Hourly paid workers

Before you consider recruiting an hourly paid worker, please ensure you have read through the University guidance on the appropriate use of hourly paid workers.

Work can only be started when the worker has received and signed a contract for the work and their right to work has been verified. Payment cannot be made for any work done before this verification.

The majority of our hourly paid worker opportunities are ideally suited to our students, providing an excellent way for them to develop new skills and earn money while studying.

The University has a set amount of hourly paid worker roles. Each of these roles have been through the University grading process and has been allocated a set rate of hourly pay.

When recruiting hourly paid workers, please ensure you are only recruiting them and setting them up for the specific timeframe they are needed for.

Departmental requesters and approvers

Each department has allocated departmental requesters and approvers for hourly paid workers. All hourly paid worker appointments will be requested by your 'Departmental Requester' (DR) and will need to be approved by your 'Departmental Approver' (DA). This will be completed via our e-recruitment system (Stonefish).

To check who the requesters and approvers are in your department, please click on the relevant link:

Student/Tier 4 visa holders

If the worker is a Student or Tier 4 visa holder, you must follow the Student/Tier 4 worker booking process before work is carried out.

Student/Tier 4 visa holder workers will only be paid for work that has been pre-booked via the Student/Tier 4 Booking System. If you are unable to pre-book the hours on the system, please email hrhourlypaid@bath.ac.uk and a member of the HR Operations team will advise on how to proceed. You must ensure that the worker is not scheduled to work until the situation has been resolved and the hours are able to be pre-booked. If the Student/Tier 4 worker works any hours without them being pre-booked, these hours will not be paid.

Overseas working

Arrangements for engaging staff overseas can be complex and there are very significant risks − both financial and immigration-related − that need to be fully understood. It is for this reason that we are unable to support requests to work overseas from those on an HPW contract.

Please refer to our Overseas Working Process for further information.

Step-by-step guide on engaging an hourly paid worker

Please refer to our hourly paid worker online process map.

Step 1 − Request an hourly paid worker role

The departmental requester will need to raise a staff request form on our e-recruitment system (Stonefish) to request approval for a role to be completed by an hourly paid worker. In order to make this request, the departmental requester will need to have the following information:

the role(s) required
the number of workers required to complete the role(s)
the department each worker will work in
who will line manager each worker
the expected start date for the role(s)
the Project Code each role(s) should be costed against
the justification for filling each role with an hourly paid worker
what each role is expected to do

Step 2 − Approval for an hourly paid worker role

Once the request has been submitted by the departmental requester, the departmental approver will receive an email informing them that a request has been made, asking them to review the information on Stonefish and either approve or reject the request.

Step 3 − Recruiting an hourly paid worker

If you need to advertise the vacancy, you will need to contact the Students Union who are responsible for advertising our hourly paid worker roles
You will need to meet any candidates to discuss the nature of the work on offer and conduct a selection process to choose your worker(s) − typically, this will involve an interview
Once you have selected the worker(s), your departmental requester will need to carry out a right to work check
The staff request form will show whether the role requires a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check and what level check is required

Step 4 − Request a new hourly paid worker appointment

Once you have selected the worker(s) and the departmental requester has carried out the right to work check, they will need to complete the Hourly Paid Worker Appointment Form on Stonefish.

The departmental requester will need the following information for each worker you wish to engage:

title, first name and surname
email address of the worker – this email address will be used to send their contract to e-sign, so please check this carefully
the role(s) the worker(s) will be undertaking
the worker(s) original right to work documentation (this should have already been obtained)
the start date and end date for each role (this will be shown on the worker’s contract)

Step 5 − Worker to approve contract

Once the departmental requester has submitted the hourly paid worker appointment request on stonefish, the worker will receive an email letting them know they have been engaged for the role(s). This email will include a link to Stonefish so that they can approve their contract. They will also need to enter their bank details which will be used to set them up on payroll.

Please note, the worker will not be able to be set up on iTrent or payroll until they have approved their contract and their right to work has been verified.

Once the worker has approved their contract, the HR Operations Team will set them up on iTrent, subject to their right to work documentation being verified.

The departmental requester and approver will be able to check when the worker has been set up on iTrent via Stonefish. The line manager will also be able to view the worker’s details in MSS.

Ending and extending hourly paid contracts

All department requesters and approvers will have access to the hourly paid workers app which allows them to easily manage the hourly paid workers within their departments. Read our guidance on how to access and use this app.

Ending contracts

It is essential that only active hourly paid workers are on iTrent. Please ensure that when you are recruiting hourly paid workers, you only recruit them when they are needed and set them up for the specific timeframe they are required for.

Hourly paid workers who have not worked or been paid in 12 months will be automatically ended and removed from iTrent.

Recruiting and managing an hourly paid worker

A step-by-step approach to engaging an hourly paid worker.