Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)

FREQUETNimeTALttYendAancSeKanEd LDeaveQMUanaEgeSmTenItOSysNtemS (FAQs)

Time Attendance and Leave Management System

Getting Started

Q. What is the purpose of a Time Attendance and Leave management system?
A. Time Attendance and Leave management system is an easy to use, effective and

efficient automated software which manages the attendance data of an employee.
The system even helps employees to monitor their working hours, absenteeism,
leave records and offsite duty hours.

The name of the system we use is called “Smart Office”.
Q. How can I access the system?
A. To access the system, you are required to click on the below link:

myattendance.pharmalink.ae
Please note that you can access the system anytime anywhere including from home.

Time & Attendance Module

Q. What is the total number of hours I need to fulfil in a daily basis?
A. Retail based employees: It varies as per the shift-schedules assigned to you

Field based employees: It depends on the daily assigned field visits (Fri & Sat
OFF)
Office based employees: 9 working hours plus 1-hour lunch break (Fri & Sat OFF)
Pharmalink Warehouse: 9 working hours plus 1-hour lunch break (Fri & Sat OFF)
Medicina Warehouse: 8 working hours plus 1-hour lunch break (Fri OFF)
Q. Where can I view my attendance details?
A. You have two options to view your attendance details, either through the weekly
attendance reports that will be sent to you automatically by the system to your email
ID or you can access the online smart office system anytime you wish.
Q. When will I receive the attendance report through email?
A. Every Sunday, you will receive a report containing your attendance data of last week
copying your line manager.
Q. What should I do once I view the attendance report?
A. Please ensure that your worktime entries (incoming and outgoing) are captured
correctly in the report for all the days you worked for.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)

Time Attendance and Leave Management System

For any day if your attendance status is marked as absent, but you were on leave,
offsite duty, comp off or missed to provide your log entries, please ensure to rectify
those days using the attendance and leave management “smart office” online
system.
Q. What should I do if I find some data incorrect or missing in the report?
A. If you find any discrepancy in the report, you shall access the time attendance and
leave management system to adjust and/or update your records.

Please note that the system is a self- service portal where all adjustments are
required to be done by the employee himself or herself and no one else including
your peers, managers, IT, HR etc.
Q. What if on a day I worked less than the required daily working hours?

A. Any shortage in fulfilling the required working hours needs to be compensated by
the employee within the same month. For example, if you are an office-based
employee you are required to work 10 hours daily and suppose you worked only for
8 hours on December 5. This means you have not fulfilled the required number of
working hours and have a shortage of 2 hours. In such a case you shall compensate
this by working additional 2 hours on any other day during the month of December
itself.

The above-mentioned timeline (10th of each month) will be effective from 2020.

This means, the whole month of December system is flexible to accommodate all
the changes without any restriction.
Q. What if I forget to punch IN or OUT on a day?

A. You are required to access the attendance system and update your missed time
entries. However, employees are advised to punch on daily basis to avoid any
disciplinary action.

Please be advised that such corrections shall be done by the employee solely as
stated above.

Please refer to the user manual guidebook for more details.
Q. How will my adjustments/corrections reflect in the attendance report?
A. Each record or entry rectified by you in the attendance system will be routed for

your line manager approval via email. If your line manager approves the record it
will be automatically updated in your attendance data. If your request is rejected by
your manager, you will receive a rejection notification to your email ID.
Q. Is there a deadline for me to update/rectify my attendance entries?
A. Yes, there is a deadline. You are required to update, rectify or compensate your
attendance records for the previous month before the payroll cut-off date of the
current month i.e. 10th of each month.

On the 10th of each month, the system will freeze your attendance data of the
previous month, where no further changes can be done. For example, you are
currently in December 6th and you want to update your attendance record for

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)

Time Attendance and Leave Management System

November 27th you will be able to access the system and do the rectification.
However, if you try to perform the same on December 11th the system will not allow
you to do any changes. In such a case the system will capture the record as registered
prior to December 10th.

The above-mentioned timeline (10th of each month) will be effective from 2020.

This means, the whole month of December system is flexible to accommodate all
the changes without any restriction.
Q. Being a manager, can I approve or reject my team member request through email?
A. Yes, once your team member initiates a request through online system, as a manager
you will receive a notification to your email ID. You can either approve or reject the
application directly through the system.
Q. Being a retail pharmacy employee, is there anything else I need to be aware of?
A. The weekly report sent to you from the system is fully dependent on the shift
schedule assigned to you by your manager. So please ensure your daily work shifts
and weekly offs are captured correctly in the bio-metric system (ESSL) so that the
details provided in the report will be shown accurate.
Q. What if my manager is new and does not know how to update the shift schedules
of their team members?
A. Please write an email to [email protected] if you require any support or assistance
related to shift scheduling.

