Managing your organisation's roster warning rules

The Rostering Warnings feature allows you to configure a set of warnings that will trigger if an employee shift meets the required conditions. For example, if the employee does not have the required qualification, they have worked too much overtime or they have not taken a sufficient amount of breaks between their shifts. You can also configure the roster warning rule period.

Getting started

The below premises will walk you through how to add a new roster warning rule and how to set up you roster warning rule period.

Set up roster warning rule period
  1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll platform.
  2. Click the   Business Settings menu.
  3. Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
  4. Click the   Roster Warning Rules button.
  5. In the Roster Warning Rule Period, drop-down select from the following options:
    • Monday to Sunday.
    • Tuesday to Monday.
    • Wednesday to Tuesday.
    • Thursday to Wednesday.
    • Friday to Thursday.
    • Saturday to Friday.
    • Sunday to Sunday.
  6. Click the Save button.
    Warning__SG__1.jpg
Add a roster warning rule
  1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll platform.
  2. Click the   Business Settings menu.
  3. Click the   Roster Warning Rules button.
  4. Set the Roster warning rule period.
    This is relevant because some rules will require an analysis of an employee's rostered shifts over a weekly period, for example where an employee works more than 30 hours in a week. This setting will determine the start and end day of the weekly period. By default the setting will copy the start of the week value set up in the 'Work week' field from the Business details page. This setting will apply to all created roster warning rules and is unable to be configured on a per rule basis.
  5. Click the Add a Rule button.
    Warning__SG__2.jpg
  6. Complete the following fields:
    • Roster warning rule name: This is a free text compulsory field. Max length of 100 characters;
    • Roster warning rule message: This is a free text compulsory field, and is the message that displays in any shift triggered by the rule. As such, make sure the description is clear and concise so that it is understood by everyone with access to the roster. Max length of 100 characters;
    • Rule: This is a dropdown list with four pre-configured options available for selection. When a specific rule option is selected, the appropriate settings for that option is displayed for further configuration. These additional fields must be completed in order to be able to save the warning. Specific information about each rule is available in the below 'Available roster warnings' section.
    • Apply to locations: The value here will default to 'All', or alternatively, you are able to select one or more specific locations that you want the roster warning rule to apply.
  7. Click the Save button.
    Warning__SG__3.jpg

Important

Roster warning rules will not prevent the employee from being rostered but will highlight any issues associated with a shift.

Maintain

The below premises will walk you through how to view your roster and also how to edit a rule if it needs updating, and how to delete a record if it is no longer needed.

View the roster
  1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll platform.
  2. Click the   Business Settings menu.
  3. Click the   Roster Warning Rules button.
  4. Click the View Roster button.
    Warning__SG__4.jpg
Edit a roster warning rule
  1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll platform.
  2. Click the   Business Settings menu.
  3. Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
  4. Click the   Roster Warning Rules button.
  5. Click the   button.
    Warning__SG__5.jpg
  6. Make the required changes and click the Save button.
    Warning__SG__6.jpg
Delete a roster warning rule
  1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll platform.
  2. Click the   Business Settings menu.
  3. Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
  4. Click the   Roster Warning Rules button.
  5. Click the   button.
    Warning__SG__7.jpg
  6. Click the Delete button.
    Warning__SG__8.jpg

Further information

Roster warning rules vs roster warnings

Within the Roster Warnings feature, there are two key components which are:

  • Roster warning rules: These are the specific business rules that will trigger a warning in the roster for all affected shifts. 
  • Roster warnings: Roster warnings are the outcome of a roster warning rule triggering and you can view this within the rostering page. Both full access users and restricted users with rostering access will receive an alert when breaching a rule. 
Examples of how roster warning rules will and will not trigger

Scenario 1

A manager creates an employee's shifts for the week:

  • Tuesday, I.e. warning rule period start date has an 8-hour shift.
  • Wednesday has a 4 hour shift.
  • Friday has a 10-hour shift.
  • Saturday has a 10-hour shift.

As you have rostered the employee to work for over 20 hours, all the shifts will display a roster warning.

Scenario 2

The employee works at multiple locations and so multiple employers manage their roster. The first manager rosters the employee:

  • Tuesday, i.e. warning rule period start date has a 6 hour shift.
  • Wednesday has a 6 hour shift.
  • Friday has a 6 hour shift.

As you have rostered the employee to work for less than 20 hours, the rule will not trigger. Subsequently, though, if another manager rosters the employee for a 6 hour shift on the Saturday, as this additional shift takes the employee's total hours over 20, the rule will trigger and all 4 shifts would then display the warning.

Scenario 3

A manager creates the employee's shifts for the week:

  1. Tuesday, i.e. warning rule period start date has an 8-hour shift.
  2. Wednesday has a 4 hours shift.
  3. Friday has a 10 hours shift, and work type = Annual leave taken, i.e. employee is on leave
  4. Saturday has an 8-hour shift.

