Human Resources in Odoo 16: Employees, Time Off and Time Clocking

Employee records and company structure, work schedules, time off and holidays, and attendance tracking with clock-in. Here are 46 Binovo video tutorials (2 h 49 min) organized into 4 sections. Each video includes a summary and a step-by-step description of what it shows.

Odoo 16 · Updated October 13, 2026 · See all areas

Employees and structure 18 videos

What does the Odoo Employees module offer?1:02

A quick overview of the main features of the Odoo 16 Employees module.

What the video shows
  • Sections covered: departments, work locations, job positions and employee records
  • Employees are created from the module or from users, and it is important that user and employee are properly linked
  • Record fields that affect other modules: expense and time off approvers, and the calendar with the expected working hours

What can a user without permissions see?0:59

The employee record contains sensitive professional and personal data; here we check what a user without permissions can see.

What the video shows
  • They can see their colleagues’ records, with contact details, work address or location, and whether they are currently working
  • They cannot edit records or create new employees

What can an employee manager user see?2:32

The employee record contains sensitive professional and personal data; here we check what an employee manager user can see.

What the video shows
  • They can create employees and see more data in the record, such as expense and time off approvers and the employee’s working schedule
  • New Private Information and HR Settings tabs, with the related user and the PIN for clock-ins
  • Departments menu to browse them, create new ones, see their employees and open reports from the three dots on each one
  • Configuration menu to create and edit departments, work locations and job positions

General settings of the Odoo Employees module3:28

General settings of the Employees module and how each one affects the module and its features.

What the video shows
  • Access from Configuration > Settings, which requires an extra permission because it is a technical section
  • Presence control based on attendance and on the user’s status in the system, shown by the employee’s green indicator
  • Advanced presence control based on a minimum number of emails sent or on IP address
  • Skills management: adds a Resume tab to the employee record with skills and previous jobs
  • Default work schedule for new employees and the employee editing checkbox, unchecked by default

What are Work Locations in Odoo and how do you create them?2:28

What work locations are, what they are used for and how to create them.

What the video shows
  • Access via Configuration > Work Locations, where one already exists by default, linked to the company’s main address
  • Creating a new location: name and work address, chosen from the addresses created within the company’s own contact
  • Optional location number and company fields, the latter to indicate which company it belongs to in a multi-company setup
  • The locations you create become available to select in employee records

How to create Departments in Odoo2:53

Creating departments and the reports you can get for each department from the kanban view.

What the video shows
  • Access to departments from the Departments menu or from Configuration
  • New department with name, manager, optional parent department and company, a field that only appears in multi-company setups
  • From the kanban card, the department’s attendance report with filters by check-in month
  • Access to the department’s employees, its settings and the onboarding plans, where you can add a new one

How to create contract types in Odoo0:51

Creating contract types and how to add them in the job position settings.

What the video shows
  • In Configuration > Contract Types, Permanent, Temporary and Interim already exist, and a new one is added with a single line and its name
  • The contract type is then selected in the Contract Type field of the job position

How to create job positions in Odoo1:51

Creating the job positions that are later assigned to each employee.

What the video shows
  • In Configuration > Job Positions, the existing ones are listed, linked to their departments, and a new one is created, for example “Accountant”
  • Position details: department, permanent status, expected number of people and description with lists using the “/” command
  • The position you create becomes available to select when filling in an employee record

How to offboard an employee and define the reasons1:51

Creating departure reasons and using them when archiving an employee to record their departure.

What the video shows
  • In Configuration > Departure Reasons, a new one is added by entering just the name, for example “End of contract”
  • When archiving an employee, you choose the reason and departure date and what gets closed: contract, allocations, scheduled time off and private address
  • Field for additional information and Apply button, after which the employee is archived with their reason and departure date

Onboarding and offboarding plans2:55

Creating onboarding and offboarding plans and how to launch them for employees.

