Employee Work Contract & Work Pattern

Activate User's Guide
Version
2025.1
Employee Work Contract & Work Pattern

Use the Employee Work Contract & Work Pattern wizard to load employee historical, current, and future work contract and work pattern details into Dayforce.

This wizard avoids manual data entry and reduces the time and effort required. In Dayforce, employees' records can be assigned to a predefined work contract/work pattern to identify their working time on a period basis. This is useful for a wide range of industries hiring contracted/part-time employees to identify their working hours for scheduling and pay compliance purposes.

The wizard offers two options for loading your data:

  • A simple data load for work contracts and effective dates only (Work Contract, Effective Start Date, and Effective End Date).
  • A full data load for work contracts, effective dates, and all work pattern-related data.

Note: This wizard doesn’t create work contracts.

Before you begin

Note the following:

  • All work contracts must exist in Dayforce before using this wizard.
  • To use this wizard successfully, you must load employees’ work contracts and effective start dates at a minimum.

Tasks

To confirm the prerequisites:
  1. In Activate Central, click Load Your Data. The Load Your Data wizards are shown.
  2. Click Employee Work Contract & Work Pattern.
  3. On the Intro page, review the information.
  4. Select the checkbox to confirm that all work contracts exist in Dayforce.
  5. Click Next.
To complete and upload the Employee Work Contract template:
  1. On the Work Contract Data page, click Download.
  2. Select the location where you want to save the template document.
  3. Open the WorkContractDataTemplate.xlsx template on your computer.

    Note: You can also download an empty Employee Work Contract template from the Download Template Files page.

  4. On the WorkContractData tab, complete all columns with the data for all employees in the organization.

    Important: If you aren’t loading employees' work patterns, the Length in Days field must be blank.

    Note: The Activate release version shows in cell B3 on the Instructions tab of the template. This information helps you later determine the version of Activate you were using when you downloaded the template.

    Note: Instructions for populating the fields are in the Work Contract Data Template FieldsWork Contract Data Template Fields section (below) and on the Instructions tab of the template.

  5. Click Save and close the template.

    You can use any file name for the template you upload. The document must be an Excel or CSV (Comma-Separated Value) document and must contain the data in the required format.

    Important: Don’t change the name of the tab because Activate uses it to validate that the correct template is being uploaded.

  6. On the Work Contract Data page, click Upload.
  7. Go to your completed Employee Work Contract template in the location where you saved it.

    Note: If the file you uploaded has any errors, a Validation Failed message shows in red at the bottom of the page. You must correct the errors in the file on your computer and upload it again.

  8. Click Next.

    Note: If a value is in the Work Pattern Length Days field, the Work Pattern Review page opens.

To indicate the type of data you want to load:
  1. Indicate whether you want to load work patterns:
    • Yes: Activate provides an extensive data template so you can load work contracts, effective dates, and all work pattern-related data like shift type, times, net hours, and locations.
    • No: Activate provides a simple data template so you can load only work contracts, effective start, and end dates.

    Note: You must answer this question to continue.

  2. Click Next.
To download, update, and upload the Employee Work Contract file:
  1. On the Work Contract Review page, click Download File.
  2. Select the location on your computer where you want to save the document.
  3. Open the document on your computer and update the information.
  4. Click Save and close the document.
  5. On the Work Contract Review page, click Upload File.
  6. Go to and select your completed document on your computer.
  7. Click Refresh.
To update information in the grid manually:
  1. Click in the field to be edited.
  2. Enter or select the new information.
  3. Make the changes as appropriate.
    • To delete a row, click in the row and click Delete.
    • To add a row, click New.
    • To download the template file, click Download File and save it to your computer.
    • If you make a change by mistake and haven't saved the change, click Refresh to undo the change.
    • To save the errors, click Download Errors File and save the file on your computer.

      Note: To navigate in the grid, click Tab to move to the right and click Shift Tab to move to the left in a row. Use the scrollbars on the right side and bottom of the grid to go to other areas of the grid.

  4. Repeat this process for all additional changes needed.
  5. Click Save.

    Activate verifies the information again.

  6. Click Load.
    If the Length in Days field...Then...

    Has a value

    The Work Pattern Review page opens.

    Doesn’t have a value

    The Load page opens.

To complete and upload the Employee Work Pattern template:

The Work Pattern Review page opens when you click Next on the Work Contract Data page and there is a value in the Work Pattern Length Days field. The data previously loaded on the Work Contract page is included on this page.

