The employee-specific settings of the area are distributed across two areas:
the default settings for new employees under Administration > Employees > Settings, and
the individual settings per employee in the Employee File (edit dialog, Settings tab) and under Employees > [Employee Name] > Employee File > Working time model.
Overtime & Time Supplements per Employee
For employees whose overtime is included in their salary or who are paid by the hour as freelancers, overtime and time supplements can be deactivated per employee. To do so, open Employees > [Employee Name] > Employee File and click the pencil icon in the settings. On the Settings tab, in the Overtime section, clear the checkbox "Calculate and show overtime".
When calculation is deactivated, all tables and information about overtime and time supplements are hidden in all reports for this employee.
Note: Time supplements are only taken into account if the option "Report surcharges for public holidays and special times as time supplements and add to the overtime account" is active under Administration > Overtime & Absences > Settings.
Default Settings for New Employees
Under Administration > Employees > Settings you define default values that are automatically applied when creating new employees. Click on Edit settings and switch to the tab Default settings for new employees.
The following default settings can be configured:
Standard working hours: Working days and hours per day (Mon–Sun).
Vacation entitlement per year: Default value for new employees.
Overtime included in salary per month: Value and calculation method (fixed number of hours or percentage).
Break rule: Default break rule assigned.
Note: The setting "Default vacation days and sick days" (correspond to calendar days / Convert according to regular working hours/full time) is stored here as a global default but can be individually overridden per employment period – see the section Vacation Days and Sick Days below.
Employee Vacation Entitlement
You set an employee's vacation entitlement in the employment period under Employees > [Employee Name] > Employee File > Working time model. There you map the standard working hours and vacation periods agreed in the employment contract.
Vacation Entitlement in this Period
Useful for fixed-term employment periods under one year. You can create any number of employment periods, each with its own vacation quota for that period.
Vacation Entitlement per Year
For contractually agreed annual vacation days. If an employment period begins or ends mid-year, ZEP calculates the vacation entitlement proportionally for the included months. For each started month, the full monthly entitlement is calculated.
If you have specified under Administration > Overtime & Absences > Settings (tab General) that vacation entitlement is always assigned to a specific date, you can set the date to the exact day.
Example: An employee joins on 01.08.2023 and has 30 vacation days per year agreed. ZEP calculates for August to December (5 months): 30 ÷ 12 × 5 = 12.5 vacation days for 2023.
If you want to store a different vacation entitlement for the entry period, create a fixed-term employment period (e.g., 15.08.2023 – 31.12.2023) with the desired quota and a second period from 01.01.2024 with the regular annual entitlement.
Vacation Days and Sick Days
This setting controls how vacation days and sick days are calculated for part-time employees. It can be stored as a global default under Administration > Employees > Settings and individually adjusted per employment period.
Correspond to calendar days: Each full day off has the same value, regardless of the standard working hours of the day of the week. Suitable when the employment contract specifies the same number of working days as for a full-time employee and an average value is entered as standard working hours.
Convert according to standard working hours / full-time: Each day off corresponds in hours to the standard working hours of the respective day of the week, converted into full-time working days. Suitable when vacation days in the contract were calculated based on the part-time ratio.
Example: Full-time working day = 8 hours. An employee has 4 hours standard working hours on Fridays and takes the entire Friday off → only half a vacation day is deducted from the quota.
For full-time employees with the same standard working hours each day, this setting makes no difference. However, it is relevant if a full-time employee works different numbers of hours on different days of the week and less vacation should be used for shorter days.
Example: Despite its name, the option "Correspond to calendar days" also only uses the weekdays marked as working days in the standard working hours. The remaining days are skipped. An employee works 8 hours on Mondays and 4 hours on Thursdays, and a full-time day has 8 hours. The employee takes a full week of vacation:
Correspond to calendar days: every working day counts as a full vacation day, regardless of its hours. The week uses 2 vacation days.
Convert according to regular working hours/full time: every working day counts proportionally, with its hours divided by the full-time day. The week uses (8 + 4) ÷ 8 = 1.5 vacation days.
Warning: If this setting changes for an employee (e.g., due to a contract change), ZEP does not automatically recalculate vacation entitlements and remaining vacation. New entitlements must be entered manually and a manual adjustment may need to be made.
Note: For freelancers with standard working hours of 0 on all days of the week, only the setting "correspond to calendar days" is suitable.