Set up Office Pulse

About 15 minutes. Do the first steps in order — each one builds on the one before. The rest can wait until you need them.

The same steps are in the app (Office Pulse › Start here), ticked as you finish them.

Do these first, in order

Choose your kind of business
Office Pulse switches on only what your business uses — rotations, work sites, overtime pay — and suggests good settings.
Add your team
Everything else is for them. Import everyone from an Excel file, or add people one by one.
Set this year's holidays and week-off days
So nobody is marked absent on a holiday or week-off, and leave doesn't count those days. How it works ↓
Create your shifts (the working hours)
A shift is only the hours, e.g. 09:00–18:00. Making one doesn't give it to anyone yet — that's the next step. How it works ↓
Decide who works which shift
Choose one way: a shift pattern when the week repeats (Mon–Fri day shift, Saturday half day, rotations) — or Assign a shift to people when every day is the same. How it works ↓
Set where people can check in
Add your office so check-ins count only there — or allow check-in from anywhere with a reason (field work, work from home).
Give your team the app
Each person checks in, applies for leave and sees payslips on their own phone. Send invitations from People.

Set leave types and give leave for the year
Casual, sick… and how many days each person gets this year. People can only apply for leave they've been given. How it works ↓
Make a salary template
What a salary is made of — basic, allowances, deductions. Make it once and use it for many people. How it works ↓
Give each person their salary
Their monthly pay on a template, from a date. Payroll can't run for someone without one. How it works ↓
Run payroll for the month
Check, fix, finalise — then publish, and everyone sees their payslip in the app. Attendance, unpaid leave and overtime are counted for you. How it works ↓

Change who approves what
Already working: a person's manager approves, else HR. Add steps only if you need them (e.g. HR after the manager, big expenses).
Late marks and check-out reminders
Sensible rules are already on. Change them only if yours differ.
Departments and job titles
Group people into teams — useful for team holidays, team patterns and reports.
Connect a fingerprint or face device
Only if you have one: its punches count as check-ins, by themselves.
Add your work sites
Places your people work at, each with its own check-in area.
Make sure every shift has enough people
Set how many people a shift needs; HR gets an alert in the morning when it's short.
Overtime and on-call pay
How overtime and on-call days are paid — added to the salary for you.

Shift — just the working hours (09:00–18:00). Make one for each set of hours.
Assign — give a shift to people from a date, or for a while. Use it when everyone's week is the same.
Shift pattern — a week (or rotation) that repeats: which shift on which day, office or home. Office Pulse gives the shifts by itself, weeks ahead. Use it when days differ.
One-day change — a different shift, place or a day off for one person on one day (People › a person › Shifts). Patterns keep it.
For each person use a pattern or assigning, not both: on a pattern, the pattern decides; assigning works for them only for a while.
Holidays and week-off days come from the holiday calendar, not from shifts.

A holiday calendar is one year's holidays plus its week-off days (one or more, e.g. Saturday and Sunday).
The whole company uses one; a team or a person can use another.
Make next year's calendar before the year ends — one tap copies this year's.

Leave types say what kinds of leave there are and how many days a year.
Give leave puts days on each person for the year — they can't apply without them.
People apply on their phone; their manager (or HR) approves; the days come off what's left.

1. A salary template — what a salary is made of (basic, allowances, deductions).
2. Give each person their monthly salary on a template, from a date.
3. Every month: run payroll → check the warnings → fix → finalise → publish payslips.
Attendance, unpaid leave and overtime are counted for you; people see payslips in the app once published.