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People: Manage or schedule changes to an employee’s working hours (Admin)

Schedule working hours changes and review their impact on entitlement and future bookings

Who this guide is for: Administrators

Platform: Sense HR

Available on: All plans

Before you begin

Make sure you:
☑️ Have Administrator permissions

☑️ Know which working hours configuration should apply

☑️ Know when the change should take effect

☑️ Have completed Planner setup for the employee


Navigation path

Sense HR Dashboard > People > [Select profile] > Planner > Settings > Working hours schedule


Overview

On a person’s profile, working hours are managed as a timeline of scheduled changes, rather than as a single fixed setting.

This allows you to:

  • Apply a working hours configuration from a specific date

  • Schedule future changes in advance

  • Maintain a clear history of previous working patterns

Each Working hours change is applied using an effective date, and the system guides you through reviewing its impact before confirming it.


Steps to manage working hours schedule

Open working hours schedule

  1. Select the relevant profile

  2. Click Planner in the left-hand navigation menu

  3. Click Settings (upper right)

  4. Select Working hours schedule

Understand the schedule timeline

This page shows all working hours assigned to the employee:

  • Current working hours schedule

  • Future scheduled changes (if any)

Working hours schedule page showing current and future entries

Each entry includes:

  • Working hours configuration (name)

  • Effective dates

  • Contracted hours

  • Full time hours

🖊️ Note:

Working hours are applied in chronological order. Future schedules automatically take effect on their effective date without further action.


Add working hours to the schedule

Step 1. Select working hours

  1. Click + Add schedule

    +Add schedule option

  2. Select the a Working hours configuration from the dropdown
    🖊️ Note: You are selecting an existing working hours configuration. To create or edit configurations, go to: HR Dashboard > Settings > Calendar & Planner > Working hours

    Working hours dropdown


    🖊️ Note: Contracted hours populate from the selected Working hours configuration

    Contracted hours populated from the selected working hours

  3. Select Effective date from which the Working hours will apply

    Select effective date from calendar picker

  4. (Optional) Update Full time hours if this is changing

  5. (Optional) Add Notes

  6. Click Next


Step 2. Review how the change fits into the schedule

The system checks how your new schedule fits with existing entries.

You may see:

  • No overlap — the schedule is added in sequence

    Schedule review screen showing how the new working hours change fits within the existing schedule timeline when overlaps are detected

  • Overlap detected — the new schedule replaces or adjusts an existing entry


    Click Next to continue


Step 3. Review entitlement impact

Next, the system shows how the working hours change affects entitlement for the current year and next year.

Entitlement impact screen showing recalculated entitlement values with expandable calculation details

This includes:

  • Updated entitlement values

  • Differences from current entitlement

  • Carryover and adjustments

  • Expandable calculation breakdowns

💡 Tip: Use the expandable calculation breakdown to see how entitlement has been calculated across the period. This may include previous working hours configurations that still affect the current entitlement, even if they no longer appear on the main schedule timeline.

🖊️ Note:

Changes to working hours affect entitlement because they alter contracted hours and working patterns used in entitlement calculations.

Click Next to continue


Step 4: Review future bookings that may need attention

The system then checks for planner and calendar bookings from the effective date of the change onwards.

You will see either:

  • A list of future bookings that may be affected and should be reviewed

    Booking review screen showing future events that may require review after a working hours change

  • Or a message confirming there are no future bookings to review

    Booking review screen showing no impact to future events

🖊️ Important note:

Events shown here are not automatically changed in the Planner. They are flagged so you can review and confirm they still align with the updated working hours.


Step 5. Confirm the schedule change

  1. Click Add schedule changes to confirm

✅ The new working hours are applied as the current working hours or scheduled on the timeline depending on the effective date.


Edit or delete a scheduled change

You can also update or remove scheduled working hours changes from the Working hours schedule timeline.

Open the More actions (...) menu on a schedule entry, then choose:

  • View working hours — review the working hours details

  • Edit schedule — update the scheduled working hours, effective date, full time hours or notes

  • Delete schedule — remove the scheduled change

More actions menu on a scheduled working hours entry showing View working hours, Edit schedule and Delete schedule options

🖊️ Note:

When you edit or delete a scheduled change, Sense guides you through the same review steps as adding a schedule change, including entitlement impact and future bookings that may need review.


After the change is applied

Once confirmed:

  • The working hours schedule timeline is updated

  • Entitlement is recalculated automatically

  • Any affected future bookings are flagged for review


Review flagged events

If bookings may be impacted:

  • They will display a warning icon in the planner or calendar

    Calendar event showing warning icon indicating it requires review after a working hours change

  • Opening the event will prompt you to review it

    Calendar event requiring review

🖊️ Note:

Review flagged events to ensure they still reflect the employee’s updated working pattern and booking rules.


Where to see updated holiday entitlement

After applying a working hours change, updated holiday entitlement is visible in:

HR Dashboard > People > [Select profile] > Planner


This view shows:

  • Total entitlement

  • Amount taken

  • Remaining balance

💡 Tip:

This view updates automatically as working hours changes are applied and bookings are made, helping employees and managers stay informed.


Key behaviours to understand

  • Effective dates determine when changes apply
    The effective date determines when the new working hours apply, how entitlement is recalculated, and which bookings may need review.

  • Entitlement is recalculated automatically
    You do not need to manually adjust entitlement when working hours change — the system recalculates it based on the new schedule.

  • Bookings are not automatically changed
    Future bookings are flagged for review but are not edited automatically.

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