Absence Points Rules

Absence points rules will automatically compute demerit points based on employee tardiness and absence. You can tailor the rules so that different points can be added based on coming in late, leaving early, or for different types of absences (e.g. excused sick leave might be given different points than unexcused sick leave).

Absence points rules require the configuration of the following custom timesheet template fields:

Custom Field	Type	Description
Absence Points	Number	This field holds any absence points incurred. The number of decimal digits depends upon your needs - if you allow fractional points then you will want to set an appropriate number, e.g. 2. Note that you must create this field exactly as named, "Absence Points", in order to create the expected underlying database field (t_timeentry.xabsencepoints). After creating the field you can then rename it as this will not affect the name of the underlying database field.
Absence Reason	List	This field allows managers to specify an absence reason for leave taken by employees. For instance, you may have the reason "Excused" for excused absence, and the reason "Unexcused" for unexcused absence. Each reason can result in different points being added (see the Absence rule below). Note that you must create this field exactly as named, "Absence Reason", in order to create the expected underlying database field (t_timeentry.xabsencereason). After creating the field you can then rename it as this will not affect the name of the underlying database field. Note that the list of reasons can have different absence points configured for each reason. If you add or rename any of the reasons in the list you will need to edit the points again in the absence rule. See the Absence rule below for information on how to configure points for each absence reason.
Absence Override	Check Box	This field provides a way for the manager to override or manually enter absence points on employee timesheets. By checking the Absence Override check box the manager can change or enter points into the Absence Points field. Note that you must create this field exactly as named, "Absence Override", in order to create the expected underlying database field (t_timeentry.xabsenceoverride). After creating the field you can then rename it as this will not affect the name of the underlying database field.
Absence Extra (Optional)	Text, Text Area, List	The Absence Extra field is optional and can be used to record additional information about the absence. For example, you may provide a list off additional reasons for the absence, e.g. Medical Appointment, Plant Injury, etc. Alternatively, you could simply have it be a text area for entering additional details about the absence. Note that you must create this field exactly as named, "Absence Extra", in order to create the expected underlying database field (t_timeentry.xabsenceextra). After creating the field you can then rename it as this will not affect the name of the underlying database field.
Warning Type	Text, List	This field allows you specify that a warning was given to the employee, and is generally a list of values such as Verbal, Written, etc. Note that you must create this field exactly as named, "Warning Type", in order to create the expected underlying database field (t_timeentry.xwarningtype). After creating the field you can then rename it as this will not affect the name of the underlying database field.
Warning Points	Number	This field holds the absence points for the date of the warning. The number of decimal digits should match what you used for Absence Points. Note that you must create this field exactly as named, "Warning Points", in order to create the expected underlying database field (t_timeentry.xwarningpoints). After creating the field you can then rename it as this will not affect the name of the underlying database field.
Warning Description	Text, Text Area, List	This field allows you to enter a description of the warning given to the employee. Note that you must create this field exactly as named, "Warning Description", in order to create the expected underlying database field (t_timeentry.xwarningdescription). After creating the field you can then rename it as this will not affect the name of the underlying database field. Note that if creating a text area you should limit the size to no more than 255 characters, as it is quite easy to bump into the limits of a database's record size (e.g. 8K for Microsoft SQL Server) if you create a few 2000 character text area fields. You will still be able to record additional notes about the warning as these will go into the time entry's notes field.

Timesheet custom fields are configured from the System > Templates > Manage Custom Fields page. It is not required that you put these fields on the timesheet templates themselves. However, if you want a manager to be able to review and edit the points while reviewing and approving timesheets you will want to add these fields to the appropriate timesheet templates. When adding these fields to a timesheet template you need to specify the following Field Options for each of the above fields (by clicking the [...] button next to the field name):

[ ] Required

[ ] Work only

[x] Manager Only

This will ensure the fields appear for both work and leave time entries, and that only managers (or administrators) can modify the values - the employee will not be able to change them.

