Vacancies

A vacancy is a hire you plan to make. Add one and the forecast includes its cost from its start date, so you see the team you’ll have, not just the team you have today. When someone accepts the job, fill the vacancy and their own record takes over.

You need access to add and change vacancies — ask your Flowstate admin. Seeing target salaries needs access to pay.

Add a vacancy

1. Go to Resourcing → People and teams → Vacancies and select Add.
2. In Add vacancy, enter the Role title, such as the title on the job advert.
3. Choose a Job role.
4. Choose the Team the hire will join.
5. Set the Start date.
6. Enter the Target salary.
7. Choose a Location and a Work type. The location fills in the salary currency.
8. For a fixed-term role, set an End date.
9. To add several identical hires, set the number next to Create. You can add up to 50 at once.
10. Select Create.

A vacancy is costed like an employee on its target salary, from its start date, or from today if the start date has passed. It never adds cost to past months. See Vacancies.

Find vacancies

On Resourcing → People and teams → Vacancies:

• Vacancies are grouped by the month they start, earliest first. Vacancies without a start date are listed under No date. Use Group by to choose None, Team or Status instead.
• Sort by Role or Salary.
• Filter by Team, Location, Role, Status or Target salary, or by your custom attributes, where Not set finds the vacancies an attribute is empty for. For Target salary, choose a comparison such as less than, enter an amount in your reporting currency, and select Apply.
• Search with Find in view….
• Use Properties to show or hide the Geography and Team columns, and a column for each custom attribute.

Sorting by salary and filtering by target salary need access to pay.

Inside a scenario, you can also group by Changed in Plan. Vacancies are then listed under Added in Plan, Modified in Plan, Deleted in Plan, Related Changes and Unchanged.

Change a vacancy’s status

1. Select the vacancy to open its side panel.
2. On Overview, select Status.
3. Choose the new status.

Choosing Cancelled asks Cancel this vacancy?. Select Cancel vacancy to confirm. The vacancy stays in your lists, so you keep the record. To bring it back, set the status to Open.

Change a vacancy’s details

1. Select the vacancy on the Vacancies tab to open its side panel.
2. Under Vacancy details, select the value you want to change.
3. Choose or enter the new value. For FTE and Target salary, select Save.

Custom attributes are extra fields your organisation adds. Your admin sets them up under Settings → Resourcing → Custom Attributes. To fill one in, select its value (Not set if it’s empty), enter or choose the new value, and select Apply if it’s shown.

Move a vacancy to another team

1. On the Vacancies tab, right-click the vacancy and select Manage team allocation.
2. In Update Vacancy Team, choose the new Team.
3. In Change Team, set the Date of change. It can’t be before the vacancy’s start date.
4. Select Confirm Movement.

You can also select the Team field on the vacancy’s side panel, or the Team cell on the Vacancies tab. Choose the team, then in Add Team Allocation set the FTE (Full-time equivalent), the Start Date and, optionally, the End Date, and select Save Changes.

Either way, the vacancy joins the new team from that date. Its time on the old team doesn’t end by itself. To end it, open the old team’s side panel and end the vacancy’s row there. See Teams.

Change many target salaries at once

1. On the Vacancies tab, filter to the vacancies you want.
2. Open the menu next to Add and select Adjust target salary.

It works like giving a group of people a pay rise.

Fill a vacancy

When someone accepts the job:

1. Open the vacancy’s side panel and select Fill this vacancy.
2. In Fill Vacancy, on Employee, enter the First Name, Last Name, Email and Start Date.
3. Choose the Job Role, Geography and Work Type.
4. On Compensation, enter the Annual Salary and choose the Currency.
5. On Review, check the details and the Team Allocations to Transfer.
6. Select Create Employee.

Flowstate creates the employee, moves the vacancy’s team allocations to them, and marks the vacancy Filled, with the new employee under Filled by. From then on, the employee’s own salary is what’s costed.