What the video shows
  • In Configuration, onboarding and offboarding plans: a new onboarding plan with its department and company
  • Adding the plan’s activities, of type To Do, with a summary, responsible person (their manager or their mentor) and notes: equipment delivery and training
  • From the employee record, the Launch Plan button, plan selection and generation of the activities, which are then marked as done

What is the difference between a user, an employee and a contact?1:58

The relationship between user, employee and contact, and what each one is used for.

What the video shows
  • The user is required to log hours on projects or manufacturing, and does not require an employee
  • The employee is required to clock in and request time off, and does not require a user
  • Creating a user or an employee automatically creates a contact
  • Recommended order: first the user and, from there, the employee, to avoid duplicating the contact

How to create work schedules correctly in Odoo6:00

Creating work calendars or schedules for employees.

What the video shows
  • The calendar is assigned in the employee record; Odoo includes examples such as the 40-hour split-shift schedule
  • Creating a full-time schedule, Monday to Friday from 8 to 16, removing the extra lines
  • Start and end dates on each line so that the calendar covers the full year
  • Different schedules by season: lines with date ranges, for example Saturdays only in summer
  • Average hours per day and time zone
  • The same calendar can be assigned to several employees; if each one has their own schedule, you need one calendar per employee

Creating employees in Odoo2:15

An employee can be created from the user, so that the two are linked, or created separately and linked to a user later.

What the video shows
  • From Settings, a manager opens the user and clicks “Create Employee”; both are linked automatically
  • Alternative: create the employee from the Employees module, for staff without a user or when HR does not have access to Settings
  • In that case, you have to manually select the related user in the employee record

How to fill in an employee record8:06

Fields in the record that are worth filling in when creating an employee.

What the video shows
  • Work information: mobile and email, visible to other employees
  • Department, with its manager and its parent department; the employee inherits the manager and mentor
  • Job position, created in Configuration with its department and contract type
  • Work address or work location, for companies with several offices
  • Time off approver: who approves the holidays and leave requested by the employee
  • Work schedule, which determines their expected working hours
  • Private information (address, bank account, education, family situation), visible only to managers
  • Settings tab: related user, start date for expected hours, PIN for kiosk mode and RFID badge ID

Private addresses: who can access them?3:21

Private addresses are hidden from users who are not employee managers.

What the video shows
  • A user is created and, from there, their employee; the public contact is generated automatically
  • In the employee’s private information, a new contact is created, separate from the public one, with their personal address
  • An administrator user sees both the public and the private contact in Contacts
  • A sales manager without human resources permissions only sees the public contact

How to analyze employee data4:16

Simple reports in the Employees module to analyze its data.

What the video shows
  • Reports require manager permission in Employees
  • Reporting > Skills lists all skill lines, with filters for employees with or without skills
  • The pivot view cross-references employee with skill type and skill to see each employee’s percentage
  • From the three dots on each department, you can open reports on attendance, expenses, time off and skills history
  • Charts support date filters, comparison with the previous period, pivot view, and click-through to open the source record

Create a résumé and manage employee skills3:35

With an additional module, you can record employees’ résumés and skills, and generate reports to allocate tasks more effectively.

What you’ll see in the video
  • The employee record gains a tab with the résumé and skills
  • A résumé line is added (a marketing course) with its type, creating a new type with its sequence, along with the start and end dates
  • Existing lines can be edited, for example to set an end date on one that was shown as current
  • Skills are added with their level: a language (Basque, B2) and a marketing skill (digital advertising, L3); the levels are created by default
  • Skills can be viewed in the skills report and in each department’s history, grouped by employee

Creating work schedules in Odoo7:22

A tool created by Binovo to generate work schedules that follow a pattern, without having to create a line for every day worked.

What you’ll see in the video
  • The module adds options under Employees > Calendar; Schedule shows the list of schedules for all employees
  • With Calculate schedules you choose the schedules and the date range for which lines are generated, and view them by employee in calendar view
  • A schedule is created, the sample lines are deleted, the year is entered and the pattern lines are added: one week from 8:00 to 14:00 and another from 14:00 to 20:00
  • The pattern must start on a Monday (30 December rather than 1 January) so that weeks are not counted from Wednesday
  • When the schedule is created and assigned to an employee, the timetable for the whole year is generated; days that don’t follow the pattern are then corrected manually

Time off and holidays 14 videos

Introduction to the Time Off module0:24

A brief introduction to what is covered in the Time Off course.

