Pick Up Day

Flowtly Editorial Team3 min

Pick up day is the leave type for a day an employee takes back in lieu, rather than as annual leave. It is recorded as an absence in the ordinary way, but it draws on an allowance of its own, so the employee's annual leave entitlement is left untouched.

Why a day is given back

Polish labour law sets a working-time norm for each month. Under article 130 § 2 of the Kodeks pracy, a public holiday falling on any day other than a Sunday lowers that month's norm by eight hours.

When such a holiday falls on a Saturday, an employee who was never scheduled to work that day sees nothing of the reduction, so it is common practice for the employer to nominate another day off in its place. Pick up day is the leave type that day is recorded under.

It does not consume annual leave

Annual leave and a pick up day allowance behave differently, and Flowtly counts them separately:

  • Annual leave is an entitlement for the leave year. It accrues over the year, is prorated from a start date, and may carry over.
  • A pick up day allowance is granted. Somebody sets a number of days, it applies from a date, and it does not accrue.

Because the two are separate, approving a pick up day does not reduce the annual leave balance. Recording the same day as annual leave instead does reduce it, by a day out of the employee's entitlement. Nothing in the interface flags the difference at the moment of entry, and the balance is simply lower afterwards, so the type chosen when the absence is filed is the only place this is caught.

The allowance is granted per employee, on the employee's annual leave tab, by adding an entry whose Holiday Type is Pick up day. This is the same form used for an individual annual leave limit, and it is described in Annual Leave.

A pick up day is still an absence in every other respect: the employee shows as away for the period, and the time comes out of their availability in scheduling views, as with any other approved leave.

Entering a pick up day

A day given back is normally filed by a manager on behalf of a team member:

  1. Select Time off planner, under People in the main menu.
  2. Select Add time off.
  3. In Select team member, choose the employee.
  4. Set Type to Pick up day.
  5. Select the day, or the period, in the calendar.
  6. Leave Hours as Full day, or choose a whole number of hours from 1 to 7 when only part of a day is being taken back.
  7. Fill in Description if it is offered, or required, for this type.
  8. Select Create request.

If Pick up day is not offered in the Type list, it has been deactivated among your organization's leave types rather than removed. Only active types are offered when an absence is recorded; see Common Holiday Settings for how a type is activated.

Recording why the day was given

Every day taken back in lieu is recorded under the single Pick up day type, whichever entitlement it arose from. The type alone therefore does not say which public holiday, or which other arrangement, a particular day relates to.

Where that matters later — a payroll check, or reconciling a specific public holiday — note the reason in Description when the absence is created. A description can be made mandatory for the type so it is never omitted, which is set alongside the type itself in the time off settings.

Example use cases

  • A public holiday on a Saturday: The holiday lowers the month's working-time norm, the employer nominates a day off in its place, and each employee's day is filed as a pick up day rather than as annual leave.
  • Part of a day: An employee takes back three hours rather than a whole day. The absence is entered on a single date with Hours set to 3.
  • Granting the allowance first: An administrator adds an entry against Pick up day on an employee's annual leave tab, effective from the date the days were granted, so the absences can be filed against it.
  • Protecting the entitlement: A payroll administrator reviewing the year confirms that days given back were filed as pick up days, so that nobody's annual leave entitlement was reduced by mistake.
  • Planning ahead: A manager files the day in the Time off planner before it arrives, so the team's availability for that period is accurate.

Connection map

Refers toUses upDerived fromPlanned vs actual
Documented hereDocumented elsewhere
holiday-request made against holiday-type. holiday-request submitted by person. holiday-request draws down leave-entitlement. holiday-request becomes once approved absence. leave-entitlement held by person. bank-holiday applies as absence. holiday-request draws down granted-allowance. granted-allowance granted against holiday-type. granted-allowance held by person. granted-allowance granted vs accrued leave-entitlement. absence reduces capacity.made againstsubmitted bydraws downbecomes once approvedheld byapplies asdraws downgranted againstheld bygranted vs accruedreducesHHoliday request — An employee's request for time off, submitted for approval. Approving it is what turns it into leave the rest of the system counts.Holiday requestHHoliday type — The kind of leave a request is made against, e.g. annual leave or unpaid.Holiday typePPerson — An employee. The central record the rest of the workforce data hangs off — profile, documents, leave, benefits, rates.PersonEEntitlement — How much leave a person has for the leave year. A request draws it down; the balance is what remains.EntitlementAAbsence — Approved time off. It removes hours from a person's week before any booking is counted against it.AbsenceBBank holiday — A public, company-wide non-working day. It applies to everyone rather than being requested by anyone.Bank holidayGGranted allowance — A number of days set for a person against one holiday type, effective from a date. It is granted rather than accrued, so a request against that type draws it down instead of the leave entitlement.Granted allowanceCCapacity — A person's contracted week, less absence. Bookings are measured against their own contracted week, so 20 hours fills 83% of a 0.6 FTE and not 50%.Capacity