Help centre · Step-by-step manual
HR and payroll
Choose the appropriate workspace and branch. Your plan, enabled modules and team permissions determine which actions are available.
HR sits on top of Staff in CreekPOS Online. Files, documents, leave, the roster, timesheets and clock-in come with every online plan, Retail too; payroll, payslips, the WPS file and the gratuity estimate with Restaurant and Chain. Attendance devices: 2 on Retail, 5 on Restaurant, 20 on Chain. First steps: Staff and HR. The buy-once desktop program: last section.
HR settings
With Staff on, the owner opens Settings → HR and ticks HR: employee files, documents, leave, payroll. The same page sets who may see HR, manage HR, and see salaries and payroll; leave types and public holidays (check them every year); payroll rules and WPS details; reminders; phone clock-in; self-service links; and how long a leaver's data is kept.
The attendance and overtime rules start from UAE defaults, each marked as published law to confirm with your adviser, or as the shop's own choice.
Employee files
One file per person: job, branch, joining date, probation, contacts and an emergency contact. The pay part (bank, IBAN, WPS person ID, salary) is seen only by the owner and people with the payroll right.
Documents and reminders
Passport, residence visa, Emirates ID, labour card, health card, the shop's trade licence and more, each with its number, dates and an encrypted scan. HR → Documents lists what expires soonest, with reminders at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days.
Leave
Leave types start from UAE defaults you can change (annual 30 days, sick, maternity, parental, bereavement, hajj, unpaid); they are defaults, not advice. Requests are approved in one inbox, balances count themselves, and the team calendar shows who is off.
The roster
- Make shift templates.
- Place them on the week, use Copy last week, or lay a rotating pattern such as 6-1, 5-2 or 2-2-3.
- Read the warnings: double shifts, short rest, a long week, a minor at night, leave. They warn; they never block.
- Press Publish: staff get the week by e-mail or Telegram and on their own page.
Clocking in
At the till, POS → Clock in / out: each person taps their name and types their own PIN, or swipes a card. With phone clock-in on, a new phone's first punch waits for a manager's approval, and the location check keeps only inside or outside, never the coordinates. Kiosk mode turns a tablet at the door into a clock.
Attendance devices
With HR on, open Settings → Attendance devices, switch them on and add each terminal by brand and model; its card shows the setup steps. Punches arrive by push, through the LAN bridge or from a file. Fingerprints and faces never leave the device: only the person's code, the time, the device and the method arrive.
Devices are checked with simulators and real export files: try one unit of your model before you buy one for every branch.
Live push
For common ZKTeco and Hikvision terminals, or any system that can call a webhook:
- Add the device and copy the address from its card.
- Type it into the device's network or cloud menu, as the card shows.
- Approve the device's serial number on its card. Until then the device keeps its punches.
With owner alerts on, a silent device alerts you.
The LAN bridge
For a terminal that cannot push, the CreekPOS till app on the same network reads it every minute. In the till app, open Settings → Attendance devices → The LAN bridge on this till and enter the device's address and its key or password, which stay on the till. Test the connection checks it; Read now reads at once. Punches wait in the till's queue while the line is down.
Device files
Export the log to a USB stick and upload it on the attendance page. Check the preview (known people, unknown codes, skipped rows), then run it. The same rows never count twice, and a file can be undone. Any CSV or Excel file with a code, a date and a time works with our template.
Mapping codes to people
Type each person's device code on their file (0007 and 7 are the same). An unknown code waits in HR → Attendance devices → Mapping with the name the device gave. Suggestions are never applied by themselves: map the code and its punches go on the timesheet at once.
Timesheets
Timesheets compare every punch with the roster and mark late, early leave, absent and overtime, with raw minutes beside rounded ones. Approve and lock a period before payroll; later corrections need the payroll right and a reason.
Payroll
- Start a run for a branch and a month (or a week).
- Check each line: basic and allowances, overtime from approved timesheets, commission, tips and service charge, bonuses, deductions you switched on, loans and advances taken back.
- Change any figure with a reason; Work it out again keeps your changes.
- Review, approve and Finalise, with an optional second person.
