Glossary
Term | Meaning |
Cycle | The period for which a time off entitlement applies, usually a calendar year (1 January to 31 December). Some companies use a different fiscal year. |
Base allowance | The number of days or hours an employee receives per cycle according to the policy, for example 24 vacation days per year. |
Balance | The current value shown on the time off card: base allowance plus carry over plus manual adjustments, minus days already taken and planned. |
Carry over | Unused vacation days from the previous cycle that are carried into the new cycle. Whether and how much is carried over is determined by the policy. |
Remaining balance | Vacation days still available in the current cycle, i.e. balance minus already approved absences. |
Reading the time off card
Under Time Off > Personal you can see a time off card for each assigned policy. It gives you an at-a-glance view of how your balance is broken down.
Value | Meaning |
Total allowance | All days or hours you are entitled to in this cycle, including base allowance, adjustments, carry over, and any extra allowance (e.g. annual leave, +1 day for years of service, remaining leave from the previous year) |
Already taken | Days or hours from past, approved absences |
Planned | Days or hours from future requests, including those still awaiting approval |
Available / Number of available days/hours | Total allowance − Already taken − Planned |
(if applicable) Carryover from last cycle | Unused days or hours from the previous cycle |
Understanding the details view
Click Details on the time off card to see a full breakdown of your balance. The view has three tabs: Current cycle, Next cycle, and Previous cycle.
Panel | Meaning |
Current cycle | Shows how your total allowance is made up, for example base allowance, carry over from the previous year, and any seniority allowance. Below that you can see days already taken and planned, as well as your remaining balance. If carry over days are about to expire, the expiry date is shown here. |
Next cycle | Shows the expected allowance, projected carry over, and planned closing balance for the upcoming cycle, based on your current configuration and absences already requested. |
Previous cycle | Shows the same information retrospectively for the last completed cycle. |
⚠️ The details view is only visible if your admin has enabled Show policy details in employee time off cards.
Understanding how total allowance is calculated
The Total allowance is made up of several components:
Component | Meaning |
Cycle allowance | Base allowance according to the policy, fixed or pro-rated |
+ Adjustment | Manual adjustment by an admin or manager |
+ Carryover from last cycle | Unused days from the previous cycle |
+ Carry over adjustment | Manually corrected carry over days |
− Carryover expired days | Carry over that was not used before the expiry date |
+ Extra allowance from years worked | Allowance based on years of service according to policy rules |
+ Overtime compensation | Overtime hours converted into time off days |
− Negative balance from last cycle | A negative balance carried over from the previous cycle |
Available days/hours formula: Total allowance − Already taken − Planned
⚠️Note: Planned includes all future requests, including those not yet approved. The value updates immediately when a request is created, edited, or cancelled.
Understanding carry over
Carry over, meaning unused days or hours from the previous cycle, is automatically credited to the employee's balance at the start of the new cycle. Whether and how much carry over is possible depends on the policy configuration.
Configuration | Behaviour |
Carry over disabled | All unused days expire at the start of the new cycle |
Carry over limited | A maximum of X days or hours are carried over; the rest expires |
Carry over unlimited | All unused days are carried over |
Carry over with expiry date | Carried-over days must be used by a specific date |
⚠️ Important: Employees must request days that are about to expire, managers must approve them, and employees must take them, all before the expiry date.
Pending carry over and expiry date
If an expiry date is configured, the card shows Expires on [date] next to the carry over balance. Employees see this date when Show policy details in time off cards is enabled.
⚠️ Important: Kenjo automatically sets expired carry over days to zero on the expiry date set by the admin, and reduces the total balance accordingly. There is no automatic notification to employees or admins before expiry. Make sure to inform your employees in advance; see the section "Reminding employees about expiring remaining leave" below.
You configure the expiry date at Time Off > Settings > Policy > Balance > Allow unused allowance to be carried over to the next cycle > Expires after.
