What's new ✨

• Modifying pay rates - changing how much is paid, or thresholds for rules like overtime
• Adding Shift Differentials, for items like night shift payments
• Automating allowances based on areas, custom fields, and more

This new tool for system administrators continues to allow users to simplify and streamline their compliance needs, giving greater cost accuracy for all of your team members. Users can start with our pre configured library labor laws and modify them to meet their needs, or start from scratch and build their own pay rates.

How to use it 🤓 

System Administrators will be able to find the Pay Rate Builder in business settings under the pay tab once it is enabled in their account.

Further help documents are available here, outlining how to edit contracts and pay rules for greater simplicity!

Rollout 

The improvements will roll out to all accounts in the US and UK over the coming weeks. Australian and other countries will come later this year.

What's new ✨

We’re excited to announce updates that make managing and picking up Open Shifts with Approval and Find Replacement shifts smoother than ever! 

The following improvements will be available in your account soon: 

• Team members can decline Open Shifts with Approval or Find Replacement invites. This will help narrow down your pool of potential team members for unfilled shifts, saving you time and effort.
• Managers can decline Open Shifts with Approval requests from team members. This will help enhance communication and ensure team members won't be left in the dark if they haven’t been selected for a shift.
• General improvements to viewing and editing Open Shifts features. You can now view Shift Details and make certain edits to shifts, such as adding Shift Notes, even if there are already requests.

How to use it 🤓

Click here to read more about Open Shifts with Approval. 

Click here to read more about Find Replacement.

Got feedback to share? Go to Deputy > Help > Give us feedback

Rollout 

These feature improvements will roll out to all accounts over the coming weeks.

What's new ✨

We’ve added a helpful alert for scheduling managers! Now, if you try to schedule a team member who hasn’t finished their onboarding process, you’ll receive a warning. Don’t worry, you can still choose to ‘schedule anyway’ if needed.

Why 🤔

Making sure everyone is fully onboarded before they start working is essential for a smooth operation. In the past, managers might have accidentally scheduled new hires who weren’t fully prepared, leading to disruptions and compliance issues. With this new feature, you can avoid those pitfalls and ensure your team is always ready and compliant from day one.

How to use it 🤓

Click here to read more about how to use it.

Available for Deputy HR subscribers only.

Got feedback to share? Go to Deputy > Help > Give us feedback

How to get it 🧪

This feature will roll out to all accounts over the coming weeks.

Deputy HR is thrilled to introduce Shift Pulse+, an enhanced version of our popular Shift Pulse feature, designed to elevate your workplace engagement. With powerful new customization options, Shift Pulse+ empowers you to tailor the experience to perfectly match the unique needs of your business.

What’s new ✨

Shift Pulse+ puts you in control of your team's engagement with these exciting new customization features:

• Craft your own questions: Tailor Shift Pulse questions to gather the specific insights that matter most to your business.
• Choose the frequency: Decide how often you want to check in with your team to ensure you're getting timely feedback.
• Customize responses: Create response options and emojis that resonate with your team's unique communication style.
• Target specific roles: Determine which roles within your organization should participate in Shift Pulse surveys.
• Focus on specific locations: Narrow down the locations or areas from which you want to gather feedback.

Shift Pulse+ empowers you to create a personalized and effective feedback system that truly works for your business.

But that's not all! We've also revamped the Shift Pulse report in your Deputy mobile app. Now you have even more Shift Pulse insights at your fingertips, allowing you to effortlessly monitor your team's engagement wherever you are.

Why 🤔

This update was driven by your valuable feedback, giving managers the increased control and customization they requested. But that's not all! Shift Pulse+ marks the beginning of Deputy's expansion into offering even more employee engagement solutions in the future. Stay tuned!

What if I don’t have a Deputy HR subscription?

Shift Pulse is available for all Deputy users, but a Deputy HR subscription unlocks its full potential and enhances your experience.

Without a Deputy HR subscription, you'll still be able to:

• Use the default Shift Pulse question to gauge your team's feelings.
• View a snapshot of your team's recent sentiment with the last 7 days of data.
• See a limited selection of comments for an overview of feedback.

A Deputy HR subscription will give you access to:

• Customization: Craft your own questions, set check-in frequency, and tailor responses.
• Deeper Insights: View all historical data and read every comment for a complete picture.
• Mobile Convenience: View detailed reports and all comments directly in the Deputy mobile app.

While Shift Pulse offers value to all Deputy users, the enhanced features and customization options available with a Deputy HR subscription truly elevate your team's engagement and your ability to act on feedback.

Refer to the table below for the full comparison:

How to use it 🤓

To view the extra Shift Pulse configurations, navigate to Business Settings > Timesheets > Customise. You can then view the Shift Pulse report by navigating to the Reports tab and click View full report in Shift Pulse.

If you want to use the new Shift Pulse configurations, please note that your team have to be on the latest Android and iOS versions of the Deputy mobile apps.

