📄️ Workforce Management Overview
Appello's workforce management system is purpose-built for ICI (Institutional, Commercial, and Industrial) trade contractors who manage unionized and non-union field workers. It handles the full complexity of multi-trade, multi-local operations — union halls, Collective Bargaining Agreement wage tables, travel zones, apprenticeship progression, certifications, and crew management — in a single integrated platform.
📄️ Union Hall Management
Union hall management allows you to configure the local union halls your workforce belongs to, assign workers to their home hall based on geography, and track union affiliations across your organization. This is essential for ICI trade contractors working with organized labour — Appello is the only workforce management platform with built-in union hall support.
📄️ Employment Agreements
Employment agreements define the wage structures, benefit rates, and pay rules for different groups of workers. In a unionized environment, these map directly to Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) negotiated between unions and employer associations. Appello supports multiple concurrent agreements — each with its own wage table, overtime rules, and effective date ranges.
📄️ Trade Classifications
Trade classifications (also called trade levels) define the hierarchy of worker roles within each trade — from probationary apprentices through to superintendents. These classifications drive wage lookups, scheduling eligibility, and workforce reporting. They mirror the apprenticeship and journeyman progression defined in union Collective Bargaining Agreements.
📄️ Travel Rate Cards & Zones
Travel rate cards define the per-diem, mileage, and board allowances your workers receive when travelling to job sites outside their home area. Each card contains multiple zones based on distance from the worker's union hall, with escalating allowances for longer commutes. This is a critical feature for ICI contractors managing crews across wide geographic regions.
📄️ Departments
Departments represent the organizational divisions within your company — each with its own workers, projects, and cost tracking. For ICI trade contractors, departments typically align with trade specialties or operational functions, allowing you to run multiple trade divisions under a single Appello instance.
📄️ User Groups & Crews
User groups allow you to define reusable crews — named collections of workers who are frequently scheduled together. Instead of individually assigning 6 workers to a job every day, create a crew group and schedule the entire group in one action. This is how real ICI contractors operate — foremen run the same crew week after week.
📄️ Leave Types
Configure the types of leave your workers can request — from vacation and sick leave to union business and compassionate leave. Each leave type defines availability rules, approval workflows, and how time-off appears on the scheduling calendar.
📄️ Leave Submissions
Review and process employee leave and vacation requests. Workers submit leave requests from the mobile app or web portal, and administrators approve or reject them here. Approved leave automatically blocks the worker from being scheduled and appears as a leave indicator on the scheduling views.