Handbook

Inviting employees: email address, mobile number – or both?

Every employee needs at least an email address or a mobile number. What you store decides how the invitation arrives, how the person signs in and by which route they receive a new password. This article sets the two against each other and names the rules behind them – so you make the decision once, not again with every new hire.

The decision in three sentences

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At least one of the two is mandatory

Jobilino requires an email address or a mobile number when creating an employee. Without either the record cannot be saved – the person would have no way to sign in.

Tipp: Both at once is allowed and in many cases the better choice – why, is further down.
If an email address is stored, it wins

Jobilino sends the invitation and any new password by email as soon as an address is stored. SMS is the route for everyone who has no address on file.

Tipp: That applies to system messages. When signing in, the person chooses for themselves – see the section on storing both.
On the free plan the email address is mandatory

Free accounts cannot send SMS. That is why Jobilino requires an email address there when creating an employee.

Tipp: If your team largely works without a work email address, that is a reason to have SMS sending enabled – talk to us.

If you store an email address

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The invitation arrives by email

The employee receives a message with their credentials and the link to your Jobilino – in the language you set when creating the record.

Tipp: If it does not arrive, check the spam folder first. Shared addresses such as info@ end up there more often than personal ones.
Signing in with the email address

In the app and the web app the person signs in with that address – either with a password or, if enabled, with a one-time code sent to the same address.
A new password also goes by email

If you set a new password in the user administration, Jobilino sends it to the stored address.

Tipp: You cannot reset a password from your own account – a second person with administrator rights does that.
Where this route fits

For the office, administration, site management and everyone who has a work address anyway. Messages stay readable later, links open on a computer, and no SMS costs arise.

If you store only a mobile number

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The invitation arrives by SMS

With no email address on file, Jobilino sends the credentials as an SMS to the mobile number.

Tipp: That is the usual route on construction sites, in cleaning and in the store – there, few people have a work email address.
Signing in with the mobile number

The person signs in with their mobile number, with a password or – if enabled – with a one-time code that arrives as an SMS.

Tipp: The one-time code is particularly handy here: there is no password that can go missing.
A new password also arrives by SMS

If you set a new password, it goes to the number – the same route as the invitation.
What to keep in mind

Sending SMS costs money and is blocked on free accounts. If the person changes their number, you have to update it in the user administration – otherwise neither the invitation nor a new password arrives.

Tipp: With private numbers it is worth telling the person that system messages will go there.

If you store both

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System messages go to the email address

Jobilino sends the invitation and any new password by email as soon as an address is stored. The number is not used for that – it is not a second delivery route for the same message.
When signing in the person has the choice

They can sign in with the email address or with the mobile number. If the one-time code is enabled, the delivery route follows the entry exactly: email entered – code by email; number entered – code by SMS.

Tipp: That is the real gain of storing both: someone with no signal takes the email – and the other way round.
Recommendation

Where both exist, store both. It costs nothing, changes nothing about how system messages are sent, and gives the person a second route when signing in.

Rules that apply to both

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Each entry may occur only once

Email address and mobile number are unique per company. Two employees cannot share the same address or the same number – Jobilino rejects that on saving.

Tipp: A couple sharing a private address therefore needs one entry each – for example their own mobile number.
How you write the number does not matter

Jobilino strips spaces, slashes, hyphens and dots on saving. Whether you type „+43 664 123 45 67“ or „+436641234567“ makes no difference – not even for the duplicate check.

Tipp: Enter the number with its country code. Without it an SMS cannot be delivered abroad.
Both can be changed later

You change the address and the number at any time in the user administration. Existing time entries are unaffected – they belong to the person, not to the contact detail.

Tipp: After the change the person signs in with the new entry. Tell them, or they will keep trying the old one.
Employees who have left

When someone leaves, the contact detail is released so it can be used again. A password can no longer be reset for a person who has left.

Which route fits which team

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Office and administration

Email address. It exists anyway, messages stay readable later and no sending costs arise.
Construction site, cleaning, store

Mobile number – plus the email address where one exists. Without a work address, SMS is the only route on which credentials arrive.

Tipp: Combined with the one-time code, nobody has to remember a password.
Seasonal and casual staff

Mobile number. It is usually to hand at the hiring conversation, whereas a work address would have to be created first.
Free account

Email address – it is mandatory there, because free accounts cannot send SMS.

Frequently asked questions