WFM UK | HR & Payroll: Creating Absence in Hours – Fourth & HotSchedules Customer Success Portal

Return to: WFM UK | HR & Payroll: Absence (Sickness)

Overview

This article covers the end-to-end process of recording and managing absence in hours within the system, from creating an absence record through to how it flows into Rotas and Scheduling. It also covers how the system handles hours-based absences alongside other types of leave, such as holidays and statutory leave.

Absence in Hours allows a greater level of detail when recording sickness, enabling individual days within an absence to be recorded with specific hour values and part-day statuses. As with day-based absences, once recorded, the downstream impact across pay, rotas, and reporting is handled accurately and consistently.

For Processing Absence in Days, refer to: WFM UK | HR & Payroll: Creating Absence in Days

For details on how absence records process through payroll, including SSP and CSP calculations, refer to: WFM UK | HR & Payroll: Absence (Sickness) - Payroll Processing, SSP & CSP Calculations

Important: Before proceeding, we recommend reviewing the WFM UK | HR & Payroll: Absence Related User Permissions & Portal Settings article, as your configuration of various settings can impact absence creation and downstream calculations. References are made throughout this article where relevant, but not every possible configuration scenario may be captured.

Configuring an Absence
Absence Record Breakdown
Absence Representation in Rota
Absence Representation in Scheduling

Configuring an Absence

This section covers how to record an absence through the UI. For bulk recording of absences, refer to:

WFM UK | HR & Payroll: Absence (Sickness) Data Imports

Once absence types have been configured in the system, they can be applied to employee records to record periods of sickness. Where an employee has a contract assigned that is configured to pay Company Sick Pay (CSP), this will be calculated and paid alongside Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) where the employee is eligible.

Users with Full Access to the Absences permission will be able add new absences.

Via HR or Payroll Module

To configure an absence, navigate to either:

HR Module > Employees > Employee List > Find & Select Employee > Employee HR Info > Absences
Payroll Module > Employees > Employee List > Find & Select Employee > Employee Info > Absences

Select Add A New Absence

**Fig.1 - Add New Absence (Employee Record)**

Filter Reason for Absence By: Select whether the absence is in Days or Hours. For the purpose of this article, select Hours.

Note: If the Enforce Absence in Hours Only? Global Setting is enabled, days will be unavailable to select.

Reason for Absence: Automatically filtered to display absence types configured for days. Select the relevant absence type from the list.

Note: Whether an absence type appears here is determined by the Absence in Hours setting configured on the absence type itself.

Absence Date From / Absence Date To: The start and end dates of the employee's absence. Hour-based absences cannot be left open ended, meaning the Absence Date To must be completed.

**Fig.3 - Select Absence Type & Apply Data Range**

Doctors Certificate: If the absence requires a doctor's certificate, tick this option and enter the certificate date range. The certificate dates are required if this is ticked.

**Fig.4 - Doctors Certificate and Date Range**

Evidence Seen: Tick when sickness-related documentation has been provided and reviewed.

Note: Evidence Seen is required for SSP and CSP to be paid. However, the absence type can be configured to remove this requirement, allowing SSP and CSP to pay automatically without evidence being provided. A further option on the absence type allows the field to be hidden from the form entirely.

Any additional information relevant to the absence can be recorded here
Certain special characters are not permitted in this field for security purposes. If saving the absence fails unexpectedly, review the Notes field for any special characters and remove them before retrying.

**Fig.5 - Evidence Seen & Absence Notes**

Return to Work Completed: Indicates whether a return to work has been completed for this absence.

Note: This is currently an administrative field only. Ticking this has no functional impact on the absence or its calculations, but the value is available for reporting purposes.

Days Usually Worked: Defines which days of the week are treated as qualifying days for the absence. At least one day must be selected. Each day ticked means every occurrence of that day within the absence date range will be considered a qualifying day for SSP and CSP purposes.

**Fig.6 - Return to Work & Days Usually Worked**

Absence Hours Per Day: Displays every day within the absence date range, allowing the number of hours to be entered individually for each day. A bulk-fill tool is available to populate all qualifying days with the same number of hours at once, and the same applies to the Part Day tick box.

Any day marked as Part Day will not attract SSP. CSP will only be paid at a half day rate for part day absences where the employee's contract is configured to allow this. For more information, refer to the Use Half Days for Part Day Absences in Hours setting within CSP Configuration.

The grid also displays any conflicting shifts, leave, or other absence records for each day within the range, giving users full visibility before saving.

When the absence record has been configured, click Save

Once saved, the record will appear in the Absences page:

Populating Absence Hours Per Day

Expanding on Fig.7, this section provides further detail and guidance on how to populate the Absence Hours Per Day grid when recording an hours-based absence.

This section of the Absence form is populated with every day within the Absence Date From and Absence Date To is made up of 9 columns:

Note: This section will not populate until an Absence Date To has been entered.

