COVID-19: Work smarter, happier and healthier

With the huge struggle that businesses are currently dealing with when it comes to the coronavirus, we wanted to lend a helping hand to any of the businesses using Edays.

Like many of you already know, our absence management system does much more than just managing absence, allowing employees to book holidays and giving HR the absence insights they need. We can also help you manage and track absences caused due to the coronavirus.

Learn how we can help your business with the solutions below

Adding absence types for self-isolation

Within Edays, you can create multiple absence types that can be selected when an employee is off. One of these can be created as coronavirus or self-isolation, for those who might be affected by it. You can also have it set up so this absence cannot impact things such as Bradford Factor and paid sickness entitlement.

How to create a self-isolation absence type

1. Navigate to ‘Admin tools’ then select ‘Admin Panel’
2. From here go to the ‘Global’ dropdown and select ‘Absence type setup’
3. At the top of the page click the blue ‘+ Add new’ button
4. Here you can create your new self-isolation absence type. You can also set the new absence type to be unplanned, as well as affecting a sickness entitlement if you have limited paid sickness entitlement.
5. Press ‘Save’

Once you have saved it, there will be other options you can select and edit. We would suggest you take a look at the ‘Booking settings’ area and decide whether people can book this for themselves. You may also want to look at the ‘Additional settings’ area to determine whether it affects the employees’ Bradford Factor score.

Working from home policy

With many businesses now asking their employees to work from home, you may want to consider creating a working from home absence type in your Edays system.

How to create working from home absence type

1. Navigate to ‘Admin tools’ then select ‘Admin Panel’
2. From here go to the ‘Global’ dropdown and select ‘Absence type setup’
3. At the top of the page click the blue ‘+ Add new’ button
4. Here you can create your working from home absence type. You can also set the new absence type to be planned.
5. Press ‘Save’

Once you have saved it you can then create its permissions using the new options below.

Implementing sickness triggers & alerts

If you do create a self-isolation absence type, (see instructions above) Edays can inform you once users book this absence type.

How to create a self-isolation trigger

1. Navigate to ‘Admin tools’ then select ‘Admin panel’
2. From here go to the ‘Global’ dropdown and select ‘System setup’
3. Scroll down to the ‘Additional email notifications’ section, then press the blue ‘+ Add new’ button
4. Using the dropdown boxes, you can create your triggers and alerts
   1. Notification type = Authorisable Record
   2. Record type = Unplanned
   3. Specific record type = self-isolation
   4. Status(s) = Select the status that should trigger this alert
   5. Email address = Enter the email address you would like this alert to go to. You can enter multiple emails addressed by putting a semi-colon between them
5. Press ‘Save’

You can also setup Absence alert groups, that inform you if a sickness absence has been created of a certain length.

How to create a self-isolation absence alert group

1. Navigate to ‘Admin tools’ then select ‘Admin Panel’
2. From here go to the ‘Global’ dropdown and select ‘Alert Group Setup’
3. Press the blue ‘+ Add alert group’ button at the top of the page
4. Create your alert group using the 3 options
   1. Name = Name of alert group
   2. Alert match type = Select your preferred “Alert match type” for the new alert group, along with any further required settings.
   3. Record status to match on = Set your record status that should be considered a match
5. Press ‘Save’

Now you need to create the absence alert itself.

How to create a self-isolation absence alert

1. Navigate to ‘Admin tools’ then select ‘Admin Panel’
2. From here go to the ‘Global’ dropdown and select ‘Alert Group Setup’
3. Use the search filter at the top of the page to find your newly created alert group
4. Press the blue ‘List’ button next to your new alert group
5. Press the blue ‘+ Add absence alert’ button
6. Input the details of your new alert
   1. Name = Name your new alert
   2. Alert trigger threshold (days) = How long should the employee be absent, before the alert is triggered
   3. Alert recipient = Select who should receive the alert
   4. Alert message body = Include a message that will be sent
7. Press ‘Save’

Providing global reporting on the effect of the coronavirus in your business

Once you start recording self-isolation within your Edays system, you can use our reporting section to filter on this particular absence type.

How to create self-isolation reports

1. Navigate to ‘Manager tools’ then select ‘Reports dashboard’
2. Select the tab ‘Data reports’
3. Under the ‘Create report’ dropdown, select ‘Create absence report’
4. Using the folders on the left, drag and drop the information you want to report on. Makes sure you include ‘Absence type’ in the ‘Absence’ folder
5. Once you have added everything you want, click the orange ‘Filter’ button
6. Select the filter of ‘Absence Type’ using the dropdown box and then select self-isolation
7. Click ‘Update report’
8. Once you are happy with your report, click save
9. Provide the report with a name and select a folder to store it in.
10. To download the report, click on the blue “Download” button followed by your preferred format.

Managing sickness entitlement

You can decide if the self-isolation absence type can affect an employees’ sickness entitlement or have its own entitlement. If you do not have a sickness entitlement setup, please contact us on support@e-days.com and we can help you.

How to manage self-isolation sickness entitlement

1. Navigate to ‘Admin tools’ then select ‘Admin panel’
2. From here select the ‘Users’ dropdown and then select ‘Users’
3. Use the search filter to find the employee you wish to update their entitlement for and click the blue ‘Edit’ button next to their name.
4. Press the ‘Entitlements’ tab and then click the orange ‘Advanced’ button at the bottom of the page
5. Click the blue ‘Edit’ button on the ‘Sickness’ row
6. Additional step for users in Complex mode – Click “Edit” next to your sickness element
7. Press the tab (“Last year”, “Current year” or “Next year”) for the year period you wish to update.
8. Input the figure you wish to set within the “Annual Entitlement” field.
9. Press the orange “Save” button.

Store working from and self-isolation policies

If you have a working from home policy or a new self-isolation policy, you can store these in your document portal areas. Allowing employees to easily locate and read them from home.

How to add a new self-isolation policy document

1. Navigate to ‘Admin tools’ then select ‘Admin panel’
2. From here select the ‘Global’ dropdown and then select ‘Document portal’
3. Click the blue ‘+ Add category’ button and enter in the details of your new category
   1. Name = Name your new category
   2. Description = Add a description of the policies that will go into this category
   3. Priority = Set a priority number
4. Under the ‘Groups’ area, you can select whether the document is only viewable to a certain country, location, team or group
5. Click the ‘Choose Files’ button to upload your self-isolation document

We hope this helps, but if you need anything explaining further or want us to advise on anything please contact us and we can help you.

And remember, keep washing your hands and stay safe.