Skip to content

How do I manage employee leave?

Leave is set up per employee, on the Leave tab of their profile (Payroll → Employees → click the employee → Leave).

Turning leave on or off

Leave accrual can be enabled or disabled for each employee. On the Leave tab, click Enable Leave to start tracking leave, or Disable Leave to stop. While leave is disabled, the tab shows a note that balances aren't tracked, and Edit Leave Settings is unavailable.

Changing an employee's leave settings

Step 1. On the Leave tab, click Edit Leave Settings.

Step 2. Choose the Accrual Method:

  • Per Pay Period — a fixed amount accrues each pay, regardless of hours.
  • Per Hour Worked — leave accrues based on the hours actually paid, using the standard weekly hours as the baseline.

Step 3. If you chose Per Hour Worked, set Standard Hours per Week — or leave it blank to inherit the company default from Payroll Settings. Typical award values are 38 or 37.5.

Step 4. Set the Leave Accrual Start Date if leave should start accruing from a date other than the employment start date. Left blank, it defaults to the employment start date.

Step 5. Set the yearly entitlements, in hours:

  • Annual Leave Entitlement (hours) — the default is 152 hours (4 weeks at 38 hours).
  • Personal Leave Entitlement (hours) — the default is 76 hours (2 weeks at 38 hours).

Step 6. If you're moving from another payroll system, enter the employee's current balances in Annual Leave Opening Balance (hours) and Personal Leave Opening Balance (hours). Ongoing accrual builds on top of these.

Step 7. (Optional) Turn on Reset personal leave each financial year if the employee's award or contract caps personal leave per financial year — their personal leave balance then resets to zero on 1 July. Annual leave always carries forward.

Step 8. (Optional) Turn on Apply leave loading for employees whose award or EBA pays extra on top of annual leave, and set the Loading percentage (%) — most awards use 17.5%. When enabled, a loading line is added automatically to every pay run that pays annual leave.

Step 9. Click Save.

How leave accrues

Leave is calculated and recorded when a pay run is finalised. Each finalised pay run adds the accrued hours for the period and subtracts any leave taken in that pay, producing a running balance. Draft pay runs don't affect balances.

Viewing balances and history

The Leave tab shows:

  • Annual Leave and Personal Leave cards with the Current Balance, yearly Entitlement and Opening Balance.
  • A Leave Transactions table — one row per finalised pay run, with the Pay Date, Period, Type, and the Opening, Accrued, Taken, Adjustment and Closing hours. Use the filter to show All types, Annual or Personal only, and click a Pay Date to open that pay.

Leave balances also appear in the Quick Stats card on the employee's Overview tab, and employees with portal access can see their own balances in the employee portal.

Share X LinkedIn Email

Did this answer your question?