Master Your Company's Leave Policy: Setting Up and Managing Holidays in Flowtly

Mastering employee leave and holiday management is vital for maintaining productivity, ensuring compliance, and fostering a positive work environment. Flowtly provides a comprehensive suite of tools to streamline this often complex process. This tutorial will guide you through setting up custom holiday types, integrating essential bank holidays, and managing employee leave requests from submission to approval, ensuring accurate absence tracking across your organization.

By the end of this guide, you'll be equipped to configure your company's leave policies efficiently within Flowtly, empowering both administrators and employees with clear, consistent procedures.

Step 1: Configuring Custom Holiday Types

The first step in managing your company's leave effectively is to define the various types of leave available to your employees. Flowtly allows you to customize these to match your company's specific policies, such as annual leave, sick leave, parental leave, or unpaid leave.

• Navigate to Holiday Types:
• From your Flowtly dashboard, click on Settings in the left-hand navigation menu.
• Under Company Settings, select Holiday Types.

• Add a New Holiday Type:
• Click the + Add New Holiday Type button.
• A form will appear where you can define the details for your new leave type.

• Define Holiday Type Details:
• Name: Enter a clear name for the leave type (e.g., "Annual Leave," "Sick Leave," "Parental Leave," "Unpaid Leave").
• Description (Optional): Provide a brief explanation of this leave type's purpose or specific conditions.
• Color (Optional): Choose a color that will represent this leave type on calendars and reports, making it easy to distinguish visually.
• Accrual Method: Select how leave for this type accumulates:
• Annual: Employees receive their full allowance at the start of the year.
• Monthly: Allowance accrues proportionally each month.
• None: No allowance is automatically granted (e.g., for unpaid leave, where the number of days might be ad-hoc).
• Default Allowance: If an accrual method is selected, specify the default number of days or hours employees are entitled to per year. This can be overridden for individual employees later.
• Approval Required:
• Yes: Requests for this leave type will require approval from a manager or designated approver.
• No: Requests for this leave type are automatically approved (e.g., for certain types of sick leave where only notification is required).
• Deduct from Allowance:
• Yes: Approved leave days for this type will be deducted from the employee's available allowance.
• No: Leave days are tracked but do not reduce an employee's allowance (e.g., for bank holidays or special leave that doesn't count against personal entitlement).
• Carries Over:
• Yes: Any unused allowance at the end of the year can be carried over to the next year. If "Yes," specify Max Days Carried Over to set a limit.
• No: Unused allowance is lost at the end of the year.
• Apply to All Employees by Default:
• Yes: This holiday type will automatically be assigned to all new employees.
• No: You will need to manually assign this holiday type to specific employees.

• Save Your Holiday Type:
• Once you've configured all the settings, click Save.

Tip: Create distinct holiday types for different scenarios. For example, "Paid Annual Leave" and "Unpaid Leave" should be separate types, each with its own rules regarding allowance deduction and approval. Consider how different types of leave impact your overall resource planning.

Step 2: Integrating Bank and Public Holidays

Bank holidays (also known as public holidays) are typically statutory days off that apply to all employees in a specific region or country. Flowtly allows you to add these to your company calendar, ensuring they don't impact individual employee leave allowances and are accurately reflected in absence tracking.

• Navigate to Bank Holidays:
• From your Flowtly dashboard, click on Settings.
• Under Company Settings, select Bank Holidays.

• Add a New Bank Holiday:
• Click the + Add New Bank Holiday button.
• Alternatively, Flowtly may offer pre-populated templates for various countries. If available, selecting a template can save time by automatically adding common bank holidays for your region.

• Define Bank Holiday Details:
• Name: Enter the name of the bank holiday (e.g., "Christmas Day," "New Year's Day").
• Date: Select the specific date for the bank holiday.
• Repeats Annually: Check this box if the holiday occurs on the same date every year. For holidays that float (e.g., Easter Monday), you'll need to add them individually each year or adjust the date as needed.
• Applies To: Specify which employees or groups this bank holiday applies to. Options typically include:
• All Employees: The holiday applies to everyone in your company.
• Specific Departments: You can select one or more departments.
• Specific Locations: Useful for companies operating in multiple regions with different bank holidays.
• Description (Optional): Add any relevant notes about the holiday.

• Save Your Bank Holiday:
• Click Save.

Tip: Regularly review your bank holiday list at the beginning of each year to ensure accuracy, especially for countries with floating holidays or where new public holidays might be introduced. This helps prevent discrepancies in employee time off and ensures compliance with local regulations.