Leave Management Module

Q. What is the use of the Leave Management System?

A. Leave management system allows an employee to access their leave records online.
Employees can initiate their leave request through the system and get it approved
directly from their respective line manager.

Q. Do I still need to continue submitting the leave application form to payroll
department?

A. No, from now onwards you are required to apply and submit your leave request
directly through the leave management system “Smart Office”.

Please note that payroll department will no longer accept or process any leave
application forms or emails related to leave request.

Please do not forget to attach your supporting documents while applying through
the system for leave types such as sick leave, marriage leave, maternity leave etc.
as such documents are mandatory as per our leave policy.

Please refer to user manual guidebook for more details.
Q. Does this system show my eligible leave balance?

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)

Time Attendance and Leave Management System

A. No, due to system limitation you will not be able to check your annual leave balance
through the “Smart Office” system.

Instead, you are required to use one of the below links based on your work location:

For retail pharmacy-based employees:
Your Leave Balance

(This link is accessible only when you are physically present in pharmacy area)

For office based, field based and warehouse employees:
Your Leave Balance

(This link is accessible only when you are physically present in either Dubai or
AUH office)

Please note that the above links cannot be accessed from any outside networks
other than the office or pharmacy.

How does the leave balance eligibility link work?

Once you click on the above link you will be directed to an excel file named “Annual
Leave Balance_Access File”. Please open the form and input your new employee
identification number (E00***) and the form will display your eligible leave balance
automatically. In the same form, you will also get to know when was the last time
the data was been updated by the payroll department.

Q. What happens if I apply leave more than my eligible balance?

A. Any leaves taken above the eligible leave balance will be considered as unpaid leave
in line with the company leave policy and accordingly it will reflect in your payroll.

Q. Can my manager view my eligible leave balance from the “Annual Leave
Balance_Access File”?

A. Yes, in-order for the manager to view the annual leave balance of his/her team
member, he/she will be required to access the leave balance file and input the
employee identification number of the concerned employee.

Q. What happens if I do not update my leave records through the system and only
submits the leave application form directly to payroll department?

A. Payroll department will no longer accept any leave application form or emails from
employees directly. As stated above, all employees are required to submit their
requests directly through the “Smart Office” system.

If you do not submit your leave application through the leave management system,
such days will be marked as absent in the attendance system and will be
automatically deducted from the payroll.

Q. Is there a deadline for me to update/rectify my leave entries?

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)

Time Attendance and Leave Management System

A. Yes, there is a deadline.

You are required to submit your leave request always prior to your leave dates. Only
in the case of sick leave, the request shall be submitted on the system straight after
resuming duty along with the supporting document (if applicable).

Please note that the system is flexible to allow employees to submit any late leave
request until the 10th of each month. However, employees are advised to always
apply and submit their leave request ahead of time.
Q. Can I apply for half day leave in the system?
A. Yes, you can apply for a half day leave but applicable only for the below listed leave
types:

Annual leave
Sick leave
Casual leave

Adhoc Requests Module

1. Outdoor/Offsite Duty Requests

Q. What are the different types considered under Outdoor/Offsite duty request?

A. Business Trips
Coaching Visits
External meetings, seminars, training and events
Cash deposition for pharmacy employees

Q. What if I was out of office/work location for a day to attend a business meeting
and the report showing that I was absent for that day?

A. You are advised to submit the request on the system prior to the meeting date and
get it approved by your line manager.

Please note that the system is flexible to allow employees to submit any late outdoor
request until the 10th of each month. However, employees are advised to always
apply and submit their request ahead of time.

2. Compensatory Off Requests

Q. What is the definition of compensatory off?

A. Any extra hours/days worked by the employee due to business needs and
compensated in a non-monetary form is considered as compensatory off.

Q. How can I apply for my compensatory off hours in the system?

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)

Time Attendance and Leave Management System

A. You should submit the comp. off request using the Smart Office system.

It is mandatory for each employee to provide the date against which he/she is
applying the comp off for in the remark’s column section for the manager to action
the request. Please refer to the user manual guidebook for more details.

Please note that Payroll department will no longer accept any comp. off request from
employees directly via email.
Q. What happens if I do not submit my comp off requests through the system?
A. By submitting the comp off request in the system, you are officially informing your
manager that you are availing your extra accumulated comp off hours for a particular
day and getting it approved. This way you are aligned with your manager about your
reporting time and complying with the company attendance policy.

Q. What happens if I do not submit my comp off requests through the system?

A. Managers should be aware of the comp off eligibility of their team members and
accordingly they should approve/reject such requests.

They are also accountable to track the comp. off balances of their team members
and maintain such records on their own.

Managers are no longer required to reach out to payroll department for the comp
off eligibility/balance as such details shall be validated by the manager themselves
by generating an attendance report of your team from the system directly.