The Friday Tip - page 10

A New Way to Book Holidays

9th April 2021

A new version of the tool used by employees to book holidays has recently been added to People Inc. ESS. This upgrade includes a number of significant refinements.

Staff can book holidays from a calendar-based tool and if necessary they can add notes or adjustments to their request. Requests are passed to their manager for review (done using the same tool within the ESS), and absence records are updated automatically once a request is approved.

Available via PC or mobile phone versions of the ESS, the Absence Request Wizard also enables employees to used to withdraw holiday requests.

I am Running Late

2nd April 2021

People Inc. provides a quick and simple way to let the office know that you will arrive at work a little late. Each member of staff can use the Employee Self-Service module to inform their colleagues that they are running late.

This feature is available on both the PC and mobile phone versions of the ESS. The Late Notifications screen allows an employee to enter the time that they expect to arrive at work. The system will automatically notify their managers via e-mail.

Time Off in Lieu

26th March 2021

This feature allows an employee to register details of any time they have worked outside their normal work-pattern (using their ESS account).

Once reviewed and approved by their manager, the time is automatically credited to a TOIL allowance and can then be booked as leave. Alternatively, the employee can be paid for the extra time they have worked.

Notification e-mails are generated automatically when requests are submitted or reviewed, and the feature can provide two levels of approval if required. Limits can be placed on the total time an employee can register within any period.

Getting Rid of Sickness Forms

19th March 2021

Electronic forms are a great way to speed up the flow of information and free staff up for more productive activities. This optional People Inc. feature enables staff to register and manage sickness absence (via their ESS account). It replaces inefficient paper-based (or e-mail) sickness reporting.

In its simplest format, when staff are sick, line managers can add full records via the Register Sickness screen. Alternatively, line-managers can register sickness absence, but the system then allows employees to update their records themselves when they return to work.

The screen same can also be used from within People Inc. (by system administrators) to add sickness information for employees in bulk.

Doing More to Manage Absence

12th March 2021

The Employee Self-Service module can provide several additional tools to manage absence. Using these features:

• Staff can request holidays. Requests are passed to their manager for review, and records updated automatically once a request is approved.
• Employee sickness can be registered (usually by their line-manager) and a return to work form completed for each occurrence.
• Individuals can register time worked outside their work-pattern; a time off in lieu request is then passed to their manager for approval.
• Employees can put in a request to buy or sell holiday days. Once again, this is passed to their manager for approval.
• A member of staff can notify their colleagues via the system when they are running late (on the way to work).

Make the system your own

5th March 2021

The People Inc. system includes around 60 screens, each designed to manage information relating to a specific area of HR. In addition, any number of documents can be attached to records within the screens.

People Inc. users can also customise their system using the Screen Designer. This enables them to change the content and layout of any of the existing screens (adding any number of boxes to manage new types of information). It is also possible to add new screens as required.

This combination of approaches enables users to record virtually any information within the People Inc. system. Furthermore, custom screens and fields can be used in reports and letters, and user-profiles can control who has access to each item of data.

Seven ways to learn more about People Inc.

29th January 2021

Listed below are 7 ways that you can learn more about People Inc.

• Review the list of People Inc. features – what is possible? - click here
• Read the Friday Tip – over 100 hints and suggestions - just scroll down
• Look up information in the help file – available online
• Get a People Inc. resources login – for manuals, FAQs, etc. - click here
• Contact the help desk with your query – by phone or e-mail - click here
• Attend People Inc. feature webinars - click here
• Set up some user training – available via online meeting - click here

Please call the helpdesk if you need more information on any of these.

Learning to use new features.

22nd January 2021

People Inc. is supplied with two databases: a Personnel database and a Demonstration database. The Personnel database is used to manage live HR records; the Demonstration database has identical screens and features and is an ideal tool for user training and familiarisation.

To switch to a different database, right-click on a database in the Management Console and select All Tasks > Activate Database.

Note that further databases can be added to the system if required (using the System Administration Module). This is useful if information for several different organisations is managed by a single HR team.

Closing Absence Allowances

15th January 2021

Once last year’s holiday bookings have been added users should close the previous year’s holiday allowances. This locks the records and ensures that figures generated at year-end do not subsequently change (if absence records for the year are updated at a later date).

A Wizard designed to close allowances is provided as part of the standard People Inc. system. Note that this Wizard can also be used to close any allowances that remain open in earlier years.

Ensuring that old allowances are closed is particularly important now as the settings for carry-over are likely to need changing this year (to comply with legislation introduced during the Coronavirus pandemic).

Christmas Look and Feel

18th December 2020

Around 30 themes are available within the People Inc. system. Users can select different themes using one of the mini-buttons at the top of the People Inc. screen. This changes the way the screens look (the colours and images on the screen).

Some of the themes that are available within the system relate to a specific time of year. Loading the Christmas theme adds snowflakes to the screen background and adds snowmen and ribbons to items on the screen.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Christmas opening hours.

11th December 2020

Our offices will be closed for Christmas from 2.30pm on Thursday 24 December 2020 until 8.30am Monday 4 January 2021.

Help desk support services will be available during this period (please call 01908 265111 or contact the help desk via e-mail). If you have an urgent matter you need to discuss with another member of our team, please contact us via the People Inc. helpdesk.

We would like to wish you a safe and peaceful Christmas and look forward to working with you all in 2021.

Bank Holidays next year

4th December 2020

Are details of next year's Bank Holidays set up within your system? Where holiday bookings need to be adjusted for bank holidays, these dates need to be recorded within People Inc. (added via the Companies screen)

Details of 2021 bank holidays can be found here: UK Bank Holidays

For organisations with offices in more than one region, you will need to add the appropriate bank holidays for each region. This is done by using a different company record for each region.

Furthermore, if you have not yet done so, you should now be thinking about creating 2021 holiday allowances. This is done using the Recreate Absence Allowance wizard.