Absence

Use the Absence command on the Action menu associated with the Personnel Processing form to record absenteeism for individuals in the Personnel system. You can subsequently view this information on the employee’s diary, as well as using the Enquiries command or the ‘Absence’ report from the Reports submenu. Absence records are categorised under one of the following headings:

Sickness (except if full SSP processing is in use in the Payroll application)
Holiday
Maternity (female employee only)
Absence
Compassionate

Although a facility to record absence is provided in the Payroll application, you should always use the Personnel application for absence records, because the Absence command in the Payroll is only for when no Personnel application is in use. Where the the Use Full SSP Processing option is selected in the Payroll application, sickness absences must be entered using the SSP Absence command on the Action menu associated with the Personnel Processing or Payroll Processing form.

Prerequisites

Before you can enter any absence records, you must first create descriptions using the Absence Reasons command on the Maintenance submenu. You will need at least one reason description for the category of absence you intend to record. You must also ensure the employee record for which the absence is to be recorded has been created using the Processing command. Absence days and hours have defaults calculated on the basis of the employee’s working pattern, so if you have not already done so, you may want to create the appropriate working pattern using the Working Patterns command on the Maintenance submenu and assign it to the employee using the Working Patterns command on the Action menu associated with the Personnel Processing form.

Absence Entries

Box	Description
Type	An option that determines the type of absence. You can select from one of the following: ‘Sickness’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Maternity’, ‘Absence’ or ‘Compassionate’. Note however that where the Use Full SSP Processing option is selected in the Payroll application, the 'Sickness' option will not be available. In these circumstances, sickness absence must be entered using the SSP Absence command on the Action menu associated with the Personnel Processing or Payroll Processing form.
From and To	The start and end dates that define the period of absence.
Days	The number of days absence. By default, the application calculates this from the start and end dates based on whole days and having taken into account the employee’s working pattern. If you want to specify half days, enter ‘5’ after the decimal point. For example, two and a half days is entered as 2.5. If the half day occurs at the start of the period, select the Half Day at Start option. If this option is cleared, the half day is assumed to be at the end of the period of absence.
Hours	The number of hours and minutes or hours and decimal fraction. This defaults to the total of the work duration based on the employee’s working pattern. Whether you enter hours and minutes or hours and decimal fractions depends on the setting of the Hours and Minutes option in the Payroll application.
Cost	The cost is calculated by multiplying the number of hours absence by the daily rate for the employee's current job recorded on the Personnel - Processing - Job form. Show ...
Reason	A reference that identifies the reason for absence. You can select from a list. Reasons are defined using the Absence Reasons command on the Maintenance submenu.
Notification	The name of the person notified of the absence.
Method	A description of the method by which notification was made.
Certification	An option that determines whether the absence—in this case usually sickness—is accompanied by a certificate.
Exp Date	The date on which a certificate expires. This only applies if the Certification option is selected.