Each time off type must have at least one policy to be active. You can create multiple policies per type, but only one can be assigned to an employee per time off type.

Once you have learned to create your time off types, it's time to create your time off policies. Remember that the policies are the rules under which each time-off type operates. They specify the cycle, allowance type, and availability, plus other advanced options.

Add a time off policy

To add a new policy, you need to go to the time off type and click on the button ADD NEW POLICY.

Then, you can set up all the rules for your new policy, starting with the allowance rules.

Allowance

Here, you can select the time off allowance employees are entitled to with this policy and when they should receive this allowance.

Policy name: Enter a policy name

Allowance is set in: Select the units in which time off should be offered to your employees

Days
Hours

Allowance type:

Options	Explanation
Fixed allowance given per cycle	A fixed number of days/hours is offered to the employee as a Base allowance, e.g. vacation
Unlimited allowance given per cycle	No limit on the number of days/hours an employee can take as time off, e.g. sick leave

If you choose Unlimited, the bar on the left will be shorter and allow you to configure fewer rules.

Allowance cycle will start on the:

Options	Explanation
Employee start date	Annual time off cycle starts on the employee’s start date
Disabled cycle	No annual cycle, i.e. the time off days/hours will not expire after a certain time period
Monthly cycle	Annual cycle starts on the 1st of any chosen month

Base Allowance: Enter the number of days/hours employees receive in an allowance cycle

Use calendar days: When toggled on, the system will count all days in a time-off request, including weekends and public holidays.

For example,
Working days: Mo - Fr
Time off period: Thu - Sun
Allowance deducted: 4 days (instead of only 2 working days, i.e. Thu & Fri)

How is the Allowance accrued?: Here, you can choose how your employees will receive their time off.

Options	Explanation
Accrual is given on a monthly basis	End of accrual period (given once worked): Accrued allowance is granted on the first day of the next accrual period. e.g. For January, employees receive the allowance on February 1st (given once worked)
Start of accrual period (given in advance): Accrued allowance is granted on the first day of the current accrual period. e.g. For January, employees receive the allowance on January 1st (given in advance)
Allowance is given at once, at the beginning of the cycle	Accrued allowance is granted on the first day of the annual cycle e.g. For an annual cycle starting on January 1st, employees receive the entire yearly allowance on January 1st (given in advance)

When you are done setting everything up, click on NEXT.

Extra Allowance

In the next step, you can configure the extra allowance rules. You can add extra allowance rules to automatically increase the policy's base allowance based on how long an employee has been in the company. If you do not wish to create any extra allowance rules, you can skip this step.

You can add an extra allowance rule by clicking on (+) ADD EXTRA ALLOWANCE RULE.

Time worked (years): Tenure in years, calculated from employee's start date

Extra allowance days/hours: Allowance to be provided in addition to the Base allowance

Let's take an example,
Annual cycle: January 1st
Grant method: At once, beginning of the cycle on Jan 1st
Base allowance: 24 days

Rules	Timeline & Allowance grant
Rule 1 Time worked (years): 1 Extra allowance days: 1 Total allowance = 25	15th Mar '24: Employee start date 1st Jan '25: Employee receives 24 days at once 15th Mar '25: Employee receives the 1-day extra allowance (Rule 1) 1st Jan '26: Employee receives 25 days 15th Mar '26: Employee receives the 1-day extra allowance (Rule 2) Note: Extra days are given as the difference between the Total allowance from Rule 2 - Rule 1 1st Jan '27: Employee receives 26 days 15th Mar '27: No extra allowance rules 1st Jan '28: Employee receives 26 days
Rule 2 Time worked (years): 2 Extra allowance days: 2 Total allowance = 26

When you are done, click on ADD. You can add as many extra allowance rules as you want. Lastly, click on NEXT.

Proration

Next, you can choose whether the policy base allowance should be prorated (adjusted) for new employees, part-time employees and employees with a contract end date.

