This training covers managing your employee profiles within Deputy. We'll explore topics like setting custom stress profiles, adding training requirements and journals, setting access levels and onboarding new employees to your Deputy account. This training session is best suited for managers new to Deputy and/or experienced users looking to optimise their People Management practise in Deputy.
Due to the number of questions and demand, we created this Help guide containing the training recording and the live questions and answers.
Visit Deputy.com/training for more free training videos and helpful tips and tricks!
Q & A Topics
Employee Profile
Is there a field to add an Employee ID/number to staff profiles?
Yes, you can find this in the employee profile once you click “Edit” and then under “Employment details”. There you find the Export code at the bottom. That is the employee ID.
Can you change an employee's status from archived to employed? For example, if an employee took long service leave, I would remove them as a user for a couple of months, but then add them back in when they return.
Yes, that is possible. Just change the filter in the people tab to “archived” and it will show you all your archived employees. Then you can just click on “Options” and re-instate that employee.
I can't see the 'Journal' option in my selection tab. Am I using an older version of Deputy?
This could be due to your access level. You need to have a manager access level to have access to the employee journals. For more information about access levels please refer to this article.
Do employees have access to the journal?
No, only manager access levels have access to the employee journals.
Can we have a Label called "Sub Contractor" or "Contractor" in employee profiles? It would be good to be able to load all information for a contractors as well as any employees.
Yes, you can create a training requirement for these “labels” which would also mean you can filter your employees by label in the people or schedule tab.
What is the hire date?
This should be the actual date the employee was hired. Employees should not have any timesheets before that as this can cause export errors when exporting to your payroll software.
In a two week pay cycle, if someone's start date is halfway through the cycle, does the hire date have to proceed the pay cycle's first date?
No, the hire date should be the date the person was hired. The employee should not have any timesheets before this date as this could cause export errors.
Are we able to customise these stress profiles to suit our payroll e.g on if we are only a fortnightly roster?
Yes, stress profiles can be customised via the business settings if you click on "Stress Profiles" in the people tab. For more information about stress profiles have a look at. this link.
Regarding stress profiles, my pay week is Wednesday to Tuesday, however we calculate overtime from Monday - Sunday. Can this be changed?
Please note stress profiles only impact your schedules and do not impact the timesheets when it comes to Overtime rates. Our product team is currently working on the "working hours" function within our awards and this is currently in BETA. Please reach out to our 24/7 support for further assistance.
Can you set up a custom stress profile for minimum hours per week (for part-timers who have minimum guaranteed hrs)?
Yes, you can create a custom stress profile and then only attach it to your part time employees. This will need to be amended in your Business Setting.
Are we able to set stress profiles as per fortnight?
Stress profiles can currently only be set weekly.
Where can I create custom stress profiles?
This will need to be done by your system administrators. You can make those changes in your Business Settings.
Onboarding / HR Forms
Can we see or edit the emails that are sent by Deputy to our employees? For example, Onboarding.
It’s currently not possible to edit or customise the onboarding emails that Deputy sends to your employees but our product team is working on making the HR forms in the Employee onboarding feature customisable.
Is the onboarding feature available in New Zealand?
Employee Onboarding is not yet available in NZ but our product team is working on this.
If an employee wants to change their TFN declaration status, can this happen in the HR Forms?
Not right now, we currently can’t facilitate this in our HR forms.
How do you edit an employee's bank details if they are wrong?
You have to click “request a change” in the HR forms and then the employee has to change it. Be mindful that this change won’t sync with Xero automatically so you have to change it there manually as well.
We have our own branded specific employee form that we want employees to fill out in onboarding - can we add a form?
You currently cannot add customised forms or company related onboarding information, but our product team is working on this function.
What type of HR forms do you have?
The forms include: Personal Details, Tax File Number, Bank Details, Emergency Contact Details and Superannuation Details. For more information about employee onboarding have a look at this help article.
How do I view the employee's bank & superannuation details?
You have to click on “view HR forms” in the employee profile after the employee has submitted this.
Training Requirements
Can you delete a training requirement that has been added incorrectly?
You won't be able to delete this from your account. Please contact our 24/7 support team for account specific assistance.
Can you add a training requirement to all employees at once? eg, if they're all going to the same session together.
Yes, you can add the training requirement using the bulk action. However, if you need to attach a document to an employee profile this will need to done individually.
Any chance this "Training" label can be changed to another name that will cover Vaccination info, other information or certificates about the person?
