- Why should I use the WhosOff system ?
Its Free and very Easy to use.
Managing staff holiday/Vacation can be a nightmare! Whether you have 4 or 400 staff WhosOff can help.
Its easy to use, easy to get started, and its free!
Checking who's already got holiday/vacation booked, who's off today, who's off tomorrow, who's off next week;
has someone had more holiday than they should? can somebody have this holiday? Can that person take time off in that week?
who's off sick? who's off sick more than most?...See it all at a glance in WhosOff... your free staff holiday planner.
WhosOff.com helps you deal with these problems. You set up your staff holiday entitlement.
You can also set who cannot be off with who and WhosOff will check before letting a normal request through.
Your staff request holiday online, and the system checks their entitlement and any restrictions.
All you have to do is approve or decline, when a request comes in, you can even set WhosOff to approve requests automatically after checking their entitlement and/or any restrictions (who cannot be off with who).
- Do I have to give WhosOff personal details of people who use the system?
No, definitely not.
The Whosoff system does not need personal details of any person on the system.
You have the choice to record first name, surname and contact details if you want to.
You can use initials or nicknames to identify your people, if you wish.
All data is held in a secure data centre.
Individual email addresses are required as they are used as 'User Names'.
We do not give out/sell on email addresses or any other information whatsoever, unless
your individual staff members have opted into our approved supplier scheme, offering
discounts and services that may be of interest to them.
WhosOff.com is committed to data protection.
- Is this service really free? Whats the Catch?
Yes, this is currently a free service. Our revenue comes from advertisers on the site.
- What is the difference between Staff, Approver and Super user?
Staff User - Can view holiday/request leave/report absence/log meetings
Approver - As above, but can also act as 'Approvers' to approve Staff user holidays/vacation (e.g. a manager of a department might be the person who approves his department holiday)
Super User - As above, but can also amend company/user details/manage restrictions/edit holiday/add new staff /delete staff etc.
The system recognises your user level as you log in and will only allow you access to those user level features.
Large companies will have 'Approvers' for separate departments with possibly one or two super users
(e.g. Administrators/Directors)
Smaller companies may well just have one 'Super user' who is also the 'Approver' for all the staff/employees
There must always be at least 1 Super User for your organisation. If you change the Super User to Staff and
there are no other Super Users, you will not be able to administer your organisation's holiday. In such cases
you will need to contact helpsupport@whosoff.com
Note: When holiday/Vacation is booked by the Super User , on behalf of another user, restrictions
and entitlement are not applied. This is because the system needs to be flexible to allow situations
where people have to be off.
- What are Departments?
You can use departments to represent the groups your staff belong to. e.g. Marketing or Operations.
In smaller organisations the use of departments would not be necessary, even if you have separate departments, but the choice is yours.
You can add departments that are meaningful to you, and add people to those departments.
As WhosOff is an online system, departments could be used to manage remote offices or remote depots in different cities/regions giving an immediate and transparent view of your workforce.
To use departments, the option must be selected in the Company setup area.
- How do I add new staff?
Only a super user can add new people. Click on the Administration Tab.
Click 'Manage Staff members'
Click 'Add New Staff Member'
- One of my people has left, what shall I do?
Only a Super user can delete people. Click on the Administration Tab.
Click 'Manage Staff members'
Click 'Delete' against that staff member.
Note: When you delete a staff member, all the holiday records and restrictions are removed from the system. If you need to have a record of the holiday they have taken then print a report of their holiday.
You can leave people on the system if you want to and just remove any restrictions that relate to that person. The 'yearly Breakdown' report is very helpful.
- What is 'Max Consec. Days' for in the company area?
This setting restricts the number of days that can be booked in one holiday request.
i.e. 7 = 7 working days can be requested at any one time
(It does not restrict multiple requests, i.e. a request for 5 days and then another request for the next 5 days - For stricter control Approvers/Managers need check holiday before approving requests)
- What are 'Restrictions' ?
Restrictions are used to prevent one member of staff being on holiday/vacation at the same time as another member of staff. You set who cannot be off with whom at the same time, and the WhosOff system will not process a normal staff request where a restriction is in place, unless overridden by a super user.
The Restrictions area is in 'Administration' , 'Staff member restrictions'
Note: Restrictions are not 2-way. They must be set on both people to apply in both ways.
Note: When the Super User is using the administration area restrictions are NOT applied.
- How do I stop the system deducting holiday for a National Holiday/Bank Holiday?
The Whosoff system is used by many different organisations in different countries. Apart from Countries having different national holidays, some organizations work on these days and some don't and they maybe taken as a normal working day.
To manage these days, you have to set, for your company, which of these days are to be counted by the system as 'Free Days' (normally National holidays)
In the administration area, click 'Manage Company Free/Restricted days'.
You simply enter here the national holidays/bank holidays etc. that you want to count as free days.
i.e. Days that can be taken off, but are not deducted from any holiday entitlement.
