Before allocating time off allowances to employees you need to set up and configure time-off types. These are really just rules which govern how each type of leave can be used by the employee in accordance with your policies and procedures.

To make this change, browse to

Administration -> HR -> Time off Management -> Time off Types

Details

Time off Type - The name of the time off type being created

Description - a brief description giving employees more information about this time off type.

Parent - if you would like this type to be housed within an existing time-off type select the parent from the list. As an example, you may have multiple ailments under the parent category of "Sickness", or multiple types under the parent category of "Appointments" - this will allow for a better employee experience when entering their time off and provide you with more granular reporting as to why employees are off work. 

Calendar colour - you can select a colour for each time-off type by using the colour picker or entering a hex code. Please note when time-off types are only partially visible on the public calendar (covered further down) the colour will always default to blue for employees/line managers to help with data privacy. 

E.g. if you selected a "Green" colour for "Compassionate leave" but had it set up so that employees could only see that Joe Bloggs is out of the office, with no reason shown, the calendar colour would default to blue for other employees who can see this, as if they'd taken compassionate leave themselves and recalled it was green, they might work out that another employee is absent for this reason. 

Deduct from employee allowance - this determines if you want your employees to have one type of time off for which they are allocated an allowance or more than one or, indeed, types where there is no allowance.

• For example, if you give your employees a single time off allowance of 20 days per year then you should choose Pool as this gives them one allowance from which to draw downtime off
• If you give your employees more than one allowance (for example, 15 days holiday and 5 days sick leave) then you should choose Individual as this allows you to enter a time off allowance per type for each employee
• If your employees accrue long service leave you can define the conditions for gaining this using the accrued on length of service and accrued on length of service - alternate types. You can also use the standard accrued on length of service type to allow employees to accrue holiday as the year progresses. To view more on how accrual types work, click here.
• If you have additional types which do not carry any allowance then you should set Deducting to No as this means there is no allowance allocated to the employee

Maximum Limit - If YES is selected, the system allows you to allocate a maximum limit of days or hours that can be booked against this time off type.

Time off in Lieu

Time off in lieu - If this option is set to Yes, this will make the time off type you are creating a TOIL time off type. If this is set to No, this will not be a TOIL time off type.

Settings

Paid - Yes/No - informational only. Should the employee be paid for time off booked under this type?

Authorised - Yes/No - used in Bradford Factor calculations and to report on time off patterns. If the time off can be pre-approved in advance then set this to "Yes" but for something like sickness, AWOL then you would choose "No" so that this type counts towards absence reporting. 

Balance able to be carried over? - Yes/No - This determines whether any balance against this type will or will not be carried over when the automated carryover process is completed.

Attachment(s) - A maximum of 5 attachments can be made mandatory or optional to add to this time off type.

Absence Settings

Return to work required - mainly a UK process whereby employees may be required to complete a return to work interview after certain types and duration of time off. This is most often applicable when Authorised is set to No.

Self-certification required - send a custom form to employees as they return from this instance of absence, the employee will be able to complete a form and return this to the manager/ HR. 

Deduction Settings

Default deducting type - If this is set to yes, this will allow company mandatory holidays (if used) to be deducted from this type. Click here for more information on how to set this up.

Shutdown type: This will differ from a Mandatory day. To view the difference between these two time-off types, click here. 

Time off trades type - If this option is set to Yes, this will enable the time off type to be able to be bought or sold. Click here for further information on this.

Auto populate type - If this option is set to Yes this will allow this time off type to be populated using the corresponding value for the employee site and job title.

Continue to accrue whilst booked - If set to YES this will ensure this holiday allowance will continue to accrue even if some of the time off allowance has been booked to be taken.

Display Settings

Hidden type - Hidden time off types do not appear on any calendars and they do not appear for employees in self-service. These can be used for balance adjustments which will not be visible to an employee. This time off type would still visible to HR and Administrators. If this setting is set to 'Yes' this will be set to bookable 'No' & Public calendar 'No' regardless of any other settings set.

View-able on public calendar - if you have set your calendar to 'public' (i.e. everyone can see everyone else's time off) then you can determine what is shown for this type. The options are:

• Yes fully visible - means everyone will see the employee's name and the name of the time off type e.g. Joe Bloggs, Annual Leave.
• Yes but no reason shown - useful to show that a specific employee is out of the office but the name of the time off type will not be visible on the public calendar. E.g. for Sickness ailments or antenatal appointments which the employee wouldn't want shared across the company.
• No - nothing is shown on the public calendar when then employee takes this time off type.

Only Bookable by HR - Restricts Employees and managers from adding instances of the specific time off type

Bookable by employees - can the employee see this time off type when they request time off? Can be used for things like discretionary leave, for example where you can add this via the time off module but the employee cannot see or book this.

Display in Summary - This is to allow the time off type in question to appear in a summary type. To set up summary types, click here

Classify as out of office - If this time off type has a booking against it for an employee, the employee will appear as Out of Office

Show in quick launch - This will allow the time off type to appear in the 'What would you like to do?' drop-down list under their image on their employee profile as 'Request *time off type name*'

Restrict Access - This allows restrictions to be applied to specific sites or companies. If no sites or companies are selected no restrictions will apply.

Troubleshooting Top Tip:  If you get into a muddle with time off types, on the main time off types page there is a troubleshooter section at the bottom which allows you to see the overall impact of your choices for time off types and highlights any conflicts which may have occurred.