Contracts

Every employee in Odoo is required to have a running contract in order to be paid. A contract outlines the terms of an employee’s position, their compensation, working hours, and any other relevant details pertaining to their compensation.

Important

Contract documents (PDFs) are uploaded and organized using the Documents application, and are signed using the Sign application. Ensure these applications are installed to send and sign contracts. Please refer to the Documents and Sign documentation for more information.

Contracts dashboard

Both the Payroll and Employees apps display identical employee contract information.

To access the contracts dashboard from the Employees app, navigate to Employees app ‣ Employees ‣ Contracts. To access the contracts dashboard from the Payroll app, navigate to Payroll app ‣ Contracts ‣ Contracts.

The Contracts dashboard displays all employee contracts in a default list view, grouped by Status. The available status groupings are New, Running, Expired, and Cancelled. Each grouping displays the number of contracts within the grouping.

Note

Any changes made to contracts in the Employees app is reflected in the Payroll app, and vice versa. Contract information remains identical, regardless of where the contract information is accessed.

Create a contract

To create a new contract, click the New button on the Contracts dashboard, and a blank contract form appears.

General information section

Enter the following information in the top-half of the blank contract form:

• Contact Reference: Type in the name or title for the contract, such as John Smith Contract. This field is required.

• Employee: Using the drop-down menu, select the employee the contract is for.

• Contract Start Date: Required. Defaults to the current date. To choose a different date, click into the field. In the popover calendar, select a different date.

• Contract End Date: Optional. Select a date from the calendar popover, or leave blank for an indefinite contract.

• Working Schedule: Select one of the available working schedules the employee is expected to work, from the drop-down menu. If this field is left blank, this allows the employee to work as many or as few hours as desired every week, with no restrictions.

  Tip

  The Working Schedule drop-down menu displays all the working schedules for the selected company. To modify or add to this list, go to Payroll app ‣ Configuration ‣ Working Schedules. Click New, and create a new working schedule, or click on an existing working schedule and make edits.

• Work Entry Source: Using the drop-down menu, select how the work entries are generated. This field is required. Click the radio button next to the desired selection. The options are:

  • Working Schedule: Work entries are generated based on the selected Working Schedule.

  • Attendances: Work entries are generated based on the employee’s check-in records in the Attendances app. (This requires the Attendances app to be installed).

  • Planning: Work entries are generated based on the planned schedule for the employee from the Planning app. (This requires the Planning app to be installed).

• Salary Structure Type: Select one of the salary structure types from the drop-down menu. The default salary structure types are Employee or Worker. A new salary structure type can be created, if needed.

• Department: Select the department the employee is working within, using the drop-down menu.

• Job Position: Select the employee’s specific job position using the drop-down menu.

  Note

  If the selected Job Position has a contract template linked to it with a specific Salary Structure Type, the Salary Structure Type changes to the one associated with that Job Position.

• Contract Type: Using the drop-down menu, select the type of contract being created. The default options are Permanent, Temporary, Seasonal, Full-Time, Intern, Student, Apprenticeship, Thesis, Statutory, and Employee.

• Wage on Payroll: Enter the employee’s monthly wage in this field.

  Tip

  The Working Schedule drop-down menu displays all the working times for the selected Company. To modify or add to this list, go to Payroll app ‣ Configuration ‣ Working Times, and either Create a new working time, or click on an existing working time, then edit it by clicking Edit.

• HR Responsible: Select the person who is responsible for validating the contract using the drop-down menu. This field is required.

  Note

  The HR Responsible field only appears if the Salary Configurator (hr_contract_salary) module and the Sign app are both installed.

Salary information tab

The Salary Information tab is where the specific details of how much and how often the employee is paid. Fill in the following fields in this tab:

• Wage Type: Using the drop-down menu, select what kind of pay the employee receives. The two default options are Fixed Wage or Hourly Wage. Select Fixed Wage for salaried employees, and select Hourly Wage for employees who are paid based on their logged worked hours.

• Schedule Pay: Using the drop-down menu, select how often the employee is paid. The default options are Annually, Semi-annually, Quarterly, Bi-monthly, Monthly, Semi-monthly, Bi-weekly, Weekly, or Daily.

• Wage: Enter the amount the employee receives each pay period. The first field allows for a wage to be entered, the second field displays how often the pay is issued to the employee. The second field cannot* be modified, and is updated when the Schedule Pay field changes.

