A shift condition is really just another "type" of work type and can be used when an employee needs to be able to select more than one work type on the one timesheet/day.
They can also be used, alongside another work type, to identify special characteristics of a shift. For example:
- let's say that your employment agreement (EA) says that staff receive an allowance per hour worked if they are in charge of between 1 and 3 employees
- let's say, also, that staff receive an allowance for working more than 50km from headquarters
Using shift conditions means we could potentially satisfy both conditions on the same timesheet by setting up a shift condition for each of these requirements:
- working 60km away
- in charge of 2 people
However, keep in mind: you cannot map a shift condition to a pay category in order to allow an employee to claim an allowance by selecting the work type that points towards the allowance in the first column of the timesheet. You can only utilise shift conditions in pay condition rules – in a rule you use them in exactly the same way as you would a work type. For example:
WHEN work type is: TOOL
Apply Pay category: 1 unit of Tool Allowance
Creating a shift condition
Set up a shift condition like any other work type. Head to Payroll settings > Work Types and add a new work type. Give it a name and decide if anyone should get this work type by default (Full Time, Part Time, Casual employees). Now you’ll see an option under ‘work type maps to’ to select ‘None (Shift Condition)’. You need to give your shift condition a (max) 5 character short code so we can abbreviate it. Here I have called my shift condition “1TO3E” to represent ‘in charge of 1-3 employees’.
Repeat this process for the number of shift conditions you require.
Attaching shift conditions to a timesheet
If your employee is creating their own timesheet through the Swag app (both clocking in/out or adding a timesheet), they'll be able to select a shift condition in the same way as they do a work type (ie. as long as they've got access to use it).
If the timesheets are being added via the employee self service portal or you, the payroll administrator, are entering timesheets on behalf of an employee, you'll need to click on the pencil to edit the shift to add some shift conditions:
With the ‘view timesheet’ window open, you can edit and select the shift conditions that are relevant by clicking ‘add shift conditions’. A new box will appear with a checklist of options to choose.
Click ‘back to shift’ and then ‘apply’ and your shift conditions are added to the shift. Once you’ve added shift conditions, you’ll notice the picture of a building on that shift line to indicate that shift conditions have been added.
Note, a shift condition can be chosen on the timesheet "on it's own" (ie. without choosing a regular work type as well) but it won't appear in the drop down menu - you will always have to edit the timesheet and click on the Add shift condition link.
Default Shift Conditions for Locations
So this works well but could get a bit labour intensive if your employees needed to add the same shift conditions every time they worked at a particular location. For this reason we’ve added the ability to set default shift conditions for a location. Lets say we set a location as a job site which we know will always be 60km away from headquarters. Go to payroll settings > locations, choose the location and add the shift conditions you want to appear by default:
These will populate a timesheet line automatically when that location is chosen, and the employee can add to these or remove them as required.
Approving Timesheets
When you are approving timesheets, you’ll see the 5 character short code to represent a shift condition being attached to a shift.
You can use the pen to add or remove shift conditions, as you can any other attribute of the shift.
Using shift conditions in pay condition rules
The approach to using shift conditions in a rule set is no different to how work types are used currently. For example, you might have a rule that when a work type called ‘In charge of 1-3 employees’ is selected, an allowance is paid extra per hour worked.
The real benefit of shift conditions is our ability to handle multiple conditions applicable to the one shift, meaning we have limitless possibilities and can now handle even the most complex set of conditions in a Modern Award or Employment Agreement.