We are pleased to announce the release of sharedHR 7.8, which reflects our commitment to provide continuously updated HR
compliance information and features to assist our clients in managing their HR function.
SharedHR 7.8 went live before regular business hours (PST) on October 2, 2006, and as is our practice, resulted in no service interruptions
on the site. We encourage all sharedHR Administrators to login to sharedHR and check out the new features and enhanced functionality:
SharedHR now offers a new feature that allows Administrators to set up custom employee data entry fields. These fields can be defined by the Administrator in the "Update Company Information and Handbooks" section of the site. Once set up, the custom fields will be available for data entry on a new tab in the "Update Employee Data" section. The custom fields will be available for output on the Custom Report Generator and the My Personal Data report.
Update Employee Data Screen
Once a company has Custom Employee Fields defined (under Update Company Information & Handbooks, Update Custom Employee Fields), a new tab will appear at the end of the tab list on the Update Employee Data screen (under Add/Maintain Employee Data). The new tab is labeled "Custom".
The Custom tab lists each of the custom fields that have been set up for the company. The type of data entry field will depend on the setting selected during the set up process: a textbox, radio buttons, checkbox, or pick list.
Update My Personal Data
When a company has Custom Employee Fields defined that are marked to be "On EE Self-Service" screen, a new section appears on the bottom of the Update My Personal Data screen. Employees will be able to edit their own values for these fields.
My Personal Data Report
When a company has Custom Employee Fields defined that are marked to be "On My Personal Data" report, a new section will appear on bottom of the My Personal Data report to display the custom values for that employee.
Custom Report Generator
On the Custom Report Generator setting screen (available to Administrators), the custom fields are referenced in "Available" list for inclusion in a custom report if desired.
International Employee Capabilities
Another new feature offered in sharedHR 7.8 provides for an "International" designation of individual Document Groups. When setting up Document Groups on the Update Document Groups page, an "Is International?" check box is now available, that allows Administrators to designate a group of employees as international. For employees who are members of an international Document Group, additional address field options are available for their address information. This includes "Province/Territory" and "Country". The phone number data entry fields for international employees are also changed to allow for flexible international phone number formats. When international phone numbers and postal codes are entered, the user must include all formatting desired on the reports.
The Update Company Profile, Update Company Locations and Employee Emergency Contact pages have also been changed to allow for entry of international addresses and phone numbers.
Recording Leaves of Absence for Groups of Employees
When recording leave of absence activity on the "Record Leave of Absence Activity" screen, there is a new button labeled "Record Same Leave for Multiple Employees". When this button is pressed, the screen changes to allow you to select multiple employees. When the rest of the screen is filled out and the "OK" button is pressed, a leave of absence record is created for each of the selected employees. This is most useful when recording things like paid Company Holidays. The Administrator can select individual employees, select groups of employees by Document Group or Employment Status (Regular Full-Time, Regular Part-Time), or update all employees.
Library Document Uploads - Expanded
SharedHR now allows users to upload documents of any file type (OFT, WAV, ZIP, etc). Previously, only specific Microsoft Office document types (Word, Excel, etc) were allowed for upload. Now, any type of document can be uploaded to sharedHR for inclusion in your document library.
Documents uploaded that are not MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint or text will not be available in PDF format; they will only be available for viewing in "Original" format.
EEO Updates
The EEOC has revised the EEO-1 report's ethnic/racial, and job categories. Employers who have a reporting obligation must use the revised EEO-1 Report beginning with the September 30, 2007 filing deadline. With the release of 7.8, clients can begin collecting data according to these new categories.
Changes to the Racial/Ethnic Categories
The old EEO-1 Report included five broad racial and ethnic categories:
Hispanic;
White (Not of Hispanic Origin);
Black (Not of Hispanic Origin);
Asian or Pacific Islander; and
American Indian or Alaskan Native.
The revised EEO-1 Report changes the "Hispanic" category to "Hispanic or Latino." The "Hispanic or Latino" category is defined as a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
For those employees who are not Hispanic or Latino, there are now six separate racial and ethnic categories:
White;
Black or African-American;
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander;
Asian;
American Indian or Alaska Native; and
Two or more races.
The former category of "Asian or Pacific Islander" has been split into two separate categories: "Asian" and "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander." The "Asian" category is defined as a person having origins in any or the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent (including Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam). The "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander" category is defined as a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
In sharedHR, all employees previously categorized as "Asian or Pacific Islander" have been assigned as "Asian" by default. You may need to reassign some of the "Asian" employees to the "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander" category.
The EEOC added the new category of "Two or more races" without requiring employers to report the combination of races/ethnicities applicable to particular employees. The category "Two or more races" is simply defined as all non-Hispanic or Latino persons who identify with more than one of the other specified races/ethnicities.
In its instructions for completing the revised EEO-1 Report, the EEOC strongly encourages employers to use voluntary self-identification to gather the data necessary for the EEO-1 Report. In 7.8, sharedHR has added EEO Information in "Update My Personal Data" under "User Tools" to allow employees to identify their race/ethnicity. Additionally, the EEOC has indicated that it will not require that employers resurvey their entire workforce before the date the revised EEO-1 goes into effect. Therefore, sharedHR has retained the current values, and we strongly advise clients to utilize the self-service enhancement to encourage employees to self-identify.
Changes to the Job Categories
The EEOC has also made some changes to the job categories set forth on the EEO-1 Report. The old EEO-1 Report included nine job categories:
Officials and Managers;
Professionals;
Technicians;
Sales Workers;
Office and Clerical;
Craft Workers (Skilled);
Operatives (Semi-skilled);
Laborers (Unskilled); and
Service Workers.
The revised EEO-1 Report divides the "Officials and Managers" category into two separate categories: "Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers" and "First/Mid Level Officials and Managers." The "Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers" category is defined as an individual who plans, directs, and formulates policies, sets strategy, and provides the overall direction of the enterprise or organization. The "First/Mid Level Officials and Managers" category is defined as an individual who serves as a manager at a group, regional, or divisional level of the organization, and who receives directions from Executive/Senior Level management.
The EEOC has also changed the name of the "Office and Clerical" category to "Administrative Support Workers." In addition, the EEOC has changed the name of the "Laborers" category to "Laborers and Helpers." The types of positions that would fall within each of these categories have not changed in any significant manner.
The EEOC provides instructions to re-code every employee currently included in the Officials and Managers EEO-1 category into the new higher or lower level Officials and Managers categories or the Professionals category.
In sharedHR, all employees previously categorized as "Officials and Managers" have been assigned as "First/Mid Level Officials and Managers" by default. You may need to reassign some of the "First/Mid Level Officials and Managers" employees to the "Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers" category.
Inactivating Company Locations and Documents Groups
With this release of sharedHR, we have added the ability for you to inactivate Company Locations and Document Groups. When you reorganize or relocate your company, there are times when you will want to "turn off" Locations and / or Document Groups in sharedHR. Since there will most like be some history associated with these Locations and Document Groups, they are not removed from the system entirely. They are made no longer available for selection.
In "Update Company Information and Handbook(s)", the "Update Document Groups" and "Update Company Locations" screens, an "Is Active?" checkbox has been added. By checking this box and pressing the Save button, that Location or Document Group will be removed from the pick lists throughout the sharedHR site. You will not be able to inactivate Locations and Document Groups that are assigned to active employees.
If you need assistance with any of sharedHR’s newest features, please contact
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