Staff Timesheet Categorisation Rules
While Time Sheet Batches can be generated using SupportAbility, these Staff Time Sheets currently only include Staff 'time and attendance' data, i.e. the 'Finalised' From and To Dates and Times of each Shift.
SupportAbility currently applies a basic 'categorisation' to Staff Shifts based on the SCHADS award. Staff Shift Hours are grouped into one of six categories relative to their start and finish times. This information is displayed in the Activity record, on screen in the Time Sheet Batch results and is included in the 'Shift Categorisation Audit Report' export (available from the Activity Staff Report), the 'Detailed Time Sheet Batch' export and the MYOB Timesheet Batch export.
However, a few issues have been identified with the way in which this categorisation is being calculated for some staff shifts, and this is on our radar for review. Details of these are outlined below.
Once the Activity Sign-Off has been completed, Time Sheet Batches can be generated and exported for payroll processing. Despite the known issues with some hour categorisation, the Time Sheet Batch exports accurately report the number of hours Staff Members worked for the reporting period.
The 'Shift Categorisation Audit Report' export (available from the Activity Staff Report) can be reviewed, and this categorisation in the 'Detailed Timesheet Batch' export, or the MYOB Timesheet Batch export, can be adjusted where required, prior to Staff Time Sheets being imported or entered into your organisation's payroll system.
For payroll systems that integrate with SupportAbility, or that perform Award Interpretation, the relevant export file can be downloaded from SupportAblity and uploaded into the payroll system, where the payroll system will perform the required categorisation.
It is important to note that SupportAbility has no capacity to perform any form of award interpretation, such as calculating penalties and overtime, allowances, breaks, loadings and pay rates. These functions must be handled by a third-party solution, such as a sophisticated payroll system, if required.
Unfortunately, many payroll systems, such as MYOB and Xero, cannot perform award interpretation either. If your organisation requires award interpretation, we recommend you review the considerations outlined in the Payroll Integration Strategy article when planning to use SupportAbility to generate Time Sheet data.
Audience: Authorised Representatives, Finance Team.
Summary
The following list summarises the content of this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
- What are the Staff Timesheet Hour Categories?
- What are the categorisation rules?
- Summary of known Categorisation Issues
- Where is Timesheet Categorisation Information displayed?
- Reviewing Timesheet Categorisation Information
What are the Staff Timesheet Hour Categories?
The total Staff Shift Hours are categorised into six (6) possible categories.
These categories are as follows:
- Standard hours - Shifts that occur on a weekday (i.e. Monday to Friday), that fall between 6:00am and 8:00pm on the same day are categorised as Standard hours
- Evening hours - Shifts that occur or extend beyond 8:00pm are categorised as Evening hours
- Active night shift hours
- Inactive night shift hours - Shifts that commence from midnight (i.e. 12:00am) to 6:00am are automatically categorised as Inactive Night Shift hours.
- N.B. With the exception of Shifts that occur on a Saturday (categorised as Time and a half hours) or Sunday (categorised as Double Time hours)
- Time and a half hours - Shifts that commence on Saturday will have all hours that fall on the Saturday categorised as Time and a Half Hours
- Double Time hours - Shifts that commence on Sunday will have all hours that fall on the Sunday categorised as Double Time Hours
What are the categorisation rules?
The categorisation is completed based on the From and To Date/Time of the Staff Member's Shift as per the Staff section of the respective Activity record:
SupportAbility reviews the From and To Date/Time and will assign the values to the appropriate category.
Further details on the rules for each respective category are outlined in the sections below.
Standard hours
Shifts that occur on a weekday (i.e. Monday to Friday), that fall between 6:00am and 8:00pm on the same day are categorised as Standard hours:
In the example below, Emmit's Shift starts on Wednesday at 9:00am and ends at 3:00pm that afternoon.
All six (6) hours of this Shift will be categorised as Standard hours:
Evening hours
Shifts that occur or extend beyond 8:00pm are categorised as Evening hours.
We've included a few examples of this below.
Example 1
Emmit's Shift starts on Wendesday at 8:00pm and ends at 11:00pm that same day.
All three (3) hours of this Shift will be categorised as Evening hours:
Example 2
Emmit's Shift starts on Wednesday at 3:00pm and ends at 11:00pm that same day.
All eight (8) hours of this Shift are categorised as Evening hours:
Example 3
Emmit's Shift starts on Wendesday at 10:00pm and ends at 6:00am the following day.
All eight (8) hours of this Shift are categorised as Evening hours:
N.B. The exception to this is for Shifts that commence after 12:00am, see the Active and Inactive Night Shift hours section below.
Active and Inactive Night Shift hours
Shifts that commence from midnight (i.e. 12:00am) to 6:00am are automatically categorised as Inactive Night Shift hours.
N.B. Except for Shifts that occur on a Saturday (categorised as Time and a half hours) or Sunday (categorised as Double Time hours).
If an Inactive Night Shift occurs between Monday and Friday, Staff Members have the option of nominating how many of these hours were 'Active' if there was a disturbance to attend to.
If a portion of this Shift extends beyond 6:00am, those hours are categorised as Standard hours.
We've included a few examples of this below.
Example 1
Emmit's Shift starts on Thursday at 12:00am and ends at 6:00am that same day.
There was no disurbance so there was no need for Emmit to record any Active Night Shift hours, so all six (6) hours of this Shift will be categorised as Inactive Night Shift hours:
Example 2
Emmit's Shift starts on Thursday at 12:00am and ends at 6:00am that same day.