What you’ll see in the video
  • The content is outlined: creating public holidays and time off types, requesting and approving vacations and sick leave, and their effect on attendance and theoretical hours

What can a user without time off permissions see?2:13

The sections that a user without time off permissions can access.

What you’ll see in the video
  • On logging in, the user sees an annual calendar with their time off and, at the top, their available vacation days and overtime hours
  • They can create a request from the calendar or from the list view, where they can see the status of each one
  • The overview shows their own time off and their team’s by default; when the filter is removed, they see everyone else’s, without knowing the reason
  • The public holidays section is for information only: they cannot create anything or approve time off

What can a time off officer see and do?2:06

The sections that a time off officer can access.

What you’ll see in the video
  • In Approvals, they see their own time off and their colleagues’, and approve the requests assigned to them, but not their own
  • By default, the filters for their team and pending approval are applied, and can be removed to see the full list
  • The same goes for allocations: their team’s are shown and, when the filter is removed, those of the whole company
  • Reports by employee or by time off type: allocations appear as positive values and requests as negative, with different charts

What can a time off administrator do?1:58

The sections that a time off administrator can access.

What you’ll see in the video
  • The manager can already approve time off and create allocations, but the Configuration menu only appears with administrator permissions
  • Configuration includes time off types, accrual plans, public holidays and mandatory days
  • Time off types determine who approves, whether they are taken in days or hours, and whether allocations are allowed

How to create time off types7:16

Time off types are the foundation that determines the behavior of each time off request.

What you’ll see in the video
  • In Time Off > Configuration > Time Off Types there are default types that serve as examples; a new vacation type is created
  • Approval: no validation, time off officer, employee’s approver, or both (double validation); the officer is chosen and the person is specified
  • You define whether it is taken in days, half days or hours, along with the checkboxes Include in theoretical hours, Deduct overtime and Allow attaching supporting documents
  • Type (time off or worked time), company, Exclude public holidays and display options: color and icon, new in version 16
  • Allocation: with a prior limit (vacation, with no employee requests) or without a limit, such as sick leave, in days and with supporting documents

Public holidays in Odoo: how do they work?5:07

What public holidays are for and how they are added to employees’ schedules.

What you’ll see in the video
  • Configuration > Public Holidays: each line has a name, start and end date and time, company and work schedule
  • It is advisable to set a wide time range, starting in the early hours, to cover all of the day’s theoretical hours
  • With no schedule assigned, the holiday applies to all schedules; with a schedule, only to the employees who have it
  • If the same holiday affects two different schedules, you need to create one line per schedule
  • The list opens filtered by the current year; when the filter is removed, holidays from other years are shown, such as 1 January 2025

Are the key dates on the company calendar public holidays?2:15

How mandatory days work and why they are not the same as a public holiday.

What you’ll see in the video
  • Configuration > Mandatory Days: name (for example, company event), date and color
  • They can be limited to certain departments or schedules; if none is specified, everyone sees them
  • When the dashboard is reloaded, the date appears highlighted alongside the public holidays
  • When requesting vacation on a public holiday, the duration is 0 days; on a mandatory day, the day is deducted

Holiday calendar in Odoo1:49

Holiday calendars are independent of work schedules; public holidays are what link the two.

What you’ll see in the video
  • The Holidays list is an annual summary visible to all employees; it is not what marks non-working days on the dashboard
  • Non-working days come from the public holiday lines linked to the schedules
  • Create next calendar copies the 2024 holidays to 2025, where those that change date, such as Easter, are deleted and recreated

What are accrual plans and how do they work?4:01

Accrual plans add days to the selected time off types according to the configured rules, for example two vacation days per month worked.

