Create a time-off policy from an adjustable template or from scratch. The policy builder defines entitlement, payment, balance lifecycle, evidence, jurisdiction rules, approval, and effective dates. Review any template against the organisation’s current contract and applicable law before publishing it.

Before you begin

Confirm the organisation’s leave rule, entitlement unit, cycle, effective date, paid/unpaid treatment, and employee assignments. Do not retire or change a policy version while a payroll or request review depends on it without recording the business reason.

Steps

  1. Choose a template or blank policy

    Open Time Off Policies → Templates. Choose an adjustable template, or select Create policy to start from scratch.

  2. Set identity and core rules

    In the builder, complete Policy identity and Balance and approval rules. Set leave type, paid treatment, payroll treatment, balance tracking, entitlement unit, accrual, and approval.

  3. Review lifecycle and dates

    Review Balance Lifecycle and Effective dates. Set carry-over, expiry, cash-out, counting method, entitlement cycle, and dates only where supported by the organisation’s policy.

  4. Add applicable local rules

    Add Jurisdictions and entitlement tiers when the organisation needs country or regional rules, paid/partial/unpaid bands, evidence requirements, or eligible balance substitution. Record the statutory source where relevant.

  5. Save a draft or publish

    Add a policy description and version note. Review both field and server validation, then choose Save draft or Save & publish.

  6. Check the policy version

    In Policy list, check the status, effective dates, and version. For an active policy, use Edit policy version → Save new version when rules change; the prior version remains part of the history.

  7. Assign employees

    Use the policy row’s Manage employees action to assign or remove employees, then select Update Assignments. Requests need an applicable active assigned policy.

What to check

The Templates tab provides starting values, while Policy list shows saved policies. A draft is not yet an active rule for requests. Publishing or saving a new version runs validation; a retired policy is unavailable for new assignments or edits, while historical records remain.

Retire a policy

Use Retire policy only when it should no longer be used. Enter a Retirement reason and select Confirm retirement. This ends future use without deleting historical requests or audit evidence.

Common problems

Required policy fields are missing

Complete code and name for a draft, and an applicable Effective from date before publishing.

Effective-to date is earlier than effective-from date

Correct the date range.

Policy rules are incompatible

Paid balance tracking without entitlement, invalid carry-over/cash-out, or incompatible unpaid-overflow settings must be repaired in the policy rules.

A request cannot find a policy

Assign the employee through “Manage employees”.

Related guideTime off requestsRelated guideCreate and publish a time-off policyRelated guideManage policy versions and assignmentsRelated guideTime and attendance overviewRelated guidePayroll preparation checklist