As reported in the media, the global virus crisis is hitting the economy hard. Some sectors had to completely cease their activities, others work in a reduced form, others are indirectly affected.

As a result, many employees are put on short-work schedules or may be asked to take on other jobs and sometimes have to be dismissed.

In general, when filing for short-time work compensation, the authorities require records-keeping of working times. With your time & attendance tracking on ‘Staff Times’ you are basically covered.

Employment scenarios and options with Staff Times

During the ongoing virus crisis, the current time and attendance settings can be adjusted with some additional configurations to better reflect the staff member's situation, if desired. Take note of the following scenarios and proposed solutions:

1. Your staff is asked to work from a different location, e.g. Work from home (WFH) or take up assignments at a third party company

• Option: create another Activity name called ‘Home Office’ or ‘Company Xyz’ and ask your employee to record the corresponding working hours under that activity name. The Activity name can be configured in the previous format with start and end times, or with flat hours input. Find out more about setting up Activity names here.

2. Your staff is asked to work for a third-party company and that company is charged for those hours. e.g. the employee's work is settled in hourly wages.

Option: in addition to point 1 above, a new term of employment can be created with tracking mode defined as 'basic'. Basic tracking does not use plan hours. This type is commonly used by freelancers or contract workers. Find out more about the employment types here.

3. The employee's working time is reduced until further notice and put on short-time work.

• Option 1: the reduced weekly schedule produces a negative accrued balance against the original plan hours. If the negative incurred balance is to be made up by the employee once short-work is over, there is no need to update the working week configuration. Your employee may continue to log working times as earlier.

• Option 2: If the reduced working time is not to be made up, the weekly working time can be reduced to match the short-time terms by changing the terms of employment to 'part-time' mode and reconfiguring the working days accordingly. Find out more about employment types here.

4. The employee is to be suspended from work until further notice and might possibly get re-hired

• Option 1: If your staff should stop time tracking until further notice, the terms of employment setting can remain unchanged, or you may update the employment terms setting to 'inactive' which blocks the app for time tracking. This state is comparable to long term leaves such as 'maternity leave'.

• Option 2: If the employment contract has not been terminated in principle and the suspension relates to short-time work, we suggest setting up an Activity name of type ‘absence’ with the name ‘short-work’. The activity would work in the same way as other absences such as "Out sick".

We would be happy to clarify your particular situation and provide support free of charge. Please contact us so that we can support you during these difficult times.

Stay healthy!

Your Staff Times team