What you’ll see in the video
  • Configuration > Accrual Plan: plan name, the time off type it applies to and accrual rules
  • Each rule defines when it starts after the allocation, how many days it adds, the cap and the frequency: daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, biannual or annual
  • At the end of the year, days are either lost or carried over to the next, with a maximum carryover (0 means no limit)
  • It is applied by creating an allocation of type Accrual Allocation, with time off type, plan, employee and start date; the duration is calculated automatically
  • Example: a rule of 1.5 days per day means the employee accrues 3 vacation days in two days

What is the difference between time off requests and allocations?4:16

What allocations are for and why they determine whether an employee can request each type of time off.

What you’ll see in the video
  • Time off covers vacations, sick leave or leave of absence; an allocation is the number of days granted to an employee for a time off type with a limit
  • Employees can request time off within their available days or request an allocation to get more days (for example, 5 extra vacation days)
  • The allocation request remains pending approval by the time off officer; to delete one, it must be refused and set back to draft
  • A user with the right permissions sees the allocations pending approval and validates them
  • After validation, the employee’s dashboard goes from 9 to 14 available days

How are allocations created?3:01

Allocations limit the days or hours that each employee can request for each time off type.

What you’ll see in the video
  • Accessing allocations from the time off types, under Vacation, and creating a new one, for example Vacation 2024
  • Regular allocation by company, valid from 1 January to 31 December, for 24 days; it can also be by employee, department or tag
  • On confirmation it is approved directly and one allocation is generated for each employee
  • The days are added to previous allocations on the employee’s dashboard and are deducted with each request

When can time off be requested?3:05

A time off request can be direct or depend on the allocations the employee has.

What you’ll see in the video
  • Prerequisites: configured time off types and, where needed, allocations, such as vacation days
  • The Time Off dashboard shows the available vacation days and compensatory hours, and until what date
  • Request by selecting the days on the dashboard calendar: you specify the type and duration and save; it appears striped until it is approved
  • Alternatively, from My Time Off with a new record, choosing the type and dates; the Approve button is only visible to officers
  • Request for an allocation of extra days if the time off type allows it; it can be approved directly depending on the type’s configuration

Who can approve time off and allocations?2:47

How time off requests and allocations are approved, and which permissions and access are required.

What you’ll see in the video
  • The Time Off Approvals menu, visible only to those with the right permissions, with two sections: time off and allocations
  • Approving time off from the list or from the form with the Approve button; with the right permissions, requests from outside one’s own team can also be approved
  • Before refusing, a message can be sent to the requester, who is listed as a follower, explaining the reason
  • Allocations requested by employees are approved with the Validate button or refused
  • When a request is approved or refused, the employee receives a notification

Reports & analysis of requested and pending time off3:01

Charts and reports on the time off requested by employees and the vacation days they have left.

What the video shows
  • Time Off reports, accessible only with manager permission, with two options: by employee and by type
  • Report by employee: opens with the active employees filter grouped by type, in chart view, and supports filtering by employee or by time off type
  • Pivot table with days and hours by type, employee and month, plus a calendar view
  • Report by type: list and pivot views with time off and allocations, filters (to approve, active employees) and grouping by type or company

Attendance and clock-in 8 videos

Introduction to the Odoo Attendances module0:25

Overview of the Attendances module.

What the video shows
  • The video announces that it will cover clock-ins, reports and the control of check-ins and check-outs, including hours worked over or under the expected total

What can a user with Attendances user permission see?0:53

Sections that a user with Attendances user permission can access.

What the video shows
  • They can clock in from the computer and check their own attendance list in the Attendances menu, without being able to edit it

What can an Attendances manager see?1:01

Sections that an Attendances manager can access.

What the video shows
  • In addition to Check in / Check out and kiosk mode, they see the records of all employees in Attendances and can edit them
  • They have access to the clock-in reports for all employees and years in order to analyze hour balances

How to configure the general settings of the Attendances module6:36

General settings of the Attendances module and selection of the check-in and check-out options.

