The Contract That Ended and Kept Paying
A fixed-term contract runs out on a date everyone agreed and nobody diarised. The person keeps working, payroll keeps paying, and the question of what terms now apply arrives months later. Since 14 October one list shows every contract, probation and document about to lapse — and tells HR and the line manager before it does.
A flower farm near Naivasha takes on forty seasonal workers every year on contracts that end on 31 December. Every year some of them are still cutting stems in February. Nobody decided to keep them on those terms; nobody decided anything. The contract ran out quietly, payroll paid from it as before, and the farm discovered the gap when someone asked for a letter confirming their employment.
One list of everything with an end date
Human Resources → Overview now carries an Expiring soon link. It opens one list of everything in HR that runs out on a date: active contracts ending, employees still on probation, employment end dates, and employee or contract documents that carry an expiry date — a work permit, a professional licence, a medical certificate. Each row shows the employee, what is ending, the date and how far away it is. Filters narrow it by type and by Already past or Coming up.
| What is ending | The button on the row |
|---|---|
| A contract | Renew or extend |
| A probation | Confirm or extend |
| An employment end date | Renew contract |
| A document with an expiry date | Replace document |
The button is the point. A list of problems is a report; a list where each line opens the fix is a worklist. HR at the flower farm opens Expiring soon in early November, filters to contracts, and renews thirty-two of the forty from the list before the season ends.
Who is told, and when
Alerts go to HR and the employee’s line manager at 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before the date, and on the day itself — once each, not every morning. They arrive in the bell and by email. The line manager matters as much as HR: the supervisor knows whether the person is staying, and a renewal decision made by HR alone is usually a guess.
The look-ahead is set under HR settings → Expiry alerts, anywhere from 7 to 180 days; left blank, it is 60. A shorter window means the first alert simply comes later. Each channel can be switched off in Notification Preferences under HR documents, for an HR team that prefers to work from the list and wants the bell without the email.
Nothing in this list expires by itself. That is a decision, not an omission.
Why a contract is never expired automatically
It would be easy to flip a contract to expired at midnight on its end date. We do not, on purpose. Payroll pays from the active contract, so silently expiring it could stop someone’s salary for a reason nobody saw — and the person most likely to be affected is the one still turning up to work. A contract whose end date has passed stays active, appears as Already past, and gets a Mark expired button for anyone allowed to edit employees.
So the farm’s remaining eight contracts are still active on 2 January, at the top of the list under Already past. HR confirms with the supervisors that those eight have left, marks them expired, and payroll stops treating them as current. If any had still been working, the fix would have been Renew from the same row. Either way, a person decided.
A legal note, not a software one
Whether someone who keeps working after a fixed-term contract ends is now on renewed terms, or on different ones, is a question for your lawyer under the Employment Act. The list makes sure the question is asked before the date, which is the only time it is cheap to answer.
Probation, and the documents beside the contract
Probation fails the same way. Six months pass, nobody writes the confirmation letter, and the employee is confirmed by default with no review on file. On the list, a probation ending has Confirm or extend beside it, and the line manager has had four alerts before the day.
Documents with an expiry date — a foreign engineer’s work permit, a clinical officer’s practising licence, a driver’s certificate of good conduct — sit in the same list with Replace document. Statutory ID numbers held on the profile carry no expiry date, so they are not part of it. For expiry on things other than people — an equipment insurance certificate, a vehicle inspection — see extending expiry reminders beyond employees. The mobile app shows the same Expiring soon list, read-only.
What AWRA OpsHub does today
- One Expiring soon list of contracts ending, probations, employment end dates and expiring employee and contract documents, filtered by type and by already past or coming up.
- A direct fix on every row: renew or extend, confirm or extend, renew contract, or replace document.
- Alerts to HR and the line manager at 60, 30, 14 and 7 days and on the day, once each, in the bell and by email, each channel switchable.
- A look-ahead window from 7 to 180 days under HR settings, defaulting to 60.
- Contracts kept active past their end date until someone renews them or uses Mark expired, and a read-only list in the mobile app.
More we can add to your workspace
- Expiry dates on statutory ID records, such as a passport held on the profile, feeding the same list.
- An alert to the employee about their own expiring documents, alongside HR and the line manager.
Where we point you to a specialist
- Whether a lapsed fixed-term contract has been renewed by conduct is a legal question. The system flags the date and records what HR decided; it never decides the person’s terms.
Expiry for the rest of the file
The list covers contracts, probations, end dates and dated documents. Two extensions follow naturally.
Dated statutory IDs
An expiry date on a passport or alien card held on the profile, with the same alerts and a Replace button.
Tell the employee too
The person whose permit is lapsing hears about it at the same time as HR, so the renewal paperwork starts on their side.
Tell us which dates your HR team tracks by hand and we will return a written scope and cost.
Scope expiry trackingOur position
Set the look-ahead to match how long a renewal really takes in your organization — 90 days if a board signs contracts, 30 if HR does. Make sure every employee has a line manager on the profile, because half the alerts go to them. And treat Already past as a daily queue that should be empty: every row in it is a person working on terms nobody has confirmed.
Three checks on any HR system
What happens on the day a fixed-term contract ends?
A good answer sounds like
It is flagged and stays active until someone decides.
What it tells you
Auto-expiry can stop pay; silence can extend terms by default.
Who hears about a probation ending?
A good answer sounds like
HR and the line manager, more than once.
What it tells you
HR alone cannot confirm someone they do not supervise.
Can I see everything ending in the next 60 days on one screen?
A good answer sounds like
Yes, with the fix on each line.
What it tells you
Three reports for three kinds of date means one of them is not read.
Turn on expiry alerts
The help docs cover the Expiring soon list, the alert schedule and the look-ahead setting.
Expiring soon guideFrequently asked questions
What does the Expiring soon list include?
Active contracts ending, employees still on probation, employment end dates, and employee or contract documents that carry an expiry date. Statutory ID numbers have no expiry date and are not included.
Who receives expiry alerts and when?
HR and the employee’s line manager, at 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before the date and on the day, once each, in the in-app bell and by email.
Can I change how far ahead the alerts start?
Yes. Under HR settings, Expiry alerts takes a window from 7 to 180 days. Left blank it is 60 days.
Does AWRA expire a contract automatically on its end date?
No. Payroll pays from the active contract, so a contract past its end date stays active and shows as Already past until HR renews it or uses Mark expired.
Is the Expiring soon list on mobile?
Yes, the mobile app shows the same list read-only.