Understanding what happens at the end of the year
At the end of a cycle, Kenjo automatically performs the following steps:
Expired carry over is set to zero, if an expiry date is configured and it falls on or before the end of the cycle
New cycle starts, a new balance is created
Carry over is credited, unused days are carried into the new cycle (if configured in the policy)
Negative balance is carried over, if a negative balance is allowed, it is deducted from the new total allowance as Negative balance from last cycle
New base allowance is granted, according to the configured accrual method (monthly or at the start of the cycle)
What does not change automatically:
Manual adjustments from the old cycle remain in the archive of the old cycle
Requests from the old cycle remain assigned to their original cycle
Note: You can view the old cycle and its details in the card under Details > Previous cycle.
Correcting an employee's time off balance or carry over
This function corrects the balance only. It is not intended to change the date, duration, or absence type of an existing request.
Adjust balance
Go to Time Off > Company
Click the three-dot menu at the right end of the employee's row
Select Adjust balance
Enter the new value and add a reason if needed
Click ADJUST
Adjust carry over
Go to Time Off > Company
Click the three-dot menu at the right end of the employee's row
Select Adjust balance und wechsle zum Tab Carry over
Gib den neuen Value ein und klicke ADJUST
Note: Carry over adjustments are subject to the policy's configured expiry date.
Adjust amount taken
Go to Time Off > Company
Click the three-dot menu at the right end of the employee's row
Select Adjust amount taken
Enter the new number and click ADJUST
Note: The number refers to the total days taken since the start of the entitlement, not to a specific period.
Tracing an employee's time off balance
If a time off balance looks unexpected, you can trace the cause step by step in the time off history. It shows every booking, every policy change, and every manual correction.
Opening time off history
The history is visible in two places:
Employees > [Employee] > Time Off > Time off history for the full view as an admin or manager
Time Off > Personal > Card > Details for the employee themselves, only if the details view is enabled in the policy
What you can see in the full history depends on your permissions.
Showing policy changes
A common reason for an unexpected value is a policy change mid-cycle. When you update the settings of a policy, Kenjo recalculates the entitlement for all assigned employees.
Use the Request status filter and filter by Policy updates.
You now see all relevant policy changes
Check the displayed entries for changes to the base allowance or carry over rules.
Identifying manual corrections
If an admin or manager adjusted the balance manually, this leaves a trace in the history, often with a comment explaining the reason. Look for entries like Negative balance adjustment or a note that carry over was adjusted. Click the entry to see the date, value, and description.
Checking pro-rated entitlement for mid-year starters
If an employee joins mid-year, Kenjo calculates the entitlement on a pro-rated basis. An incorrect start date will inevitably result in an incorrect time off balance.
Open the employee's profile and go to the Personal tab.
Check the Start date field under the work information.
Compare the date against the requirements of the time off policy.
Checking weekly hours as a cause
If an employee switches between full-time and part-time, Kenjo recalculates the entitlement based on the stored weekly hours. If these are incorrect, the time off entitlement will also be wrong.
Open the employee's profile and go to the Personal tab.
Check the Contracted weekly hours field under the work information.
Gleiche den Value mit dem tatsächlichen Beschäftigungsgrad des Mitarbeiters ab.
Reversing an incorrect balance adjustment
Wenn Du versehentlich den Guthabensaldo falsch angepasst hast, lässt sich die Anpassung nicht löschen, das ist eine Produktlimitation. Erstelle stattdessen eine neue Anpassung mit dem umgekehrten Value:
You accidentally added +3 days: create a new adjustment with −3 days.
Enter a note in the Reason field, for example "Correction of adjustment dated [date]".
Both adjustments will then be visible in the history.
Exporting time off data
Kenjo does not offer a direct Excel export from the time off overview. Time off and balance data can be retrieved in two ways:
Analytics
Gehe zu Analytics > Dashboards and select one of the time off reports.
The reports contain fields such as allowance, days taken, remaining days, and carry over per employee. You can use the filter to narrow down the period and policy. The export from Analytics is available as CSV or Excel.
