Refinar

Employee management system
staff files, time and leave in one app

One file per person with their department, manager, documents and dates, plus clock in, leave and the weekly rota. Start from a working staff app and describe the records your company keeps.

Start your staff app

What it starts from

This page starts the Time clock starting point. It already keeps a staff list with sign-in for each person, attendance, leave and the rota. The fuller employee file most companies want is what the pre-filled request adds.

Already in the starting point

  • A staff list with name, email, position, contracted weekly hours, leave allowance and active or left.
  • An invitation per person, so each employee signs in with their own role.
  • Staff imported from Excel or CSV and exported back.
  • Clock in and out, monthly hours and overtime, leave requests and the weekly rota.

What the first request asks Refinar to add

  • Department, manager, joining date, date of birth, phone and an emergency contact.
  • Probation end date, leaving date and reason.
  • Documents as records with a number and an expiry date, and a list of what expires in the next 30 days.
  • An onboarding checklist that every new joiner works through.

What it keeps for every person

One file per employee

Contact details, department, manager, job title and the dates that matter: joining, probation, birthday, leaving. Staff only notes stay with HR.

Documents that do not lapse

Work permits, licences, certificates: each with its number and expiry date, and one list of everything expiring this month.

New joiners, done the same way

An onboarding checklist per person, so the laptop, the contract and the first-week training are ticked off, not remembered.

Time and leave already attached

Each file links to the person's punches, monthly hours, leave balance and shifts, because the starting point is a time clock.

Imports from the spreadsheet you have

Bring the current staff list in from Excel or CSV, and export it again for payroll or an audit.

Who sees what

Employees see their own record and time, managers their team, admins everything; a viewer role reads without changing anything.

The tables behind it

Real Postgres tables you own. The solid ones come with the starting point; the dashed ones are what the pre-filled request adds.

employees

In the starting point
  • id, user_id → user
  • name, email, position
  • weekly_hours, annual_leave_days, active
  • department_id, manager_id (added)
  • joined_on, birth_date, phone (added)
  • emergency_contact, probation_ends_on (added)
  • left_on, leaving_reason (added)

punches · leave_requests · shifts

In the starting point
  • employee_id → employees
  • the attendance, leave and rota records

departments

Added by your first request
  • id
  • name
  • head_id → employees

employee_documents

Added by your first request
  • id
  • employee_id → employees
  • kind
  • number
  • issued_on, expires_on

onboarding_tasks

Added by your first request
  • id
  • employee_id → employees
  • title
  • done_at, done_by

How it works in 3 steps

  1. 01

    Start from this page

    Press Start your staff app. The Time clock starting point is picked and the employee file is described in your first request, ready to edit.

  2. 02

    Your app runs in about a minute

    Refinar creates the app with sign-in, the staff list, attendance and leave, then adds the fields and lists from your request in a live preview.

  3. 03

    Change it by describing it, then launch

    Ask for what your company keeps: bank details for payroll, uniform sizes, an exit checklist. When it is ready, press Go live and the code and the database are yours.

What it is not

It is not a full HR suite. There is no payroll, recruitment, performance review or benefits module, and no file storage for scanned documents unless you ask for one. The monthly hours export is what you hand to payroll.

For a company of a few dozen people who keep staff records in a spreadsheet and leave in an inbox, it puts both in one place you own. Anything larger is built one request at a time.

Questions

What is an employee management system?

Software that keeps every employee's details in one place and handles the day to day around them: attendance, leave, shifts and documents. Larger systems add payroll, hiring and performance reviews.

Does it do payroll?

No. It exports each person's monthly hours and overtime as CSV for whoever runs payroll. A payroll module with your country's tax rules is a large change to ask for, and you stay responsible for its numbers.

Can employees update their own details?

In the starting point they see their own time and leave. Add a sentence to the request, such as "employees can edit their phone and emergency contact", and that page is built.

Can I upload contracts and ID copies?

The pre-filled request records documents with their number and expiry date. Uploading the scanned file is a separate request, and needs file storage connected to the app.

Who can see salaries or personal details?

Only the roles you allow. Every page checks the signed-in person's role, and you can ask for a field to be visible to admins only.

How much does it cost?

Building the app and changing it use credits from your Refinar plan, and hosting is part of going live. There is no fee per employee. The details are on the pricing page.

More starting points

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