Time banks: concepts

Overview

A time bank is similar to a personal bank account in which the employee (or employer) deposits time that the employee will be able to use later.

Bank types

Up to 99 bank types can be defined for a company. Usually, a company has at least three types of banks: a vacation bank, a sick leave bank and an overtime bank.

Each employee can have a bank (an account) for all or none of the types, depending on his/her eligibility. The bank types are defined in the TIMEBANK table for the entire company.

Time bank units of measurement

Time bank units can be expressed in hours, days or dollars. A bank can also use two units at the same time; hours and dollars, or days and dollars.

The units of measurement depend on the type of bank, not on the plan itself. All banks of type 1 are therefore managed based on the same unit.

Data and windows

The management of time banks involves four different windows and files.

1. Bank balances - TIMSUM

Time bank window
TIMSUM file

Employee bank balances: there is one record per open bank per employee per year.

2. Deposit and withdrawal transactions (Gross pay) - TIMEDT

Attendance detail window
TIMEDT file

Bank deposit and withdrawal transactions use the same file as for gross pay.

Deposits
For vacation and sick leave banks, the employer makes deposits in employee banks. "Vacation entitlements" are based on the plan. For overtime banks, the employee deposits his/her overtime worked.

Withdrawals
Usually, an employee withdraws time from his/her bank for an absence. However, in other cases, the balance (or part of it) can be paid to the employee in cash, e.g. upon termination. Withdrawal transactions usually come from the time sheet or payroll.

3. Time bank plans - APLAN

Plans window
APLAN file

The company should define at least one plan for each type of bank. The plan contains the rules and policies for a bank, e.g. number of vacation days paid annually depending on employee seniority and eligibility for this plan.

4. Assigning plans to an employee - JOBHIST

Job module
JOBHIST file

Employee eligibility for a bank depends on his/her status, which also affects the plan applicable to each of his/her banks.

An employee who changes plans does not lose the balance of the bank in question. An employee may have no plan for a certain type of bank; this means that he/she is not eligible for this type of bank. However, there may be a balance in the employee's bank left over from a previous period when he/she had a different status.

Processes

Employee is hired

When the employee is hired—or more specifically, when he/she changes status and becomes eligible for a particular bank—a movement is created in his/her employment history (JOBHIST).

Assigning the appropriate plan to the employee
For each type of bank, the system searches for a plan the employee is eligible for and assigns him/her to it. An employee who is not eligible for any plan is not assigned to his type of bank. If a change in status is involved and the employee used to be assigned to this bank, the movement is processed as a termination in this bank. (See below: Employee is terminated.

Based on the company's configuration, an employee can be assigned to other attendance plans in the Job module.

Vacation entitlement upon hiring

Vacation entitlements to be paid to the employee upon hiring are defined in the attendance plan of the Job module.

At the beginning of the year

The year is defined in the attendance plan. Different years may be defined for different plans. Individual years may even be defined for a plan, in which the start of the year can be different for each person.

Carry over to new year

At the beginning of the year, "time banks have to be carried over to the new year." This process creates a new record in the TIMSUM file for the new year and marks the record of the previous year as being "carried over." If there is a balance in the previous year's bank and if the plan allows balances to be carried over, the balance is then carried forward as the "opening balance" of the bank for the new year.

Balances may be carried over to the new year in the following cases:

A single person - Time banks window, button

All the people in a plan - Plans: time banks window,
button

All employees - Tools | Maintenance | Attendance, payroll... menu bar

At the beginning of the month

The system can also pay out vacation entitlements at the beginning of the month. For example, some companies give employees one day of sick leave per month worked. The rules are defined in the plan.

This payment can be on the first or last day of the month. The payments can be made at each pay instead of at each month.

Calculating net pay

Vacation entitlements are often paid during payroll calculations. Usually, they are either 4% or 6%, depending on seniority. These entitlements can be paid immediately or banked. In this case, they are often put in a reserve counter for the following year.

As for all deposits, these transactions become transactions in Attendance detail (TIMEDT). When payroll is generated or exported, these transactions are put in a temporary file (ADJUST); they are added to the other transactions (and accrued in the banks) when payroll is finalized. This same mechanism works for doing payroll with Umana or exporting it to an outside payroll provider.

Employee is at work, employee is away

Overtime hours worked and absences are usually entered in the time sheet and stored in the TIMEDT gross pay file. Time bank balances are updated automatically.

When an employee is away, he/she may be paid a different rate than straight time.

Employee is terminated

When an employee is terminated (and is not expected to return), his/her vacation bank balance is usually paid out in cash. You can use the termination wizard for assistance.