WFM UK: Rotas: Changing a Rota Start Day

Overview

This article describes the process for changing the Rota start day within the Fourth portal and an overview of the impacts that need to be considered.  

If this change is being planned for, it is advised to raise this with a Customer Success Manager at least a month before the change is to take place.

Please note: If using Scheduling please contact your Fourth Contact as additional support will be required.

Changing the Rota Start Day 

Communication will need to be sent to sites to advise them that they will need to remove and replace the hours for some days when the change takes place.  

On the week that the change takes place, sites will need to create their Rotas as usual starting on a Monday.  

For example: On Monday, change the Rota Start Day within the Rota module to show the Rota start day as Friday. The Week 1 date also needs to change so that it falls on a Friday.

• Go to Rotas 

Fig.1 – Rotas Module

• Select Configure Locations from the Administration drop-down

Fig.2 – Configure Locations

• Select the required Location from the drop-down menu

Fig.3 – Selecting Location to Configure

• Select Edit Rota Settings

Fig.4 – Edit Rota Settings

• Select the required Rota Start Day and Week 1 Date 

Fig.5 – Editing Rota Start Day and Week 1 Date

Editing Rotas at Site Level

Once the Rota Start Day has been changed, the sites will then need to create new Rotas for Friday on the same week.  

All of the hours from Friday onwards that had been added to the original rota before the change will need to be removed and then replicated onto the newly created Rota. 

Ensure any future Rotas that had been created are deleted so that there is no confusion.  Any hours that had been scheduled on future rotas will also need to be copied and replaced on the newly created Rota if needed.

Deleting Rotas

• Go to the Rotas Module and select View Rotas in the Rotas drop-down menu

Fig.6 – View Rotas

• Select the Location from the drop-down menu, and Open from the Status options
• Select Delete

Fig.7 – Deleting a Rota

Running Holiday Reports

It is advised to check the Holiday Records, as some may appear twice in the Payroll module due to two rotas covering the same days.

To check these, Holiday Reports need to be run and compared with the current Pay Run. Once duplicate Holiday Records have been highlighted, they need to be removed from the Employee’s Payroll Record. 

• Go to HR
• Select Employee Holidays from the Holidays and Absences drop-down menu

Fig.8 – Employee Holidays

• Select the required Dates From and Dates To

Fig.9 – Holiday Date Range

Reviewing the Pay Basis

If Payroll Periods are based on weekly periods, the date range for the Pay Basis will need to be reviewed to ensure that they correctly include the new Rota Period dates. 

As the frequency of the Company’s Pay Basis may change and is likely to be unique, please consult a Payroll Specialist at the Bureau for advice on how these dates should be adjusted.  

To review the Pay Basis date range:

• Go to Payroll > Administration > Company Setup
• Select the Company and View Pay Basis
• Select the required Pay Basis

Fig.10 – Reviewing Pay Basis

Reviewing Financial Periods

The final process is to review the Financial Periods used within the Rota module for running certain reports.  

Some of these reports include the Weekly Overview and Forecast Analysis.  To change Financial Periods, please contact a Customer Success Manager at Fourth for these to be changed by the Development Team. 

This change will need to be made once the Rota Start Day has been changed. Therefore, the reports may not be available using the new Rota Start Day until the Development Team have made the change.

To check the reports after the Financial Periods have been changed:

• Go to Rotas
• Select Weekly Overview Report v2 from the Reports drop-down menu

Fig.11 – Weekly Overview Report

• Select the required Report to review

Fig.12 – Selecting Overview Report

Things to Consider

For employees on a Flexible Holiday Scheme, when the original rota is submitted to Payroll, the days worked per employee will be used in the Holiday Calculation. As this Rota does not contain a full 7 days of hours, it will cause the employee’s Holiday Allowance to be lower than usual.  

• Choose whether to continue with this calculation or to extract the average days/hours before the change is made and then use the Flexible Holiday Override function within the Employee Batch Update to override the system calculated values

If using Overtime Rules on Rotas, calculate these figures manually for the affected week and then make any adjustments in Payroll as necessary.

It is advised that the HOL shift type is not used within the Rota module, especially during the affected weeks as this may make Holiday reporting harder when trying to capture duplicate records.