Add a new position to an employee

Position set-up options

Before you can roster and pay an employee in foundU, you'll need to set up the employee's position. Adding a position to an employee provides key details such as their employment type, position (pay rules), pay rate, location/s & any leave entitlements.

There are 3 configurations of positions in foundU that will all be covered in detail in this guide.

• Permanent positions
• Salaried positions
• Casual positions

In this article, we will be covering the following steps:

• Adding new positions for permanent employees & salaried employees
• Adding new positions for casual employees
• Applying casual positions in bulk
• Applying leave entitlements to employees in the position workflow
• Adding future-dated positions to employees and the relevant use cases
• Position FAQs 

  If you need to make changes to the positions of your employees we have 2 helpful guides that focus on editing positions, changing from one position to another, or ending a position, please refer to this guide for Changing Casual Positions and this guide for Changing Permanent Positions guide.

Add a new permanent or salaried position

Permanent positions refer to full-time, part-time, and salaried positions. These positions can be added at any time but must be set to start at the beginning of a pay period. 

There are several key differences between salaried and full-time or part-time positions. These include:

• A salaried employee:
  • Salaried employees do not appear in Approve Shifts, as such, will not be paid based on shifts approved.
  • Instead, salaried employees's pay and leave are paid from the work pattern hours set in the position.
  • Salaried draft payslips will be automatically generated overnight before payroll.
  • Will have the salaried toggle turned 'on' in their position setup. It is this toggle that initiates the automatic payment mentioned above.
  • The image below displays a high-level overview of the salaried employee process in foundU.

            

• Permanent employees (not salaried):
  • Permanent employees do appear in Approve Shifts, as such their shifts require approval. 
  • Are paid based on hours worked / shifts approved.
  • A permanent draft payslip will be built with each shift that is approved during the pay period.
  • Will have the salaried toggle 'off'.
  • The image below displays a high-level overview of the permanent employee process in foundU.

When adding a position to salaried or permanent employees, there are 2 types of positions that can be added, these are:

• Primary Position - This is the employee's main position and is necessary for processing payroll. Primary positions provide information about the employee's work pattern and is rate at which leave is paid.
• Additional Positions - These are any additional positions an employee may work where they are paid at a different rate. These are commonly used for higher duties. 

  Below, we will walk you through the process of adding a Primary Position to an employee's profile. For more information on adding additional positions, please refer to our article here.

To add a new permanent primary position:

1. Navigate to the Employee Profile and select Employee Card > Employment Type.  
2. Select + Add new position and select the employment type Full Time or Part Time. 
3. Add the relevant position details:
   • Associate with Operation - The primary Operation that the employee will work at. The position you intend to use for the employee must be in the rates book for this Operation. 
   • Location - The primary location the employee will be working at. Locations are a way of limiting which rosters employees can work. You'll be able to read more about locations here. 
   • Additional Locations - Same as above. Adding multiple locations to an employee will allow them to work across multiple rosters. 
   • Position Group (optional) - Specifying a position group will narrow down your selection of positions in the field below. This field will only have options present if you have position groups configured in your platform. You can read more about position groups here. 
   • Position - The position (pay rules and minimum rate) you are assigning to the employee. You can type in this selection menu to identify positions faster. If a position is not in an operations rates book, it will not appear in the list for selection. Read more about this process here.
   • Custom Position Title (optional) - Add an optional label for the position that will be visible to the employee on payslips and in position documents sent from the document library in foundU. This can be useful if your position naming convention is too complex for employees. 
   • Use Operation rates book - With this toggle selected, the Operations rates book will be used to gather the pay rate details for the position. Selecting this will disable you from editing the salary field below. 
   • Ordinary Hours (Each Week) - The number of OTE hours the employee will work each week. This field will interact with the salary field below. This does not interact with overtime pay for employees.
   • Salary (Annually or Hourly Rate) - The annual salary or hourly rate for the employee. This information will be pulled from the Award configuration but can be increased to above the award rate. You cannot enter a value lower than the award rate. 
   • Cost Code / Purchase Order - The cost code or purchase order assigned to the employee position. The cost code assigned here is one of several places that can affect the costing of an employee. You can read more about cost codes and purchase orders here. 
   • Position Start Date - The effective date of the position. This determines when an employee can be rostered with this position. For permanent and salaried employees, this start date must be the start of a pay period. This is a system date and does not necessarily reflect the employment start date. 