What the video shows
  • The settings option in the Attendances Configuration menu requires a settings permission, separate from the Attendances permissions
  • Attendance mode: barcode/RFID and manual selection, barcode only or manual only; this changes what kiosk mode displays
  • Barcode source (front camera, rear camera or scanner) and the number of seconds the greeting message is displayed, 10 in the example
  • Employee PIN: if enabled, manual identification at the kiosk asks for the PIN defined on the employee record
  • Overtime: start date (that day does not count) and tolerances in favor of the company and of the employee, checked in the attendance analysis

Clock-in options: how to check in and check out3:06

Clock-in options in Odoo: RFID reader, PIN or manual entry on the computer.

What the video shows
  • With their own user account, each employee goes to Attendances and clicks the button to check in; on returning, the same button registers the check-out
  • Kiosk mode is used on a company Raspberry Pi or tablet and displays a screen with the logo
  • At the kiosk, employees clock in by swiping their RFID card or key fob over the reader, and a welcome or goodbye message appears
  • Alternative manual identification: the employee is selected and their PIN is entered
  • The PIN is defined on the employee record, in the HR settings, PIN Code field

How to create and edit attendance records3:18

Managers can edit the attendance records of all employees.

What the video shows
  • Manager permission is required; an employee cannot edit their own attendance or that of their colleagues
  • In Attendances, Attendances lists all clock-ins, and the check-in or check-out time of an incorrect record can be edited directly
  • If another overlapping attendance already exists on that day, an error appears when saving; the redundant record is deleted and the change is saved again
  • For a day without a clock-in, a new record is created by choosing the employee, check-in and check-out, checking the date since it defaults to today

Optimized digital clock-in module6:07

Optimized clock-in module developed by Binovo for employees who do not need access to Odoo but must record their working hours digitally. It simplifies clocking in and saves on training.

What the video shows
  • In Settings, Users, the user is created with a name, login and password, without permissions in the other modules
  • Required permissions: Employees set to “Kiosk Mode Only User” and Attendances set to the new “Clock-in” level; the user must have an employee record
  • On logging in, the user goes directly to the clock-in screen rather than Discuss, with only the Check in / Check out and Reports menus
  • The report shows, by day, the check-in and check-out times, the theoretical hours according to the calendar, the hours worked and the balance
  • Each click on Check in / Check out records a clock-in, including breaks if internal policy requires it, and it appears in the report immediately

General attendance report2:05

Report developed by Binovo showing each employee’s hour balance, combining time off and attendance information.

What the video shows
  • It is opened from Attendances, Reports, Full attendance report, and is accessible to all employees
  • By default it filters on the user’s own attendance; with manager permission, the filter can be removed to search for another employee
  • Filters and groupings by period: current month, previous month, full year or last year
  • Columns: employee, date, day of the week, time off or public holiday for the day, theoretical hours, and balance in favor of the employee or the company

Binovo developments and extras 6 videos

BinovoHR: digital clock-in software for HR14:12

Working time recording software: one-click clock-in from any device, attendance history and automatic reports, access from mobile, tablet or computer, and compliance with working time control regulations.

What the video shows
  • Access via URL from any browser on a computer, tablet or mobile, with username and password; language configurable in the profile
  • Attendances app: button to record the check-in and then the check-out, with a message showing the time recorded and the total for the day
  • Employee list with a green or red indicator depending on whether they have checked in, and access to the employee’s hours from their record
  • Correction of the check-in or check-out time of an incorrect clock-in by editing the attendance record
  • Full attendance report: actual time, theoretical time and difference per day, with filters My attendances, current month, previous month or a specific date
  • Time off request with type, dates, description and attached supporting document; it appears striped in the calendar until the manager approves it
  • Kiosk mode for a tablet at the entrance, where each employee selects themselves to clock in, and terminals with radio-frequency card readers
  • Clock-in and time off lookup from a mobile phone thanks to the responsive design, simulated with the browser’s developer tools

Digital clock-in with Odoo and BinovoHR6:07

Digital time recording tool that is easy to use and requires no training costs, to comply with working time control regulations.

