To add a new working hour pattern, select “Administration” from the main menu, then select the “Working Hours” option, then select the “Add New Working Hour Pattern” link at the top of the page.
On the form that is then shown, enter a name for the pattern and select the days that this pattern is used for, as well as the start and end times for each working day and the number of hours in a standard working day.
Important: When entering the start and end times for each day, you will see there are two rows of start/end times for each day. If the working day does not contain an unpaid break, then enter the start and end time for the day in the top row and leave the bottom row as zeros. If the pattern does have an unpaid break, then enter the start and end times for the first shift in the top row and the start and end times for the second shift in the bottom row.
The "Standard Day Length" field is used by the system to perform a couple of important tasks, depending on whether the employee's holidays are tracked in days or hours. The Standard Day Length would normally be used to define the normal working day length for the employee, regardless of whether the scheduled working times change across the week.
- If the employee's holiday allocation is managed in days, then the Standard Day Length is used to help the system calculate partial day absences. For example, if the Standard Day Length is set to 8 hours, then the system will know to calculate a four-hour absence as a half day.
- If the employee's holiday allocation is managed in hours, then the Standard Day Length is used to calculate the allocation for bank holidays where an employee's allocation is set exclusive of bank holidays. To illustrate, if an employee's allocation is set to 160 hours plus bank holidays, and the standard day length is 8 hours, then in a normal UK bank holiday year the system will allocation 160 hours plus 8 bank holidays of 8 hours duration each - leaving a final allocation of 224 hours.
- If the employee is part time and works the same number of hours each day, then enter that number of hours as the standard day length and enter a value of "100%" in the percentage box. When the system calculates the employee's allocation, they will receive the same number of days holiday as a standard employee, but the days will be calculated to the length entered in the Standard Day Length box.
Next, enter a percentage of the working week that this pattern comprises. For example, if a pattern covers a two-day shift on a standard five-day work week, then this would equate to 40%. This percentage is used when calculating the holiday allocation for the employee. You can use the "Calculate" button to assist with this if you wish. The "Calculate" button performs a simple calculation of multiplying the Standard Day Length by 5 to set the standard working week length, then calculates the percentage of that length indicated by the hours entered in the pattern. If the standard day length is 8 and you have 32 hours scheduled across the pattern, then the "Calculate" button will set the working week as 40 hours, so the Holiday Percentage would be set to 80%. You can override the calculated value if you wish.
SMB will automatically calculate any bank holiday allocation for you based on the working pattern and automatically deduct bank holiday absences in line with the scheduled working time for the day of the week that the bank holiday falls on. If an employee assigned to this new pattern should have bank holidays included as part of their allocation and automatically booked as absences, ensure that the "Includes Public Holidays" checkbox is selected. If the checkbox is not selected, then any bank holidays that occur while the employee has this pattern assigned to them will be ignored.
Finally, click “Add” to save the new working hour pattern.
Further reading:
What are working hour patterns?
How do I edit a working hour pattern?
How do I delete a working hour pattern?
How can I setup a Working Hour Pattern that last longer than a week
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