Templates are the approved Word documents PeopleTeam uses to build job descriptions, employment agreements and job adverts. Only HR and administrators can see them. Employees never see templates in the library.
Find them in Organisation → Policies & Documents → Templates.
Import a template
- Select New template.
- Choose the type (job description, employment agreement or job advert) and give it a name. If you want, limit it to one employment type or location.
- Choose a
.docxfile of up to 10 MB, then select Import and review. PeopleTeam reads the file and opens it as Draft v1.
To have PeopleTeam suggest a template for its type, open it and select Make default. Each type has one default.
Write fields in your Word document
Put fields in double curly braces, using lower-case words joined by underscores:
- , and are filled in from the person and the role.
- is a repeatable list. Use a plural name. Each duty becomes its own bullet or paragraph.
- is an optional section. Use a singular name. Its text only appears when the section applies, and any fields inside it, such as , are optional.
Headings, bold and italic, numbered and bulleted lists, tables, headers and footers all carry through.
Copyable PeopleTeam fields
These are the fields that can be linked to PeopleTeam during review. Click the copy icon beside a field, then paste it into Word. Employer fields describe the legal company; in particular, is the company's legal name and is its ABN. They are not employee fields.
| Field | Meaning | Group | Filled automatically |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal company name | Employer | Yes | |
| Trading or public-facing name | Employer | Yes | |
| Australian Business Number of the legal company | Employer | Yes | |
| Company's registered address | Employer | Yes | |
| Company's operating address | Employer | Yes | |
| Company contact name | Employer | Yes | |
| Company contact email | Employer | Yes | |
| Organisation's default super fund | Employer | Yes | |
| Date the document is created | Employer | Yes | |
| Employee's legal name | Employee | Yes | |
| Employee's first name | Employee | Yes | |
| Employee's preferred name | Employee | Yes | |
| Employee's work email | Employee | Yes | |
| Employee's home address | Employee | Yes | |
| Employee's job title | Employment | Yes | |
| Employee's department | Employment | Yes | |
| Employee's work location | Employment | Yes | |
| Employee's manager | Employment | Yes | |
| Full-time, part-time, casual or contractor | Employment | Yes | |
| Employment start date | Employment | Yes | |
| Standard hours per week | Employment | Yes | |
| End date of the probation period | Employment | Yes | |
| Hiring manager on the vacancy the person was hired through | Employment | Yes | |
| Base pay from the accepted offer | Accepted offer | Yes | |
| Pay basis from the accepted offer (per year or per hour) | Accepted offer | Yes | |
Super rate from the accepted offer, as a plain number such as 12. Type the % sign after it in Word: {{offer_super_rate}}% | Accepted offer | Yes | |
| Super a year from the accepted offer | Accepted offer | Yes | |
| Other inclusions, one per line | Accepted offer | Yes | |
| Total package from the accepted offer | Accepted offer | Yes | |
| Annual leave days from the accepted offer | Accepted offer | Yes | |
| Personal/carer's leave days from the accepted offer | Accepted offer | Yes |
The accepted-offer fields fill when the person was hired from a vacancy and their offer was accepted (matched by the email on the application). Otherwise they stay blank for you to type. The hiring manager is never guessed from the line manager.
These are the automatic sources, not the only fields you can use. You can also invent a field such as or . It will appear as Typed by hand in the review and the person creating each document will enter it.
Set up a template in four steps
Draft the wording and layout in Word. PeopleTeam only fills the gaps and keeps your formatting. The template page walks you through four steps, shown across the top. You can go back to any step.
- Upload: PeopleTeam checks the file. If something must be fixed, such as unaccepted tracked changes, Word mail-merge fields or broken tags, it says what and how to fix it in Word. Use Replace file and upload it again. Anything else it finds, such as comments, a header or an image, is listed under Kept as they are. There is nothing to tick.