  1. On the Work Pattern Review page, click Download.
  2. Select the location where you want to save the template document.
  3. Open the WorkPatternDataTemplate.xlsx template on your computer.

    Note: You can also download an empty Employee Work Pattern template from the Download Template Files page.

  4. Complete all columns on the WorkPatternData tab with the data for all employees in the organization.

    Note: The Activate release version shows in cell B3 on the Instructions tab of the template. This information helps you later determine the version of Activate you were using when you downloaded the template.

    Note: Instructions for populating the fields are in the Work Pattern Template Fields section (below) and on the Instructions tab of the template.

  5. Click Save and close the template.

    You can use any file name for the template you upload. The document must be an Excel or CSV (Comma-Separated Value) document and contain the data in the required format.

    Important: Don’t change the name of the tab because Activate uses it to validate that the correct template is being uploaded.

  6. On the Work Pattern Review page, click Upload.
  7. Go to your completed Employee Work Pattern template in the location where you saved it.

    Note: If the file you uploaded has any errors, a Validation Failed message shows in red at the bottom of the page to indicate what the errors are. You must correct the errors in the file on your computer and upload the file again.

  8. Click Load.
To install employee work information:
  1. On the Install page, click one of the following:
    • Add Email and enter your email address to be notified when the installation process ends instead of waiting for it to finish.
    • Next when the installation is complete.

    Activate Central opens with the wizard name now in green text and a green checkmark next to it. The day, date, and time of completion show, along with your name as the user who completed the wizard. The environment in which the installation was applied (Stage, Config, or Train) is also shown.

    Note: If you want to add more information, click I want to add more.

Results

Fields populated in Dayforce

The data uploaded from the Employee Work Contract template populates the fields on the Work Contracts page in Dayforce.

Note: If you haven’t already, you must select an employee.

Field in Template Field in Dayforce Page in Dayforce
Employee Identifier Employee Reference / Number Employee (People icon)

 

 
First Name First Name
Last Name Last Name
Work Contract Work Contract

Employee (People icon) > Work > Work Contracts)

 

 

 
Effective Start Date Effective From
Effective End Date Effective To

Work Pattern Length Days

Work Pattern Length Days

The data uploaded from the Employee Work Pattern template populates the fields on the Work Contracts page in Dayforce.

Note: You must select an employee if you haven’t already done so.

Field in Template Field in Dayforce Page in Dayforce
Employee Identifier Employee Reference / Number Employee (People icon)

 

 
First Name First Name
Last Name Last Name
Work Contract Work Contract Employee (People icon) > Work > Work Contracts > Primary Work Contract tab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Effective Start Date Effective From
Effective End Date Effective To
Work Pattern Length Days Length in Days
Work Pattern Day Index Day Index
Shift Type Shift Type
Shift Time Start Start Time
Shift Time End End Time
NetHours Net Hours
Organization Organization Unit

Files generated by the Employee Work Contract & Work Pattern wizard

After completing the Employee Work Contract & Work Pattern wizard, a single import file is automatically generated and placed on the customer's FTP site.