   

4. Select Next. 
5. Edit the work pattern, optionally specifying shift and break times.
   An employee's work pattern is used in the following ways. 
   • The hours per day to pay salaried employees. 
   • The number of hours that a leave application will default to for specific days.
   • The predicted balances for future leave applications & liability reporting.
   • With shift times entered, penalty rate loading calculations.
     
       Hot tip: Ensure that the employee's regular hours are reflected here. This is important as the work pattern is used to determine the hours that get applied to leave requests and to set the payslip hours of salaried employees.
     
     For example, 9 am - 5 pm would be 7.6 hours Monday to Friday.
     
6. Enable the following settings as required.
   • When calculating leave, does a rostered shift overrule work pattern? - With this toggle enabled, if the roster has a published shift on a day that a leave application covers, the hours of the shift will be the default leave value selected for that day. 
   • Salaried - Enable this toggle to have your employee's payslip generated automatically based on the work pattern hours set above. Hours rostered and clocked will not impact the pay for a salaried employee. You can read more about salaried positions here. 
   • Require employee to submit a timesheet instead of creating a payslip automatically - This toggle can optionally be used for salaried employees, mandating that they upload a timesheet from their Employee App. With this toggle enabled, a draft payslip will not auto-generate based on the work pattern. You can read more about salaried positions here. 
   • Use salaried payslip template - This setting automatically activates when you engage the salaried toggle and will alter how the view of payslip PDF. With this setting turned on, there will be two changes:
     • It will display the annual salary for the employee's active primary position at the top left of the PDF.
     • The line item breakdown will no longer include the hours worked or the rate, just their pay period amount (leave hours and rate will still show as normal).
   • Use normal rate - With this toggle enabled, the award configuration will be overruled and the employee will be paid their standard rate when working a public holiday. 
   • Deduct leave - With this toggle enabled, if a leave application falls on a public holiday, the leave balance is still deducted on that day. 
     
           
7. Select Next. 
8. The next step is to manage anything on the review menu. The following options will be typical for an employee if they already hold an existing position with your business that may have shifts, timesheets, or leave attached. 
   
   • Rostered shifts
   • Timesheets
   • Leave applications
   • You can read more about managing issues on the position review menu here. 
9. Once the conflicts have been resolved, select Confirm to continue. 

You'll now be prompted to optionally add Entitlements to this employee as a part of the positions workflow, select 'Yes' to do so. Refer to the section titled 'Add leave entitlements to employees' in this guide below. However, entitlements can be added at any time from the employee profile.

Please note: To understand how casual employees are automatically sent the CEIS (Casual Employment Information Statement) at regular intervals to ensure your business remains compliant with the Casual Legislations laws, please read here.

Add a new casual position

A casual position can be added at any time and may start anywhere in a pay period, unlike permanent and salaried positions. 

Like part-time positions and full-time employees, casuals are paid based on hours worked and shifts approved.

  Additionally, casuals can have multiple positions; this is beneficial for employees who work multiple positions or have higher duties. Please refer to our guide for further reading on adding multiple casual positions. 

The image below displays a high-level overview of the casual employee process in foundU.

To add a new casual position:

1. Navigate to the Employee Profile and select Employee Card > Employment Type. 
2. Select + Add new position and select the employment type Casual. 
3. Add the relevant position details:
   • Locations - The location/s the employee will be working at. Locations are a way of limiting which rosters employees can work. You can read more about locations here. 
   • Position Group (optional) - Specifying a position group will narrow down your selection of positions in the field below. This field will only have options present if you have position groups set up in your platform. You can read more about position groups here. 
   • Position - The position you are assigning to the employee. You can type in this selection menu to identify positions faster. 
   • Custom Position Title (optional) - Add an optional label for the position that will be visible to the employee on payslips and in position documents sent from the document library in foundU. This can be useful if your position naming convention is too complex for employees. 
   • Rate - The base hourly rate for this position. This rate is pulled from the Award configuration and will include casual loading if applied. 
   • Cost Code / Purchase Order - The cost code or purchase order assigned to the employee position. The cost code assigned here is one of several places that can affect the costing of an employee. You can read more about cost codes and purchase orders here. 
   • Position Start Date - The effective date of the position. This determines when an employee can be rostered with this position. This is a system date and does not necessarily reflect the employment start date. 
   • Position End Date (optional) - The end date for this position. This field is useful when setting up future changes in positions (e.g. ending a junior 16-year position & starting a junior 17-year position the next day). You can read more about this in the 'Add upcoming positions' section below. 
     