- Print or e-mail the payslips; download the Bank transfer sheet and the WPS salary file (SIF).
Payroll is a calculator and a record, not legal or tax advice.
The WPS salary file
In Settings → HR → WPS, enter the employer ID, the bank routing code and your bank's preset; each person paid by bank needs a WPS person ID, routing code and IBAN. The file comes from a final run, with a list of anything to fix; cash-paid people are left out. Test-upload your first file with your bank before the first live payroll.
Gratuity and final settlement
The end-of-service gratuity is an estimate under the UAE labour law as published: basic salary only, 21 days a year for the first five years and 30 after, capped at two years' wage. The final settlement adds the last salary, unused leave (also an estimate), notice, loans owed and items not returned. Confirm both with your accountant or MOHRE.
Self-service links
On CreekPOS Online only, each person can get a private link from their file. Without signing in, it shows their shifts, timesheet, leave and payslips, and takes their requests: leave, an advance, a letter, a missed punch. Revoke a link at any time; a leaked link shows that one person's page and nothing else.
In the desktop program
Switch HR on in Settings → Features (from Silver), then open the Staff screen → HR: People, Documents, Leave, Weekly roster, Timesheets, Attendance devices (files and the LAN bridge) and HR settings. Payroll and the WPS file need Gold. The desktop has no phone clock-in, self-service links, devices that push or e-mailed payslips.
On this screen
Online · HR and payroll
Staff
Online · HR and payroll · 2
Edit · Delete
Online · HR and payroll · 3
From · To · Show
Online · HR and payroll · 4
Online · HR and payroll · 5
Add · Delete
Online · HR and payroll · 6
Online · All
Owner alerts
Online · HR and payroll · 7
Online · Help
Online · All · 2
Add · Save
Online · HR and payroll · 8
Online · HR and payroll · 9
Online · HR and payroll · 10
Online · Back
Online · HR and payroll · 11
Open
Online · HR and payroll · 12
Save
Online · HR and payroll · 13
Clock in · Clock out · Cancel
Online · Back · 2
Online · HR and payroll · 14
Clock in / out
Online · Back · 3
Online · HR and payroll · 15
Online · HR and payroll · 16
Delete
Online · HR and payroll · 17
Edit · Save · Delete · Add
Online · HR and payroll · 18
Online · HR and payroll · 19
Save
Online · Back · 4
Online · Timesheet
Save · Edit · From · To · Language
Online · HR and payroll · 20
Online · Back · 5
Save
Online · HR and payroll · 21
Online · Branch
Cancel
Online · HR and payroll · 22
From · To · Save
Online · HR and payroll · 23
Expense reimbursement · Back
Online · HR and payroll · 24
Clock in · Clock out · Cancel · Save
Online · Back · 6
Online · HR and payroll · 25
Online · HR and payroll · 26
Online · HR and payroll · 27
Online · HR and payroll · 28
Online · Branch · 2
From · To · Show · Back
Online · HR and payroll · 29
Online · Staff settings
Save · Upgrade · Owner alerts
Online · HR and payroll · 30
Save · Edit · Delete
Desktop · HR and payroll
Desktop · HR and payroll · 2
Pick a line in the list first.
Desktop · kept — leave empty to keep it
Other · LAN bridge: this computer reads the device · file from a USB stick · Connection (LAN bridge) · a ZKTeco terminal (port 4370) · a web-managed terminal (port 80: Hikvision) · an Anviz terminal (port 5010)
Desktop · Dates are month first (10/05/2026 = 5 October)
Export the attendance log to a USB stick (or from the device's software), pick the device it came from and upload it. You see what it holds before anything is written.
Attendance file · No devices yet: add one, or import a file. · Rows · Punches · Rows skipped · code belongs to nobody · Done. The punches are on the timesheet.
Desktop · Codes that belong to nobody yet
A device sent punches with these codes. Nothing is dropped and nobody is guessed: pick the person, and their punches move to the timesheet.
Every code seen belongs to someone. · Pick a line in the list first. · Mapped. The held punches are on the timesheet.