• Yearly Cost (Real): This field automatically updates after the Schedule Pay and Wage fields are entered. This amount is the total yearly cost for the employer. This field can be modified. However, if this is modified, the Wage field updates, accordingly. Ensure both the Wage and Yearly Cost (Real) are correct if this field is modified.

• Monthly Cost (Real): This field automatically updates after the Schedule Pay and Wage fields are entered. This amount is the total monthly cost for the employer. This field cannot be modified, and is calculated based on the Yearly Cost (Real).

Details tab

The Details tab of the contract houses the contract template information, accounting information (refer to the country-specific localization document for more information), any part time work information, and notes. Fill out the following fields in this tab:

• Contract Template: Using the drop-down menu, select a contract template to use when making an offer to an applicant.

  Note

  Contract templates are typically created through the Payroll app configuration menu, and stored in the Documents app. To view the contract templates, and to create new ones, navigate to Payroll app ‣ Configuration ‣ Templates.

• Originated Offer: This field automatically populates with the original offer sent to the employee. This field is not modifiable, and is only populated if applicable.

• Part Time: Tick the checkbox if the contract is for part time work. Once enabled, a percentage field appears next to the checkbox. The percentage cannot be modified, and automatically updates based on the selected Working Schedule in the top-half of the contract, compared to the typical working schedule for the company (typically 40 hours/week).

  • Standard Calendar: This field is automatically populated with the default working schedule for the company. In most cases, this is Standard 40 hours/week.

  • Part Time Work Entry Type: Using the drop-down menu, select the work entry type that generates the balance of a full-time working schedule.

  Example

  An employee contract is being created for a part-time employee who works 20 hours a week.

  To configure this, the employee’s Working Schedule is set to 20 Hours/Part time in the general information section. In the Details tab, the Part Time checkbox is ticked, and the percentage is set to 50. The Standard Calendar is set to Standard 40 hours/week, and the Part Time Work Entry Type is set to Unpaid.

  When a typical work week is processed in the Payroll app, the employee generates twenty (20) hours of regular work entries under the work entry type Attendance, and another twenty (20) hours of work entries under the work entry type Unpaid, for a total of forty (40) hours worth of work entries.

• Notes: Enter any relevant notes for the contract in this field.

Signatories tab

The Signatories tab is where the default contract templates are selected, for both new and updated contracts.

Using the drop-down menu, select the default contract template to use when creating a new or updated contract, in the respective fields.

Once a PDF template is selected, any mapped signature fields in the file appear in a list, below the selection, identifying who must sign the document. These fields cannot be updated.

Any changes to the template and signatories but be done in the Sign app, where contract templates are uploaded, modified, and stored.

Important

The PDF Template fields are only visible if the Sign app is installed, along with the hr_contract_salary and hr_contract_salary_payroll modules.

Personal documents tab

Occasionally, additional paperwork may be required when creating a contract, such as legal documents declaring the employee is able to work in the country. When this situation occurs, Odoo allows for one image file of the necessary document to be attached to a contract in the Personal Documents tab.

Click the Upload your file button, navigate to the desired document, and click Select to attach the file to the contract. The file name appears on the Image line.

Note

This tab only appears after an Employee is selected. Additionally, only image files can be attached in this field at this time.

Salary attachments

After an employee is selected for the contract, a Salary Attachments smart button appears at the top of the page.

For new employees who do not currently have a contract, the smart button displays New. If the contract is being updated for a current employee who already has salary attachments configured, the smart button displays the number of salary attachments currently running.

Create or update any necessary salary attachments for the contract, before sending.

Send a contract

After a contract has been created and configured, the next step is to send it to the employee or applicant. Click the Generate Offer button, and the Offer for (Employee) form loads.

The Offer for (Employee) form displays all the basic information from the contract, as well as a link the employee can use to sign the contract. The last field on the form is a Validity Days Count field. This indicates how long the offer is valid. Enter the desired number of days in the field. The default is 30 days.

Click Send By Email and a pop-up email window loads, using a preconfigured default email template. Click Send to send the offer.

Important

In order to send a contract using the Generate Offer button, there must be an employee signature field on the contract PDF being sent.

Contract status

When creating and sending out a contract, the default status of the contract is New.

Once there is a minimum of one completed signature on the document, the status changes to Partially Signed. Internal users, such as HR and recruitment employees, are alerted in the database when there is a signature requested of them.

After all required parties have signed the contract, the status changes to Fully Signed.

All status changes happen automatically as the document is signed.

See also

• Documents

• Sign