To make it easily understandable, let's take three examples with a different proration option. In this example the:

Option 1: Based on Employee’s Start Date

Let's take an example,

Annual Cycle Start: January 1
Grant Method: At once, beginning of cycle
Base Allowance: 24 days

Employee Start Date: March 15, 2024

Proration Type	Calculation	Result
No Proration	Full base allowance granted regardless of start date.	24 days
Daily Proration	- Days from Mar 15 to Dec 31: 292 days - Total days in 2024: 366 - 292 / 366 × 24 = 19.14	19.14 days
Monthly Proration	- Full months from Apr to Dec: 9 months (March excluded) - 9 / 12 × 24 = 18	18 days

Option 2: Based on Contract End Date

Let's take an example,

Annual Cycle Start: January 1
Grant Method: At once, beginning of cycle
Base Allowance: 24 days

Employee Start Date: March 15, 2024
Contract End Date: August 22, 2024

Proration Type	Calculation	Result
No Proration	Full base allowance granted regardless of contract end date.	24 days
Daily Proration	- Days from Jan 1 to Aug 22: 235 days - Total days in 2024: 366 - 235 / 366 × 24 = 15.4	15.4 days
Monthly Proration	- Full months from Jan to Jul: 7 months (August excluded) - 7 / 12 × 24 = 14	14 days

Option 3: Based on Work Schedule

Let's take an example,

Annual Cycle Start: January 1
Grant Method: At once, beginning of cycle
Base Allowance: 24 days

Standard Full-Time Reference: 5 days/week or 40 hrs/week

Employee A's working schedule: 3 days/week or 20 hrs/week

Proration Type	Calculation	Result
No Proration	Full base allowance granted regardless of schedule.	24 days
Weekly Working Days Proration	- Employee works 3 out of 5 days/week - 3 / 5 × 24 = 14.4	14.4 days
Weekly Working Hours Proration	- Employee works 20 out of 40 hrs/week - 20 / 40 × 24 = 12	12 days

When you are done configuring everything, click on NEXT.

Deduction

To define this time off policy as customized as possible, you can specify days on which employees covered by the policy are non-working days. A classic use case would be if some employees have a 4-day week and, for example, do not work on Fridays.

Select from the dropdown whether the deduction rules are based on the employee’s work schedule, on calendar days, or on a custom workweek that you define here.

For a custom workweek:

Define workdays by clicking on the weekdays the employee works.
Define working hours by setting, for each workday, the number of hours the employee works that day.
Click SAVE

When an employee assigned to this policy now submits time off requests, the days that are non-working days will appear as unavailable.

Balance

Here, you can select how the employee's time off balance should be managed for the policy you are currently creating.

Options	Explanation	Notes
Allow negative balance in current cycle	When toggled on, employees can apply for time off beyond their available allowance. Negative balance can be set to limited or unlimited.
Allow unused balance to be carried over to the next cycle	When toggled on, employees can carryover allowance to their next annual cycle. Carryover allowance can be set to limited or unlimited, along with a time limit on the validity of the carryover allowance.
Round the current balance to full days (Applicable only to day based policies)	The rounding happens only when an allowance is granted. Let’s take an example, Annual cycle: January 1st Grant method: Monthly basis, 1st of each month Base allowance: 23 days (23/12 = 1.92 days per month) Round down to the previous interval: With this option, the employee will be given 1 day on the 1st of each month Round up to the next interval: With this option, the employee will be given 2 day on the 1st of each month
Show policy details in employee time off cards	When toggled on, employees can see their policy details in the time off cards on the Time off → Personal page.

After everything is set up, click NEXT.

Request

As the last step, you can select how the employees' time off requests should be managed for the policy you are currently creating.

Options	Explanation	Notes
Require approval	When toggled on, any time off requests related to this policy need approval.
Freeze time off requests during probation period	When toggled on, employees assigned to this policy won’t be able to request any time during their probation period. “Probabtion end date” field in the employee profile defines the probation period.
Only Admins or HR Admins can create or edit this time off request	When toggled on, only Admins or HR Admin can create or edit this time off request on behalf of the employee
Allow employees to request half-day time offs (Applicable only to day based policies)	When toggled on, employees can request half-day time off.