Shift Conditions

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:

• your staff receive an allowance per hour worked if they are in charge of between 1 and 3 employees; or
• 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, i.e. being in charge of 2 people and working 60km away, by setting up a shift condition for each of these requirements.

N.B. As you cannot map a shift condition to a pay category, you MUST utilise shift conditions in conjunction with pay condition rules. Further information on how the two interact is discussed further below.

Creating a shift condition

Shift conditions are set up like any other work types. From the payroll dashboard, click on the Payroll Settings tab > then Work Types (listed under the "Pay Conditions" heading). Complete the following steps:

1. Click on "Add" (located on top right hand side of the screen);
2. Name: Enter the name of the shift condition. As this will be accessible by employees, ensure the name is something clear, concise and explanatory enough for the employees;
3. External Id: This is an optional field and only required where the business uses an external system to capture timesheets and so needs to sync this shift condition with the payroll system;
4. Automatically enabled for: This is an optional setting. Only select the relevant employment type if you want ALL employees of that employment type to automatically access the shift condition. Otherwise, you can activate the shift condition on a per employee basis;
5. Work maps to: Select the "None (Shift Condition)" setting and then enter a code - Short Code. This code will display on timesheets in lieu of the full shift condition name and can be a maximum of 5 characters.

Repeat this same process for each additional shift condition required.

Attaching shift conditions to a timesheet

Employee Portal and/or Managers creating Timesheets

Shift conditions are NOT made available in the work type dropdown list. Rather, to add shift condition to a timesheet - whether via the employee self service portal, or managers/full access users entering timesheets on behalf of an employee - shift conditions can be accessed only when clicking on the edit icon of a specific timesheet:

This will open the 'edit timesheet' dialog where you can then click on "add shift conditions":

A new dialog will appear with a list of shift conditions available to the employee:

Click "Back to shift" and then "Apply" to add the shift condition(s) to the timesheet. Once you’ve added shift conditions, you’ll notice the calculator icon on the timesheet line to indicate that shift conditions have been added.

Default Shift Conditions for Locations

There may be instances where employees are automatically eligible to be paid a shift condition simply because of the location they worked at. For example, employees working at a location that requires high storey work which is subject to a high storey allowance per hour. When this occurs, adding the shift condition to the location setting is a much preferable situation over requiring the employee to add the shift condition for each timesheet created when working at the location.

To configure this at a location level, go to Payroll Settings > Locations, click on the location and then add the shift condition(s) you want to apply by default. If there is no shift condition setting displayed, this means no shift conditions have been created in the business.

You will then be directed to a list of all created shift conditions for the business. Select the relevant shift condition(s), click on "Back to location" and then "Save": 

The shift condition(s) will then populate in a timesheet automatically when that location is chosen and the employee can add to these or remove them as required.

Please note:

1. If an employee is not attached to a pay condition rule set that deals with how the shift condition is to be paid, then there will be no costing for the shift condition in the employee's timesheets.
2. If the shift condition is only to apply in certain instances where employees work at a location then it is better to manage that via a pay condition rule as opposed to attaching the shift condition to the location.

Approving Timesheets

Web Portal

When approving timesheets through the web portal, via the Approve Timesheets screen, shift conditions will be displayed in their 'short code' format in the "Work Type" column.

Click on the edit icon to add or remove shift conditions, as well as any other attribute of the timesheet.

Using shift conditions in pay condition rules

As stated above, in order for the system to know how to treat shift conditions correctly and accordingly how to cost the shift conditions, they must be used in conjunction with pay condition rules.

The approach to using shift conditions in a rule set is no different to how work types are used currently. Using the Height Work scenario above as an example, this allowance is paid every hour the employee works. The rule to cover ALL employees being automatically subject to the shift condition based on working at the location would be as follows:

If NOT all employees are eligible for the shift condition simply because they working at the location and rather certain other scenarios have to be met, the rule would be created differently as it would have to address the other scenario. Say, for example, the Height Work Allowance was to be paid automatically for any employee who worked at the location on weekends only, the rule would be created as follows:

This means the employee would not have to assign the shift condition on their timesheet manually.

Refer here to read more information on pay conditions.

If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know via support@nzpayroll.co.nz.