Use Time Off to define the leave available to employees, determine who is covered, control how requests are submitted and reviewed, and manage balances and accruals.
This guide provides administrators with the recommended setup sequence and an overview of ongoing Time Off management.
Before you begin
Confirm that your WorkEasy license includes the Time Off module.
Confirm that you have permission to configure Time Off settings and manage policies.
Identify the employees or groups that each policy should cover.
Decide which Time Off Types your organization needs and whether each type should track a balance.
Document your request, approval, accrual, carryover, holiday, and blackout-day requirements before configuring the module.
Important: Time Off settings can affect employee balances, accrual history, requests, timesheets, schedules, and reports. Review changes carefully and resolve any policy conflicts generated by the system.
Recommended setup order
Configure Time Off Types. Define the types of leave employees can use, such as vacation, sick time, or unpaid leave.
Configure supporting settings. Add applicable holidays and blackout-day sets, and confirm any related Time Off request workflows.
Create Time Off policies. Define policy coverage, effective dates, request rules, balance behavior, renewal, accruals, caps, carryover, and tenure rules.
Review employee coverage. Confirm that each policy includes the intended employees and review any overlaps.
Validate the employee experience. Confirm that covered employees can view the correct types and balances and can submit requests when employee requests are enabled.
Monitor requests, balances, and conflicts. Review requests, verify accrual results, and resolve policy conflicts as they appear.
Configure Time Off Types
Navigation: Global Settings → Time Off Settings → Time Off Types
A Time Off Type defines a category of leave. Its configuration determines how the type is used within a policy.
For each type, review the following:
Name and code: Identify the type in Time Off policies, requests, balances, and reports.
Paid or unpaid: Define whether the leave is paid.
Balance Type: Select whether the type tracks a balance, does not track a balance, stores unawarded hours, or stores compensatory time, when applicable.
Icon and color: Control how the type appears in the Time Off calendar.
Tracked and untracked balances
Balance is tracked: Employees earn or receive a balance and submit requests against the available time. This option is commonly used for vacation or sick time.
Balance is not tracked: Employees can request the type without maintaining an accrual balance. This option may be used for jury duty, bereavement, or other special leave.
After creating a Time Off Type, activate and configure it within the applicable Time Off policy before covered employees can use it.
Configure holidays
Navigation: Global Settings → Time Off Settings → Holidays
Use holidays to define company-observed days and the hours employees should receive. Holiday schedules can be one-time, recurring, or advanced.
Holiday rules can apply at the following levels:
Employee: Applies to a specific employee and takes priority over Group and Everyone rules.
Group: Applies to a selected group and takes priority over the Everyone rule.
Everyone: Applies to all employees unless a more specific rule applies.
Holiday hours can use the employee's expected full-day hours, half-day hours, a specific number of hours, or the duration of a scheduled shift when the applicable override is enabled.
Time and Attendance dependency: Holiday hours do not count toward overtime or compensatory time by default. To include them, configure the applicable holiday time code under Global Settings → Time Tracking → Time Code List and include that code in the relevant Overtime or Compensatory Time rule.
Configure blackout-day sets
Navigation: Global Settings → Time Off Settings → Blackout Day Sets
A Blackout Day Set contains dates or date ranges when time-off requests should be automatically denied.
Create and name the Blackout Day Set.
Add the restricted dates or date ranges.
Use the Year filter to manage dates for a specific year. Use Clone Dates when you need to copy dates to another year.
Enable the set in the applicable Time Off policy under Blackout Dates.
Confirm that the Time Off Request workflow contains the blackout-date activity.
Workflow dependency: Blackout dates apply only when the set is enabled in the policy and the Time Off Request workflow includes the blackout-date activity. When both are configured, matching requests are automatically denied and bypass manager review.
Create a Time Off policy
Navigation: Products → Time Off → Policies
Select Create Policy.
Enter the policy name and description.
Select the Effective From date.
Define who is covered. A policy can cover the company or a population defined by Groups or Employee Fields.
Review the included employees and any displayed policy overlaps.
Activate and configure each applicable Time Off Type.
Review all settings, and then save the policy.
A future-dated policy becomes active on its start date. Active policies can be edited, duplicated, or archived.