There was a disurbance during the Shift where Emmit was up for 2 hours, so when completing the Shfit Sign Off, Emmit noted that there was 2 Active Night Shift hour associated with the Shift. This means that four (4) hours of this Shift will be categorised as Inactive Night Shift hours and two (2) hours will be categorised as Active Night Shift Hours.
N.B. The Active Night Shift Hours will appear in the Recorded section for the Staff Member to enter as part of their Shift Sign Off and will then subsequently appear in the Finalised data. It is not available to be scheduled in advance in the Rostered section, as this is typically captured retrospectively after the fact.
Example 3
If Emmit's Shift as above, finished at 9:00am instead, then the additional three (3) hours would be categorised as Standard hours:
Example 4
In most instances, an overnight Shift will start in the evening and end the following day (e.g. 10:00pm to 6:00am). If the Active Night Shift Hours need to be captured during this Shift, some Rostering teams will split out the overnight Shfits into two to trigger the 'Active Night Shift Hours' box for Staff to capture these hours:
- Shift 1
- From: Wednesday 10:00pm
- To: Thursday 12:00am
- Shift 2
- From: Thursday 12:00am
- To: Thursday 6:00am
Time and a Half hours
Shifts that commence on Saturday will have all hours that fall on the Saturday categorised as Time and a Half Hours.
Example 1
Emmit's Shift starts on Saturday at 9:00am and ends at 3:00am that same day.
All six (6) hours of this Shift will be categorised as Time and a Half hours:
Example 2
Emmit's Shift starts on Saturday at 9:00am and ends at 10:00pm that same day.
All eight (8) hours of this Shift will be categorised as Time and a Half hours (i.e. no Evening hours):
If the Shift commences on a Saturday and ends on a Sunday, then the hours associated with the Sunday will be categorised as Double Time Hours (see Double Time Hours section below).
Example 3
Emmit's Shift starts on Saturday at 8:00pm and ends at 6:00am the following day (i.e. Sunday).
The hours related to Saturday (4) will be categorised as Time and a Half Hours, while the hours related to Sunday (6) will be categorised as Double Time Hours:
Double Time hours
Shifts that commence on Sunday will have all hours that fall on the Sunday categorised as Double Time Hours.
Example 1
Emmit's Shift starts on Sunday at 9:00am and ends at 3:00am that same day.
All six (6) hours of this Shift will be categorised as Double Time Hours:
Example 2
Emmit's Shift starts on Sunday at 9:00am and ends at 10:00pm that same day.
All eight (8) hours of this Shift will be categorised as Double Time Hours :
Example 3
Emmit's Shift starts on Sunday at 8:00pm and ends at 6:00am the following day (i.e. Monday).
The hours related to Sunday (4) will be categorised as Double Time Hours, while the hours related to Monday (6) will be categorised as Inactive Time Hours, with the option of recording Active Night Shift Hours:
Summary of known Categorisation Issues
There are some known issues with the way that SupportAbility is categorising the hours for some Staff shifts as summarised below:
- SupportAbility is not currently recognising that when a shift commences before midnight, that all of that shift should be categorised as 'Inactive Night Shift'. It only recognises if the shift commences after midnight, that it is an Inactive Night Shift. However, any hours in the shift that occur after 6:00am are being categorised correctly as 'Standard Hours'.
- It is important to note that the 'Active Night Shift' field does not appear on Saturdays and Sundays for Staff Shifts between 12:00am and 6:00am. All hours on a Saturday are categorised as 'Time and a Half' and all hours on a Sunday are categorised as 'Double Time'.
These issues are under review for rectification.
Where is Timesheet Categorisation information displayed?
The current areas in SupportAbility that include Staff Timesheet Categorisation details are as follows:
- Download 'Shift Categorisation Audit Report' export (available from the Activity Staff Report)
- Generating and viewing Time Sheet Batches
- Download Detailed Time Sheets export
- Download Summary Time Sheets export
- Download Time Sheet Batch for MYOB AccountRight
- Download Time Sheet Batch for HR3
Reviewing Timesheet Categorisation information
As outlined above, there are some known inaccuracies that may occur with the categorisation of Staff Time Sheet hours if Staff are working outside 'Standard Hours' as classified by SupportAbility i.e. 6.00 am and 8.00 pm Monday to Friday.
Providers can continue to rely on Time Sheet Batches to accurately report the number of hours Staff Members have worked for a given reporting period. However, if your organisation is utilising this categorisation, it is recommended that the categorisation of Staff Timesheet Hours is reviewed to ensure this is accurate based on your organisation's requirements and amended where necessary prior to payroll.
Using the Detailed Time Sheets export to review Timesheet Categorisation
The 'Detailed Time Sheets' export is a data-rich file that includes the Award Categorisation information and may, therefore, be useful for reviewing how SupportAbility has categorised Shift hours in a Time Sheet Batch.
This export is available from the Actions menu of a Time Sheet Batch:
This export provides details about each Staff Time Sheet and can be used to review each Shift line item per Staff Member, making manual categorisation adjustments where required, for example, e.g. moving any hours incorrectly categorised as 'Evening Hours' to 'Inactive Night Shift', 'Time and a Half Hours' (Saturday), or 'Double Time Hours' (Sunday) as required.
You may find the instructions outlined in the Exporting a Time Sheet Batch section of the Generating a Time Sheet Batch article useful as it steps through exporting the 'Detailed Time Sheet' export which contains each of the Staff Time Sheets.