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HRMISolutions Ltd
Leave
Years ago a lot of HR systems people started off by making a leave recording database and putting a front screen on it. Back in those days all we were doing was recording the agreements manually entered on a leave card. Now self service means there is no leave card and the person puts in an online request to their manager who either authorises or rejects it.
When your leave request is submitted it will initially be pending P. There is a simulation of a line management decision making process built into the system. If your leave is approved you will see an acceptance symbol 
later in the day. If it is rejected you will see a rejection symbol 
.
Here we see that there are at least 15 different categories of leave that a person can request. In simulating a leave requesting system we allow the individual to do the following:
If you have taken annual leave then your Annual Leave Balance will be updated to reflect the number of days off you have taken.
Sickness
The recording of sickness is similar to leave except that it is not a request. one is either unwell or not. There is no process of authorisation only recording.
Sickness is incredibly sensitive and would not normally be available for general view. In the UK sickness categories can be obtained from the list prepared by the Institute of Occupational Medicine for the Health and Safety Executive (2005) . There are Level 1 classifications that are then further broken down into Level 2 sub classifications.
Error Checking
Given that there are over a dozen types of leave and a person can request any days that they like it is necessary for the system to do an initial check to ensure that the same period is not being double booked.
If the system notices a double booking it will issue an error message and refuse the entry. Because this is a demonstration system we have give you the option to delete rows of data and re-enter new ones.
The system has been programmed to be inflexible in relation to dates. An end date cannot be before the start date. Dates cannot be left empty. It is necessary to indicate if the leave is for a whole day or just the morning or afternoon.
Sickness has the above date logic controls but can be entered irrespective of whether any other time off has been booked in a period. Once a Level 1 sickness reason is selected only the Level 2 categories for that particular reason are available.
We have shown a standard attendance record where sickness is displayed without any medical details. Then at the bottom of the sickness page we have shown the level of detail that would be available to an occupational health service or HR.
Calculating Working Days
In order for the system to calculate the number of working days requested in a leave period it needs to strip out non-working days. To make this demonstration system for our fictional organisation easier we have decided that every person works Monday to Friday with Saturday and Sunday being weekend days of rest.
The above means that the system looks at a date range and then for each weekend day it subtracts 1 from the total days in the period.
The system also holds a table of UK public holidays. It checks every date range to see if any public holidays fall within that range. Each time it finds a public holiday it subtracts 1 from the total days in the period.
Finally the system looks to see if the leave starts or finishes part way through a day and then reduces the totals days by the appropriate fraction of a day if need be.
Once all of this is done the system is ready to record the number of working days requested.
From the above you will see that one of the tasks of an HR information system administrator is to ensure that the table of public holidays is complete each year. Also notice how much more complicated the system would be if it were an international one dealing with countries who have different public holidays.
The Employment Rights Act 1996 underpins contracts of employment in the United Kingdom.
The terminolgy to use is a written statement of particulars of employment. This summarises the main particulars of the employment relationship and must according to the legislation be given within two months of the person's first day of service.
Whilst the law states two months it would actually be poor form to encourage a person to give up an existing job or prior state of affairs without actually presenting them with the contractual terms of their new role until two months after it has started. The law is quite flexible but if we are truly focused on the quality of the engagement with the prospective member of staff the written statement of particulars really should be issued as soon as possible after the decision to appoint has been made.
Issuing the written statement of particulars at the earliest point means the person is aware of what they being contracted to and can clarify any uncertainties before accepting. Starting a relationship in this manner where possible helps ensure a more harmonious contract.
The key aspects of a written statement of particulars are as follows:
An explanation of the symbols used
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Clicking this icon takes you to some basic theory on organisation charts and structure. |
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Welcome to the free website for people who want to learn about the technology used for keeping staffing details in offices. Using this site you can learn as much from the comfort of your arm chair as you could in two years at work. Here is your chance to practice with systems that you may only have heard about. Get a behind the scenes view of what happens with your information and how it is stored.
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In this section we will look at how an organisation might manage time off for employees. An important thing is ensuring that whilst staff take time off there are still sufficient numbers of people at work to actually deliver a service.
We will look at the administration and systems that go into ensuring that everyone can request their annual leave (holidays) and also how the organisation can keep a record of that time off that people might need to take if they are unwell.
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Leave is normally requested by employees. In paper based systems it would be a request on a leave card that gets agreed or rejected by the person's manager, recorded in a diary and sent back.
In an electronic system the request is entered into the system and once submitted goes to the manager to authorise. An advantage of an electronic leave card is that all of the time off for an individual is eventually visible in the same place irrespective of who approves it. Leave requests are made through Employee Self Service.
This is exceptionally sensitive and confidential and would normally be maintained by a central Human Resources/Payroll team. The specific detail of any condition affecting a person is recorded for the purpose of assisting them at work.
Below is a confidential representation of a sickness record that shows the level of private detail that would not normally appear on a general attendance record.
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