Record the absence,ask for cover.
You record the absence in one go, and Plana turns the shifts into open shifts. Then you ask suitable colleagues, and they sign up on their phones.
18 absence types, and for sick leave only the type is stored, not the cause.
When to use it
When an employee falls ill and already has shifts on the published roster, the owner or manager has to record the absence and find someone to take the shifts.
Try free for 3 monthsNo credit card.How it works
Record the absence
On the Requests and absences page press Record absence and choose the employee, the type and the dates. Each shift becomes an open shift.
Ask suitable people
The Find cover window opens when you record an absence on the published roster. Press Ask selected or Ask everyone suitable.
The employee signs up
The employee who was asked gets a notification on the phone and signs up in the app. You get a notification about the sign-up, or an email if you use only the web and have no app notifications.
Approve one
Press Approve next to one of those who signed up. Plana checks the working-time rules before the shift is created, and the others are told cover is no longer needed.
By hand and with Plana
By hand
You mark the absence and open the shifts on the roster by hand, one shift at a time.
You ask colleagues one by one and work out yourself who can come.
You check yourself whether the shift suits the one who promises to come.
With Plana
One entry marks the shifts as absences and turns each into an open shift.
Candidates are grouped: signed up, suitable and not suitable with the reasons. You ask the selected or everyone suitable.
Before the shift is created, Plana checks the working-time rules.
Example: the demo restaurant’s roster
The demo restaurant’s roster has 8 employees (the employees are made up). The benchmark for the three-week period is 112.5 h and the cap is 136 h. The most planned hours are Virtanen’s (120 h) and the fewest Heikkinen’s (63.5 h).
- 8employeesDemo restaurant · period hours
- 112.5 hperiod benchmarkDemo restaurant · period hours
- 136 hperiod capDemo restaurant · period hours
- 18absence typesDemo restaurant · period hours
The rules Plana watches
The roster may not be changed without the consent of the employee and the employer.
MaRa TES 9 §In Plana the employee’s own sign-up is the consent, so the shift is created directly on approval. If the owner gives a shift directly on the published roster, it becomes a proposed change that the employee accepts. The absence itself doesn’t go through a consent proposal.
MaRa TES 9 §The employee has to notify the employer or the employer’s representative of falling ill without delay and in person.
MaRa TES 22 § 2On request a medical certificate or other statement accepted by the employer has to be presented. Plana records the absence and gives the certificate a place to be kept, but it doesn’t require or check how the notice was given.
MaRa TES 22 § 2
Who uses it
- Owner
- Records the absence and approves time-off requests on the Requests and absences page, asks for cover and approves sign-ups in the Find cover window on the Plan page, and sees on the home page which open shifts nobody has been asked about.
- Manager
- Same as the owner.
- Employee
- Applies for leave or reports sick leave on the Time-off request screen and attaches the certificate. When asked, signs up on the Shifts tab and can turn the requests off on the Me tab.
- Accountant
- Has no screen of their own, can’t open the absence page and can’t read the certificates.
What it doesn’t do
Plana doesn’t send the open shift to colleagues by itself: the request goes out only when the owner or manager presses an Ask button.
An employee’s own sick-leave request is pending. Until it is approved the shift doesn’t change and no open shift appears, but the owner’s own entry takes effect at once.
Only shifts on the published roster change. A shift with a clocking attached doesn’t become open.
When an absence is cancelled or ended early, days whose open shift someone else has already taken aren’t restored. The page tells you which days, and you fix them by hand on the Plan page. A reason is required.
Candidates come only from the same team. There is no cover across locations: it is planned for the Pro plan but isn’t built yet.
The candidate list doesn’t show the cost difference yet (regular pay, overtime, Sunday supplement).
A shift lead can’t ask colleagues or approve a sign-up on the phone, only assign a shift directly. Asking and approving are done on the web.
Only an employee with a login account can be asked and can sign up.
When an employee chooses Don’t ask me, the manager can no longer ask them to cover, but requests already received stay open.
There is no application step for an employee who has recovered early. The sick leave in the app has only a line of reminder text.
Where to find it in Plana
- Where to find it in Plana
- Hours → Requests and absences → Record absence · Plan → Find cover · App: Time-off request, Shifts
- Where to find it in Plana
- You need the owner’s or manager’s right. The employee has to be linked to a login account to be asked, and signs up in the app.
Questions
Next stop in the period
Next stop in the periodPay · Hours and payroll dataHours by pay type: additional work, overtime, evening, night and Sunday hours. Net estimate from the tax card in Pro.
Related features
Employee app
Employees install the app on an Android phone from a link the restaurant gives them. Their own shifts, calendar subscription and notifications, in four languages.
Publishing and changes
The roster goes to phones in one click. A change to a published shift applies when the employee accepts it.
Example: Nieminen, Laura's Friday shift 16–23 becomes 16–24. The change applies only after Laura accepts it.
- Publish by email and share link
- Calendar subscription on the employee's phone
- Owner exception for emergency work, kept on record
Preferences and time-off requests
Employees send a preference from their phone, and you approve it in one place.