This means each organisation sets its own national holidays/bank holidays and they are NOT pre set by WhosOff, so the system can be used world-wide.
You can do this for as far in advance as you want. Bear in mind that some national holidays are not on the same date every year. You can find a list of some country National Holidays here
- One of my staff has earnt additional holiday, what do I do?
In administration, 'Choose Manage Staff Members' Next to the relevant staff member, Choose 'Edit details.'
Adjust the Holiday (days) as appropriate for the year (Current or Next). WhosOff will adjust their balance as necessary. if you wish, you could also record a comment in the notes box.
- What is meant by "Use Approval System"?
WhosOff lets you choose to use an 'Approval System' When this option is selected, any request for holiday (after having been checked by the system for sufficient days/restrictions) will be sent to the user's Approver for final 'Approval'. Holiday is held in the 'Pending approval' area.
This gives the office manager the option whether to Approve or Decline the holiday request. They will be notified by email containing a quick link to the WhosOff system, where they can quickly decide whether to 'Approve' or 'Decline'.
Where the Approval system is NOT used, any successful holiday requests (i.e. sufficient holiday/no restrictions) are automatically entered on the system. The user's Notify Manager will just receive an email confirmation of the booking, but no further action is required.
The 'Use Approval System' option is in the Administration Tab - Click 'Manage Company details'.
You can turn off the 'Approval system'. If you do not use the Approval system, selected Approvers will become Notify Managers.
- How do I cancel holiday?
A staff user can cancel any of their holiday/Vacation forward of today. Only super users can cancel past holiday and make adjustments.
Canceling holidays returns holiday entitlement.
Staff can cancel future holiday by going to the 'My Holiday' tab. Click 'Approved Holiday, View List'. Find the holiday booking in the list and Click
'Cancel Holiday'.
Super Users can delete other Staffs holiday in the 'Administration' tab. Click 'Manage Staff Members'. Click 'Holiday'
Holiday/Vacation bookings cannot be edited.
Simply delete any wrong bookings and then re-book with the correct information.
Note: When the Super User is using the administration area restrictions are not applied.
- What do I need to make a start?
Click Sign-up and follow the sign up process.
You will need to enter the following information:
Organisation/company name, Calendar year (year in which your holiday runs - Jan/Dec, April-March etc.) - This can NOT be changed afterwards, Address, Contact
details.
Next, you will need to enter your: Email address and your name and your chosen password.
You will be setup as a Super User and have full administration rights.
Next you will asked to be select options to use departments, use the approval system etc. (This can be changed afterwards if necessary)
You can now logon - via the staff sign-in on the home page - using your email address as the user name and the password you entered.
You can now add staff members, their holiday entitlement and any restrictions, so its a good idea to have to hand the following:
A list of staff names, email addresses and passwords*, their holiday entitlement.
Enter the staff details and their holiday entitlement.
We suggest: Enter the balance of their holiday entitlement (no. of Days) left for this year plus the days already booked for the current year. i.e. 10 days remaining un-booked. Total booked forward of today is 4. Total = 14. This will then let you book those 4 days live on the system, and leave a correct balance of 10.
The balance of their holiday entitlement for next year plus any days already booked.
Don't worry if you make a small mistake, as a super user will be able to make any adjustments.
*When first setting up your users, you could, for example, give everybody a password i.e. their first name and ask them to change it when they first use the system.
Users can change their password in the 'Tools' tab and choose 'Edit My Details'. Any passwords are visible to the super user at all times.
- How do I get my holiday approved, when an approver is on holiday?
If your organisation is setup to use the 'Approval system', staff may request holiday when their Approver is, in fact, on holiday. These pending requests would then not get processed.
In these circumstances, the staffs' Approver/Notify Manager should be amended to show another approver. All the outstanding pending requests will then be viewable by the new approver.
Alternatively, a Super User can view All the pending requests and Approve/Decline as necessary.
- Why can I not see all staff?
If your company is setup to use 'Departments', your default view when viewing holiday is by your department. To view the company as a whole you can select 'All Departments' and see all your organisations' staff in the calendar views.
When viewing Approved holiday, the default view is 'Future' holiday. Select 'All' to view past and future holiday.
Note: There appears to be an issue with FireFox where the 'ALL' selection is not available. We are working to resolve that issue.
- Where can I find a list of National/Bank holidays?
We have a list here, but it is not a definitive list for all countries.
WhosOff.com do not accept any responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in these lists.
England, Wales, Northern Ireland, USA (Federal) are available here
- Why are all my staff now showing 0 Days available for next year?
When your company year passes , e.g your year is set to January - December , from the 1st of January you have entered your 'New Year'.
Therefore what was 'Next Year's numbers and balance becomes 'Current Year' and Next Year will be zero (0) until you to EDIT on each staff member and enter Next Year allowance.
- What happens at the end of my company Year? - How Do I add the Next Year's allowance?
