Time Bank

Time Bank is a leave option that allows salaried employees to 'save' any hours they work additional to their contracted hours, enabling them to redeem later in the form of time off.

For example a salaried employee, Jane, who is contracted for 40 hours a week ends up working 45 hours. Those 5 extra hours worked will end up in her Time Bank. Later, Jane is able to work 35 hours in a week and redeem the 5 hours saved in the Time Bank to meet her 40 contracted hours.

Creating The Work

In order to redeem or spend these hours you'll first need to set up a new Work. Our support article on Work describes the process. Using the Time Bank Taken pay item your new Work should be set up similar to the following:

Turning On Time Bank

To enable Time Bank for a particular employee, go to Manage > Employees, select the appropriate employee and view their Leave tab. Scroll to the bottom and click the Track Time Banked checkbox, activating Time Bank for this employee.

Using Timesheets

Any salaried employee who is using Time Bank will need to enter their standard hours into the timesheets. Whenever the sum of their time entries for the week exceeds their contracted hours, the additional hours will automatically be added into their Time Bank.

If you've set up custom pay items for your Work you will need to ensure they're set to Exclude From Salary to ensure your employees aren't paid twice.

Redeeming Time Bank Hours

Redeeming the accrued balance is as simple as a normal time entry. The employee can enter their hours under the Time Bank Taken work you've created.

Processing a Pay

For an employee using Time Bank nothing different will need to be done when processing a pay. When you create a draft pay the Time Bank Taken pay item will automatically be included if it was used in the Timesheets and will display similar to the image below. The employee's salary for the pay cycle will be reduced by the dollar value of the Time Bank Taken so they still get paid the exact same amount overall.

Time Bank and Leave 

Time taken as leave does not automatically contribute to Time Bank calculations, as leave doesn't inherently have associated hours. 

If leave should be included in the count of total hours for the week, the most straightforward option is creating an easily identifiable Work. The Work can then be used to record periods of leave (in addition to a Leave Request). 

This approach will result in a warning in the Draft Pay that there is time on a day with an approved leave request. However, as long as the Work type used is not associated with an "Additional" or "Replaces Salary" Pay Item, this warning can be disregarded.

Time Bank and Public Holidays 

Non-worked Public Holidays will not automatically contribute to Time Bank calculations. 

If non-worked Public Holidays should be included in the employee's total hours for the week, the approach outlined above for other types of Leave can't be used, as time should not be recorded on Public Holidays unless the day is actually worked (otherwise an Alternative Day will automatically accrue and the employee may be paid time and a half).

In instances where an employee does need to accrue Time Bank for a period containing a Public Holiday, hours can just be added manually to the employee's Time Bank balance.

Alternatively, some companies prefer to record time for employees on what would otherwise be an off/weekend day. This ensures the employee's total time recorded in the timesheet for the week is accurately reflected, without triggering Public Holiday entitlements by recording time on the actual Public Holiday day.

Monthly pay cycles

Time Bank is calculated on a weekly basis, so it should only be used for employees who are paid Weekly or Fortnightly.