🌟 January Overview
January was a month of significant expansion and refinement for Better HR. Key highlights include the launch of the Expense Tracking System (Phase 1), major compliance updates for Vietnam and Cambodia, and a successful infrastructure migration to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). We’ve focused on improving payroll precision, mobile stability, and reporting flexibility.
🆕 1. New Feature: Expense Tracking System (Phase 1)
Workflow Launch: Introduced the first phase of the Expense Tracking System, enabling users to submit and track expenses directly via the web dashboard.
Custom Categories: HR can now define specific expense categories in system settings.
Multi-Level Approval: Support for up to 4 levels of expense approvers within the policy settings.
Mobile Note: Expense submissions via mobile will be available in the upcoming app version.
🧾 2. Regional Payroll & Compliance Updates
Vietnam: * Updated PIT tax brackets and exemption levels effective January 2026.
Updated Regional Minimum Wage settings for 2026.
Implemented logic to apply old vs. new tax rules based on the payroll month (Dec 2025 and backwards vs. Jan 2026 and onwards).
Cambodia: * Added new Cambodia Tax Template (TOS) and TOS E Form updates to meet government requirements.
Added Position Level field in Employee Tax Info for TOS reporting.
Introduced employee-level payroll component control (Tax and NSSF) for special cases.
Thailand: * Updated Social Security Fund (SSF) maximum wage cap (effective 2026–2028).
Added import functionality for previous paid amounts (Gross Taxable, PIT, and SSF).
Myanmar: * Added migration support for importing previous income, SSB, and tax data.
Sri Lanka: * Added Bank Branch Code support for NTB Bank file exports.
💼 3. Payroll & Reporting Enhancements
Salary-Like Logic: Added a new calculation mode that prorates based on principal or scheduled working days.
Transparency: Payslip PDFs now clearly display the Principal Basic Monthly Salary (Contracted Salary), particularly helpful for mid-month joiners.
Report Visibility: Added "Division" columns to Payroll Excel exports and Employer Contributions to Group Summary and Month-on-Month reports.
Bulk Management: Added "Enable All/Disable All" buttons for tax-related items in Payroll settings.
Manual Adjustments: Fixed the root cause for manual allowances/deductions to ensure they are always captured in net salary calculations.
🧭 4. Attendance & Duty Roster Improvements
Extended Radius: Increased the attendance check-in/out radius to 20,000 meters for general mobile use and up to 10,000,000 meters for specific office tracking requests.
Duplicate Cleanup: "Clear Duplicate" logic now accounts for Day Offs and Holidays for cleaner roster data.
Visual Aids: Added public holiday shift indicators in the Duty Roster.
Backdated Leave: New policy setting allowing employees to submit leave for past dates up to a defined limit.
📱 5. Mobile & App Fixes
Stability: Moved CV Screening and Announcement controls to the backend to improve app performance and scalability.
UI Clarity: Half-day leave requests now explicitly show "Morning Half" or "Evening Half" for approvers.
Bug Fixes: Resolved issues where payslips appeared blank and fixed app crashes during remote attendance approvals.
🎯 6. Applicant Tracking System (ATS) & Employee Management
Interview Scheduling: Added 15-minute time interval options and global Time Zone support for scheduling.
Vacancy Management: HR can now close vacancies even if they are in an "Unpublished" state.
Resignation Workflow: Fixed an issue where backdated resignations with "Skip Approval" failed to deactivate accounts correctly.
Custom Fields: Added the ability to reorder custom fields in settings, which reflects directly on the employee profile.
🤖 7. AI Agent Updates
Payroll Intelligence: AI endpoints now tie into payroll group visibility for better security.
Payment Logic: Enhanced AI capability to process Overtime (OT) and Project-Based payments via natural language prompts.
Fixes: Resolved issues where the AI Agent failed to process certain leave and job activity updates.
🐞 8. Key Bug Fixes Summary
Exports: Resolved Excel export failures for Employee Directories and Summarized Reports across various client domains.
Data Integrity: Fixed issues where deleted leaves still appeared on the Duty Roster.
Localization: Corrected Vietnamese diacritics saving issues in Asset custom fields.
NRC Display: Updated NRC codes to show correctly on Myanmar tax forms.
✅ January Highlights
Expense Tracking System Phase 1 officially launched.
GCP Migration: System successfully moved to Google Cloud Platform for better performance.
Multi-Country Compliance: Major tax and wage updates for Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar.
Workflow Flexibility: Support for second-level leave approvers and backdated leave.
ATS Precision: Time zone and 15-minute interval support for interviews.