Policy overlap: If an employee is assigned to more than one Time Off policy, the most recent applicable policy governs. Review policy coverage and effective dates carefully when overlaps are displayed.
Configure policy rules for each Time Off Type
Employee requests and durations
Choose whether employees can submit requests for the type. Depending on the configuration, available durations can include full day, half day, and hours.
Request validations
Request validations can apply to employee requests or to employee and manager requests, depending on the selected configuration. Available rules can include:
Waiting a configured number of days before a new hire can request the type.
Submitting requests a configured number of days in advance.
Limiting the number of hours an employee can take during a policy cycle.
Allowing the balance to become negative when a request is submitted.
Requiring comments when submitting or canceling a request.
Applying different validation conditions based on employee service length.
Renewal and accruals
For balance-tracked types, configure how and when employees receive time. A policy can renew on a specific annual date or on each employee's hire-date anniversary.
Available accrual frequencies include:
Yearly
Monthly
Weekly
Pay period
Worked hours
Review the award amount and timing, probation period, accrual cap, maximum balance, carryover, tenure levels, and proration settings applicable to the type. The resulting balance reflects the combined effect of these settings.
Update or reset accrual rules
Update: Use for adjustments to existing accrual settings. Changes are applied from the start of the current policy cycle and can recalculate balances.
Reset: Use when accrual rules must be reconfigured. The system recalculates using applicable policy and employee dates.
Before changing accrual rules: Consider the effect on current balances and accrual history. A change can generate policy conflicts that must be resolved for individual employees.
Worked Hours and unawarded hours
Worked Hours accrual ties an employee's Time Off award to worked time and is evaluated when the applicable pay period is closed. Proration options determine whether partial awards can be granted below or above the configured threshold.
Use Unawarded Hours when employees should earn Worked Hours accrual but should not use the earned time until a later event. Employees can view an Unawarded Hours balance but cannot submit requests against it. The balance becomes visible after the first accrual occurs.
Manage employee requests
Navigation: Products → Time Off → Requests
Administrators and authorized managers can create requests for employees, review pending requests, and approve, deny, or cancel requests.
Create a request for an employee
Use either of the following routes:
Products → Time Off → Requests: Select Request Time Off, choose the employee, complete the request details, and submit.
Products → Time and Attendance → Timesheets: Open the employee and pay period, select the ellipsis, select Add Time Off, complete the request details, and save.
Review requests
Reviewers can manage requests from a configured Requests area on the Dashboard or from Products → Time Off → Requests. Select the applicable request, choose Approve, Deny, or Cancel Request, and confirm the action.
Use Calendar view to review requests by date. Each employee request appears as a separate calendar block. Time Off Type icons and colors help distinguish request types.
Review employee balances
Navigation: Products → Time Off → Balances
Select an employee to review the Time Off Types and balances available to that employee. Use balances to verify policy assignments and accrual results before investigating a request or policy issue.
Resolve policy conflicts
Navigation: Products → Time Off → Policies
A policy conflict can appear when a change affects an employee's balance or accrual timeline. Examples include a hire-date change, an employee-status change, returning an employee to a previous policy, or moving an employee to another policy.
Locate the policy card with the warning icon.
Select the warning icon to open Policy Conflict Resolutions.
Review the conflict type and the available resolution options for the employee.
Choose whether to keep the current balance or reset and recalculate it from the applicable date.
Apply the resolution.
Repeat the process for each affected employee.
The system does not preview the new balance before you apply a resolution. Recalculation rebuilds the applicable transaction history. Approved Time Off, pending requests, and future scheduled Time Off are not changed by the documented conflict-resolution process.
Important: Resolve each conflict individually. Accrual processing for an affected employee can remain blocked until the conflict is resolved.
Related areas
My Portal: Employees submit requests and review balances and request history.
Time and Attendance: Administrators and managers can add Time Off from an employee timesheet; worked hours and pay periods can drive accruals.
Scheduling: Approved Time Off can affect employee availability and scheduling.
Groups and Employee Fields: Policy coverage can depend on employee attributes and assignments.
Workflows: Approval routing and blackout-date enforcement depend on the applicable Time Off Request workflow.
Reports: Time Off reporting supports review of requests, dates, statuses, and approvers.