Step 3: Managing Employee Leave Allowances

Once holiday types are configured, you need to ensure each employee's individual leave allowance is correct. This is crucial for accurate tracking of their remaining entitlement.

• Navigate to Employee Profile:
• From your Flowtly dashboard, click on Employees in the left-hand navigation menu.
• Select the specific employee whose leave allowance you wish to manage.

• Access Leave Information:
• Within the employee's profile, navigate to the Leave tab.
• Here, you will see a summary of their allowances, taken leave, and remaining balance for each holiday type assigned to them.

• Adjust Allowances:
• For each relevant holiday type, you can typically see and edit the Annual Allowance.
• You might also be able to adjust Carried Over days from a previous year or Additional Allowance days granted for specific reasons.
• Manually enter or adjust the number of days/hours as required.

Tip: When onboarding new employees, especially those starting mid-year, you may need to adjust their annual leave allowance on a pro-rata basis. Flowtly might automate this based on their start date and the holiday type's accrual method, but always double-check the figures for accuracy. Remember to communicate clearly with employees about their allowances.

Step 4: The Leave Request and Approval Process

Flowtly streamlines the entire leave request lifecycle, from an employee's submission to a manager's approval, ensuring transparency and efficiency.

For Employees (Submitting a Request):

• Access Leave Request:
• Employees can typically initiate a leave request from their Home dashboard or a dedicated My Leave section. Look for a Request New Leave button.

• Fill Out Request Details:
• Holiday Type: Select the appropriate holiday type from the dropdown (e.g., Annual Leave, Sick Leave).
• Start Date & End Date: Specify the duration of the leave. Flowtly will calculate the number of working days automatically.
• Part-Day Leave (Optional): If applicable, employees can indicate if the leave is for a half-day or specific hours.
• Comments (Optional): Employees can add any relevant notes for their manager.

• Submit Request:
• After reviewing the details, the employee clicks Submit. The request is then sent to their designated manager(s) for approval.

For Managers (Reviewing and Approving Requests):

• Receive Notification:
• Managers typically receive an email notification and an in-app alert when a new leave request is submitted.

• Access Pending Requests:
• From the Flowtly dashboard, navigate to the Requests section, often labeled Leave Requests or Pending Approvals.

• Review Request Details:
• Click on a pending request to view its full details. This will include:
• Employee Name
• Holiday Type
• Dates and Duration
• Employee's current leave balance for that type
• A calendar view of other team members' approved/pending leave during the requested period, helping to identify potential staffing conflicts.

• Take Action:
• Approve: If the request aligns with company policy and doesn't cause operational issues, click Approve. The employee's allowance will be updated, and they will be notified.
• Reject: If the request cannot be granted, click Reject. You will typically be prompted to provide a reason, which will be sent to the employee.
• Request More Info: If you need further clarification, you can communicate with the employee directly within Flowtly or via email.

Tip: Encourage employees to check their team's absence calendar before submitting requests to minimize conflicts. For managers, leverage the integrated calendar view during the approval process to ensure adequate team coverage and prevent critical project delays.

Step 5: Monitoring and Reporting Leave

Flowtly provides various tools to monitor employee absence, helping you maintain operational efficiency and ensure compliance.

• Absence Calendar:
• Navigate to Holidays > Absence Calendar. This visual tool displays all approved, pending, and taken leave across the company or for specific teams. It's excellent for a quick overview of who is out and when.

• Employee Leave Balances:
• Through the Employees section, you can quickly access each employee's leave tab to view their current balances, taken leave, and remaining entitlement for all assigned holiday types.

• Reports:
• Flowtly offers various reports under the Reports section, which can include Leave Reports. These reports provide detailed breakdowns of:
• Total leave taken by type.
• Upcoming absences.
• Leave balances across departments.
• Historical leave data.

Tip: Regularly review leave reports, especially before the end of the year, to monitor accruals, rollovers, and ensure employees are taking their entitled breaks. This helps manage potential liabilities and promotes employee well-being. The System Logs & Audit Trail can also be useful for tracking any changes made to an employee's leave allowance or status.

Summary and Next Steps

Congratulations! You've successfully learned how to configure holiday types, integrate bank holidays, manage employee allowances, and navigate the leave request and approval process within Flowtly. By mastering these features, you ensure your company's leave policy is accurately reflected and efficiently managed, leading to better resource planning and improved employee satisfaction.

Remember to regularly review your holiday types and bank holidays to ensure they remain current with company policies and local regulations. Encourage your employees to utilize Flowtly's intuitive interface for all their leave requests, fostering a transparent and organized approach to absence management.

Learn more

• Holidays
• Employees
• Emails & Notifications
• System Logs & Audit Trail
• Projects