Timesheet reminders

I would like to start by saying a huge THANK YOU to all our staff who have responded so well to our roll out of TimeFiler and the most recent conversations over how to submit leave over the holidays and the merge of around 250 dual role staff onto one annual leave record.

With the roll out of TimeFiler we have identified and received some feedback over some niggles and areas of difficulty which we are getting re developed to make this tool even easier to use.
We have also had some questions over how staff can use their annual leave if they are in roles that don’t allow leave to be taken in the holidays e.g. CA’s and CSW’s. For these staff we have relaxed this rule and they will be able to take leave in the holiday as annual leave and are going to extend this as far as to say it would be our preference if staff used their available leave balance prior to taking unpaid leave. Please also note that you need to apply for leave prior to actually going on leave – and with a decent amount of notice if it is more than just the odd day.  

With the introduction of TimeFiler we also have better oversight and sadly have noticed a very small handful of staff who are manipulating the system to better themselves through the use of selective leave taking. We have identified some picking and choosing to only apply leave against their higher paid roles and unpaid leave to their lower paid ones. We are disappointed to see this happening as this is not how annual leave is intended for use and we have now been forced to change our calculation method going forward to work purely in line with the Holidays Act which uses weekly pay rather than pay by individual role for the calculation as we have been doing in the past. It’s a shame to see a few people spoil it for everyone.

I would also like to thank our staff for their response to our request to stop timesheet banking. We have noticed a significant decrease in this practice. However, it has not disappeared completely and we are still receiving timesheets sometimes upwards to 12 months old. We have recently had a test case for very old timesheet that has been presented that due to the time delay and turnover of staff we have not been able to establish if this staff member genuinely worked the hours claimed or not, in this event the staff have not been paid. So it is just a reminder to please present your timesheet every fortnight and don’t leave it to chance that someone will remember you having worked that time in 3,6 or even 12 months’ time and be willing to provide the approval needed for payment.