Weekday & Date: Read-only. Displays the day of the week and corresponding date for each row within the absence range.

Absence Hours: The number of hours the employee was absent on that day. Values can be entered as whole numbers or in increments of 0.25, and can be left blank or set to 0 where no hours are to be recorded. There is no automatic calculation applied; users must manually enter the hours for each day. The hours entered here will be reflected in Rota and Scheduling.

Part Day: Indicates whether the absence on that day was a part day, for example where the employee worked part of a shift or had a half-day holiday. Ticking this for any day will exclude that day from SSP calculation. CSP will only be paid at a half-day rate for part-day absences where the employee's contract is configured to allow this.

Both the Absence Hours and Part Day columns can be populated manually on a day-by-day basis, or using the bulk-fill tool at the top of the section. The bulk-fill tool will apply the entered hours value and part day status to all days within the absence range that are also flagged as qualifying days in the Days Usually Worked section. Individual days can then be adjusted manually after the bulk-fill has been applied if required.

**Fig.10 - Apply Absence Hours to all Qualifying Days**

Shifts & Shift Hours: Highlights any existing shifts on that date, with the corresponding shift hours displayed in the Shift Hours column. Where a shift is present, the icon can be selected to view the full shift details.

Note: Where a day is not marked as Part Day, saving the absence will automatically remove any existing shift for that day and replace it with the absence. For part day absences, the shift will be retained alongside the absence and may require manual review and adjustment.

Holiday: Two icons indicate whether a half day or full day holiday exists on that date. A full day holiday on any day within the absence range will prevent the absence from saving. A half day holiday is permitted, but only where that absence day is also marked as Part Day.

Existing Absence: Two icons indicate whether a part day or full day absence already exists on that date. A full day absence on any day within the absence range will prevent the absence from saving. A part day absence is permitted, but only where that absence day is also marked as Part Day.

**Fig.13 - Existing Absence vs Absence**

Info: Displays additional information or validation messages for each day where relevant. This includes notifications such as conflicts with existing absences, holidays, or other types of leave including parental and carers leave, as well as informational messages such as where an existing shift will be removed as part of saving the absence.

Via Rota

If using Scheduling, users may not be able to see the Rota Module.

Absences can also be created directly from within the Rota module, without the need to navigate to the employee's record in HR or Payroll. The fields and behaviour are the same as described above.

Note: Creating absence directly from Scheduling is not currently available.

To configure an absence, navigate to:

Rota Module > Rotas > View Rotas > Find & Select Necessary Rota

Filter to the correct Division, and Job Title if required and select a day of the week for the Day Content Page:

**Fig.14 - Navigate to the Day Content Page**

Find the employee to add an Absence for, and select the icon:

A pop-up will load allowing a new absence record to be created for that day. The fields and process are the same as described in the HR and Payroll Module steps above. Complete the fields accordingly and select save:

Note: Creating Absences via Rota are limited to one day at a time.

**Fig.16 - Create Absence (Rota) - 1 of 2**

**Fig.16 - Create Absence (Rota) - 2 of 2**

Once the record has saved, the pop-up window will close, and the Rota will now show that there is an absence for this day:

**Fig.17 - Absence now showing on Rota (Day Content Page)**

**Fig.18 - Absence now showing on Rota (Week View)**

Returning to either:

HR Module > Employees > Employee List > Find & Select Employee > Employee HR Info > Absences
Payroll Module > Employees > Employee List > Find & Select Employee > Employee Info > Absences

The absence created via the Rota, will show in the employees Absence records:

Note: Where the Consolidate Rota Absences global setting is enabled, individual day absences created via the rota will automatically be merged into a single absence record upon rota submission to payroll, provided they are continuous and identical in their details. For example, three consecutive single-day absences created via the rota would become one absence record on the employee's record rather than three separate entries.

Validation vs other types of leave or absence

When recording an absence, the system will validate against other leave types already present on the employee's record for the same date range. The table below outlines how absence in days interacts with each leave type and the expected behaviour in each scenario:

Important: Where an employee has existing shifts on any of the days within the absence date range, the absence will still save successfully for full day absences, and any shifts on those days will be automatically removed and replaced by the absence record. Where a day is marked as Part Day, both the shift and the absence record will persist. In this scenario, the shift may require manual review and adjustment to reflect the hours actually worked.

**Fig.20 - Example Error when attempting to save an Absence Record where an Holiday record exists on the same date**

Absence Record Breakdown

Once a record is created, the system will immediately start to calculate entitlements and payments and this can be seen in the Absence Record Breakdown. The Absence Record Breakdown provides a day-by-day view of SSP and CSP calculations for an individual absence record, directly within the employee's absence screen. The values shown match exactly what the payroll calculation engine produces, ensuring figures tie out with payroll outputs and exports. If an absence record is edited and recalculated, the breakdown updates automatically to reflect the new figures.

