Managing employees: staff attendance setup

Add, edit, deactivate, and exit employees in AttendFirst. Covers departments, designations, manager hierarchy, and profile photos.

Updated 2026-04-22

The Employees page is where admins do most of their day-to-day work: adding new joiners, updating designations, assigning managers, and marking exits. Every record stays private to your company and is visible only to your admins and managers.

Admin Employees list with search, seats-used banner, and a table of employees with Name, Code, Phone, Department, Status columns

/admin/employees. The free-plan banner at the top tracks billing toward the 10-seat threshold.

Add an employee

Add Employee modal with Name, Email, Phone, Designation, Department, Employee Code, Joining Date, Manager, and Password fields
Click Add Employee in the top right to open this modal.

Click Add Employee in the top right. Required fields:

  • Name
  • Email: must be unique across the company
  • Employee Code: optional; auto-generated from the company prefix if left blank
  • Department and Designation: picked from the lists you configure

Optional fields:

  • Phone
  • Date of joining: defaults to today, affects pro-rated leave quota
  • Manager: another employee in the company
  • Profile photo: uploaded securely and shown on the employees list

When you save, AttendFirst sends the employee a welcome email with their login link and a one-time password, and creates their account as Active.

The employee profile page

Employee profile page showing PK avatar, name, Active badge, Code, Email, Joined date, From/To date range filter, six stat cards (Days Present, On-Time %, Avg Hours/Day, Late, Avg Break, Overtime), and an Attendance History table

Click any row to open the employee profile. Six KPIs and a date-filtered attendance history.

Click any row on the employees list to open the employee profile at /admin/employees/[id]. You get a profile card, a From/To date range filter defaulting to the current month, six KPIs (Days Present, On-Time %, Avg Hours/Day, Late, Avg Break, Overtime), and the full attendance history for that range.

Edit or update

The three-dot menu on any list row has six actions:

  • View Profile: opens the profile page described above.
  • Edit: opens an Edit Employee modal with every field editable except the login email.
  • Change Email: opens a separate flow that sends a confirmation email to the new address.
  • View Attendance: jumps to the attendance page filtered to that employee.
  • Deactivate: keeps the record but blocks login.
  • Permanently Delete: admin-only nuclear option. Removes the employee entirely. Use with care.

Manager hierarchy

AttendFirst has no separate “manager” role. Instead, any employee with others assigned to them as reports automatically gets manager capabilities:

  • See their reports’ attendance under Team → Attendance
  • Approve or reject their reports’ leaves under Team → Leaves

To make an employee a manager, edit any report’s record and set the Manager field to that employee. Admins can always approve anyone’s leaves regardless of reporting lines.

Deactivate vs exit

There are two ways to stop an employee from using AttendFirst:

ActionEffectWhen to use
DeactivateMarks the employee as inactive. They cannot log in. Record stays for history. Can be reactivated any time.Suspension, long leave, temporary holds
Mark as exitedSets exit date and reason. Deactivates account. Leave balances stop accruing. Attendance records are preserved.Resignation, termination, retirement

Use exit when the person is leaving for good. Use deactivate when the employee might return. Exited employees don’t count toward billing.

Departments and designations

Maintain the master lists under Admin → Settings → Departments and Admin → Settings → Designations.

  • Both are company-scoped and must be unique per company.
  • Deleting a department does not cascade. Employees in that department stay assigned to it until you reassign them.
  • Empty departments can be deleted with one click; non-empty ones require you to first move or exit every employee in them.

Profile photos

Employees can upload a photo from their own profile page. Admins can upload on their behalf from the employee edit drawer. Photos are stored securely and shown on the employees list and the attendance page.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as an “employee” for billing?

Only Active employees. Deactivated and exited employees are free. The formula is:

max(0, activeEmployees - 10) x ₹299 per year

Can I bulk-import employees?

Not via the UI yet. The fastest bulk-onboarding path today is the self-join link: share the URL, employees submit, you approve in batches.

Does changing an employee’s department affect their past attendance?

No. Department is a current attribute. Past attendance records stay as they were. They belong to the employee, not to a department snapshot.

What happens to an employee’s leave balance when I exit them?

The balance freezes on the exit date. Approved future leaves stay approved (admins can manually cancel if needed). Pending future leaves stay pending, so reject them from the leave queue if the employee is leaving for sure.

Steps

  1. Open the Employees page. Go to Admin → Employees. The list shows every employee with their name, code, phone, department, and status.
  2. Click Add Employee. The Add Employee slideover opens. Fill in Name and Email (both required). Optional fields include Phone, Department, Designation, Employee Code, Joining Date, Manager, and Profile photo.
  3. Save to send the welcome email. Click Save. AttendFirst creates the employee as Active and emails them a welcome link with a one-time password.
  4. Edit or deactivate later. Use the three-dot menu on any row for View Profile, Edit, Change Email, View Attendance, Deactivate, or Permanently Delete.
  5. Mark an exit when someone leaves. Open the employee profile and set an exit date. Exited employees stop counting toward billing and their leave balance freezes on the exit date.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as an employee for AttendFirst billing?

Only active employees. Deactivated and exited employees are free. The formula is max(0, activeEmployees - 10) x ₹299 per year.

Can I bulk-import employees to AttendFirst?

Not via the UI yet. The fastest bulk-onboarding path is the self-join link: share the URL, employees submit, you approve in batches.

Does changing an employee's department affect past attendance?

No. Department is a current attribute. Historical attendance records keep pointing to the employee, not to a department snapshot.

What happens to leave balance when I exit an employee?

Balance freezes on the exit date. Approved future leaves stay approved. Pending future leaves stay pending, so reject them from the queue if the employee is leaving for sure.

How does AttendFirst handle managers?

There is no separate manager role. Any employee with others reporting to them gets manager capabilities: seeing their team's attendance and approving their leaves.