Attendance and leave

Attendance and leave are what turn pay from a fixed number in a contract into an amount that reflects what actually happened during the month. Both feed the payroll run automatically.

Attendance

From the HR dashboard open the Attendance card — image 1 — to see records by date and employee, with check-in and check-out times and status.

To record attendance press Add as in image 2: employee, date, check-in and check-out times, status (present, absent, on leave, late) and notes.

Three ways to enter it

• A single record — for exceptions or corrections.
• Bulk entry — record a whole day for all employees at once; the fastest way day to day.
• Import from a file — for anyone with a fingerprint device or an external attendance system: export a file from it and upload it here. The screen offers a downloadable template showing the required columns.

Public holidays recorded in the calendar are not counted as absence — which is why entering them at the start of the year matters.

Leave types and balances

Every employee has a balance per leave type, shown on the Leave Balances card — image 5: yearly entitlement, used and remaining. This screen is the reference in any disagreement with an employee about what they have left.

Leave requests

The Leave Requests card — image 3 — shows requests and their status: pending, approved, rejected.

To record one press Add as in image 4: employee, leave type, start and end dates, the calculated number of days, the reason, and an attachment where relevant (a medical report, say).

The request cycle

1. The request is submitted — by the employee through their portal, or by HR on their behalf.
2. It appears under pending leave on the HR dashboard.
3. On approval the balance of that leave type is reduced, and the days are treated in attendance as leave rather than absence.
4. On rejection the balance is untouched and the reason is recorded.

How this affects pay

• Paid leave does not affect the salary.
• Unpaid leave and unexcused absence appear in payroll as an absence deduction.
• Lateness is handled with its own deduction type, recorded on the deductions screen.

Tips

• Record attendance as it happens; entering it retroactively after payroll has been generated means recalculating.
• Ask employees to submit leave requests from My Portal; it saves you the data entry and leaves a clear trace of who asked and when.
• Review leave balances before year end; accumulated balances are a real financial liability for the business.