How do I add a Staff Member?

There are 2 ways to Add Staff in WhosOff. This article will cover adding staff individually, but we do have another useful article specifically for adding staff in Bulk via the Bulk Import spreadsheet.

ADD STAFF

• Login to your WhosOff account
• Click on the plus (+) icon in the top right hand corner of the screen
• Then click on Add/Import Staff

On the following page you will notice that some fields are marked with an * (Asterisk) this is to indicate required information, the rest of the information fields are completely optional to make your life a lot easier, rest assured that all of this optional information can be changed or added at a later time if needed.

From here you can complete the fields where necessary in the various sections as shown on screen.

STAFF DETAILS 

• Staff Code - Optional, but can be useful for showing the staff member's "Payroll number" on any reports you run in WhosOff
• Title - i.e. Mr, Mrs, Miss, Dr etc., not to be confused with "job title"
• First Name *
• Last Name * 

• Username / Email * - This will allow the staff member to receive any emails from the system, as well as login to their account. 
• Password * - Must be a minimum of 8 characters, can be something generic at first but remember that staff can always change their password once logged in. 
• User Type * - This will dictate the staff member's access controls, there are 3 types to choose from
  • Staff - Will give the staff member basic level of access, allowing them to view their leave, their colleagues' leave and book their own time off
  • Approver - Will get all of the above, plus can be set up to approve leave for other staff as well as run some reports within the system
  • Super User - Complete access to the system, can adjust system settings and add staff members onto the account, as well as book their own time off **
• Department * - If you use the Departments option to separate staff into their specific "work teams" you can get them set up in the right department straight away.
• Approver * - Allocate the staff member's approver, this person will be able to approve leave on behalf of this staff member.
• 2nd and 3rd Notifier * - These options will allow you to specify additional approvers or super users to be copied in on the staff members leave requests, though they cannot directly approve the leave for them - these are not additional approvers.

STARTING ALLOWANCE

• Allowance Type - Days or Hours (don't forget that some leave types might be bookable in Hours, even if your staff are all in Days)
• This Year (i.e. the holiday year you are currently in)
• Opening Allowance - Enter the staff member's starting allowance from the beginning of the current leave year
• Remaining Allowance - Enter the staff member's remaining allowance from the beginning of the current leave year
• You can then repeat the above, but for Next Year if required. However you can leave this until later on if you want to.

Is there anything I need to think about when setting up someone's leave entitlement for this year?

When setting up a new staff member onto the system, either during your initial free trial of the system, or as continuous usage of the system i.e. adding a new starter, you will need to think about whether you want to back date employee time off, or start from the current point where you are in the leave year. Below are 2 examples of what their Opening / Remaining Balances might look like in each situation.

Scenario 1 - Wanting to backdate time off midway through the year

If John Smith is entitled to 20 Days a year and they've already booked time off this year, you would setup their balances as;

• Opening Allowance This Year - 20 Days
• Remaining Allowance This Year - 20 Days

This will then allow you (as the super user) to submit any time off on their behalf, bringing their balance to a correct state.

Scenario 2 - Wanting to use the system fresh from "today" onwards.

If John Smith is entitled to 20 Days a year, but has already taken 5 Days this year and has booked in advance 8 Days, you would set their balances as;

• Opening Allowance This Year - 15 Days
• Remaining Allowance This Year - 15 Days

This will then remind John that he has already taken 5 Days this year, they can then rebook their upcoming 8 Days in their new WhosOff account, which will reduce their Remaining Allowance accordingly.

Once you click Add User, the system will ask you if you want to send the new staff member a Welcome Message. If you decide to send it, the system will generate a message that will inform the staff member as to how to login along with a link to their login page.