Working patterns

What a working pattern is, why it's needed and how to assign them to your people.

Simon avatar
Written by Simon
Updated over a week ago

Breathe requires a working pattern to be assigned to each employee so the system knows how many hours a week they work and on what days. This is great for reference of knowing when an employee works but most importantly logging holiday and sick days. 

You can create as many working patterns as you would like, set to 15 minute increments. This means that each person can have a different working pattern if needed or multiple people can be assigned to the same working pattern if their hours worked are the same.

Create a working pattern

Within breathe you can create as many working patterns as you wish. To create a new working pattern go to Configure > Settings > Absence settings > Working Patterns

Click on the blue + button

You will need to create a name for your working pattern. i.e 'My Company Standard Work Pattern'.

Fill in the hours on the days worked by this person or people. You can set these in hours and then minutes which are available in 0, 15, 30 and 45 increments

To save the pattern click 'add pattern'

You can add as many working patterns as you like.

You can also make a working pattern the default working pattern by using the flag icon. This means that when you create an employee and assign them with the default working pattern they will be assigned with this.
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Edit and deleting a working pattern

You can edit or delete, as long as no employees are assigned to it with booked holiday.

To edit a working pattern use the pencil icon 

To delete a working pattern use the bin icon.

PLEASE NOTE: You will not be able to edit or delete a working pattern if it is assigned to a user and they have booked holiday against it.

In this case, there are 2 options available:

  • OPTION 1. Create a new working pattern and leave allowance and assign it to the employees that were linked to the old allowance. It is good practice to make a note on the employee profile to note that you have moved them across to a new allowance.

  • OPTION 2. Purge the holiday data for the person/s associated to this working pattern. Please note only the Admin user on the account is able to purge data. This will reset the leave section of the system and then allow you to edit the working pattern. Please see the guide below on how to purge data. All data is permanently removed after a purge so you will need to make a note of any booked and taken leave to add it back in after.

The 1st option is preferable as the system will not record any amendments made to a holiday allowance, making it difficult to investigate any queries retrospectively
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How to assign a working pattern to an employee

To assign a working pattern to an individual employee you will need to go to their employee profile.

You will then need to go to the More tab > Work Pattern & Leave Allowances

You will be taken to the following page where you can assign the working pattern

To change the working pattern, select a new working pattern from the drop down box and click 'update'

And that's it. The working pattern is assigned and is effective immediately.

FAQ's

Why has the holiday allowance not changed for my part time employees?

Breathe does not automatically pro rata leave when an employee is put on a part time working pattern. You will need to:

  1. Create a new part time working pattern

  2. Calculate the amount of leave that the employee will be entitled to based on this working pattern. You can use this handy holiday calculator to gain this figure. using this figure go to step 3.

  3. Create a part time leave allowance 

  4. Assign both of these to the employee

Do I need to create a separate working pattern for each employee?

The quick answer is no, If you have multiple employees that work the same pattern then you can assign them to one allowance. The only time you will need to create different working patterns is when they work different days i.e a 4 day week or a 3 day week

What happens if a work pattern is changed part way through the year?

Working patterns are effective from the date they are assigned- the system will not make any automatic calculations.

Any future booked holiday will be recalculated based on the new working hours you have assigned. It will not affect any previous taken holiday.

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