How to maintain and extend countries and regions

Objective

An 'Area' is the system's word for a country or region. Linking an area to an employee is important because areas carry information about legal calculation settings (e.g. local holidays). Many areas are already available out-of-the-box, but you should still maintain their settings to make sure they fit your organizational needs. For example, the area settings can also impact the Leave Entitlements calculation.
This page describes the process of how an Area can be created manually if needed, and how to maintain the settings inside them.

Process

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Check if the desired area is already available
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If necessary, create a new area
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Define the area's Reimbursement Settings and Leave Management Settings according to your organizational needs

Prerequisites

Click Through

  • Start in HR HUB
  • In the lower left corner, switch from Overview to Settings
  • Under Administration, select Areas
  • Here, you can see all available areas in the system.
  • Check if the area you need is already in the list.
  • If it's already there, simply open the area record
  • If it's not there:
    • Click on + New
    • Add the name (Official in English)
    • Add the name (local)
    • Select a superior Area (from search field)
      • The superior Area will define a hierarchy between the one that you are creating and the one already in the system. This can be used to bring national holidays from the superior area to the new one, as an example.
    • Define the level (from dropdown)
    • Save
  • Set Maintained by: Self Maintained
    • Setting the record to Self Maintained will keep your area record from being overwritten by system updates.
  • Add the calendar
    • Usually, the calendar has the same name as the area. It carries information on all bank holidays associated to that area.
  • Go to the tab Reimbursement Settings
    • The Reimbursement Settings tab is used to define parameters in the case of reimbursement of expenses for travels. The region in which you make this definition is considered the starting point.
    • Legal calculation settings for Germany, Austria, Belgium, USA and Singapore are already available out-of-the-box.
    • Enter your desired Reimbursement Settings. You can find more details on the available reimbursement settings below.
  • Go to the tab Leave Management Settings
    • Caution: This tab is only available for areas with the level Country.
    • The Leave Management Settings tab is responsible for defining the rules for calculating the leave entitlement. The calculation is always based on the leave entitlement specified in the valid employment contract.
    • Enter your desired Leave Management Settings. You can find more details on the available Leave Management Settings below.
  • Save

Reimbursement Settings

There are two basic methods available for the calculation, a maximum flat rate or a calculated amount. Select which you prefer from the drop-down.
  • Flat Rate: enter a maximum amount reimbursed per day
  • Calculated: define parameters based upon which the reimbursed amount will be calculated

Based on your preference, different fields have to be filled.

Reimbursement Type: Flat Rate

  • Maximum Days Considered: Add the maximum amount of days considered
  • Maximum Amount: Enter the maximum amount reimbursed per day
  • Consider distance for allowance: Specify whether the distance is to be included in the calculation. If you select For Domestic, travels are only considered as travels eligible for reimbursement of expenses starting from the work location.

Reimbursement Type: Calculated

  • Travel Day Rate: Define whether a specific amount is paid for the days of arrival and departure, an hourly amount or the same amount as for a full day of a business trip.
  • Maximum Days Considered: Add the maximum amount of days considered
  • Lunch: Specify the percentage of the daily rate that is deducted if lunch is included for the traveler.
  • Breakfast: Specify the percentage of the daily rate that is deducted if breakfast is included for the traveler.
  • Consider distance for allowance: Specify whether the distance is to be included in the calculation. If you select For Domestic, travels are only considered as travels eligible for reimbursement of expenses starting from the work location.
  • Dinner: Specify the percentage of the daily rate that is deducted if dinner is included for the traveler.
  • Various: Specify the percentage of the daily rate that is deducted if other benefits are included for the traveler

Leave Management Settings

  • Entitlement Calculation Method: Specify if the leave entitlement is calculated on a daily or monthly basis. The month starts on the first day of the contract. For example, the contract starts on January 15, so the monthly leave entitlements are always credited on the 15th of the month.
  • Full Entitlement: Here you can specify that the leave entitlement is not calculated but credited in full at the start of the contract or fiscal year
  • Rounding Method: Select how the calculated entitlement shall be rounded. You can decide if the entitlement is rounded to the nearest number, if it is generally rounded up or down or if it is not rounded at all.
  • Round to: Define whether to round to nearest whole or nearest half (0.5).

Result

After your Area has been created and all the settings are configured correctly, it can be assigned to an employee by filling it into the field Primary Work Location in the employee's Digital Personnel File.
In the pictures below, you can see what a newly created and correctly set up area looks like in the system.
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