Wasting $217K Finding Employees? Employee Presence Control in Odoo 18

Company has 247 employees. Manager needs to know: "Is Sarah available for urgent client call?" Walks around office. Can't find Sarah. Asks coworker: "Seen Sarah?" Coworker: "She's remote today." Manager checks Slack. Sarah's status: Green dot (online). Sends message. No response. Calls phone. Voicemail. 20 minutes wasted. Sarah was at lunch (online in Slack but not working). Another scenario: Employee calls in sick. Doesn't update system. Manager assigns task to them. Task sits unassigned for 2 days. Customer angry: "Where's my delivery?" Manager: "I assigned it to John." John: "I was sick Monday-Tuesday. Didn't you know?" Manager: "No notification." Project delayed 2 days = $5,700 lost (SLA penalty). HR needs attendance report for payroll. Manually checks: Who was present each day? Spreadsheet tracking. Employee A: "I worked from home on Tuesday." Timesheet says office. Manager: "Prove it." Employee: "I was online." Manager checks system logs manually. Takes 3 hours to verify 47 employees weekly. Factory scenario: 87 production workers. No computers at workstation. Manager needs to know who's on floor. Walks around factory = 30 minutes. Foreman: "I saw him 10 minutes ago." Worker moved to different line. Manager can't find. Annual cost: $127K lost productivity (finding employees) + $67K payroll disputes + $23K project penalties = $217K presence chaos.

Odoo 18 Employee Presence fixes this: Employee dashboard shows real-time status. Green dot = present & active. Gray dot = offline or outside working hours. Yellow dot = idle. Icons show context: Airplane = on leave, House = working from home, Office = at office location. Automatic tracking (not manual updates): Based on attendance (clock in/out), Based on system activity (logged into Odoo), Based on emails sent (e.g., 3 emails/hour = active), Based on IP address (connected from office network). Manager opens dashboard: Sees all 247 employees at glance. Sarah: Gray dot, House icon (remote but offline). Filter: Show only "Present" employees. Bulk actions: Select employees, mark present/absent manually (for off-site work). Send SMS: Select multiple employees, send message instantly. Here's how to manage Employee Presence Control in Odoo 18 so you stop losing $217K annually to presence chaos.

What Employee Presence Control Does

Real-time employee availability: Dashboard shows all employees → Status indicators (present, absent, idle) → Location context (office, home, leave) → Automatic tracking → Manual overrides → Bulk updates → SMS communication.

Step 1: Understanding Presence Indicators

Status Dots (Colors)

• Green Dot: Employee signed in and currently active in Odoo
• Yellow Dot: Employee signed in but idle/inactive (no recent activity)
• Gray Dot: Employee signed in but outside working hours, or offline
• No Dot: Employee not signed in to system

Context Icons

• ✈️ Airplane Icon: Employee on leave (vacation, sick time, any time off)
• 🏠 House Icon: Employee working from home today
• 🏢 Office Icon: Employee at office location today
• Activity Icon: Shows scheduled activities
  • Red: Overdue activity
  • Orange: Activity due today
  • Green: Future activity scheduled

Example Dashboard View

Step 2: Configure Presence Settings

1. Go to Employees → Configuration → Settings
2. Scroll to Presence Control section
3. Choose primary tracking method

Step 3: Choose Presence Tracking Method

Option 1: Based on Attendance

• How it works: Employee marked present only after clocking in via Attendance app
• Best for: Office workers, factories, retail (physical presence matters)
• Requires: Attendance app installed
• Employee action: Check in at kiosk, mobile app, or RFID badge
• Dashboard shows: Present = clocked in, Absent = not clocked in

Option 2: Based on User Status in System

• How it works: Employee present when logged into Odoo and active
• Best for: Remote teams, office workers using Odoo daily
• Requires: Employees log into Odoo to work
• Employee action: Log in to Odoo (automatic tracking)
• Dashboard shows: Present = logged in & active, Absent = not logged in or inactive

Step 4: Enable Advanced Presence Control

1. In Presence Control settings, enable Advanced Presence Control
2. This allows managers to manually change employee status
3. Useful for off-site work, client visits, special circumstances

Step 5: Configure Email-Based Tracking (Optional)

Track presence based on email activity. If employee sends minimum emails per hour, marked as active.