     

     

4. Select Add & Review Position then Next. 
5. The next step is to manage anything on the review menu. The following options will be typical for an employee if they already hold an existing position with your business that may have shifts, timesheets or leave attached. 
   
   • Rostered shifts
   • Timesheets
   • Casual Entitlement Position
   • You can read more about managing issues on the position review menu here. 

You'll now be prompted to optionally add Entitlements to this employee as a part of the positions workflow, select 'Yes' to do so. Refer to the section titled 'Add leave entitlements to employees' in this guide below. However, entitlements can be added at any time from the employee profile.

Add casual positions in bulk

Some businesses will recruit and hire casuals in bulk, and often these new employees will all be doing the same position, in this case, it will save time using the Bulk assign casual positions option.

Assigning casual positions in bulk is commonly used for: 

• Seasonal bulk casual hire in hospitality or retail. 
• Bulk hiring for a specific job/contract in labour hire.

Please be aware of the following when using this feature.

• All employees having the position assigned will need to be casuals.
• All chosen employees will be assigned the same position group, position, location and position start date. Should any of these need to be different, please use the bulk assign feature multiple times.
• This process will only assign the primary location; if the employee is to work across multiple locations, please assign additional locations by editing the position on the profile.

  Hot tip: This process will not assign leave entitlements to the employees as part of the workflow, should these employees require leave entitlements such as Long Service Leave or LWOP, please assign this to the employee via the profile.

To add a position to casuals in bulk:

1. Navigate to Approved People > Show filter. Make sure to use the Employment type filter to first filter by casual employee. Apply filter once your selections have been made.
2. Once your selected group of employees is ready, select Bulk actions and 'Assign Casual Positions to Selected'.
   
   

   

3. Add the relevant position details:
   • Position Group (optional) - Specifying a position group will narrow down your selection of positions in the field below. This field will only have options present if you have position groups configured in your platform. You can read more about position groups here. 
   • Position - The position you'd like to assign to this group of employees. 
   • Location - The primary location the employee will be working at. Locations are a way of limiting which rosters employees can work. You'll be able to read more about locations here. 
   • Position Start Date - The start date of the position. This determines when an employee can be rostered with this position. This is a system date and does not necessarily reflect the employment start date. 
     
     

     

4. Once your selections are complete, you'll be able to review the position information, select Save Positions once reviewed.

This position will now be added to all casual employees you have selected. Navigate to their employee profiles should you need to assign additional locations or assign leave entitlements. 

  Warning: The above process is only suitable for casual employees as they do not require a work pattern to be assigned. If you accidentally select permanent employees in this process, they will not be assigned the position.

Add future-dated upcoming positions

Positions can be added to employee profiles with a start date in the future. Setting up future-dated positions allows you to plan for known workforce changes and automate some of those changes. 

This is commonly used for: 

• Junior positions (e.g. starting a junior 17-year position to commence on their 17th birthday).
• Time-based level increases (e.g. move to level 2 position from level 1 after 6 months of employment).
• Promotions (e.g. an employee has been promoted to a new position that starts 5 weeks from now).

To set up a future-dated position:

1. Navigate to the Employee Profile and select Employee Card > Employment Type. 
2. Select Add new position and select the appropriate employment type.
3. Fill in the position details, referring to the above sections as needed. 
4. In the Position Start Date field, select the appropriate date in the future. 
5. Continue with the rest of your position configuration. 