The following absence rules can be configured:

Property	Description
Absence rule	If enabled then points will be added when leave hours are entered on the timesheet. The number of points added depends on the selected Absence Reason. For instance you might configure 0 points for the reason "Excused", and 5 points for the reason "Unexcused". If no reason is selected then no points will be added by the rule. Note that if the list of absence reasons is changed (by editing the Absence Reason custom field), then the points will need to be entered for any new or renamed absence reasons.
In-late rule	If enabled then points will be added depending upon how many minutes late the employee came in. The employee must have the Scheduled In property set in their profile in order for this rule to work. You can enter multiple levels of points, e.g. 2-5 minutes = .5 points, 6-15 minutes late = 1 point, etc.
Out-early rule	If enabled then points will be added depending upon how many minutes early the employee left. The employee must have the Scheduled Out property set in their profile in order for this rule to work. You can enter multiple levels of points, e.g. 2-5 minutes = .5 points, 6-15 minutes late = 1 point, etc.
Too-few-hours rule	If enabled then points will be added depending upon how much less than the scheduled hours of work were performed in any given day. The scheduled hours will be taken from the Scheduled Hours Per Day property in the employee's profile, if set, or from the default Hours Per Day property on the System > General page. Points can be configured in two ways based on the "Use percent of scheduled hours" check box. If this check box is checked then how many points are incurred will depend upon the percentage of scheduled hours worked, for example 0-50% = 1 point, 51-99% = .5 points and 100% = 0 points. If the "Use percent of scheduled hours" check box is not checked then the points incurred will depend upon the number of minutes early the employee left, for example 2-5 minutes = .5 points, 6-15 minutes = 1 point, etc.
Too-long-meal-break rule	If enabled then points will be added depending upon how many minutes beyond the specified meal break the employee takes. A meal is considered any gap more than 15 minutes long between two blocks of work. If there is more than one gap between blocks of work in one day then the longest one is assumed to be the meal break. Note that what is considered a day is determined by the employee's Scheduled Start and Scheduled Finish times (as specified in the employee's profile on the Employees tab). For a typical 9AM to 5PM schedule a day is from midnight to midnight. For someone working the late shift the day will be centered over their scheduled start and finish times, so may run from 12 Noon to 12 Noon. In this way the system will not inadvertently consider a meal break to be the end of a day's work.

The following global options can be set:

Property	Description
Default reporting period	The default time period to use when reporting employee absence points. This can be overridden by the person viewing the report, but is handy to ensure that the various reports default to an appropriate date range for your business, such as "Last 365 Days". Note that the absence points shown on the Home tab will always be for the default reporting period. If the employee wants to view points for other periods they can click the points link to view a details report and change the reporting period.
Minimum/maximum total points allowed in period	Enter non-blank numeric values if you want to keep absence points for employees from going below or above specified values. For instance, if you do not want absence points to be less than zero you would enter "0" for the "minimum total points allowed" field. Note that the minimum and maximum values do not affect the individual absence point entries the employees receive. Instead, the min/max rule is used when computing the total absence points for an employee when you run the Absence Points report on the Employees > Absence Points page. As an example, suppose an employee had accumulated the following absence points over the current year, and no minimum total points were specified: Date Points Total Points ---------------------------- Jan 1 1.00 1.00 Mar 3 -2.00 -1.00 Feb 7 1.00 0.00 Apr 22 1.00 1.00 ============================ 1.00 The total for the year if no minimum is set would be 1.00. If you now specify a minimum total points of 0.00 then you get the following total points: Date Points Total Points ---------------------------- Jan 1 1.00 1.00 Mar 3 -2.00 0.00 Feb 7 1.00 1.00 Apr 22 1.00 2.00 ============================ 2.00 As you can see, the total points is now 2.00, but the individual points entries were not altered.
Warning Threshold	The number of points beyond which you will be suggested to give a warning to the employee. For example, if you specify 5.0 points as the warning threshold then any employee with more than 5.0 points will be marked as needing review. If you wanted 5.0 to trigger a warning then your threshold should be set to 4.99. Warnings will not be automatically sent to employees. Instead, when an employee's points are greater than the warning threshold then the "Warning Action" column on the Absence Points dashboard will show "Review", indicating the employee may need to be warned by their manager. If warned then the manager would then use the Absence Points dashboard to record the event.

Adjusting Points

Managers and administrators can view and adjust absence points for individual employees. This is done by viewing the Absence Points dashboard on the employee's profile page (note that the Absence Points dashboard only appears for employees that have the Absence Points Rules enabled on their employee policy). By clicking the Add Adjustment button you can enter positive or negative absence points for specific dates. Adjustments can be deleted by clicking the delete [-] button on each adjustment row on the dashboard.