Leave/Absences Rules

The Leave/Absences Rules view allows a manager to create the policies that determine how much, and how fast, employees can accrue vacation, sick leave, and other leave. Each leave/absences rule consists of one or more sets of instructions (accrual rules). These leave/absences rules are then applied to employees.

An accrual rule can be based on actual time worked or based on elapsed time. Accrual rules permit employees and managers to see up-to-date accrued totals at any time.

The design flexibility of accrual rules permits simple and complex rules to be created. As a general statement, accrual rules are created for vacation and sick leave. Other uses include creating rules that accumulate leave for overtime, flextime, etc.

Accrual rules have 5 components which should be considered before any rule is created.

1. The frequency at which time is accrued: Accrue 1 hour for every week worked.

2. Whether time is accrued based on actual work or on elapsed time.

3. The task against which time is being accrued: Is time being accrued towards vacation, sick leave, flex time.

4. Whether time can be accrued against regular time, overtime, flex time, etc.

5. Any maximum level at which accruals should stop: Can only accrue 10 sick days per year.

As most companies base their vacation and sick leave policies on job descriptions or seniority, Leave/Absences rules are commonly created for each classification of employee. Examples

Senior Management Leave/Absences rule:

Accrue 20 vacation days per year

Accrue 1 sick day per month

Employed 1-2 years Leave/Absences rule:

Accrue 10 vacation days per year

Accrue 1 sick day per month

Accrue 1 vacation day for every 40 hours of overtime worked

Employed 3-5 years Leave/Absences rule:

Accrue 15 vacation days per year

Accrue 1 sick day per month

Prerequisites:

Specific tasks for Leave/Absence rules (vacation, sick leave, etc) must be created. These specific tasks must be assigned to the Leave/Absences project and at least one employee must be assigned to each task.
Accrual rules work in conjunction with the Leave/Absences project to track time against vacation, sick leave, holidays, etc. The Leave/Absences project cannot be deleted. The project can be renamed but should not be used for other purposes.

To add a new leave/absences rule:

Click the Leave/Absences Rules button located in the Advanced section of the side navigation bar.
Click the New button on the toolbar.
Enter a unique leave/absences name (i.e. Senior Management rule, Employed 1-2 years rule, etc. up to 100 characters).
(Optional) Enter a description (up to 250 characters).
Click the New button located in the bottom of the view.
Enter the details in the Add/Edit Accrual Rule window:

Accrue: The number of days, hours or % of a day or hour, to be accrued after each period established in the "for every" field has passed. Examples

Accrue 1 hour after every 20 hours worked

Accrue 1 hour after every 5 days worked

Accrue 1 day after every 20 days worked

Accrue 50 % (1/2 day) after every 30 days worked

Accrue 25 % (1/4 hour) after every 50 hours worked

For every: Establishes the period (frequency) at which the accrual is calculated.

Hours: the employee will accrue the number of days, hours or % of a day or hour established in the Accrue field after every xx hour of actual work performed against any task.
Days: the employee will accrue the number of days, hours or % of a day or hour established in the Accrue field after every xx day of actual work performed against any task. A day is defined as the number of working hours per day established in the employee profile.
Month: The employee will accrue the number of days or hours established in the Accrue field for every xx month elapsed since the Accrual Start date and not against actual work.
Years: The employee will accrue the number of days or hours established in the Accrue field for every xx year elapsed since the Accrual Start date and not against actual work.

Notes:

Accrued time only occurs after the full period established in the "for every" field has passed. For example, if the rule is set to accrue 1 hour for every 10 hours worked, you will not accrue 0.5 hours after 5 hours worked nor accrue 0.75 hours after 7.5 hours worked, etc. For this reason, you should be cautious when selecting lengthy accrual periods such as every 6 months, or every 1 year.
When accruing by month or year, you cannot set the 'for every' field to a fraction of a month or year. For example, 0.5 months, 1.75 months or 0.25 years, etc are not permitted.
The Accrual Start date is initially set to the date that the Leave/Absences rule is assigned to the employee. For example, Joe accrues 1 sick day every month; if Joe’s sick leave accrual was assigned to him on July 20th, then he earns 1 sick day on August 20th, then another day on September 20th, and so on,. The accrual start date can be modified using the Additional tab in the employee's properties window.

Worked to: The task against which the time will be accrued (accrue vacation, sick leave, flex time, etc). The list of tasks shown in this drop-down list includes all tasks assigned to the Leave/Absences project.
Calculate: Available only when the "for every" field is set to Hours or Days, this field determines the types of time entries which will use this accrual rule.

Regular Time Only: The accrual will only occur when time entries are entered as regular time.
Overtime Only: The accrual will only occur if time entries are entered as client overtime or company overtime.
Both Regular time and Overtime: The accrual will only occur when time entries are entered as regular time, company overtime or client overtime.
Flex Time Only: The accrual will only occur when flex time is used. See Flex Time for complete instructions on setting up the software so employees can bank time.
Both Regular Time and Flex time: The accrual will only occur when time entries are entered as regular time or flex time.

Enforce a maximum of: Establishes the maximum number of hours or days that an employee can accrue.

Click OK.
Click Save .

The Accrual rule is now created and is available to be assigned to any or all employees by using the Additional tab in the Employee's properties window.

Example

The picture below shows a Vacation accrual rule permitting an employee to accrue 0.83 vacation days per month (10 days per year), to a maximum of 10 days.

Note: The number of leave/absences rules displayed in the view is limited by the Paging setting. You may need to click the paging buttons or (at the top of the screen) to view additional record pages.

Tip: If your company does not permit unused leave to be carried over from year to year, the best way to reset all unused accrued time is to use the Update Employees Properties view.

To edit a leave/absences accrual rule:

Select the Leave/Absences rule from the list at the top of the view.
Select an accrual rule from the list in the bottom pane.
Click the Edit button.
Edit the details for the Accrual Rule in the appropriate boxes (i.e. the picture above shows the Vacation accrual rule, shown previously, edited to reflect fifteen days vacation per year for an employee).
Click OK.
Click Save .