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Work patterns code table

Shirley Bousfield
Updated
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This guide will show you how Work Patterns are used to set up the working hours and days for an employee and form an important part of Time Off/Absence and Pro Rata Holiday and Public Holiday calculations.

 

Contents

 

Overview

  • Work Pattern is one of the fields that can be assigned to a Job and also affects the Book & View Time Off pages

  • When an employee is put into the post via Job and Pay, the default Work Pattern will then form part of the Job and Pay record for that employee, but it can be changed on an individual basis so that it varies from the default for the role as needed

  • You can view this via:
    • Latest (left-hand) menu: Job, Pay & Reward > Job and Pay
    • Pre-2025 (top) menu: Personal Data > Job, Pay & Reward Information > Job and Pay

  • HR user roles will also see Work Pattern on the Absence page and can amend it on individual absences if needed, eg to swap a shift:

    • Latest (left-hand) menu: Holidays & Absence > Book & View Time Off
    • Pre-2025 (top) menu: Personal Data > Time Management> Time Off

  • HR users can also amend individual times on each shift which is not available to other types of users with the exception of the CIPHRFLEXI shift (which is covered in a later section)

  • The Work Pattern forms an important part of Pro Rata Holiday and Public Holiday calculations

  • Non-working days will display in grey in the See Who’s Off and Absence Calendar/Planner charts: 

See Who's Off

  • Latest (left-hand) menu: Holidays & Absence > See Who's Off - Company
  • Pre-2025 (top) menu: My Company > Company Who’s Off
  • Latest (left-hand) menu: Holidays & Absence > See Who's Off - Manager Team View
  • Pre-2025 (top) menu: Personal Data > Team Information > Team Who’s Off

Absence Calendar/Planner

  • Latest (left-hand) menu: Holidays & Absence > Absence Calendar
  • Pre-2025 (top) menu: Personal Data > Time Management > Absence Planner

 


Work Patterns code table

  • Choose either:
    • Latest (left-hand) menu: Data Management > Code Tables
    • Pre-2025 (top) menu: System > System Administration > Code Tables

  • From the Group choose Job and Pay and then select the Work Patterns table

  • The screen will display all the existing Codes:
     

Note: A Work Pattern can be assigned to a Job. When an employee is put into the Job the default work pattern will then form part of the Job and Pay record for that employee. It can however, be changed on an employee basis so that it varies from the default for the role

 

Work pattern types

HR allows you to create 3 different types of work pattern:

  • Standard

  • Shift

  • Shift-Rotating

     

Standard

  • This is used for employees that work a standard five day week, Monday to Friday, with the same hours each day and therefore same weekly total hours

  • For example Monday to Friday: 09:00 to 17:30 with an hour for lunch each day

  • It can be used for part time workers as long as they fit the bill that they work Monday to Friday with the same hours each day: eg Monday to Friday: 13:00–16:00 with no break

  • More complex part time patterns can be covered by a Shift pattern which we’ll cover in the relevant section
     

To create/edit a Standard type work pattern

  • Click Insert New Record/into the existing pattern

  • Enter a Code and a Description and select the Type: Standard

  • Ignore the Irregular Work Pattern slider as this is a legacy field related to an older version of Ciphr HR

  • Select the Standard Start and Standard End times and the Hours in Break

Tip: the time fields use a 24 hour clock, and if typing numbers into the field make sure you use a colon : between the numbers so the system can recognise it’s a time eg: 6pm should be 18:00, not 18.00 or 06:00

  • The Hours in Break field is numerical so should not be entered in time format

    • 15 minutes should be 0.25 not 0.15

    • 30 minutes should be 0.5 not 0.30

  • The Average Weekly Hours will be calculated automatically (this is really just weekly hours on this type of pattern as it’s the same every week)

  • Click Update to save

 

Shift

  • This will be used for employees that work a shift pattern, for example where an employee works a set number of hours within a week, but the hours differ from day to day

  • A shift work pattern is often used for part time employees or employees on a compressed work pattern

  • If any employee’s workdays fall outside of Monday to Friday ie includes a Saturday/Sunday, you would need to set them up on a ‘shift’ work pattern

Tip: If an employee works an irregular number of hours per day then it is advisable to record their holiday in Hours rather than Days. As leave is booked the appropriate number of hours will be reduced according to the day of the week. See linked guide for more details on Holiday Entitlement.

 

To create a Shift type work pattern

  • Choose either:
    • Latest (left-hand) menu: Data Management > Code Tables
    • Pre-2025 (top) menu: System > System Administration > Code Tables

  • From the Group choose Job and Pay and then select the Work Patterns table

  • Click Insert New Record

  • Enter a Code and a Description and select the Type: Shift

  • Ignore the Irregular Work Pattern slider as this is a legacy field related to an older version of Ciphr HR

  • Click Update

  • You will now be presented with another tab where the hours and breaks in the day can be set up for each day

  • Leave times on any non-working days blank so they are not counted

  • Create the shift as required and click Save Changes

Note: Enter the start and finish times for each day, as well as the break time, and the shift hours will automatically update. The break time will be deducted from the shift hours, so if the break is paid, or partially paid, only insert the unpaid hours/minutes of the break. Eg if employees have an hour break and 45 minutes is paid and 15 minutes is unpaid – only enter the 15 minutes (0.25)

 