(Also see new feature 'Bulk leave Administration' - Item 26 Below)
When your company year passes , e.g your year is set to January - December , from the 1st of January you have moved into your 'New Year', and all of your staff and users balance/allowance for 'Next Year' will revert to zero.
The super User will need to EDIT each of the staff/user details (via the 'Manage Staff Members 'area under the Administration tab) and enter their allowance in the Holiday (Days) area in the Next Year box. Of course what was Next Years allowance/balance has automatically become the Current Years allowance/balance.
Don't forget to click 'Save Changes'
- What is meant by 'Working Days' in the SIGN-UP screen?
We have defaulted this area to show Mon-Fri as working days. It is unlikely that you would want Saturday or Sunday as a 'Working Day' even if you staff occasionally work those days, because the purpose of this area is to deduct the correct days from the staff holiday allowance when booking holiday over more than 1 week.
i.e. If Saturday is just an overtime/occasional working day for your staff, you would not want that deducted from their holiday allowance when booking 2
weeks holiday. You would only want the normal working days deducted (i.e. Mon-Fri)
- Some of my staff do not have email addresses. What can i do?
Since the system is built around confirmations via email we would recommend that each of your users have a valid email address.
You can always obtain free email accounts from many service providers (Gmail,Hotmail,Yahoo, etc) or talk to your own service provider to create additional email accounts. You can always have the emails forwarded to a central point established specifically for that purposes.
- How do I add/edit or delete holiday in the past?
Only a Super User can delete holiday that is in the past.
Super Users can delete other Staff holiday in the 'Administration' tab. Click 'Manage Staff Members'. Click 'Holiday'
If you cannot see the holiday in question, select 'All Leave' from the dropdown.
Holiday/Vacation bookings CANNOT be edited. Simply Cancel a booking and then re-book with the correct information. (You can use this procedure where you
need to correct an entry type i.e. from Holiday to sickness)
- How do I add/request Un-Paid Leave?
Any request for unpaid leave must be passed to the Super User to add. A request for unpaid leave cannot be generated from the system. Unpaid Leave will show up on all the reports and the various coloured screen views. The Super-User can addUn-Paid Leave via their 'Administration' area, clicking 'Manage
Staff Members' then click on the 'Holiday' Link next to the persons name,
Un-Paid Leave will be available in the drop down holiday type.
- How do I Print a Balance report for all staff?
Super User's can Print Balances. In the Administration area, in Manage Staff Members there is a <Print Balances> link, this presents a
printable report with This Years and Next Years balances (holiday allowance left) for each member of staff.
- How do I get a printout for a whole year?
A Global print report.
Super Users can now go to a new report in the report area Yearly Breakdown and select a year i.e. This Year/ Last Year/ Next Year, and all the leave requested by each member of staff is presented as a friendly printable report. You can print the whole report for the whole company or for the department you selected or even just pick one report for a particular member of staff by clicking Print Staff Record. If you want the whole report for everyone, click on the Print Report link top right. Once you have selected a department or the whole company you can jump to any member of staff by clicking on their name and it will take you to their section of the report. This Yearly Breakdown report is very helpful.
- Whats 'Bulk Leave Administration' in the administration area? = **See next item (27)
- What do I do when we move into a new year. i.e. how do I update everyone?
WhosOff.com has let you set your company holiday year. For many this will be January to December, at present
(today 15/12/2006) any holiday for those companies in January 2007 is Next Year however, once you enter
January 2007 its then This Year and as such your Next Year would then be from January 2008�. All your staff
will show zero holiday allowance for Next Year at this point and you will need to set the allowances on each member
of staff for the next holiday year January 2008 - December 2008. We have added a new facility to help with this process, in the Administration Area go to Bulk Leave Administration then select a department or All Departments and
click GO.. the screen will load, you can then go through the whole company and add your staffs next years holiday
allowance by clicking on the edit button and adding the allowance accordingly. If your leave the allowance as zero
it will just mean they will not be able to book holiday for that year. Please Note: Increasing/Decreasing established
holiday days will adjust the staff members' remaining allowance accordingly. Any adjustments made to existing opening
balances will also adjust existing remaining allowances.
Companies whos holiday year is over a different period, then the above applies as you move into your new year whenever that may be.
- How do I manage part-time people?
Where people work part-time they should request only their individual working days that they wish to have as holiday/vacation. E.g. if a person works only Mon-Weds , they should only request Monday to Wednesday. So when booking a span of time, say 2 weeks - they should make 2 requests - one for the first Mon-Weds then a second request for the next Mon-Weds.
Part of our future development will enable users select the 'working days' at the staff level thereby alleviating this issue.
- How do I change my company holiday year?
This is one of the few settings you cannot change once you have started to add your staff and users.We use this setting to correctly identify the current year from the next.
If you set up the company holiday year incorrectly , contact helpsupport@whosoff.com. We can delete your sign-up and let you start again. This process deletes all staff records and holiday/vacation entries.