HR Import

  • FTP Subdirectory: Import/HRImport
  • Filename: <Namespace> HRImport <DateTime>.xml
For an example illustrating how Activate translates the template data to XML, click here.
Employee Work Contract
Copy 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<EmployeeImport xmlns:cs="urn:cs">
    -<Employee>
        <XRefCode>000151</XRefCode>
        <EmployeeNumber>000151</EmployeeNumber>
        <FirstName>Maloney</FirstName>
        <LastName>Aaron</LastName>
        -<WorkContract>
            <ContractXrefCode>CONTRACT</ContractXrefCode>
            <StartDate>2022-03-01</StartDate>
            <EndDate>2023-03-01</EndDate>
            <WorkPatternLengthDays>7</WorkPatternLengthDays>
        </WorkContract>
    </Employee>
</EmployeeImport>
Employee Work Pattern
Copy 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<EmployeeImport xmlns:cs="urn:cs">
    -<Employee>
        <XRefCode>000151</XRefCode>
        <EmployeeNumber>000151</EmployeeNumber>
        <FirstName>Maloney</FirstName>
        <LastName>Aaron</LastName>
        -<WorkContract>
            <ContractXrefCode>CONTRACT</ContractXrefCode>
            <StartDate>2022-03-01</StartDate>
            <EndDate>2023-03-01</EndDate>
            <BaseHours>38.0</BaseHours>
            <WorkPatternLengthDays>7</WorkPatternLengthDays>
            <CreateShiftOnHolidays>true</CreateShiftOnHolidays>
            -<WorkPattern>
                <WorkPatternDayIndex>0</WorkPatternDayIndex>
                <ShiftTypeXrefCode>FIXED</ShiftTypeXrefCode>
                <NetHours>7.6</NetHours>
                <OrgXrefCode>UNI_1</OrgXrefCode>
            </WorkPattern>
            -<WorkPattern>
                <WorkPatternDayIndex>1</WorkPatternDayIndex>
                <ShiftTypeXrefCode>SHIFT</ShiftTypeXrefCode>
                <ShiftTimeBegin>1900-01-01T09:00:00</ShiftTimeBegin>
                <ShiftTimeEnd>1900-01-01T17:00:00</ShiftTimeEnd>
                <NetHours>7.6</NetHours>
            </WorkPattern>
            -<WorkPattern>
                <WorkPatternDayIndex>2</WorkPatternDayIndex>
                <ShiftTypeXrefCode>FIXED</ShiftTypeXrefCode>
                <NetHours>7.6</NetHours>
                <OrgXrefCode>UNI_4</OrgXrefCode>
            </WorkPattern>
            -<WorkPattern>
                <WorkPatternDayIndex>3</WorkPatternDayIndex>
                <ShiftTypeXrefCode>FIXED</ShiftTypeXrefCode>
                <NetHours>7.6</NetHours>
                <OrgXrefCode>UNI_7</OrgXrefCode>
            </WorkPattern>
            -<WorkPattern>
                <WorkPatternDayIndex>4</WorkPatternDayIndex>
                <ShiftTypeXrefCode>OFF</ShiftTypeXrefCode>
            </WorkPattern>
            -<WorkPattern>
                <WorkPatternDayIndex>5</WorkPatternDayIndex>
                <ShiftTypeXrefCode>OFF</ShiftTypeXrefCode>
            </WorkPattern>
            -<WorkPattern>
            <WorkPatternDayIndex>6</WorkPatternDayIndex>
            <ShiftTypeXrefCode>FIXED</ShiftTypeXrefCode>
            <NetHours>7.6</NetHours>
            </WorkPattern>
        </WorkContract>
    </Employee>
</EmployeeImport>

Next steps

Complete the next wizard, as appropriate.

Employee Work Contract & Work Pattern wizards

All templates have the same basic structure:

  • Instructions tab: Helps you understand the purpose of the data and complete the fields in the template.
  • Data tab: Contains headers for the data to be included in the template. The headers remain the same, but you can change the column order. If you add more columns, Activate ignores them.

All number ranges in the templates include the numbers at both ends of the range.

Work Contract Data template instructions
For an example illustrating how Activate translates the template data to XML, click here.
Employee Identifier (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

1

 Alphanumeric Unique value between 1-9 characters. Enables Dayforce to identify employees uniquely. Use the same number assigned to the employee in the Getting Started HR data loads. 3241245
000000006
abc123499 		In the context of this import, the Employee Identifier, First Name, and Last Name are included to help users identify employees when completing the template. These required fields validate that the data being loaded is assigned to the correct employee record. The values provided must match exactly to an existing employee record in Dayforce.
First Name (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

2

 String1 between 1-64 characters. Legal first name of the employee. Joe In the context of this import, the Employee Identifier, First Name, and Last Name are included to help users identify employees when completing the template. These required fields validate that the data being loaded is assigned to the correct employee record. The values provided must match exactly to an existing employee record in Dayforce.

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Last Name (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

3

 String1 between 1-64 characters. Legal last name of the employee. Smith In the context of this import, the Employee Identifier, First Name, and Last Name are included to help users identify employees when completing the template. These required fields validate that the data being loaded is assigned to the correct employee record. The values provided must match exactly to an existing employee record in Dayforce.
Work Contract (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

4

 String1 between 1-64 characters. The short name of the Work Contract is assigned to the employee. Work Contracts must be created in Dayforce before to loading this data file. Weekly
Part-time
Fixed 		This required information identifies the work contract that the pattern belongs to. Often populated with a single identifier or the Employee's Pay Class.