You can create a training requirement called “Vaccination” and use this as a way to upload a document. You can specify the title of to match your requirement.
In the training section does this cover RSA certificates?
You can create whatever training requirements you want. We leave this completely open to our customers.
The training box under Job information under an individual employee will not accept new training options. Can you help?
This is an account specific question. Please reach out to our 24/7 support for further assistance.
Is there a report that HR can run with all the upcoming expiry dates for trainings?
Yes, in the Reports tab you can create a custom report called “Training”. You can edit the report to your preference.
Can you upload a document that the employee can edit and re-upload again?
You can use the training requirements in the employee profiles to attach files but this can only be accessed from managers, not the employees themselves.
Can the employee upload their qualification, visa etc to Deputy or does the administrator need to do that?
A manager has to do this via using the training requirements in the employee profile.
Pay rates and Awards
How do I add pay rates to employee profiles?
You can find this in the employee profile under “Employment details”.
Can we create different pay rates for different locations?
Yes, you can. Just. choose the option “Area based pay” and set up the areas/locations specific pay rates for those employees.
We are not using a payroll application yet, but when we add pay rates to our employees profiles, can the staff see these details?
This depends on the access level the employees are on. Location managers and System administrators can see pay rates. Please refer to this help article.
Can we add a day rate rather than hourly?
Yes, you can select "Rates per day" in the pay rates section in an employee's profile.
In the Pay Details section, is there a way we can customise adding overtime paid for employees under an hourly rate?
Sat, Sun, and Public holiday rates are available only.
This is not available on the hourly rate, however if you use the award interpretation overtime rates are included. Please use our product feedback form under "Help" in the top right corner to provide this feedback to our product team.
Why am I not able to see the employees pay rate and their remaining leave?
This could be due to your access level. You need to have a location manager or system admin access level to see employee's pay rates & leave. For more information about access levels please refer to this article.
Is there any way to add a 10 hour blanket pay?
You could set up area based pay and then divide the hourly number by 10 for that area and it will give you technically a blanket pay for 10 hrs in that area. Other than that, this is an account specific question. Please reach out to our 24/7 support for further assistance.
Does the GRIA award apply to New Zealand?
As far as we know there are no awards in New Zealand, however please do double check this.
Regarding the working hours, what happens if you work on fortnightly basis?
Deputy currently can’t calculate the “working hours” on a fortnightly basis if you’re using our awards, only on a weekly basis. However this is something our product team is currently working on and will be released in the product soon.
When we add an award into the employee's profile today and I noticed it has not applied to the timesheets from the week before, for example our award changed as of the 01/07/21 but we're only just adding the change into the system today, the 29/7/21, but it doesn't show the $$$ going back to 1/7/21. How can we adjust that?
You will need to un-approve all approved timesheets and then re-approve the timesheets again. This way the system will update the employee's pay with the new rates set. You can do this using the bulk "Un-approve All' button on the right hand side of the timesheet tab. Please note you can only do this per employee.
Is it possible to override the max hours if you set it to 8 hrs and they need to stay later or if we set it for 2 hrs, can we override and let them work for 8 hrs if necessary?
This depends on quite a few things and is also tricky to answer from a compliance standpoint so please reach out to our 24/7 support for account specific questions.
Can we add pay rates for contractors/freelance staff? They generally invoice us for the payment of shifts so their hourly rate currently isn’t displayed in Deputy.
Technically you can just add the pay rates as hourly rates to the contractors/freelancers profiles so their cost is included in your reports/budgeting etc. Just be mindful, if you're exporting timesheets into a payroll software, to export the contractors separately from your other staff. If this doesn't answer your question please reach out to our 24/7 support for account specific assistance.
Is there a way, when you upload an award, to delete some of the categories which are not applicable?
We cannot do this at the moment. This has to be done from our end and we can only do this if no customer is using the old version anymore.
Is there a way to add more allowances for employees i.e. add a nightshift allowance?
This is an account specific question. Please reach out to our 24/7 support for further assistance.
Leave Management
How do you remove a leave request if the leave has been cancelled?
You have to “un-approve” the leave request and then you can edit or delete it.
Is there a way all employees can see everyone’s approved leave?
Only managers can see leave in Deputy. Employees can only see their own leave. You could technically make everyone a manager but that can bring other problems with it. Please refer to this article for access levels.
Is there a feature for time off in lieu?
Yes, we have time off in lieu as a leave type in Deputy. Please go to your “Business settings” and chose “leave types” to find all your leave types including TOIL.
