Deputy can assist you to manage COVID-19 related health orders that may be placed on your organisation including:
- evidence of negative COVID-19 test before commencing shift
- vaccination status of staff
- contact tracing reports
Before we begin, ensure you are logged into Deputy's web application as a System Administrator.
This article will cover:
Pre-shift COVID-19 Attestation Questions
You can set up attestation questions for your staff to answer before they can clock on for a shift. You can ask one question or multiple questions such as:
- whether they have any COVID-19 symptoms
- whether they've had a COVID-19 test recently
- whether they have been in known contact with a COVID-19 case or been in a designated COVID-19 affected location recently
Depending on their answer you can choose to not allow them to sign on for their shift and/or notify their manager. You can also ask them to upload a copy of a negative COVID-19 test if required.
If you want to set up multiple questions, you will need to set up each question separately.
Setting up pre-shift COVID-19 Attestation Questions
1. Select Business settings from the System Administrator's drop-down menu.
2. On the Timesheets tab, click Shift Questions.
3. Here we can see any existing shift questions. In the Actions column:
-
The magnifying glass icon will allow you to view the existing customer fields
-
The pencil and paper icon allows you to edit the custom fields
-
the red cross allows you to delete the custom field.
Or you can create a new one by clicking on New Custom Field.
4. On the next screen you will need to configure the following fields:
- Custom field type: select Timesheet.
- Field name: the title of your question eg. Negative COVID-19 Test Attestation
- Field details: the text of your question eg. Have you received a negative COVID-19 result in the past 24* hours? (Edit this time interval to comply with your local regulations)
- Type of field: Select Boolean/Checkbox No with Comment. This will allow staff to answer a yes or no question and if they answer no then they must enter a comment.
- Validation: Tick to make the question mandatory to answer before staff can clock in.
- Display timing: Select Clock in
- Field conditional rules: Select No
- Trigger the following option: Select Prevent clock-in and notify manager.
- Areas: Select the Locations and Areas you wish this question to apply to. If you make no selection it will apply to all Locations and Areas in your organisation.
- Sort Order: If you're setting up multiple pre-shift questions you can add a sort order to control the order they appear. The questions will appear lowest to highest according to the sort order you assign.
Don't forget to click Save This Custom Field at the top before closing the window.
5. You can set up as many questions as you need, including a request for employees to upload a screenshot of the COVID-19 negative test result. Return to step 3 to add another New Custom Field.
You will need to configure the following fields:
- Custom field type: select Timesheet.
- Field name: the title of your question eg. Upload Negative Test Results
- Type of field: Select File. This will allow staff to upload a file or photo of a negative COVID-19 test up to 10MB in size.
- Display timing: Select Clock in
- Areas: Select the Locations and Areas you wish this question to apply to. If you make no selection it will apply to all Locations and Areas in your organisation.
- Sort Order: If you're setting up multiple pre-shift questions you can add a sort order to control the order they appear. The questions will appear lowest to highest according to the sort order you assign.
Don't forget to click Save This Custom Field at the top before closing the window.
Employees Signing On For a Shift
When employees sign on for a shift they will be presented with the questions you have set up.
If they are not experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms they will answer NO.
If they have a Negative COVID-19 test result they will tap on the toggle to answer YES and tap on the paper clip to upload a copy of the negative test result and then they are able to tap on Submit to start their shift.
If the employee answers YES that they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms they will be unable to start their shift and the manager will be notified.
If the employee answers NO they do not have a negative COVID-19 test result then when they tap submit to start their shift a pop up will occur to inform them they are not permitted to start their shift and their manager has been notified.
Employees will receive the same questions when they clock the start of their shift via the Deputy web application.
Employees will also receive the same questions when they clock in via iOS Kiosk or Android Timeclock, however, they will be unable to upload any files using the Kiosk or Timeclock.