  Hot tip: A quick way to visually distinguish future-dated positions from a current position is by colour. Future-dated positions appear in a white box, whereas current positions will be in a blue box. 

 Permanent positions

• For permanent employees, the start date must be the start of a pay period. 
• When your new position is created, an end date will automatically be applied to your existing position. 
• The upcoming position will be visible under your existing primary position. 

Casual positions

• After creating your new position, you should edit the existing position and add an end date to it. This date should be the day before your new position starts. 
• The upcoming position will be visible under your existing position.

SCENARIO

We'll use the following example to look at how future-dated positions can be set up for Junior employees.

Joshua is a 16-year-old waiter at Caffeine Express. His manager knows his birthday is approaching and would like to set up his 17-year-old position so that his pay rate will automatically take place on his birthday.

His manager will need to:

• Use the + Add New position to create his 17-year-old position.
• Set the start date of the new position for his birthday in November.
• Set the position end date of his 16-year-old position for the day before his birthday. 
• Assign the entitlements to move to this new position.

Add leave entitlements to employees

You can choose to add entitlements directly after the position has been created. If selecting Yes, you will have the option to select any entitlements applicable (based on Employment Type) from the drop-down menu.

  Hot tip: Some entitlements may be automatically selected for the employee due to the platform setup. More information about entitlement configuration can be found in this guide. This guide also covers Adding leave entitlements to employees outside of the position workflow should you need to.

To add selected entitlements after the position:

1. Select the relevant entitlement from the drop-down menu.
2. Update any values if necessary and then select Add & Review Entitlement.
3. Select if leave loading should apply- default or overridden amount.
4. Repeat the above steps for all entitlements you'd like to add to the employee then click Save when done.

FAQs

Do I need to start all new positions at the start of a pay period?

That depends on the employee's employment type.

Permanent and Salaried employees - Must commence at the beginning of a pay period.

Casual employees - Can commence at any time during a pay period.

I need to change the pay rate of an employee for the current pay period and I'm unsure how to do it. Do I need to create a new position for the employee or edit the existing position to affect pay rates for this pay period? 

If you'd like to update the employee's rate of pay for the current pay period, for example, the employee is being given a pay rise, you'll need to edit their existing position. 

If you'd like to change the employee's rate of pay for future pay periods, for example, the employee is moving to a new level under the award, it is best practice to setup a new position for the employee with the new pay rate details. 

Please note, in both instances as the employee will likely have existing future shifts, a review screen will ask you how you'd like to update rostered shifts or timesheets, or approved leave with the new position.

If you'd like to update the pay rate as a result of the Annual Minimum Wage Increase, please refer to our article on the Rate Rise tool, as this feature can process all of your increases all at once. 

I have already configured my employee's position and have made an error, can I delete it and start again?

You can delete any position and start again provided that this position has not yet been paid.

Please note, this process will remove the employee from any rostered shifts. Once a new position has been added, you will need to update and republish your roster for any shifts the employee was removed from. 

I want to add a second position to one of my permanent employees but I have noticed 2 different add position buttons; 'Add New Position' and 'Add Additional Position'. Which one do I use? 

For permanent employees, you'll see both of these button options available to you. Please use them in the following circumstances.

• Use '+ Add Additional Position' - To add an additional position to supplement the primary position of the employee.
  • For example, a higher duties position.
  • This will allow 2 positions against the employee to be worked concurrently. Both positions will be available on the roster. 
• Use '+ Add New Position' - To replace the primary position on this permanent employee.
  • For example, the Store manager position is being replaced by an Area manager position.
  • Creating the new position will automatically add an end date to the existing Store manager position.

 It should also be noted that the '+ Add Additional Position' button will only show on permanent employees, this is not an option for casual employees as they don't have primary and additional positions.

Learn more about this process in the Adding & working with multiple positions guide.

Why is the employee's position white? Why can't I roster it?

When setting up an employee's position, you can choose the start (effective) date of the position. This can either be a current date or future-dated. 

Current Positons - An active positon will appear in a blue box on the employee's profile and can be rostered.

Upcoming Positions - These are future-dated positions and appear in a white box. Employee's are unable to be rostered for any date prior to the start date of a position.