What's new?

Shift notes for vacant shifts

We've introduced the ability to add contextual notes to vacant shifts during creation, enhancing communication and shift matching for managers and employees.

What's changing?

Managers can now add optional shift notes when creating vacant shifts.
- Shift notes will be visible to Employees browsing available shifts.

Why this change?

Provide more context about shift requirements.
Reduce unnecessary communication and back-and-forth.
Help employees make more informed decisions about shift requests.

Example scenarios

Adding skills requirements: Requires cocktail making skills.
Providing specific instructions: Weekend evening shift - formal attire required.
Highlighting special conditions: Training shift - observation opportunities.
No immediate action is required for existing users. The feature will be available. immediately upon system update.

Enhanced onboarding compliance: Right to Work validation

We've implemented mandatory validation for Right to Work selection during the new starter onboarding process to ensure compliance and data completeness.

What's changing?

The Identification screen in the new starter wizard now requires:
- Mandatory selection of Right to Work status.
- Users cannot progress without making a selection.
Validation aligns with existing mandatory field handling in the wizard.
Applies to both manual entry and ATS integration workflows.

Why this change?

Prevent incomplete employee records.
Ensure immediate compliance checks.
Reduce risk of missed critical onboarding steps.
Standardise data collection process.

What administrators and managers need to know

Users will be prompted to complete Right to Work selection.
No historical data will be affected.
The change ensures comprehensive onboarding documentation.

Improved Evacuation Management interface

We've enhanced the Evacuation module to provide a more consistent, informative, and user-friendly interface for managing employee safety during emergency scenarios.

What's changing?

User Interface Improvements:
- Aligned columns and headers.
- Consistent visual design.

Enhanced Employee Visibility:
- Added personal mobile number.
- Added work mobile number.

Attendance Logic Updates:
- Improved display of employees not clocked in.

Section Group Selection:
- Ability to select entire Section Groups for evacuation.

Default Settings:
- Employee evacuation status now defaults to Null.

Why this change?

Improve emergency response capabilities.
Provide more comprehensive employee contact information.
Simplify evacuation management across complex sites.
Enhance user experience and interface consistency.

Key benefits

More accurate employee tracking.
Improved visibility of employee contact details.
More flexible section and group selection.

No immediate action is required for existing users. The updated interface will be available upon system update.

Enhanced custom reporting data fields

We've significantly expanded the data fields available in Custom Reporting, providing more comprehensive and detailed insights across multiple datasets.

What's Changing?

Employee Dataset Enhancements:
- New 'States' Column Category:
Active State
Payroll State
Approved State
Absence & Leave Dataset Updates:
- Six new hidden columns for Analytics:
  - First Day Weekday (Text)
  - First Day Month (Text)
  - First Day Month Number (Number)
  - Last Day Weekday (Text)
  - Last Day Month (Text)
  - Last Day Month Number (Number)
Column Category and Ordering Changes:
- Renamed 'Holiday Entitlement' to 'Holiday Entitlement at time of Absence'.
- Added 'Current Holiday Entitlement' column category.
- Repositioned FTE Salary and FTE Hours columns.
Pay Details Additions:
- New columns in Employee and Absence & Leave Datasets:
  - Lower Grade (Pertaining to Post)
  - Upper Grade (Pertaining to Post)
  - Lower Payscale (Name and Value)
  - Upper Payscale (Name and Value)

Why this change?

Provide more granular reporting capabilities.
Enhance data analysis flexibility.
Improve insights into employee states and absence patterns.
Support more comprehensive financial and HR reporting.

Key benefits:

More detailed employee and absence tracking.
Enhanced reporting granularity.
Improved data visibility.

New Global setting for reporting period

We've introduced a new global setting to provide flexibility in defining the first month of the reporting year.

What's changing?

New Global Setting: Custom Reporting First Month.
- Integer value (1-12).
- Default setting: 1 (January).
- Allows customization of reporting year start month.

Setting Description: "Define what month of the year you wish to be classed as the first month of your year for reporting purposes. Please enter a value as per calendar month. E.g Jan=1, Feb=2, Nov=11 and Dec=12".