Viewing Employee Shift Attestation Answers as a Manager
Managers will be notified immediately when a team member is prevented from clocking on due to the answer they have given to the start of shift attestation questions.
The employee's manager will receive a push notification from the Deputy app on their mobile device.
The employee's manager will receive notification on their bell icon in the Deputy web application
The employee's manager will receive an email with the answers and comments the team member submitted.
For employees that answer start of shift attestation and then are able to begin their shift, their answers can be viewed by their managers in their timesheets. This includes any files they upload as part of the start of shift clock in.
Location Managers and System Administrators can also obtain a complete report of
all start of shift answers for each shift.
On the Reports page, in the Report Builder section, select Shift Questions Response Report.
Click Edit to add the various fields and filters you need (such as by employee or area or timesheet date) and click Run. This will enable you to view a customised report that you can print to PDF or export to CSV.
Tracking Vaccination Status of Staff
If local health regulations require you to schedule only COVID-19 vaccinated team members in your organisation, or for certain areas/roles within it, you can use Deputy's training records to help you know which employees have been COVID-19 vaccinated when scheduling.
-
Ask your employee to provide you with evidence of their COVID-19 vaccination then add a "COVID-19 vaccinated" training record to the employee's employment profile.
You can also add an expiry date if required, in case you need to manage booster doses.
-
If you have multiple employees to add a COVID-19 vaccination training record to, you can do that using Bulk Action > Add training on the People page.
-
Add the "COVID-19 vaccinated" training requirement to all the areas of your organisation that require employees to have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to work in them.
-
Now, when you schedule staff in an area that is designated as requiring COVID-19 vaccinated staff, the employees that have a COVID-19 vaccination record on their employee profile will be suggested first as recommended employees to schedule.
In the example below, Fran and Abby are recommended for the shift but Antonio and Asmee are not because they do not hold the required training record to work in this area.
-
You can still schedule employees without COVID-19 vaccination records, however, Deputy will flag them as not recommended and the manager would have to override this message to schedule them.
In this example, Susan is not recommended for the shift because she does not have the COVID-19 vaccination training record on her profile. The manager can override this message however, by clicking OK and Susan will still be scheduled into the shift.
Tip: If you require even greater visibility of the exact vaccination status of your employees, you could set up two types of COVID-19 vaccination training records such as:
- 1st COVID-19 vaccination received
- 2nd COVID-19 vaccination received
or
- Partially Vaccinated
- Fully Vaccinated
Contact Tracing Reports
Location Managers and System Administrators are able to run a contact tracing report on the Deputy web application. This report helps trace which team members your unwell employee has potentially been in contact with during their shift and swiftly get in touch with these employees.
Please read more on running a contact tracing report.
FAQs
Who has access to see the answers to pre-shift attestation questions?
Supervisors will be informed of employees' answers immediately when they indicate they have COVID-19 symptoms or do not have a negative COVID-19 test result at the start of a shift.
Supervisors, Location Managers and System Administrators can also see the answer to each start of shift question, along with any files uploaded, when approving the specific timesheet.
Location Managers and System Administrators can also run a specific report collating all of the start of shift questions for each employee.
Who has access to see the training records?
For our Premium plan accounts, the default permissions are:
-
Location Managers and System Administrators can access and edit employee training records.
-
Supervisors have limited access to see which of their employees have current training but are unable to edit the training nor add training certificates or their expiry date.
Access levels can not be customised beyond the default permissions in Premium plan accounts.
For our Enterprise plan accounts, you can read more about configuring your roles and access permissions here.
Can I store the staff's CDC vaccination card or negative COVID-19 test result on Deputy?
We recommend you consult with legal counsel or the regulatory agencies in your jurisdiction regarding confidentiality requirements around employee medical records.
In general, employee medical information must be kept confidential and stored securely and separately from general personnel information. If your organization stores such information in Deputy, we recommend you adjust access levels and permissions to comply with applicable laws in your area.
If you need further help setting up these tools please contact our 24/7 support for assistance.