You can also set the restriction to clear after a period, e.g., after 11 hours. This is under the Prevent further Shifts for option. So, if the time for a new shift has exceeded the maximum gap, you would select how many hours until the staff member can be assigned a new shift, which would probably be the next day.

Exemptions

Once you have set a restriction type you are able to configure specific scenarios where these restrictions are to be ignored. One of these options is the ability to block rules during the exemption dates setup on the staff member's contract.

You can also allow managers or staff to be able to override rules if you want them to be optional. 
In addition to this, you can allow staff to opt out of the restriction by completing a document. For example, in the screenshot below, the Working Time Directive restriction will be applied automatically unless the staff member signs the WTD Opt-out document.

Custom messages

Once you have set up your main settings you can choose to set custom messages to be shown when the restriction is in place. Leave any of them blank for the system to create the message for you.

Display Restrictions

You can also choose display a rolling or currently used hours figure from a contract restriction on dashboards and remote clock in screens. If enabled this will appear automatically. You can choose how the information will be displayed, whether this will be a total of restriction hours or a weekly average. 

This is helpful for record keeping and allows you to show staff members how they are doing against weekly, monthly or any fixed-period limits on hours. 

Contracts

You also have the option to set that this restriction will only apply to certain contracts. This can be helpful if the restriction is more specific than general.

Restriction report

Under the Contract Hours Report there is also the option to view the a Restriction report. This can be seen when viewing Contract Reports (By Contract). Next to each contract you can also view the restrictions in place and how staff are being affected by the restriction. For this to come up you will need to have enabled Display Restriction under your restriction settings.