Tanda has recently updated name fields in accounts to allow distinction between an employees' legal name and their preferred name. This guide answers questions on the change and provides recommendations for use.
What's changed?
The existing name fields on staff profiles have changed to become the Preferred Name. This means the names that were previously in your Tanda account are now considered an employee's preferred name.
NOTE: New Fields are not available in the old employee profile.
What's new?
You can now also configure an employee's Legal First, Middle, and Last Name. These fields are completely new and will not be automatically populated in your account.
When are Legal Names used?
Legal Name fields are intended to be used in formal and legal scenarios. Once an employee's Legal Name fields are populated, they will be prioritised in the following scenarios:
Adding Legal Names to contracts
Submitting information to the Australian Tax Office
Matching users' names in external systems
💡 Note: Tanda will use an employee's preferred name in every other non-legal scenario, such as when rostering or submitting leave.
What about existing contract Fields
Customers using the {{name}} field should be aware that it will link to the preferred name field in onboarding.
Instead, the dynamic fields {{legal_first_name}} and {{legal_last_name}} can now be used in contract templates to link to employee legal names.
When would I use an employee's preferred name?
Some employees may use nicknames or English names outside of their government recognised legal name.
For example, the employee below may prefer 'Greg', but things like employment contracts or Tax Declarations should use his Legal Name of 'Gregory'.
You can enter preferred names as just a single name, or both a first and last name.
How can I populate these names for existing staff?
Bulk actions Workforce > Staff > Tools > Bulk Actions now includes an option to backfill Employee legal Names.
Using this option will fill Legal name using the logic below:
"Jane MiddleName LastName" => { legal_first_name: "Jane", legal_last_name: "MiddleName LastName" }This will not be suitable for all customers, especially any who have filled the names in a Last-First format.
Before using this method, it would be best for you to factor in your own context.
Running this process in staging.tanda.co is also recommended as it will help test before updating live data.
Finally - when you have completed the backfill, ensure that you check the outcome was satisfactory and be sure to fix any issues.