Shift-Rotating

  • This is used for employees that have a shift pattern that differs over more than one week, for example Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday on week one and then a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday on week two

  • A Shift-Rotating work pattern may be used for a nine-day fortnight or employees on a set monthly rota for example

Note: This pattern must still follow a set rotating pattern over multiple weeks so cannot be used for variable hours that don’t follow a fixed work pattern. The CIPHRFLEXI code covered later can help to record variable patterns

 

To create a Shift-Rotating type work pattern

  • Choose either:
    • Latest (left-hand) menu: Data Management > Code Tables
    • Pre-2025 (top) menu: System > System Administration > Code Tables

  • From the Group choose Job and Pay and then select the Work Patterns table

  • Click Insert New Record

  • Enter a Code and a Description and select the Type: Shift - Rotating

Note: The Base Date can be changed and should reflect the date that the work pattern is starting from. Eg the start of the first week of a six week rota

  • Ignore the Irregular Work Pattern slider as this is a legacy field related to an older version of Ciphr HR

  • Click Update

  • You will now be presented with another tab where the hours and breaks in the day can be set up

  • Each shift will have a date based on the Base Date

  • Enter a shift for each date in the shift pattern to ensure a full rotation is covered (eg 8 weeks). The system will then restart the pattern after the last date and cycle continuously

  • You can enter up to 52 weeks but that would require extensive manual data entry and maintenance and is not necessary unless the pattern is actually 52 weeks

  • Leave times on any non-working days blank so they are not counted

  • Create the shift as required and click Save Changes


 

Notes: 

  • The shift date must start on or before the Job and Pay record for the person(s) attached to the Work Pattern
  • It is recommended to place part time employees on this type of pattern on an hours-based Holiday Entitlement due to the fact that their days vary each week

  • Otherwise the same conditions apply to the shift-rotating patterns as normal shifts:

    • Enter the start and finish times for each day, as well as the break time – the shift hours will automatically update

    • The break time will be deducted from the shift hours, so if the break is paid, or partially paid, only insert the unpaid hours/minutes of the break. Eg if employees have an hour break and 45 minutes is paid and 15 minutes is unpaid – only enter the 15 minutes (0.25)

 


CIPHRFLEXI pattern

  • You will see in your code table that there is an existing shift pattern called ‘Flexible Absence 7 day work pattern’ with the code CIPHRFLEXI

⚠️Important: This code enables special functionality and should not be amended (apart from the description) or deleted, but it can be used more than once for multiple patterns, as long as each pattern has a unique description

  • This Work Pattern can be used for people who work irregular hours or casual work such as a zero hours contract arrangement

  • The times in the pattern assume the person could work at any point and time within a seven day week

  • When an absence is entered in Book & View Time Off, this pattern allows the employee to log the hours they were due to work, to accurately record the absence

Notes: 

  • Only the CIPHRFLEXI type of pattern allows a user to amend their own working times; they cannot do this with other types of Working Patterns

  • HR User Roles can amend daily times on all Work Patterns and have the option to swap the Work Pattern for a particular Absence

  • The standard CIPHRFLEXI pattern does not have any non-working days as the person can work any time 24/7, so there will be no non-working days displayed in the See Who’s Off and Absence Calendar/Planner charts

  • The CIPHRFLEXI Code can be copied to create multiple, more structured patterns by inserting a new shift pattern with an appropriate description but copy Code CIPHRFLEXI to trigger the functionality

    • Eg a casual worker who never works weekends could have the shift set up with no times entered on a Saturday and Sunday which would then display non-working days in the absence charts

  • As the CIPHRFLEXI pattern is designed for casual Working Patterns, it is designed to work in Hours rather than Days

    • It is recommended to place flexible workers on an hours-based Holiday Entitlement scheme

    • Part days cannot be recorded on this shift as there are no standard daily hours to recognise a part shift

  • It is recommended to also include Public Holidays in a CIPHRFLEXI employee’s hours Holiday Entitlement scheme to ensure accuracy due to the variable working days:

    • The person would then book holiday if not working on a Public Holiday that falls on a working day

    • Alternatively leave can be booked for affected employees using the Bulk Absence tool. This is covered in more detail in the Absence Management Bitesize training in Ciphr Academy

  • People on a CIPHRFLEXI pattern with no defined weekly hours or working days will not receive an accurate Public Holiday calculation in the Pro Rata Holiday Entitlement as the system does not know when they are supposed to work

Example: Copy CIPHRFLEXI shift with non-working days on a weekend. This has a relevant Description but the Code is CIPHRFLEXI to trigger the functionality

 

XTOIL

  • There is another existing work pattern called XTOIL which should also not be deleted or amended (apart from the Description)

  • This pattern is used for recording time off in lieu (TOIL) if your organisation uses this type of arrangement, so is not an actual working pattern

  • TOIL is where employees can accrue time worked outside their normal working pattern and take it as absence at a later date, like an alternative to flexitime or overtime

  • The second tab - Work Pattern Shifts - details the suggested time period where the TOIL Accrued Absence Code can be entered (to log TOIL that has been accrued), so can be limited by adjusting the times as necessary

  • Eg: add a start time of 06:00 and end time of 20:00 on the relevant day(s) if TOIL can only be accrued within this time bracket. This will prevent the user entering TOIL Accrued outside of the specified times

TOIL is managed by Absence Codes that are selected when recording absence in Book & View Time Off.

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