How to view the breakdown

To see the Absence breakdown, go to either:

HR Module > Employees > Employee List > Find & Select Employee > Employee HR Info > Absences
Payroll Module > Employees > Employee List > Find & Select Employee > Employee Info > Absences

Then where the employee has an absence record, select the button in the Breakdown column:

This will expand the UI to present the breakdown for that Absence record:

The view is read-only and cannot be edited from this panel.
Values shown match exactly what the payroll calculation engine produces, so they'll tie out with payroll outputs and exports.
If the absence record is later edited and recalculated, the breakdown updates automatically to reflect the new figures.

What the breakdown shows

The breakdown is split into two halves: the left side covers Statutory Sick Pay, and the right side covers Company Sick Pay.

Column Header	Description
Absence Date	Shows the date of the absence, the day of the week it falls on, and whether that date counts as a qualifying day, indicated with a tick or cross.
Pay SSP Day	A tick shows the date is eligible for SSP, a cross shows it isn't. A number in brackets tracks the cumulative SSP day count as the absence progresses, for example, Day 1 (qualifying) shows SSP Day (1), Day 2 (qualifying) shows SSP Day (2), Day 3 (qualifying) shows SSP Day (3). Day 4 and Day 5 (non-qualifying, no SSP due) both remain at (3). Day 6 (qualifying) moves on to (4), and Day 7 (qualifying) moves on to (5).
SSP Daily Rate	Shows the SSP amount for that specific day, with the running cumulative total for the absence shown in brackets.
Excluded Reason	Shows the reason why SSP isn't being paid for that day, where applicable.
Entitlement Started	Shows when CSP entitlement begins for this absence record. This may be later than the absence start date if the contract is configured with CSP waiting days.
Pay CSP Day	A tick shows the day is due CSP, with a number in brackets tracking the same cumulative day count logic used for SSP above. Alongside the tick or cross, a symbol indicates the type of day: a full circle for a full CSP day, a half circle for a half CSP day, and an hourglass for a CSP waiting day.
CSP Daily Rate	Shows the CSP amount for that specific day, with the running cumulative total shown in brackets.
Payment Date	Shows the date on which the SSP and CSP for that day will be paid.

At the bottom of the breakdown, a summary row shows the overall totals for the absence record:

Column Header	Description
SSP Days Paid	Total number of days SSP was paid for
SSP Paid	Total SSP amount paid across the absence
CSP Full Days Paid	Total number of full CSP days paid
CSP Half Days Paid	Total number of half CSP days paid
CSP Paid	Total CSP amount paid
Gross CSP Paid	Total CSP amount before any SSP Offset

Note: These figures will only update once the relevant payroll has closed, meaning the figures have actually been paid.

Absence Representation in Rota

Once an absence record has been created, it will appear on the employee's rota for the relevant days, provided the employee is included in the rota. Where an absence in days is in place, a working shift cannot be added for the same day:

**Fig.23 - Created Absences for Employee**

Navigate to:

Rota Module > Rotas > View Rotas > Find & Select Rota:

Immediately within the Rota, using the Division & Job Title search if required, the employee(s) with Absences in place will appear in the Rota with the icon indicating they are absent that day:

**Fig.25 - Rota Week, where Employee is Absent**

Attempting to add a shift in this page will not be possible, and clicking the day with an Absence in will load a pop-up giving a brief overview of the Absence:

**Fig.26 - Rota - Clicking an Employees Absence Day**

Staying within the Rota Week, select one of the days of the week where an absence exists:

**Fig.27 - Select a Day of the Rota Week**

And within the Day Content Page, the absence will also be visible:

**Fig.28 - Absence showing on Rota (Day Content Page)**

Click Return To Rota at the top of the Day Content Page, returning users back to the week view of the Rota. Then select the drop-down arrow and select Weekly Attendance:

**Fig.29 - Rota Week - Weekly Attendance Navigation**

And again, the absence on each day where an absence is present will show on this view of the Rota:

Absence Representation in Scheduling

Similar to the Rota module, absence records will also be visible within Scheduling for the relevant days, giving schedulers visibility of any employee absences when managing shifts.

**Fig.31 - Created Absences for Employee**

Navigate to:

Scheduling > Scheduling Tab > Select Location > Select Schedule Week

Immediately within the Schedule, using the search tools if required, employees with absence records will be displayed as the named absence type for full day absences. For part day absences, the number of hours absent will be shown instead. A shift cannot be added on a full day absence, however, for part day absences a shift can still be scheduled alongside the absence.

**Fig.32 - Schedule Week, where Employee is Absent**

Where the Display Holiday & Absence Hours in Schedule Page setting is enabled, absence hours will be included in the employee's total hours within Scheduling. This is particularly useful for employees with contracted hours, as it provides a more accurate picture of their total hours when absence is taken into account.

**Fig.33 - Schedule Week, where Employee is Absent - Total Hours**

WFM UK | HR & Payroll: Creating Absence in Hours