ABS Blog

After you’ve created the accounts needed to accrue vacation and sick time, and create the auto accrual policies, you’ll need to enroll your employees in those policies. There are two different ways to enroll employees in auto accrual policies using our HR software.

In Staff Files you can enroll policies right from the Accruals tab. This is the fastest and easiest way to enroll a single, new employee. Click the Enroll button under the Auto Accrual Enrollment History ledger. Then you’ll be able to select the auto accrual policy that’s right for that particular employee. You can also choose the enrollment to start on a specific date or the employees’ hire date.

New users who are setting up Staff Files for the first time or companies who are implementing a new time-off policy can use the Group Enrollment tools to save time. This tool will enroll a group of employees in an auto accrual policy in a one batch.

Watch this video to see how easy it is to enroll employees in auto accrual policies using Staff Files HR software.

Our HR software allows you to automatically accrue time off using auto accrual policies. Staff Files helps you define your own unique accrual policies.

You can choose to add or edit Auto Accrual Policies from the Define menu. The first step in the wizard is to choose the accrual account, such as vacation or sick time, the policy will be accruing time off.

Next you’ll select the accrual period, or the frequency time off is accrued for this policy. For example, a weekly accrual period will post time off accruals at the end of each week. You could also create an inactive time off accrual policy using the Custom accrual period. When this policy is in effect no auto accruals will be posted to employees’ accounts. This type of policy is typically used for short-term disability and maternity leave. For a weekly accrual policy, enter the day of the week you would like the pay period to end.

Then you’ll pick the beginning of the accrual year. The accrual year could start on a specific month or on the employee’s anniversary date.

Define the accrual rates used during the first year of employment. The last step in the wizard will allow you to define accrual rates for employees who have been with your company for more than one year.

If your organization uses a trial period, select the trial period length, such as the first 30 days or the first three months. Time off will still be accrued, just not awarded until after the trial period.

You’ll also have the ability to set a “use-it-or-lose-it” rule that will adjust the accrual balance to zero at the end of every year.

The final step in the Auto Accrual Policy wizard is the Seniority Table. The accruals rates in the Seniority Table are based on employees’ length of employment. If you do not have a tiered accrual rate for employees based on the amount of yours they have worked for your company, then you’ll only need to enter a single seniority record to indicate the amount of time they should accrue after the first year of employment.

Watch this video to see how you can set up your own custom policies, so Staff Files HR software will automatically calculate time off.

The Accruals tab in our HR software lets your track time off from work, such as accrued vacation days, sick leave, paid time off, etc. The Accruals tab tallies the balance of the amount of time off accrued. The first thing you need to do in Staff Files is define your accrual accounts.

To set up your accrual accounts, select Accruals from the Define menu and then choose Accrual Accounts. In this window, you’ll be able to add or edit your accrual accounts, such as vacation or sick time. You can enter a unique name for your account and choose to accrue time by hours or days.

There are two areas in the Accruals tab that display time-off information:

1) The Accrual Ledger maintains all the activity for accrued balances and enrollments. It includes a record of accrued time off, plus the deducted absences.

2) The View Absences ledger only displays employee absences. To complete a manual accrual entry, click the Add button under the Accrual Ledger. In the Manual Accrual Entry window, enter a date, select a transaction type, such as deduct or earned, and type in the amount of time they will take off.

Watch this video to see how easy it is to set up Accrual Accounts. When your accrual accounts are ready, you’ll be able to setup your auto accrual policies and enroll your employees in those policies.

Howard Malley worked in television production for over 40 years. He’s been using Visual Staff Scheduler Pro (VSS Pro) for about a dozen years. He started using VSS Pro when he was hired to work on a TV series for Better Homes & Gardens. The project included 13 television shows and each show had four segments, which meant they had to produce 52 different segments. He had to schedule crew, talent, hair and makeup staff, and anyone else involved for each of those 52 segments. Before using VSS Pro they had cards on a board and would have to fill in the blanks on each card to create the work schedules. Using VSS Pro, Howard was able to create staff schedules for an entire production season in just two weeks! Watch the video to hear why Howard has used our employee scheduling software for so many years.

Once your employee information is organized in Staff Files, you may be wondering about the best way to retrieve that information. You can quickly find data in our HR software by using the filters, sorts, and reports.