You can only fill a vacancy in live data, not inside a scenario or a team budget.

Keep a position open when someone leaves it

When someone’s time on a team was planned to run to a set date and they leave the team early, you can open a new vacancy for the rest of that time.

1. Open the person’s side panel and select Schedule.
2. Under Teams, hover over their allocation on the team, select the bin icon, then select End today.
3. When Flowstate asks What about the vacancy?, choose one:
   • Open a new vacancy on {team} for the remainder of the budget: Flowstate adds an open vacancy on the team, with the same FTE, from tomorrow until the date their time on the team was due to end. This is only offered when that time had an end date.
   • Just end the allocation: no vacancy is added.

Their time on the team ends today either way. A new vacancy has no target salary, so open it and set its Target salary and Role.

This only works in live data. In a scenario, change the allocation’s end date instead.

Delete a vacancy

Delete a vacancy only if it was added by mistake. If you’re no longer hiring, set its status to Cancelled instead, so you keep the record.

1. On the Vacancies tab, right-click the vacancy and select Delete.
2. In Delete Vacancy?, type the vacancy’s name to confirm.
3. If the vacancy has been edited in a budget, Flowstate lists those budgets and what differs from live data, such as a later end date. To take the vacancy out of them too, tick Remove it from these budgets too.
4. Select Delete.

Deleting can’t be undone.

When the vacancy is also in a budget

A budget keeps its own copy of a vacancy once someone edits that vacancy inside the budget, for example to extend its end date into the budget year. From then on, deleting the vacancy in live data doesn’t take it out of the budget unless you tick Remove it from these budgets too.

• Leave the box unticked and each budget keeps its copy and still counts the vacancy. If someone has joined to fill the seat, the budget then counts both.
• A budget that’s been submitted or approved stays as it is. To change it, send it back or undo the approval, then remove the vacancy inside that budget.
• A budget you can’t edit also stays as it is.
• Vacancies created inside a budget are never affected.
• A pay difference is named, but the figures aren’t shown.

This only applies when you delete in live data. Inside a scenario or a team budget, deleting only changes that scenario or budget.

Comment on a vacancy

1. Open the vacancy’s side panel and select the speech-bubble button to open Comments.
2. Type your comment in Add a comment…. To mention someone, type @ and choose them.
3. Select Post.

People you mention see it in their Inbox.

Plan hires in a scenario or a budget

• In a scenario, add, change and cancel vacancies to see what a hiring plan costs before it’s agreed. See Scenarios.
• In a team budget, a new vacancy needs a Team, and its start date must be in the budget year. See Fill in a team budget.
• When finance starts a budget round, they can choose Remove open vacancies from the baseline, so teams start from the people they have. See Budgets.

If something’s not right

There’s no Fill this vacancy button. You’re inside a scenario or a team budget, or the vacancy is already filled. Exit the scenario first.

A vacancy isn’t in the forecast. Check its Status is Open or Committed and that it has a Target salary.

A planned hire adds nothing to past months. That’s expected. Vacancies are costed from their start date or today, whichever is later.

Filled and cancelled vacancies are still listed. That’s expected. They stay for the record but cost nothing. To hide them, filter Status to Open and Committed.

“Start date must be on or after the start of the budget year”. You’re in a team budget. Move the start date into the budget year.

A vacancy is on the wrong team, or on two teams. Moving a vacancy doesn’t end its time on the old team. End it from the old team’s side panel. See Move a vacancy to another team.

“Team allocation cannot start before the vacancy’s target start date”. Choose a date on or after the vacancy’s Start date.

There’s no Role title field. Renaming a vacancy needs access to edit scenarios. Ask your Flowstate admin.

You can’t see target salaries. You don’t have access to pay. Ask your Flowstate admin.

For your technical team

Vacancies and their allocations can be read and written through the REST API: Vacancies and Assignments. A custom integration can record a vacancy as filled by a contractor; see People and teams.