Contract defaults let you set your company's standard contract terms once, so every new contract starts from them. For example, all bank carers get £12.50/hr and paid breaks, or all permanent nurses work 37.5 hours a week. When you add a contract, Florence fills in the matching defaults for you. You only change what's different for that person.
What you can set a default for
Contracted hours: weekly contracted hours
Rate of pay: hourly rate
Paid breaks: whether breaks are paid
Include on payroll: whether the contract is included on payroll
Entitlements: the set of pay entitlements added to the contract, for example overtime or enhancements
Leave allowances: the set of leave allowances added to the contract
Each type has its own tab. The number next to each tab shows how many defaults you've set for that type.
Who can use contract defaults
To see contract defaults, you need the Manage all employee contracts permission.
To add, change or delete defaults, you also need the Manage payroll permission.
Company directors and financial controllers can set defaults for the whole company.
Regional and location managers only see defaults for the locations they manage. Every default they add must include a Location condition.
If you can't see Contract defaults in your settings, ask your company director to check your permissions.
Find contract defaults
Click Settings in the top navigation.
Under Company settings in the left-hand menu, click Contract defaults.
The menu changes to show each default type. Click one to see its defaults.
To go back, click Back to settings.
How defaults decide who they apply to
Every default can have up to three conditions:
Tier, for example permanent or bank
Role, for example Nurse or Carer
Location
Leave a condition out and the default applies to everyone on that condition: all tiers, all roles or all locations. A default with no conditions is your company-wide default.
The most specific default wins. A default with more conditions beats one with fewer. For example, with these two rate of pay defaults:
Tier | Role | Location | Rate of pay |
All tiers | Carer | All locations | £12.00/hr |
Bank | Carer | All locations | £12.50/hr |
…a new bank carer gets £12.50/hr, and every other carer gets £12.00/hr. Hover over a default to see which broader default it takes priority over.
Defaults can't overlap. Florence won't save two defaults where neither is more specific than the other. An example is "Bank, all roles" and "All tiers, Carer": a bank carer would match both equally. If this happens you'll be asked to add a condition so one default is clearly more specific.
If a contract covers several roles or locations and the matching defaults disagree, Florence uses the default for the contract's main location. If that still doesn't settle it, the field is left blank for you to fill in.
Add a default
Open Settings → Contract defaults and pick the type, for example Rate of pay.
Click Add a default.
To make it a company-wide default, skip this step. Otherwise click Add a condition, choose Tier, Role or Location, then pick a value.
Enter the value. For Entitlements and Leave allowances, search for and select each one to include.
Choose whether managers can change the value on individual contracts (see below).
Click Save.
From now on, any new contract that matches picks up this value automatically.
To add a narrower default under an existing one, click the + icon on that default's row.
Lock a default
Allow this to be changed on a contract is switched on by default. Managers see the default filled in and can change it for an individual.
Switch it off when a value must never vary. Contracts that pick up a locked default show the value as read-only. For entitlements and leave allowances, the set can't be changed on the contract.
The Overridable column shows Yes or No for each default.
See which contracts use a default
The Contracts column shows how many contracts covered by a default use its value, for example "42 of 50 contracts". Click it to open Contracts under this default. Each contract is marked Matches default (green) or Differs from default (yellow). Use the Status filter or Search by staff name to narrow the list.
Move contracts onto the default
Open Contracts under this default.
Tick the contracts that differ from default that you want to move.
Choose an Effective from date.
Click Move [number] onto default.
The contracts update in the background, and you can leave the page while this happens. For entitlements and leave allowances, moving a contract onto the default gives it exactly the default set: missing items are added and anything else is removed.
Change a default and update existing contracts
A change to a default always applies to new contracts straight away. You also choose which existing contracts move to the new value.
Click the pencil icon on the default's row.
Change the value. You can't change the conditions here. To change who a default applies to, delete it and add a new one.
Click Next.
Contracts that were on the old default value are ticked for you. Tick or untick anyone else.
Choose the Effective from date. Existing contracts change from this date.
Click Save and update.
The updates run in the background, and larger companies may take a few minutes. You can't edit or delete that default again until it has finished. If a contract already has a change scheduled, ticking it replaces that change.
Why a change might start later than the date you picked
Contract changes can't go back past a finalised payroll run. If you pick a date on or before a contract's most recent finalised timesheet, that contract's change starts from the day after instead. Florence shows you how many contracts this affects before you save.
Changing contracted hours: what happens to leave
Annual leave is pro-rata to contracted hours. So when you move contracts to new hours, you'll be asked What should happen to their annual leave allowances?
Recalculate for the new hours (recommended): allowances are pro-rated from the new hours. Leave already taken is kept.
Keep allowances as they are: nothing changes. You can still adjust individuals from their employment details.
If cutting hours means some staff have already taken more leave than their new allowance, Florence tells you how many hours are affected. Then choose:
Allow the leave - no deduction, or
Deduct value from next payroll run to recover the value of the overdrawn hours.
If contracts are moving off zero hours, leave accrual stops the day before the change. Any accrued balance is paid in the next pay run.
Adding an annual leave allowance to a default
When you add an annual leave allowance to a Leave allowances default and move existing contracts onto it, you can switch on Calculate annual leave pro rata:
On: each contract gets its contracted hours × 5.6 as its annual allowance, pro-rated to the weeks left until the reset date.
Off: each contract gets the leave policy's full allowance.
Delete a default
Click the bin icon on the default's row.
Click Delete default to confirm.
Contracts already using the default keep their terms. Only new contracts stop picking it up.
Adding a contract with defaults
When you add a contract to a staff member, choose their tier, roles and locations first. Florence then fills in the matching defaults for:
Contracted hours, paid breaks and include on payroll
Rate of pay
Leave allowances
Pay entitlements
Check each step. If this person's terms are different, change the value. The same happens when you edit an existing contract. A yellow message appears: "You are changing this worker's contract from your company's default values." To undo, click Reset to default.
If a default is locked, the field can't be edited. For locked entitlements and leave allowances, the items can't be removed.
Common questions
If I change a default, do existing contracts change automatically?
No. New contracts use the new value straight away. For existing contracts, you choose which ones move and from what date.
What happens to contracts if I delete a default?
Nothing. They keep their current terms.
A new contract didn't pick up a default. Why?
Check that the contract's tier, roles and locations match the default's conditions. If the contract has several roles or locations and the matching defaults disagree, the field is left for you to fill in.
Why can't I save my new default?
It probably overlaps an existing default, and neither is more specific. Add a condition to one of them.
Why can't I edit a value on someone's contract?
That value comes from a locked default. Ask someone who manages contract defaults to unlock it, or to add a more specific default for that group.
Why did my change start later than the date I picked?
The contract has a finalised payroll run on or after that date. Changes can only start the day after the most recent finalised timesheet.
Can I see who's not on the standard terms?
Yes. Click the contracts count on any default and filter by Differs from default.