Filters and Sorts
Use the filters to limit the list of names you see on screen and on reports. For example, you can set the filter criteria for a specific department, so your lists will only show employees who work in that department. Use sorts to determine the order in which information is displayed on screen and on reports. For example, you can set up a sort to list the names by their location in descending order. You can use filters and sorts together or separately. You can set up filters and sorts in the Define menu.

HR Reports
There are two types of reports in Staff Files: employee reports and staff reports. Employee reports show an individual employee’s information. The Comprehensive report is an example of an employee reports and lists lots of data about one employee. Staff reports show a specific type of information about a group of employees. The Anniversary report is an example of a staff report and lists all of the employee names, hire dates, and years of service with the company.

Watch the video to see how easy it is to find employee information in Staff Files using filters, sorts, and reports.

Accrual accounts are used to identify the types of accruals you’ll maintain for your employees. Common types of accrual accounts include vacation time, sick time, and paid time off (i.e. PTO). In Staff Files, you must define your accrual accounts before setting up policies. You can add an accrual account from the Define menu. You’ll be able to name your own account and choose to accrue time by hours or days. Once you’ve defined your accrual account, you can define your time-off policies using the Auto Accrual Policy wizard.

Many people can use Staff Files when your company has a multi-user license. You can limit access to certain types of information or departments, or allow read-only access. You can set up unique usernames and passwords for each manager to secure your company’s confidential personnel records. Set up your usernames and passwords in the Manage Security window that can be found in the File menu. Watch this video to see how you can set up the accrual accounts and security settings in Staff Files.

Getting started with our HR software is easy. There are three easy steps to set up Staff Files:

1. Define Your Settings
2. Change Field Labels
3. Add Your Employees

Define Your Settings
The first step is to go through the Define menu to set up all the customized settings for your business. You can define drop-down lists for department, location, position, status and wage type. For example, if you’ve got employees working at different locations or facilities, it’s easy to add the names of those facilities to the list of locations found in the General tab, so you’ll be able to identify the workplaces of each employee. You’ll also be able to define categories for EEO categories, employee benefits, incidents, notes, training and certification, and document categories. You can also customize the New Hire Checklist and Separation Checklist to match your requirements for covering the necessary procedures for new employee orientation and when employees leave your company. The Define menu is also where you would set up the built-in Reminders system.

Change Field Labels
Staff Files allows you more flexibility by allowing you to change the labels of existing fields that are shown in the tabs. For example, you’ll want to add the names of the positions held at your company or you may want to keep track of specific information in the User tab. Simply double-click on the field label to display the Label Edit dialog box. Type the new name for the field and click OK.

Add Your Employees
There are a couple of ways to add employees to Staff Files. If you’re setting up Staff Files for the first time, you can import contact data from QuickBooks or a text file (.txt) right from the File menu. Then when your organization hires new employees click the Add button to add a new employee file.

Watch the video to see how these three easy steps can help you get started with Staff Files. Next week we’ll talk about setting up auto accrual accounts and policies, and security settings.

ScheduleBase, our newest online staff scheduling software, recently implemented a Tell a Friend program. When the Tell a Friend form is filled out, the referrer’s name is entered for a chance to win an iPad! It’s a great opportunity to share information about a useful solution for creating shift schedules. It’s also a useful communications tool because employees can login to indicate when they cannot work and can receive their work schedules via text message on their phone. If you’ve got a friend who creates shift schedules at their workplace, tell them about ScheduleBase!

Do you have special announcements, instructions, and other work information you would like to communicate to your employees? If so, include that information on a custom cover page for your shift schedules. It’s a great way to make sure all your employees will see it since they’ll be surely take notice of the upcoming shift schedule.

Create a Microsoft® Word document to use as your cover page. You can design it to look like an employee letter, a memo, a flyer, or any other style you wish. Then create your shift schedule in Visual Staff Scheduler Pro (VSS Pro) and click the Preview button. In the Preview window, click the Add button to attach the Word document you would like to use as the coverage page. You’ll be able to print or email your cover page and schedule together for your employees.

Would you like to mail appointment reminders, sales promotions, new employee or service announcements, and other information to your customers? You can do it easily in our appointment scheduling software!

Using the Letters Tool in Customer Appointment Manager, you can insert merge fields into a Microsoft® Word letter template. You’ll be able to merge data from customer contact information fields, as well as the custom fields you’ve defined. You’ll also be able to choose to publish the letters to all customers or just those who have had an appointment during a specific time period. For example, send a promotional letter to customers who haven’t scheduled an appointment for a while to entice them to come back in. Sending letters to customers is a great way to advertise your services and increase your business.