- Link the gaps: your document is shown with every gap highlighted. Click a gap, then choose what fills it, for example the employer's ABN or the employee's start date. Gaps with no link are typed in when the document is made. More options has the label, type, whether it's required and a hint. Where PeopleTeam spots text that looks like a gap, it lists it under things to look at. Each one shows the text Now with the part that will change struck through in red, and what it Will become with the new part in green. Choose Use the suggested change to change only that one place in the file (for a gap that is only missing a link, the button reads for example Fill it from "Employer ABN"). Choose Keep it as it is to keep your wording. Apply all suggested changes does every remaining suggestion at once.
- Preview: see the finished document filled in with a made-up person. Switch between a full-time, part-time and casual sample, and turn optional sections on and off. No real records are used. Text in amber is typed in by whoever makes the document.
- Send for approval: add a note about what changed and send it. An HR user or an owner looks at the same preview and either approves it or sends it back with a comment.
The template's wording is always locked. People making a document can fill in gaps, but can't edit the text. To change the wording, upload a new version of the Word file.
Worked example
Download these three Word files to see what a good template looks like:
- Example employment agreement template: imports cleanly and uses every kind of field.
- The same agreement filled with sample details: what a finished document looks like.
- Problems example: shows what the import blocks or warns about.
The example template contains four kinds of field:
| In the Word file | What the review shows | Who fills it in |
|---|---|---|
| , , | Text, date or currency, Fills from already set | PeopleTeam, from the person's record |
| , , | Text or number, Typed by hand | The person creating the document |
| … … | List | The person creating the document, one line per duty |
| … in a table row | Group with two parts | The person creating the document, one table row per allowance |
| … , then … | Optional section. inside it becomes optional | The person creating the document says whether probation applies. The first text appears if it does, the second if it doesn't |
When you upload the example template, the four steps show:
- Upload: two notes under Kept as they are, one for the table and one for the footer. There is nothing to tick.
- Link the gaps: 24 gaps. 17 already fill from PeopleTeam because their names match records, such as and . The rest are typed by hand, so check each one reads clearly, for example "Enter the full award title" for .
- Preview: the confidentiality clause and signature lines show as fixed text. The wording is always locked, so people can't change them.
- Send for approval: add a note and send it.
Signing setting
Each template has a Signing setting: no signature, employee signs, or employee then employer countersigns. Use no signature for handbooks and policies, and countersigning for employment agreements. It is chosen for you when someone asks for a signature on a document built from the template. See Signing documents.
The problems example is blocked for four reasons: field names with spaces or symbols (, ), a Word mail-merge field, a tracked change, and a list that's opened but never closed. Its comment and missing recommended fields are only warnings.
Tips for your own templates
- Use the PeopleTeam field names where they exist, such as , and . They fill in automatically without changing Fills from.
- Put a list's opening and closing tags on their own lines, or in the same table row for a table.
- Give lists and groups plural names (
duties,allowances) and optional sections singular names (probation). - Don't put fields in text boxes, shapes or footnotes. Fields in headers and footers are fine.
- Accept all tracked changes in Word, and save as
.docx(not.docm), before you upload.
Approve a version
- On the draft, add a Change note if you want one, then select Submit for review.
- The reviewer adds an optional Review note and selects Approve, or selects Return to draft to send it back.
The approved version is the one PeopleTeam uses. Upload new version starts the next draft, and the approved version stays in use until the new one is approved. Every version stays in the Versions list. Select Discard draft to throw away a draft you don't need.
Other actions
- Edit details: change the name, description, employment type or location.
- Clone: copy the template to start a variant.
- Download file: get the Word file for the version you're viewing.
- Retire: stops the template producing new documents and removes it as the default. Its version history and any documents already issued from it are kept, but an open draft is discarded. Retired templates are listed under Retired templates.
- Delete: permanently removes the template, all its versions and their files. Once a document has been created from it, it can't be deleted; use Retire instead.
To build documents from approved templates, see Create documents from templates.