Unpaid leave does not export from Deputy. Can this be changed?
Unpaid leave will not export from Deputy to your payroll software because it is “unpaid" leave. If you need to export unpaid leave you can turn that leave type into “paid leave” in the business settings under “leave” and then you can export them. You can also create a whole new leave type for this.
How can you manually add in leave balances from Xero? Staff are already set up but we didn't activate the leave sync function so now have to add in the leave balances to make it correct.
If you want to manually add leave balances you can just open the employee’s profile and then the leave type and add the balances manually.
Is there a feature where the TOIL can be calculated from hours worked above rostered hours so the staff know how much TOIL is owing to them?
Yes, you could create a location and turn on an integration in the location settings for TOIL to be accrued in only that location and then schedule staff members in there if they should accrue TOIL. Just be mindful though that by law the source of truth from a data perspective should always be the payroll software, NOT Deputy!
Can we add an unavailability on behalf of employees?
Yes, as a manager you can add unavailabilities and leave on behalf of the employees. This will need to be done in the employee profile.
Is there a feature where the TOIL can be calculated from hours worked above rostered hours so the staff know how much TOIL is owing to them?
Yes, you can turn on the leave accrual integration in the location settings. Just be mindful that by law leave has to be shown correctly in your payroll software so this has to be manually synced. Therefore we usually recommend to accrue leave in your payroll software.
Our leave still needs to be added to payroll. Other Time & Attendance softwares have this feature so would like to see this data export as it's quite a time waster to manually add leave from Deputy to payroll.
Leave does get exported as a leave timesheet after it was taken (even for salaried staff members). Leave balances can be synced back into Deputy from only 2 payroll softwares in Australia currently, MYOB & Xero.
Do you have any training on "managing and setting up leave balances" in Deputy?
We have previously conducted a webinar on Leave Management. Please check here.
We would like to see the accrual of TOIL as an automatic function enabled when employees work beyond their scheduled shift, and then have that number pushed through to Xero during the pay run.
You can accrue TOIL automatically if you turn the integration on in the location settings but be mindful that leave has to be. shown correctly in your payroll software by law. Therefore, we recommend to accrue it in your payroll and just sync with Deputy.
Schedule and Timesheets
How do I print a screen shot of the roster (I use this for initials as Support Workers walk in for the day)?
If you take a screenshot with on your computer, you would have to open that picture and print it out from there. If you want to print out the roster from Deputy directly please click on the “Settings” wheel on the top right and choose your desired print option.
We would like to look at using Deputy to manage regular volunteers with our org. To track hours, availability and schedule opportunities. Can it be used just in this way if it's not connected to any payroll? And what is the fee charged for volunteers?
Yes, that is totally possible. You don’t have to export to payroll from Deputy’s perspective. Here is our pricing page: https://www.deputy.com/au/pricing
Where can we add an allowance, or can it be a modified shift? For example our staff do sleepover shifts but it is only an allowance. How do we capture this?
This is a timesheet question. Please refer to our timesheets webinar where we answer this.
In the Timesheet Export Code section, if we leave that blank what happens?
We currently don’t have any info in there and when I log into Xero I have to approve each timesheet. Does it automatically approve timesheets in Xero if we have info in the Timesheet Export Code section in Deputy?
If your employee's name in Deputy matches the legal name in Xero, the Timesheet Export Code for the employee can be left blank without any impact on your export. This does not automatically approve the timesheets in Xero. If you want to export the timesheets from Deputy directly into the payslip in Xero without having to approve them, you have to select "Export into *Payslip" when exporting. Please note that you can't change the timesheets in Xero anymore if you choose this option.
Where can I change the pay period to fortnightly or monthly etc.?
Timesheet Export Code in Xero is usually the employee’s name. If the system matches the employee profiles vi This is a way for the two system to match when it comes to employee profiles. You can add this in the employee details profile.
Is there a way or will there be a way to add more than one person to a shift?
Yes you can add multiple employees to a shift, however you will need to schedule the employees in separately.
Is it possible to edit the timesheet history?
The timesheet and shift history cannot be edited for security reasons.
Just wondering if there's an option to hide employees yet on the schedule? For example we have a person that only does timesheets but is not actually rostered on in any location but we must have this person as a worker in each location so she can see all the timesheets to approve etc.
Unfortunately, that is not possible at this stage. If an employee is attached to a location, which this employee has to be in order to be able to approve. timesheets etc, they will be shown in the schedule.
