Who it’s for: Sense HR Administrators and users who manage employee Planner settings
Platform: Sense HR
Available on: Team / Professional / Elite / Enterprise
About Standard working day (Hours)
Standard working day (Hours) defines the number of hours Sense HR uses for a working day when an employee’s scheduled working hours aren’t available or can’t be used for a calculation.
Sense HR uses the employee’s scheduled working hours where they are available and applicable. Otherwise, it uses:
the employee’s Standard working day (Hours) override, where one applies; or
the organisation’s Standard working day (Hours).
📖 Example: Your organisation’s Standard working day is 7.5 hours. If Sense HR needs to calculate a full working day for an employee and doesn’t have scheduled working hours to use, it uses 7.5 hours, unless the employee has their own override.
When Sense HR uses the Standard working day
Standard working day provides a consistent value for calculations where scheduled working hours aren’t available or can’t be used.
For example, this can happen where an employee:
has contracted hours but their Working hours pattern doesn’t define hours for individual days; or
has a Working hours schedule with working and non-working days, and an Event that allows booking outside working hours is booked on a non-working day.
In these situations, Standard working day (Hours) provides the number of hours Sense HR should use for the working day.
It can also be used for:
Public Holidays included in an employee’s Holiday entitlement and configured to book automatically;
entitlement and other calculations that need to convert between days and hours; and
imported Event data where Sense HR needs to calculate a duration and usable working hours or times aren’t available.
The same Standard working day calculation is used consistently across areas including Planner bookings and amendments, imports, APIs, entitlement calculations, reporting and payroll.
🖊️ Note: Standard working day provides a fallback for calculations. It doesn’t replace an employee’s Working hours schedule.
⚠️ Important: The default setting for Standard working day is 7.5 hours. Make sure your organisation has an appropriate Standard working day (Hours) configured. Sense HR uses this value as a fallback across bookings and other calculations when scheduled working hours aren’t available or can’t be used. An incorrect value can therefore affect calculated hours across multiple areas of Sense HR.
Set the organisation Standard working day
The organisation value is the default used where an employee-specific override doesn’t apply.
From the Sense HR Dashboard, go to:
Settings > Calendar & Planner > General
Under Defaults, enter the required Standard working day (Hours).
Set the default number of hours Sense HR should use for a working day when an employee’s working hours aren’t available.
Override the Standard working day for an employee
By default, employees use the organisation’s Standard working day.
Where an employee needs a different value, you can override it through their Working hours schedule.
Go to:
People > [employee] > Planner > Settings > Working hours schedule
Either:
click + Add schedule; or
open the More actions (…) menu for the applicable schedule and click Edit schedule.
In the first step of the Add/Edit schedule process, go to Standard working day (Hours).
Select Override for this employee and enter the required value.
Complete the remaining steps and save the Working hours schedule.
Keep the organisation default or set a different Standard working day for the employee’s Working hours schedule.
🖊️ Note: You can’t set an employee-specific Standard working day in the initial Planner setup window. Complete the employee’s Planner setup first, then add the override by adding or editing their Working hours schedule.
What happens to existing bookings?
Changing the Standard working day doesn’t recalculate existing bookings automatically.
The applicable Standard working day calculation is used for new bookings and when an existing booking is subsequently edited.
⚠️ Important: Before changing the organisation default or an employee override, consider how the new value could affect future bookings and calculations.
Best practice
✔ Set an appropriate organisation default
Choose a Standard working day that represents the number of hours your organisation should use where an employee’s scheduled working hours aren’t available.
✔ Use employee overrides only where needed
Employees use the organisation default unless an override applies. Set an employee-specific value where the organisation default doesn’t appropriately represent their working day.
✔ Keep Working hours schedules accurate
Standard working day is a fallback. Maintain accurate Working hours schedules so Sense HR can use the employee’s scheduled hours wherever they’re available and applicable.
FAQs
Click for answers to frequently asked questions
Click for answers to frequently asked questions
Q: What does Standard working day (Hours) mean in Sense HR?
A: Standard working day (Hours) is the number of hours Sense HR uses for a working day when an employee’s scheduled working hours aren’t available or can’t be used for a calculation.
An employee-specific Standard working day overrides the organisation default where one applies.
Q: Where do I set the organisation Standard working day in Sense HR?
A: To set the organisation Standard working day (Hours), go to:
Settings > Calendar & Planner > General
Enter the required value under Defaults. This is the default used where an employee-specific override doesn’t apply.
Q: How do I change the Standard working day for one employee in Sense HR?
A: To override Standard working day (Hours) for an employee, go to:
People > [employee] > Planner > Settings > Working hours schedule
Add a schedule or edit the applicable schedule, then select Override for this employee under Standard working day (Hours) and enter the required value.
Q: Why can’t I set Standard working day (Hours) when I first set up an employee’s Planner?
A: An employee-specific Standard working day (Hours) can’t currently be set in the initial Planner setup window.
Complete the employee’s Planner setup first. You can then add the override by adding or editing their current or future Working hours schedules.
Q: Does Standard working day (Hours) replace an employee’s Working hours schedule?
A: No. Standard working day (Hours) provides a fallback where an employee’s scheduled working hours aren’t available or can’t be used for a calculation.
Sense HR uses the employee’s scheduled working hours where they’re available and applicable.
Q: Does changing Standard working day (Hours) recalculate existing Planner bookings?
A: No. Changing Standard working day (Hours) doesn’t automatically recalculate existing Planner bookings.
The applicable calculation is used for new bookings and when an existing booking is subsequently edited.
Q: Is Standard working day (Hours) used for Bulk Upload Event data?
A: Yes. Standard working day can be used when Sense HR processes imported Event data and needs a working-day duration to complete the calculation.
Where usable employee Working hours are available, Sense HR uses them. Where they aren’t available or can’t be used for the calculation, Sense HR uses the applicable Standard working day (Hours).