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Custom Employee Fields

Custom employee fields can be used to capture information for employees that is not already included in the Basic Info screen.

Creating Custom Employee Fields

To create custom employee fields:

  1. Go to Settings > Advanced > Custom Employee Fields.
  2. Click Add Custom Field.
  3. Complete the following fields:
    • Sequence: This refers to the order that your custom field will appear in (i.e. if you select 7, then assuming that you have 7 custom fields, it will be shown last, assuming that the other fields are sequenced 1 – 6). This number will be automatically populated based on prior custom fields, but can be changed.
    • Name: Provide a name for the field.
    • Hint: If you wish to provide a further explanation or description to the name, enter it in this field.
    • Input type: Select from the following input types:
      • "Text": For alphanumeric information
      • "Dropdown": For selecting a particular answer from several options
      • "Date": For selecting a date using the calendar
      • "Checkbox": For yes/no information
      • "Number": For numeric information
      • "Dropdown with value": See separate section below for more information
    • If you select "Dropdown" or "Dropdown with value" from the Input type, an Options section appears. Click Add Option for each option that should appear in the dropdown (at least two are needed).
    • Required: Tick this box if the field is mandatory to complete and an employee cannot be saved to the system without completing this field.
    • Default for existing records: Appears when Required is ticked, and must be completed when creating a required field. Enter the value that all your existing employees should get for the new field: "true" or "false" for a checkbox, a date in YYYY-MM-DD format, a number, the option's label for a dropdown, or the option's value for a dropdown with value. This applies only when the field is created – changing it later has no effect.
    • Show on payslip: Tick this box if you want the custom employee field to show on all payslips for all employees.
    • Include in reports: Tick this box if you want the custom employee field to appear as an option when generating a Transaction History Report.
    • Allow editing via Self-Service: Tick this box if you want employees to edit this custom employee field by requesting an Info Update Request via their Self-Service account.
  4. Click Save.

Completing Custom Employee Fields

Once you have created custom employee fields, you can complete them individually or in bulk.

To complete them individually:

  1. Go to an employee's profile.
  2. Click Edit Info > Basic Info.
  3. Scroll to the Custom Fields heading at the bottom of the screen.
  4. Complete the fields.
  5. Click Save.

To complete them in bulk:

  1. Go to Employees > Bulk Actions.
  2. Click Essentials for custom employee fields that are set up as required fields, or click Custom Employee Fields for fields that are not set up as required fields.
  3. Use the filters to select specific pay frequencies, pay points, or employees.
  4. Complete the custom employee fields created.
  5. Click Save.

Deleting Custom Employee Fields

To delete a custom employee field:

  1. Go to Settings > Advanced > Custom Employee Fields.
  2. Click the custom employee field that you wish to delete.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen, and click Delete.

Viewing Changes to Custom Employee Fields

To see who changed a custom employee field's setup and when:

  1. Go to Settings > Advanced > Custom Employee Fields.
  2. Click the relevant custom employee field.
  3. Click History at the bottom of the screen.

Changes to the values captured for individual employees aren't shown here – they appear under Recent Activity on each employee's profile. See the Activity History help page for more information.

This input option is needed only in specific circumstances and is unlikely to be needed if you are new to payroll. The "Dropdown with value" option allows you to specify the label that gets used for the dropdown on the user interface (as with the normal dropdown option), and also to specify the value that is assigned to represent the label on the back-end of the system.

The label will be displayed on the system, on payslips and reports. If you wish to download a list of employees with the value assigned to each of them (and not the label), you can do so by going to Employees > Bulk Actions > Custom Fields, and then generating the Excel export file. This option is, therefore, useful if you need to report certain codes for employees to a regulatory body, but it's easier to work with the label rather than the code.

In addition, if you are using SimplePay's API and want to keep the back-end representation for the dropdown option on SimplePay in sync with the representation used by your system, this can be done using this option.

Removing an Option in Use

If you wish to remove an option, you'll receive an error message if the option is in use. To remove an option in use, you'll first need to use bulk inputs to change the value for existing employees to something else before trying to remove the option.

Changing a Value in Use

If you wish to change a value for a particular dropdown option, you'll need to:

  1. Add a new dropdown option with the new value that you wish to use. This can be done by going to Settings > Advanced > Custom Employee Fields.
  2. Use bulk inputs (Employees > Bulk Actions > Custom Fields) to update the employees to the new option.
  3. Return to Settings > Advanced > Custom Employee Fields to remove the old option and, if necessary, rename the new option.