Desktop · Punches waiting for approval
From devices set to hold their punches. Approved punches go on the timesheet as the device recorded them.
Nothing is waiting. · Pick a line in the list first.
Desktop · Raw log: what the devices sent
Nothing new.
Desktop · HR
A payroll run works out each person's pay for a period from their file, timesheet, commission, leave and advances. Review it, change what needs changing (with a reason), then finalise.
After the retention period, the name becomes “Former employee NNNN”; personal details, bank details, notes, documents and scans are erased. Payroll amounts, leave days and attendance stay under that name — the books need them. This cannot be undone.
The attendance device still holds this person's fingerprint or face template: delete the user on the device itself.
Switch Staff on first: HR keeps its files on the staff profiles. · Switch HR on in Settings → Features (Staff must be on first). · files, documents, leave, payroll · inactive · Nobody yet — add your people in Staff first. · Pick a line in the list first. · Org list · Show every document · Expiring soon · No documents yet. · expires today · This document has no scan. · Whose · Document
Desktop · HR and payroll · 3
Desktop · That figure cannot be changed.
The file is marked left on that day; the run opens as a draft for review.
Final settlement · Settlement statement · Settlement total
Desktop · Type an amount (not below zero).
Employee file · Gratuity (estimate) · No salary in the file. · under one year of service: no gratuity yet · capped · Nothing noted yet. · Add to the log
Desktop · Archived (renewed or no longer needed)
the business
Desktop · Half a day
File leave for someone · Days · Left · The request is filed — it is more than the balance left. · Pick a line in the list first.
Desktop · HR and payroll · 4
Team calendar · Waiting
Desktop · Set a target sales per labour hour in the HR settings to get a suggestion.
A suggestion, not a rule: it ignores prep time, deliveries and days that were special. Deterministic and explained; no AI service.
Staffing suggestion · Nothing sold on this weekday in the weeks seen. · Hours over · Hours short
Desktop · Shift templates
A shift has a name, a start and an end (an end before the start crosses midnight), a break (paid or not) and a colour. The roster places them.
— none — · Pick a line in the list first.
Desktop · The break is paid
Add shift · Retire
Desktop · HR and payroll · 5
Open shift (nobody yet) · Own times (below)
Desktop · HR and payroll · 6
Days on and off, like 6-1 (six on, one off) or 2-2-3; the first day of the pattern is the anchor date.
Rotating pattern
Desktop · Time off in lieu instead of paid overtime (the minutes are banked)
Figures marked “from published law” follow your country's labour law as published — confirm with your adviser; the rest are this business's own choices. A shift template can override none of these; the roster's shift sets the day's expected hours.
Attendance and overtime rules · Rates (× the hourly rate)
Desktop · Letter
A preview: no number yet, nothing in the register.
A preview: no number yet, nothing in the register. · The letter is written and numbered.
Desktop · Payroll run
A draft: work it out again any time; nothing is posted until you finalise.
Finalising locks the run: nothing in it changes again. Advances repaid and commission paid go to the staff ledger; if you chose it, the salaries are recorded as an expense (never through the cash drawer).
Settlement statement · Payroll · Net pay · Total · Pick a line in the list first. · Carry a correction to the next run · Carried to the person's next run with its reason. · Pay date · Finalised and locked. · Payslip · Bank transfer sheet
Desktop · HR and payroll · 7
Change
Desktop · Type an amount (not below zero). · 2
Add the line · e.g. Eid bonus, social insurance
Desktop · Type an amount (not below zero). · 3
When the branch's commission base for the period reaches the target, each person gets the bonus % of their own base on top.
Role (the job title in the file, else the staff role): points. A role not listed counts 1.
Type them as role: points, separated by commas.
2 to 10 labels separated by commas, e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or Below, Meets, Exceeds.
Leave types and public holidays start from the country's tables and can be changed above; check the holidays against the official announcement every year.
HR settings · is taken back in full in the next payroll · is left to you (payroll does not touch it) · by calendar days · by working days · the POS's service charge · an amount typed per pool · equally · by hours worked · by points per role · Type them as role: points, separated by commas. · Points per role