If you are subscribed to HR, you can also get an overview of the report by navigating to the People tab and clicking Team engagement on the left hand side navigation.

Learn more on how to use Shift Pulse+ here.

Rollout

Shift Pulse+ will be available to all Premium, Flexi, Timesheet and Scheduling plan customers by the end of this week.

What's new ✨

A new business setting that allows you to define a custom term to replace the word “shift” in the Deputy product (similar to setting a custom term for team member & breaks).

Why 🤔

Using the right terminology for work in your business means you can accurately reflect the work to be performed and can also help you meet local labour laws.

How to use it 🤓

Check out how to set a custom term for "shift".

Got feedback to share? Go to the floating ? button > Give us feedback

We know that staying compliant with Fair Workweek law is no simple feat - it’s fundamentally changing the way that large retail and hospitality businesses schedule and pay their employees. Today, falling short of Fair Workweek law can mean millions of dollars in potential fines and lawsuits. As your partner in compliance, Deputy’s new features simplify these complex requirements and make it easy to create compliant, cost-effective schedules and manage last-minute adjustments seamlessly.

With Deputy’s new Fair Workweek features, you can now:

• Create cost-effective schedules with just a few clicks that help you stay compliant
• Create and manage team member’s Good Faith Estimates, which are now accessible in the Deputy mobile app
• Provide your staff with advance notice of schedules
• Request and record consent for schedule changes and clopenings
• Track schedule change history and predictability pay records with new FWW reports

How do I use these new features?

Deputy Premium customers now have self-service access to the new Fair Workweek features by navigating to Location Settings > Scheduling > Consent and selecting their local jurisdiction, and then applying FWW pay rates to the applicable employees in the employee profile. Enterprise customers can reach out to Deputy Support to have these features enabled.

You can learn more about Fair Workweek law and how it may impact your business at "Fair Workweek made simple with Deputy". For detailed set-up and usage instructions, please visit "Introduction to setting up Fair Workweek".

What's new ✨

We've made some changes to the integrations marketplace inside Deputy to make it easier for you to know whether an integration was built by Deputy or not. This helps you know whether you can expect to setup the integration directly in Deputy, or whether you will need to do it inside the third party application.

Integrations which have been built by Deputy now have a tag of Deputy inside their application tile.

Integrations which have been built by a third party developer now have a tag of 3rd Party inside their application tile.

Along with this we have also made a change on the search functionality. When you search for an application inside the Deputy marketplace, we now connect to Zapier to see if the application is in the Zapier marketplace. For those unaware, Zapier is a middleware application that connections thousands of different applications with each other and Deputy has had an integration with Zapier for a number of years now.

When you perform a search results from Zapier will also now be included with the tag Zapier.

Clicking on this tile will take you to Zapier to help guide you through the process of getting Deputy connected to this application. With this change, we've added thousands of applications to our marketplace overnight and will bring more visibility than ever to our Zapier integration and the wide array of options it offers you when trying to solve business and integration problems.

Why 🤔

We've found sometimes users are confused with where an integration with Deputy needs to be setup, either in Deputy itself, or from a third party application. By directly labelling whether Deputy built the integration or not, it gives a clear indication as to where you will need to set the integration up. Along with this, including Zapier apps when searches are performed, gives visibility that there may be an alternate way to achieve what integration you are looking to setup.

How to use it 🤓

This change is live in the Deputy marketplace now so the next time you visit the integrations marketplace in your Deputy install, you will see these changes present.

What's new ✨

We have introduced a new business setting enabling you to hide regular working hours from the schedule! 

You may also know regular working hours as agreed hours or working hours - this is set to change in the product soon, with regular working hours being the unified term to describe agreements with team members on which regular days or hours they work. 

Why 🤔

We know that some businesses on Deputy do not use regular working hours for scheduling purposes. For these businesses, hiding regular working hours from the schedule can help reduce visual noise when scheduling. 

How to use it 🤓

As a system administrator, click on your name on the top right of the Deputy web app. Click on Business settings > Schedule and turn off the setting Show regular working hours on schedule

Once the setting is turned off, managers across the business should no longer see information related to regular working hours on the schedule. You can continue to use regular working hours for other purposes such as when setting up leave policies.

Whats new ✨ 

Lightspeed has recently released an integration for their Restaurant product (otherwise known as K-Series) to Deputy. The integration is able to sync live sales data from Lightspeed K POS terminals. This allows for real time sales tracking vs labor costs in the Deputy smart scheduling feature. Users of the integration can also select whether they want the Gross (Inclusive of Tax) or Net (Exclusive of Tax) amounts to be sent to Deputy. We know this is one of our your most requested features so we are delighted that our development partner Lightspeed has included this feature.

Deputy worked closely with Lightspeed over the past year to ensure that this integration meets all the hallmarks of a top level integration. It includes features such as mapping individual POS terminals to location areas, importing sales data and mapping employee records from Deputy to Lightspeed Restaurant (K-Series).