The employee's total weekly hours are over 30 and are over the 20 hor rule. The rule will trigger and a warning will display on all the employees' shifts for that week.

Available roster warnings

Restrict hours by qualification

When this option is selected, the roster warning rule will pre-populate on the screen with the following fields:

  1. Where the employee's qualification is one of: This is a dropdown list of qualifications set up in the business. You are able to select multiple qualifications;
  2. Roster employees for no more than: This is a free text compulsory field where you are able to input the number of hours. Fractional values are also allowed to a max of 2 decimal places.

 

Reminder: This will rely on the "Roster warning rule period" setting in order to define when the week starts and ends.

In the roster, this rule will trigger a warning for any employee that has:
  • One or more of the qualifications assigned to them, and;
  • The qualification is still current (i.e. it hasn't expired), and;
  • The shift is for a location included in the 'Apply to locations' field, and;
  • The employee's weekly rostered hours are in excess of the weekly hours set in the rule.

Important

This rule will disregard any shifts that assign a leave based work type, as this will not be taken as hours worked. For example, if an employee has been rostered using the work type 'Annual leave taken', those hours will not count toward the total hours for the purposes of the rule triggering.
Determine overtime by hours worked

When this option is selected, the roster warning rule will pre-populate on the screen with the following fields:

  1. Where the employment type is one of: This is a dropdown list of applicable employment types, e.g full time, casual. Multiple employment types can be selected;
  2. Roster employees for no more than: This is a free text compulsory field where you are able to input the number of hours. Fractional values are also allowed to a max of 2 decimal places.

In the roster, this rule will trigger a warning for any employee that has:

  • The selected employment type (as defined in the employee's Tax Declaration screen, and;
  • The shift is for a location included in the 'Apply to locations' field, and;
  • The employee's weekly rostered hours are in excess of the weekly hours set in the rule.

Important

This rule will take into account any shifts that assign a leave based work type for the purposes of totalling the rostering weekly hours.
Minimum break between shifts

When this option is selected, the roster warning rule will pre-populate on the screen with the following fields:

  1. Where the employment type is one of: This is a dropdown list of applicable employment types, e.g full time, casual. Multiple employment types can be selected; 
  2. A minimum 'X' hours break must be provided before the commencement of the next rostered shift: This is a free text compulsory field where you are able to input the number of hours. Fractional values are also allowed to a max of 2 decimal places:
  3. An additional checkbox allows you to select whether or not to ignore subsequent shifts on the same day when determining the next rostered shift.

In the roster, this rule will trigger a warning for any employee that has:
  • The selected employment type (as defined in the employee's Tax Declaration screen, and;
  • The shift is for a location included in the 'Apply to locations' field, and;
  • A shift rostered (when looking at the previous shift) with less than the hours break requirement specified in the warning. 

To use an example to illustrate the 3rd point, let's say the warning stated that a minimum 10 hours break must be provided before the commencement of the next shift, and (using the additional checkbox), the next shift must commence on the next day to trigger the warning. If the employee's roster is as follows:

  • Monday 10am - 2pm
  • Monday 10pm - 4am
  • Tuesday 10am - 2pm

.......The Monday 10pm - 4am shift would not trigger a warning, because although there is less than a 10 hr break between the first Monday shift and the second Monday shift, the second Monday shift does not commence on the next day. The Tuesday shift however would trigger a warning because the previous shift commenced on the day prior and there is less than a 10 hour break between them.

Using the same shifts as above, but if the next shift does not have to commence on the next day in order to trigger the warning, the results would be:

  • The 2nd Monday shift would trigger a warning because it started less than 10 hours after the previous shift's end time;
  • The Tuesday shift would trigger a warning because it started less than 10 hours after the previous shift's end time.

In other words, when the next shift doesn't have to commence on the next day in order to trigger the warning, the system just needs to look at the end time of the previous shift (so long as the shift is on the same day or the previous day). If it's less than the configured 'minimum break time' time, it will trigger a roster warning.

Pay category warning

When this option is selected, the roster warning rule will pre-populate on the screen with the following fields:

  1. Display a warning where pay category is: This is a dropdown list of pay categories set up in the business. You are able to select multiple pay categories. Additionally, the pay category dropdown will separate pay categories between system/custom pay categories and award pay categories (for businesses that have awards installed).

In the roster, the rule will trigger a warning for any employee whose shift:

  • Is attached to a location included in the 'Apply to locations' setting, and;
  • When costed, the shift is associated to the pay category listed in the roster warning rule.

In the instance where a shift has been costed to include a combination of pay categories, for example, a combination of 'ordinary hours' and 'overtime', so long as one of the pay categories specified in the warning is associated to the shift, the roster warning will be triggered.

Important

The warning will still be triggered even if the 'show shift cost' is not turned on, and additionally, restricted users that do not have 'view show costs' permission will still see this roster warning, however, they will still not see any actual costs associated with the shift.

If you have any feedback or questions please contact us via support@yourpayroll.io

 
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