What the video shows
  • Designed for employees who do not use Odoo: a reduced menu compared with all the options of the native Attendances module
  • Configuration in Settings > Users: Kiosk Mode Only permission in Employees and the new Clock-in permission in Attendances, with the employee linked to the user
  • On logging in, the clock-in screen opens directly, with only the Check in / Check out and Reports menus
  • Attendance report: clock-ins per day, theoretical hours according to the calendar, hours worked and balance, always accessible to the employee
  • One-click clock-in for each check-in and check-out, including breaks, which appears immediately in the report

RFID clock-in in Odoo0:47

Real-world test of check-in and check-out with an RFID card integrated with Odoo: automatic real-time recording, compatible with standard RFID cards and key fobs.

What the video shows
  • The RFID card is read to record the check-in and read again to record the check-out
  • Without an RFID card, manual clock-in from Employee Selection by entering the employee’s PIN

Employee Portal for Odoo5:43

Portal integrated with Odoo from which employees can clock in from any device, request time off and vacation, access their personal documents and training courses, and receive real-time notifications.

What the video shows
  • Goal: to give profiles that do not use the rest of Odoo a reduced menu that simplifies their training and the implementation
  • In Settings > Users, a new Employee Portal user type, different from Internal User and which can be changed later
  • On logging in, Discuss opens and only the Training, Documents, My Details, Clock-ins and Time Off apps are available
  • Training lists the employee’s courses, Documents shows those assigned to them by HR, and My Details gives access to their employee record
  • Clock-ins offers Check in / Check out and the attendance report; Time Off shows their requests with their status and allows new ones to be created

BinovoHR: automatic payslip distribution8:18

Software for distributing payslips to employees securely and automatically, with a step-by-step demonstration and its configuration.

What the video shows
  • Starting point: the accounting firm sends a single PDF with all the payslips, and each employee must receive only their own, securely
  • Each payslip is signed with the company’s digital certificate and encrypted so that it can only be opened with the employee’s key
  • Encryption key in the HR Settings tab of the employee record; it must not be changed, or earlier payslips will no longer be openable
  • Sending payslips from Employees: upload the PDF, enter how many payslips are expected and click Validation to split it into one page per employee
  • Before sending, the administrator can download, delete or preview each payslip by entering the key
  • When sent, each employee receives an email with their payslip attached and the dispatch is logged
  • Payslips are also stored in the employee’s Documents and in the document management system (DMS), where they can be searched by employee
  • The solution also includes clocking in and out from any device and absence management

Attendance management with AttendCloud9:31

AttendCloud, Binovo’s cloud service for managing attendance: employees record their check-ins and check-outs from any connected device, whether or not they are at the company. It can be deployed in less than two days.

What you will see in the video
  • Web application accessible by URL from any device, also suitable for field sales reps and employees working from home
  • Possible integration with RFID or NFC card readers and fingerprint readers, although the demo uses the simplest mode, with no hardware
  • Clocking in by selecting the employee and entering their PIN: a color indicator shows whether the next record will be a check-in or a check-out
  • Alternative of entering the PIN first, which identifies the employee and records the check-in with a welcome message
  • Simulation on an iPad and a mobile phone to verify that the check-in and check-out screen adapts to the device size
  • As an administrator, the Attendances menu with all check-ins and check-outs, which can be grouped by employee, by month or by record type
  • Employee management: import or individual creation by entering name, department and PIN, with access to their attendance and absences
  • Reports in graph view and pivot table with the actual hours per employee and date, exportable to Excel

Frequently asked questions about human resources in Odoo

How do you clock in with Odoo?

With an RFID reader, with a PIN on a tablet in kiosk mode, or manually. Binovo adds an optimized clock-in for people who don’t use Odoo and an employee portal accessible from any device.

How are vacations and absences managed?

With leave types, allocations that limit the available days, and accrual plans, for example two vacation days per month worked. Each employee has an approver.

What is the difference between user, employee and contact?

The user accesses Odoo and logs hours; the employee clocks in and requests leave; the contact is created automatically with both. The recommended approach is to create the user first and then, from the user, the employee.

Want to see how Odoo would work in your company?

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