Other
Will we get a copy of the presentation emailed to us?
Yes, we will send this out in the coming days. You can also find all our past webinars here: https://deputy.zendesk.com/hc/en-au/categories/4451477040783-Webinars-and-Video-guides
What happens when someone abandons their employment (repudiation) do they also forfeit their sick leave and holiday pay?
This is not really a technical question fo us here at Deputy and could be considered legal advice from our side. Please reach out to FairWork Australia for this.
Why am I counted as a user?
Deputy charges per user, this could be an employee using the rostering and timesheets etc. Or it could be a manager that rosters and approves leave & timesheets etc.
We use Deputy across multiple locations. Is it possible to create multiple work areas (Depts) within the location, and when staff clock-on and off, they are prompted to select the work area / dept they will be working in? If so, is there a limit to the number of work areas/ departments that can be created?
You can create multiple areas within one location. You can attached a specific areas with Geo. This can be done in your Location settings > edit areas. For more info refer to this article.
Can I download all employee's emails in one spreadsheets from Deputy?
Yes, you can use the “Employee Details” report in the Reports section in Deputy and you can also download as CSV report.
When importing a CSV file, what information do you need to have on the spreadsheet?
Currently not, but you can use our custom payroll exporter or have a look at this page regarding our integrations: https://www.deputy.com/integrations
Is there an option to not automatically send the invitation when we input the email address of the employee?
Yes, on the left bottom side you can find the button to send an invitation. Just turn that one off before adding the employee.
Is there a Bulk action to download employee data, for example emails?
Yes, you can use the ’Report’ function to create your own report, it’s called ‘Employee Details’. This can be downloaded as a CSV file.
Does the bulk action text message cost money?
Whenever you use the SMS function in Deputy it costs $0.05 per 160 characters.
If you have multiple locations in your account, does this cost any extra?
There are no additional charges if you decide to create multiple locations.
Could you please explain the News Feed option ?
This will not be covered in today’s webinar. It will be covered in our next months webinar. For more information please refer to this article.
I struggle with adding a new staff member from Xero, could you do an example by any chance?
Once you've added your employee in Xero, as part of this integration you can automatically invite your new employee to Deputy. Please refer to this article for more information.
When we add a new employee it would be good if a QR code is generated, so that system admins can scan it and add the contact to their phones. Do you have this feature on the roadmap?
Unfortunately, this feature is not available in Deputy, nonetheless you can share this feedback via our "product feedback" form under "Help" in the top right corner.
Will the Q&A section be shared after the training? It is hard to listen to the training and catch up with the conversation at the same time.
Yes, the Q&A will be shared along with the recording. This will be emailed to you and posted here https://deputy.zendesk.com/hc/en-au/categories/4451477040783-Webinars-and-Video-guides
Are volunteers considered like employees and charged the standard monthly rate?
Yes, they are and we charge the standard rate however, if you're a Not For Profit organisation, a discount will be offered. Please reach out to our 24/7 support for assistance.
When will we see multiple channels for News Feed (like slack or teams)?
The News Feed tab only includes the communication you have within Deputy currently. Please use our product feedback form under "Help" in the top right corner to provide this feedback to our product team.
Can I change the Location 'Unique Code' without it disrupting past data?
Yes, you can do that without disrupting past data.
If my staff members have been exported out to Xero already, will their pay be in there?
This depends on your setup and therefore is an account specific question. Please reach out to our 24/7 support for further assistance.
As a location manager and/or supervisor, how can I stop receiving notifications about opens shifts in other locations?
You may be attached to other locations and this setting is applied in the other location settings. You will need to change the settings of that location or remove the location from your profile.
Where can I find more information on budgeting a schedule?
Please refer to our previous webinar here.
We currently use NAV payroll, can this be integrated with Deputy?
Currently not but you can use our custom payroll exporter or have a look at this page regarding our integrations: https://www.deputy.com/integrations
How many locations do you recommend as a max within your product?
We recommend no more than 100 locations in one account as this could impact and delay your account performance.
Is there a way to lock some employees mobile access to start their shift from the individuals phones, so that they must login using the business's tablet but still allow others, who work outside of the business, to still start their shift using their mobile phone?
This is a Location Setting, therefore it applies to all employees attached to that specific location. The workaround for this would be to create a separate location and adjust the settings to give your employees this flexibility.
Is there a way to send messages to individual work roles?
You can use the News Feed for this and just send it to all the relevant employees.