How to use it 🤓

The integration with Deputy is installed from within Lightspeed Restaurant (K-Series). For more information about setting this integration up please consult our online help guide here.

Rollout 🚂

The integration from Lightspeed Restaurant (K-Series) to Deputy is now Generally Available. Users of Lightspeed Restaurant (K-Series) can install the integration now in all three of Deputys regions (Australia/USA/United Kingdom).

Do you have feedback to share? Go to Deputy > Help > Give us feedback

Fair Workweek is a comprehensive set of laws that governs how workers’ schedules should be set and distributed. An ever-growing number of locations in the US have been rolling out these complex laws that are extremely difficult to manage manually. These regulations have large-scale impacts that enforce some or all of the following based on your workplace location:

1. Ensure workers have a predetermined schedule well in advance of their shifts
2. Require signed and documented consent from workers for a range of schedule changes
3. Calculating a variety of pay penalties for those applicable schedule changes

With regulators in the US now handing out fines that are in the millions, it’s important to make sure your workplace is covered and Deputy’s new Fair Workweek offering is the easiest way to begin this journey.

When is this going live and how can I become compliant?

In line with the City of Los Angeles enforcement date of September 28, Deputy’s Fair Workweek offering will start to be available before then:

• September 1 - Pay premiums for New York Fast Food and Los Angeles - other cities coming soon
• October 1 - Regular schedule and employee consent for regular schedule changes
• November 1 - Trigger and gather employee consent for working schedule changes

If you’d like to get on board with the full solution as early as possible or just find out more - please get in touch with your regular Deputy point of contact or sign up for our beta program.

Sign up for Beta

The Deputy Fair Workweek Solution

The Deputy solution can be broken down into 4 easy-to-use parts that will keep your workplace compliant:

1. Auto calculation of Fair Workweek pay premiums

Designed to streamline your payroll process, Deputy will ensure you comply easily on a city-by-city basis with the following new features:

Accurate Fair Workweek Calculations: Deputy goes beyond basic calculations by factoring in complex elements such as shifts, overtime, breaks, and predictability pay. Now, you can ensure that your employees are compensated fairly in accordance with labor regulations.

Predictability Pay Integration: Keeping up with the intricate requirements of predictability pay is now effortless. Deputy identifies shifts subject to predictability pay and automatically includes them in the calculations, eliminating errors and saving you valuable time.

Clopening Consideration: Clopenings can be a challenge, but not anymore. Deputy recognizes these instances and ensures that employees receive the compensation they deserve for working consecutive closing and opening shifts, promoting fairness and employee satisfaction.

City-Specific Tailoring: Each city has its unique labor laws. Deputy offers city-specific pay rates for both New York City Fast Food and Los Angeles, adapting to local regulations seamlessly while alleviating the complexity of compliance. More cities to come, including San Francisco, New York Retail, Chicago, Philadelphia and Oregon - stay tuned!

2. Trigger and gather employee consent for schedule changes

Stress less about having to understand and remember the huge amount of schedule change scenarios that require an employee's consent alongside needing to manually document them. 

Your Deputy schedule will now be able to integrate city-specific Fair Workweek consent laws and bear the burden of helping you comply with them.

Depending on your location, we’ll have the right setting configuration for you that both triggers consent for any schedule changes where required, as well as documents them in a reportable, auditable way:

• Adding or reducing hours
• Work schedule variance with regular schedule exceeding 15% (NYC Fast Food only)
• Clopenings (i.e. back-to-back shifts across two work days)
• Other schedule changes (e.g. location, breaks)
• Timesheet attestation (starting and ending shifts that vary from scheduled hours)
• Schedule change compliance warnings to keep managers informed at every step

3. Create regular working schedules (Good Faith Estimates)

A cornerstone of the Fair Workweek laws is that employees have a mutually agreed upon, predictable schedule which remains as similar as possible each work period. Deputy’s regular schedule enables you to:

• Build a repeating schedule for each of your employees
• Request and record employee consent for any changes
• Use Deputy’s auto-schedule feature to roster your whole team in a single click. 

4. Auditable Reporting

With complex laws, rules and premiums that have to be paid to employees, it’s important to have easy visibility on how these laws have been applied to your schedule (especially if the regulators ask) and also what impacts the premiums have on your bottom line. Deputy’s Fair Workweek reporting out of the box will provide:

1. Pay premium reporting - Understand how much pay premiums from Fair Workweek mandated penalties are costing
2. Schedule change history reporting - Have easily auditable compliance to keep Fair Workweek regulators happy

I’m already compliant with Fair Workweek by using Deputy - how does this impact me?

If you are a Deputy customer who is already Fair Workweek compliant, these new features will not change your current solution and there is no action to take. Your Deputy point of contact will work with you to identify a migration path as well as a timing that suits you to ensure you always have the latest Fair Workweek compliance solution as we continually invest in this space.