Attendance & Time
6 Late Coming Policy Rules, With 3 Letter Formats to Copy
Six rules for a fair late coming policy, a copy-paste template and warning, explanation and apology letter formats.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Author
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
57 articles
Articles by Avani Joshi
13 min read
Workforce & HR Management
40 Fun Friday Activities and Games for Office Teams
Fresh ideas, themed days, office games, weekly rituals and virtual games, plus a Fun Friday email format to copy.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
30 Team Building Games and 50 Icebreaker Questions for Work
Short games for meetings, shift changes and team days, and ready questions to open any session, with tips to keep it fair.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
12 HR Roles and Responsibilities, From Hiring to Exit
From workforce planning to full and final settlement: the HR tasks every business has, and the job titles that do them.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
6 Zoho People Alternatives I’d Pick for Payroll in 2026
Zoho People’s prices from India, and six HR tools that keep attendance, leave and payroll in one product.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
Garden Leave Means Full Pay at Home Until Your Notice Ends
Garden leave lets you send a leaving employee home on full pay in India until the job ends. Stopping them working elsewhere after that cannot be enforced.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
When Will the 8th Pay Commission Raise Your Salary?
Where does the 8th Pay Commission stand? Its report date, why there is no official fitment factor yet, who it covers, and what it means for private employers.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Why Dearness Allowance Keeps Rising and Who Actually Gets It
Does dearness allowance reach private pay as well? See the current central DA rate, how it is set, VDA in minimum wages, and how DA is taxed.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
People & Payroll
5 Steps to UAN Activation, Now Only on the UMANG App
UAN activation has moved to the UMANG app and a face scan against your Aadhaar. Here are the 5 steps, and what to do when it fails.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Retention Bonus Means Extra Pay for Staying, Taxed as Salary
Offered money to stay on? A retention bonus falls due on the agreed date, is taxed as salary, and is hard to claw back once paid.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Leave & Holidays
7 Leave Application for Office Formats You Can Copy and Send
Need a day or a month off? Copy one of these 7 leave application for office formats, from sick leave to maternity, and send a request HR can approve.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Leave & Holidays
How Many Festival Holidays Must You Give in Your State?
Seven paid days a year in one state, thirteen in another. Here is what nine states and Delhi put in writing, and how to find the rule for anywhere else.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
5 Examples to Calculate Bonus for Employees
The statutory bonus follows the Code on Wages, while performance and festival bonuses follow policy. Five worked examples show how each is calculated.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
The New EPF Wage Ceiling Is ₹25,000: What It Costs You
The EPF wage ceiling moved to ₹25,000 a month. The rates did not change, but what they apply to did, and that is where the extra cost comes from.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
Why Accrued Leave Is Not the Same as Earned Leave
The phrase earned leave is in the labour code on safety and working conditions. Accrued leave is not. And earned leave belongs to two jobs most of your staff do not hold.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
How Overtime Rules Work Under the Labour Codes
Two separate Codes carry overtime rules, and they disagree on who is covered, what a part-hour is worth, and whether anyone can be made to stay late.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Form 12BB vs Form 16, and the New Numbers That Replaced Them
One form carries the employee’s tax claims in, the other carries the employer’s certificate out. Both were renumbered on 1 April 2026.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
Top 5 Warning Letter to Employee Formats in Different Tones
Five warning letter formats, one per tone, ready to adapt, plus the path from warning to show cause to termination.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
How to Calculate Per Day Salary Correctly, With 5 Examples
A worked example for every payment that runs on a day rate, from an absent day to gratuity, all on one salary. Plus the one case where the law picks the number for you.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Attendance & Time
3 Ways to Calculate Attendance Percentage, and the One Payroll Uses
One month, one employee, three ways to calculate attendance percentage. The formula is never the problem. What you divide by is, and it decides what a day of absence costs.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Attendance & Time
Night Shift Allowance in India and Who Actually Decides It
No Code names a night shift allowance rate. What it settles is the calendar, the consent and the deductions, and those cost more than the figure most employers argue over.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
Notice Period Rules in India and What Actually Applies
Three instruments set the notice period rules in India, and only two of them are the Code. The third is the letter you wrote when the person joined.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
How to Set a Fixed Employee Code for Every Worker
Most employee codes break for the same reason: somebody asked them to describe a person as well as identify one. Here is a format that survives a transfer.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Attendance & Time
How to Prepare a Duty Roster Format That Holds Up
Most duty roster format templates give you a grid and stop. The grid is the easy half: the Code decides the hours, the handover and how often you may change it.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
Probation Period Rules in India, and the New Six-Month Term
Probation has a stated length again: six months, extendable by three, from 8 May 2026. Who that binds, who still writes their own number, and why PF and ESI never paused for probation at all.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Expected CTC: 7 Ready-to-Use Answers for Your Next Interview
The question asks what you would cost, not what you would receive. Seven lines to use in an interview, the reasoning that backs each of them, and why the law measures a different figure from the one in an offer.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
How the ESIC Claim Process Works for Employees
One form per benefit, one office, and a three-day rule on medical certificates that quietly costs people money. What each claim pays, and how fast ESIC has to pay it.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
How the ESI Salary Limit Works, and Who It Covers
₹21,000 a month, unchanged since 2017. The three routes that bring a workplace into the scheme, why a raise in July does not end cover in July, and the 135 districts still outside it.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
How Many PF Advance Withdrawals Can You Claim?