1. Enable Based on number of emails sent
2. Presence Condition field appears
3. Enter minimum emails per hour (e.g., "3")
4. Employee sends ≥3 emails/hour = Green dot (active)
5. Employee sends <3 emails/hour = Yellow/Gray dot (idle/inactive)

When to Use Email Tracking

• Good for: Sales teams, customer support, roles with heavy email communication
• Not suitable for: Factory workers, warehouse staff, roles without regular email use

Step 6: Configure IP Address-Based Tracking (Optional)

Track presence based on network connection. Employee on company IP = present.

1. Enable Based on IP address
2. Presence Condition field appears
3. Enter company IP addresses (comma-separated):
   • Example: 192.168.1.0/24, 10.0.0.0/8, 203.0.113.50
   • Support subnet ranges (CIDR notation)
4. Employee connects from listed IP = Present
5. Employee connects from other IP = Absent (or remote work icon if enabled)

When to Use IP Tracking

• Good for: Office-based teams, factories, warehouses (physical location matters)
• Multi-location: Add IPs for all office/factory locations
• Security benefit: Verify employee working from authorized location

Step 7: Enable Remote Work Icon

1. In settings, enable Remote Work option
2. Allows 🏠 House icon to appear on employee cards
3. Employee scheduled to work from home = House icon shows
4. Integrated with Time Off app (if employee requests remote work day)

Step 8: Save Settings

1. After configuring all options, click Save
2. Settings apply immediately
3. Employee dashboard updates with real-time presence

Step 9: View Employee Dashboard

1. Go to Employees app
2. Default view: Kanban (card view)
3. Each employee card shows:
   • Photo
   • Name & job title
   • Contact info
   • Status dot (green/yellow/gray)
   • Context icon (airplane/house/office)
   • Activity indicator (if activities scheduled)
4. Scroll to see all employees

Step 10: Use Filters to Find Employees

Common Filters

1. Present Employees:
   • Click Filters
   • Select "Present"
   • Shows only employees with green/yellow dots
2. By Department:
   • Filter: Department = Sales
   • Shows only Sales team members
3. On Leave:
   • Filter: Shows employees with airplane icon
4. Remote Workers:
   • Filter: Shows employees with house icon

Step 11: Use Group By to Organize

1. Click Group By
2. Select grouping criteria:
   • By Department: Engineering, Sales, HR (each department in section)
   • By Job Position: Developer, Manager, Sales Rep (each role grouped)
   • By Manager: All employees under each manager
   • By Presence/Absence: Present vs Absent sections
3. Employees organized into collapsible sections
4. Expand/collapse sections as needed

Example: Group by Presence

Step 12: Manual Presence Control (Bulk Update)

For off-site work, client visits, or special cases where automatic tracking doesn't apply.

1. Switch to List View (employees table)
2. Select employees using checkboxes:
   • Click individual checkboxes
   • Or click header checkbox to select all
3. Presence Control button appears at top
4. Click Presence Control
5. Dropdown options:
   • Set as Present: Mark selected employees present
   • Set as Absent: Mark selected employees absent
   • Send SMS: Send message to selected employees
6. Select desired action

Use Case: Off-Site Work

Step 13: Send SMS to Employees

1. In List View, select employees (checkboxes)
2. Click Presence Control → Send SMS
3. Popup appears with message field
4. Type message:
   • Example: "Urgent: All-hands meeting at 3 PM today in Conference Room A"
   • Example: "Reminder: Submit timesheets by EOD Friday"
5. Click Send
6. SMS sent to all selected employees' mobile numbers

Requirements for SMS

• Employees must have mobile numbers in their profile
• SMS gateway must be configured in Odoo (Settings → Technical → SMS)
• SMS credits required (purchased from provider)

Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: Finding Available Employee Quickly

Scenario 2: Payroll Attendance Verification

Scenario 3: Factory Floor Visibility

Real-World Impact

FAQs