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Effective Start Date (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

5

 Date. Excel right-justified date format or Excel text format yyyy-mm-dd. Enter the dates during which the identification record is active in Dayforce. Date formatted cells:
09/24/2015
24/09/2015

Text formatted cells:
2015-09-24

 This required date identifies the first day that the work contract begins from.
Effective End Date
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

6

 Date. Excel right-justified date format or Excel text format yyyy-mm-dd. Enter the dates during which the identification record is inactive in Dayforce. Date formatted cells:
09/24/2015
24/09/2015

Text formatted cells:
2015-09-24

 This date might be required to identify the last day that the work contract ends.
Work Pattern Length Days
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

7

 Integer Between 1-3 digits. The number of days that the Work Pattern spans. 7
14
28		 This information is used to create the day spread for work pattern shifts or hours to be created. Only used for employees with work patterns to define their shifts. It needs to be BLANK for employees with work contracts only.
Work Pattern Data template instructions
For an example illustrating how Activate translates the template data to XML, click here.
Employee Identifier (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

1

 Alphanumeric. Unique value between 1-9 characters. This information enables the system to identify employees uniquely. You’ll want to use the same number assigned to the employee in the Getting Started HR data loads.

3241245
000000006
abc123499

In the context of this import, the Employee Identifier, First Name, and Last Name help users identify employees when completing the template. These required fields validate that the data being loaded is assigned to the correct employee record. The values provided must match exactly to an existing employee record in Dayforce.
First Name (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

2

 String1 between 1-64 characters. The legal first name of the employee. Joe In the context of this import, the Employee Identifier, First Name, and Last Name help users identify employees when completing the template. These required fields validate that the data being loaded is assigned to the correct employee record. The values provided must match exactly to an existing employee record in Dayforce.

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Last Name (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

3

 String1 between 1-64 characters. The legal last name of the employee. Smith In the context of this import, the Employee Identifier, First Name, and Last Name help users identify employees when completing the template. These required fields validate that the data being loaded is assigned to the correct employee record. The values provided must match exactly to an existing employee record in Dayforce.

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Work Contract (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

4

 String1 between 1-64 characters.

The short name of the work contract to assign to the employee.

Work contracts must be created in Dayforce before loading this data file.

Weekly
Part-time
Fixed		 This required information identifies the work contract that the pattern belongs to. Often populated with a single identifier or the employee's pay class.

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Effective Start Date (Required)
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

5

 Date. Excel right- justified date format or Excel text format yyyy-mm-dd. Enter the dates during which the identification record is active in Dayforce. Date formatted cells:
09/24/2015
24/09/2015

Text formatted cells:
2015-09-24

 This required date identifies the first day that the work contract begins from.
Effective End Date
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

6

 Date. Excel right- justified date format or Excel text format yyyy-mm-dd. Enter the dates during which the identification record is inactive in Dayforce. Date formatted cells:
09/24/2015
24/09/2015

Text formatted cells:
2015-09-24

 This date might be required to identify the last day that the work contract ends.
Work Pattern Length Days
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

7

 Integer Between 1-3 digits. The number of days that the Work Pattern spans. 7
14
28		 Used to create the day spread for work pattern shifts or hours to be created. Only used for employees with work patterns to define their shifts. It needs to be blank for employees with work contracts only.
Work Pattern Day Index (Required
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

8

 Integer Between 1-3 digits. The day number that the work pattern shift or hours are to be created against. 0
1
2		 This information identifies the day number that the work pattern shift will be inserted against. The first day of the pattern should always be 1. All days in the Work Pattern must be defined.
Shift Type (Required
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

9

 String1 between 1-64 characters. The reference code for the type of entry against the work pattern day. SHIFT
FIXED
OFF

This information indicates the type of entry in the work pattern.

  • SHIFT - ShiftTimeBegin, ShiftTimeEnd, and NetHours to be defined.
  • FIXED - NetHours to be defined
  • OFF - For unworked days.

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &

Shift Time Start
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

10

 Time. The start time of the shift on the allocated day. 9:00 This information indicates the start time of a work pattern shift. Only required when shift type is “SHIFT.”
Shift Time End
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

11

 Time. The end time of the shift on the allocated day. 17:00 This information indicates the end time of a work pattern shift.Only required when the shift type is “SHIFT.”
NetHours
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

12

 Numeric. Two decimal places. The total Net Hours for the Work Pattern Shift.

6
7.5
8.25

 This information indicates the net hours for the work pattern shift. Only required when the shift type is "FIXED."
Organization
Order Data Type Description Examples Why This Is Needed

13

 String1 between 1-64 characters. The reference code of the on-site department that the work pattern shift has been allocated to. ST104_Retail
404_MGMT 		Defines the Organization Level that the work pattern shift will be costed against.

1 Special characters accepted within the string include: alphanumeric, space, period, apostrophe, dash, number symbol #, comma, underscore, forward slash /, parentheses (), &