Education now allows ten claims and marriage five, where three covered both before. What the October 2025 rules changed, who qualifies after 12 months, and why the COVID advance is no longer on the list.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
What Actually Binds: Letter of Intent vs Offer Letter
A letter of intent states an intention. An offer letter is a proposal. Neither creates a contract by itself, and the Contract Act fixes a hard deadline after which you can no longer pull an offer back.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
How the EPF Interest Rate Works, and When It Arrives
EPFO paid 8.25% to its members this July. Who fixes that figure, what it is worked out on, and why a passbook can sit unchanged for months after the number makes the news.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
6 Factories Act Rules Employers Must Follow Now
For HR and plant managers: the six rules that bind a factory employer now that the 1948 Act has gone, including the headcount change that decides whether your unit still counts as a factory at all.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
6 Appointment Letter Formats You Can Copy
The offer letter is the invitation. This one carries the full terms, and since November 2025 it is compulsory. The eight items every version carries, and the clause that changes for six kinds of hire.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
People & Payroll
Who Qualifies for Statutory Bonus Under the New Code
Statutory bonus moved to the Code on Wages in November 2025. The rate and the thirty-day test survived. The duty to hand it over in cash did not.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
ESIC Number: How to Find and Check Yours
The regulations say who allots it, that you only ever get one, and exactly where your employer has to keep it. Where to look, and how to tell the number is right.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
Sick Leave in India: Why There Is No Single Rule
No central law sets it, one large state dropped it from its Act, and ESI pays cash rather than days. What applies where, and what your own rules have to cover.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
People & Payroll
How to Write an Experience Letter: What to Put In and Leave Out
The law names two things an experience letter must carry. Everything else is your choice, including the sentences that come back to bite. Here is what to write, and what to leave alone.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
EPF Forms List: What You Actually File Now
One monthly return, one declaration at joining, and a nomination nobody can file on your behalf. The rest of the numbered forms left years ago.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Labour Welfare Fund: Rates by State
₹2 a year in Telangana, ₹35 a month in Haryana. Six states with full rates, every state accounted for, and the deadline most businesses miss.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
People & Payroll
Professional Tax: State-Wise Rates and Due Dates
Nine states, nine answers for the same ₹30,000 salary. Full slabs, every state accounted for, who carries the penalty, and why February costs more.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) vs Darwinbox: Pricing
Two products built for different companies: one bundles the attendance device, the other assumes you already have an HR team. Which fits yours?
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) vs Zimyo: Pricing, Hardware and Fit Compared
Attendo supplies the attendance device itself, on a bill that does not move when you hire. Zimyo charges per user per month and leaves the device to a third-party supplier. Who owns that device turns out to be the decision that matters most.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Product Updates
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) HRMS: 2026 Updates
The four Attendo updates that landed in 2026, what problem each one fixes, and what actually changes for the admin who uses them daily.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Workforce & HR Management
Nearby Offers in Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll)
Your employees open the Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) app to mark attendance or check their pay slip. While they’re there, they spot a 20% off deal at a restaurant two streets away. They tap it, grab lunch at a discount, and walk back feeling like the company just gave them a perk. That’s the Nearby
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Loans & Arrears in Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll)
How Attendo tracks employee loans and arrears in one place, with a per-employee record and deductions that carry across pay cycles.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Attendance & Time
Geo Tracking Attendance in Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll)
What gets recorded when a field employee is tracked, how the licence is billed, and when plain attendance with a geofence is the better answer.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Attendance & Time
Field Sales Attendance: Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll)
How field sales attendance actually gets verified, what GPS and a selfie prove together, and where the payroll leak really comes from.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Attendance & Time
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) Face Recognition Attendance
Which attendance device suits your floor, what a face scanner does that a card cannot, and when a fingerprint reader is still the better buy.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) vs Manual Payroll
Spreadsheet payroll rarely breaks loudly. It leaks an hour here and a wrong deduction there. Here is what changes once a system does the counting.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) vs greytHR: Pricing
Two capable products built for different jobs: one arrives with the attendance device in the box, the other goes wider on HR. Which one fits your team?
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Benefits of Payroll Software for Indian Businesses
Month-end payroll rarely fails loudly. It leaks hours into reconciliation and rupees into corrections, one cycle at a time.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) Features: Attendance & Salary
Every feature in Attendo, what it does on a working day, and the statutory deductions it handles without a separate compliance tool.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) vs Keka: Pricing, Hardware and Fit Compared
Attendo bundles an attendance device with payroll on a flat annual fee. Keka prices per employee above a seat threshold and leaves the hardware to a third-party supplier. For most shift-based businesses, that hardware question decides it.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Attendance & Time
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll): Attendance to Salary
Attendance, leave, shifts and overtime all land in the same salary figure. Here is the path a punch takes to become a payslip.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll): How It Works
A punch at the door, a shift rule, an approved leave, and a salary at the end of it. Here is what sits between them.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Fixed vs Per-Employee Payroll Pricing: Which Costs Less?
Seasonal hiring, a new branch, a growth year: each one moves your software bill under one pricing model and leaves it untouched under the other. Plus six things to ask any vendor before you sign.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts
Payroll & Salary
Best Budget Payroll Software for Mumbai SMEs (2026)
Most cost figures in payroll articles are somebody’s estimate. Here is how to work out your own, and what to compare it against.
Avani Joshi
HR & Payroll Experts