⚠️ Note — for leave accrual accounting: Analytics reports show snapshots, not monthly movement data. If you need monthly leave accrual figures for accounting, you will need to manually prepare the exported data. There is currently no ready-made BWA-compatible export.
iCal calendar subscription
Go to Time Off > Overview — there you will find an iCal link you can integrate into external calendars (Google Calendar, Outlook). This link shows absences as calendar entries but is not a data export for accounting purposes.
Reminding employees about expiring remaining leave
Since Kenjo does not send automatic reminders before expiry, you need to actively inform your employees.
Step 1: Check the expiry date
Go to Time Off > Settings > Policy > Balance and check:
Is Allow unused allowance to be carried over to the next cycle enabled?
Is a limited period (months/weeks) set under Expires after?
Step 2: Send a reminder
Use the announcement feature at Home > Create new post, your internal communication channels, or a workflow. Make sure the reminder includes:
How many carry over days can be used at most
By when these days must be requested, approved and taken
A note to managers to process requests in time
⚠️ Important: After the expiry date, Kenjo automatically sets carry over to zero, even if requests have already been submitted but not yet approved.
Frequently asked questions
Why has my employee's total allowance suddenly decreased?
The most common reason for a sudden decrease in total allowance is expired carry over. Kenjo automatically sets expired carry over days to zero on the configured expiry date. Check under Time Off > Personal > Details whether Carry over - expired days shows a value and what date appears under Expired on [date].
Why is planned time already reduced even though the request has not been approved yet?
This is correct behaviour. Planned includes all future requests, including those still awaiting approval. This prevents employees from requesting more days than are available while a request is still open.
Why does the employee have a negative balance?
A negative balance occurs when the policy allows a negative balance and the employee has requested more days than were available. The negative balance is deducted from the new allowance at the start of the next cycle as Negative balance from last cycle.
Kenjo has deducted carry over days even though the employee took their remaining leave before the expiry date. Why?
Kenjo manages the general balance and carry over separately. At expiry, Kenjo automatically deducts the stored carry over value from the total balance, regardless of whether the balance was manually adjusted beforehand. If you correct an employee's balance via Adjust balance or Adjust amount taken, the carry over remains unchanged and the deduction still occurs on the expiry date.
To prevent this: if carry over days have been paid out or are otherwise no longer available, adjust the carry over directly. Go to Time Off > Company, select the employee, click the three-dot menu, and choose Adjust carry over. Reduce the carry over by the affected days. Kenjo will then only deduct the remaining amount on the expiry date.
What happens to an employee's time off entitlement when they are assigned a new policy mid-year?
When a new policy is assigned mid-year, Kenjo automatically calculates a suggested value for the new balance based on the chosen start date of the new policy. This result is shown in the dialog under Available balance and can be adjusted manually before saving. You make the policy change in Time Off > Company by selecting the employee and using the three-dot menu to change the policy.
Why does the employee not see any details on their card?
The details view is only visible when Show policy details in employee time off cards is enabled in the policy configuration. Enable this option at Time Off > Settings > Policy > Balance.
Can I reverse expired carry over?
Expired carry over cannot be reversed automatically. You can manually restore it via Time Off > Company > Adjust balance > Carry over. Note that the new expiry date follows the current policy configuration.
Why is the carry over incorrect at the start of the new cycle?
Any change to a request from the previous cycle affects carry over. If an absence from the old cycle is later edited or cancelled, Kenjo adjusts the carry over accordingly.
I made a manual adjustment and want to delete it. How do I do that?
Deleting saved adjustments is not currently possible. Once saved, adjustments cannot be edited or deleted. Instead, create a counter-adjustment with the opposite value and enter a correction note in the Reason field.
An employee is returning from parental leave and the remaining leave from the previous year was not carried over. Why?
When an employee returning from parental leave was removed from the policy during their absence and is now reassigned, no historical carry over is transferred automatically. You need to credit the remaining leave manually via Time Off > Company > Adjust balance > Carry over.