Setting Up Occupational Schemes

PeopleSoft delivers all the elements required to record and process statutory absences. However, many organizations in the UK have their own company schemes that pay employees absence pay and leave that exceeds the statutory minimum. This topic discusses:

  • Absence mapping.

  • Designing occupational schemes.

To create an occupational scheme, you can use the mapping functionality provided in the core application to tie company absence takes to the delivered statutory absence takes. Mapping enables you to:

  • Create one absence entry, but process the statutory absence take and company-specific absence take together.

  • Track statutory absence pay and leave separate from the occupational absence pay and leave.

Define mapping on the Day Formula page in the Absence Take component. When the system processes absences that are mapped, it:

  • Creates separate rows in absence data for each absence take.

  • Checks and updates the entitlement balance for each absence take.

  • Generates separate earnings (according to the element definitions).

This makes it easy to distinguish the statutory pay and entitlement balance from the occupational pay and entitlement balance. Using mapping, companies that provide their own occupational schemes can track the statutory absence pay if they reclaim the statutory amount (or a percentage of the statutory amount) from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

This table lists the delivered absence mapping:

Statutory Absence Take

Mapped to Absence Take

SSP AT1

OSP AT1

Note: The OSP and OMP elements that are delivered are simple examples only. In addition, the OMP AT1 element is not designed to work with the SMP AT2, which is the absence take that should be used for SMP after April 6, 2003.

To create an occupational scheme, you need to design and define:

  • Absence take

    For absence takes, you need to consider how to define the following:

    • Day Formula

      The day formula evaluates each day of an absence event to determine the units for the absence day.

    • Wait days, minimum absence, or linking (if required).

      For statutory absences, wait days, minimum absence and linking only apply for SSP. Depending on your company terms and conditions, you may need to define formulas that check these criteria.

  • Absence entitlement

    You need to consider the following:

    • Entitlement type (per-absence or frequency based). The UK statutory absence entitlements are defined as per-absence entitlements. However, you may have a requirement for a frequency-based entitlement if employees accrue their entitlement or entitlement is for a fixed period per year.

    • Conditional resolution formula

      This formula is required for per-absence entitlements to determine eligibility for paid absence.

    • Entitlement formula

      This formula determines the employee's entitlement balance.

  • Absence earning

  • Mapping

    You can implement mapping in one of two ways:

    • By mapping the occupational absence take to the statutory absence take.

    • By mapping the statutory absence take to the occupational absence take.

  • Organizational and processing framework.

    PeopleSoft delivers a processing framework as a template only. You can create your own process lists and sections or modify the delivered framework.

    Warning! If you use mapping, you must ensure that your process lists are set up with the main absence take is processed before the mapped absence.