WFM UK | HR UK: Limited Working for Employees – Fourth & HotSchedules Customer Success Portal

Summary

Limited Working allows employers to control the maximum number of hours an employee can be scheduled to work within a defined period, such as a 20-hour weekly limit. This feature helps organisations remain compliant with contractual, legal, or visa-related (outside of the Right to Work functionality) working restrictions by preventing or warning against over-scheduling.

When a Limited Working rule is applied to an employee, the system will either block scheduling beyond the defined limit or generate alerts when the limit is exceeded, depending on configuration.

Limited Working also supports Exemption Periods, during which an employee can be scheduled beyond their usual working limit. This mirrors the behaviour of Student Visa exemptions.

Global Setting

To enable Limited Working,

Go to HR > Administration > Global Settings > Edit Employee Availability
Tick Enable Working Hour Limitations? and then Save

**Fig.1 - Limited Working Global Setting**

Configure Limited Working for an Employee

Then, to configure and enforce a Working Hour limit for an employee, go to:

HR > Employees > Employee List > search for and select an Employee
Use the employee side menu and go to Employee Info > Personal Details
Scroll to the bottom of the page to find 'Limited Working'
Tick the Limited Working? box
Enter a value for the maximum number of hours an employee should be allowed to work per week in the Working Hours Limitation field
Use the optional Notes section to record any additional information
Then Save

Please note: Limited Working does not have a start or end date. Once applied, the employee is considered to be on Limited Working indefinitely until the restriction is removed. Any temporary changes to allowable working hours must be managed using Exemption Periods.

Exemption Periods

Just like with Student Visas, exemption periods can be applied to temporarily remove the working limitation.

To do this,

Return to the employee's Personal Details page and scroll back down to their 'Limited Working' section
Select Dates in the Exemption Period field
In the pop-up that opens, select Add Date
Enter a Date From and a Date To, and then Save

**Fig.3 - Limited Working Exemption Periods Configuration Page**

This will create the exemption period, and the process can be repeated for every exemption period that is applicable during the time of the employee's Student Visa.

**Fig.4 - Limited Working Exemption Periods Configuration Page - Configured**

Rota Module Settings & Validations

A setting available in the Rota module is 'Warning Settings for Confliction shifts on Rota'. Depending on the option selected, this will prevent rotas from being saved, or submitted, or both when it comes to shift conflicts and limitations such as Student Visas.

This can be found by going to:

Rotas > Administration > Global Settings > Edit Rota Settings

**Fig.5 - Rota Module - Edit Rota Settings**

Scroll down to Warning Settings for Confliction shifts on Rota
There will be six available options, with the recommended setting being Warn on Save and Block Submission

This recommended setting will warn the manager when saving the rota, but not prevent them from doing so. The manager will be prevented from submitting the rota to payroll if they have not rectified the scheduled hours.

**Fig.6 - Rota Module - Edit Rota Settings - Warning Settings**

With this setting enabled, when scheduling a qualifying employee and calculating or saving the rota, a pop-up will appear.

An asterisk is displayed to remind the manager that the employee is restricted from working more than the allowed hours - see Fig.6.

**Fig.7 - Submission of Rota - Working Hour Limitation Warning**

Scheduling Module Settings & Validation

Ensure that the above Rota module global settings are applied before following these steps:

Go to Scheduling > Settings > select Organisation
Select Edit against the required Organisation and tick the box against Limited Working Hours Enabled
Scroll down and select Save

**Fig.8 - Enable Limited Working Hours in Scheduling**

Please Note: Scheduling-enabled portals must also have 'Use React Scheduling Page' enabled (from within the same location as above).

With this setting enabled, when scheduling the employee, a pop-up will appear, warning that "The shift cannot be saved as total hours worked this week will exceed the hours allowed limit in the employee's limited hours configuration."

**Fig.9 - Scheduling Warning for Hours over Limit**