Work Schedules: The Foundation Time and Absence Both Stand On
Schedules define what 'normal' looks like for each worker. Get them right and time, absence, and pay all reference the same truth.
A work schedule tells the system what a given worker's normal looks like, which days, which hours, which pattern. It's quiet foundational plumbing, and both Time and Absence lean on it. Get schedules right and everything downstream references the same truth; get them wrong and time and leave both miscalculate.
Model the real patterns, including the awkward ones
Nine-to-five is easy. Rotating shifts, compressed weeks, annualised hours, part-time patterns that vary by day, these are where schedules earn their keep. Model the patterns your workforce actually works, not an idealised standard.
Schedules drive absence duration
When someone takes a day off, the schedule decides how much leave that day costs, a full day, a half, nothing if it wasn't a working day. A wrong schedule means wrong absence deductions, and people notice their leave balance being off.
Keep schedules current as patterns change
When someone changes their working pattern, their schedule must change too, from the right date. A stale schedule quietly miscalculates their time and leave until someone spots it.
Real scenario: a client had part-time staff on a default full-time schedule. When they took a day's leave, the system deducted a full day regardless of whether they'd have worked it, so a part-timer lost leave for a day off they didn't work. We modelled proper part-time schedules. The absence maths corrected. Schedules are foundational, get them right before you build on top.