This tutorial will guide you through the process of establishing your company's unique leave policies and defining various holiday types within the Flowtly platform. By the end of this guide, you'll be able to accurately configure leave allowances, manage different categories of time off, and integrate public holidays, ensuring seamless time-off tracking and compliance for your entire team.
1. Accessing the Leave & Absence Settings
To begin configuring your company's leave policies, you'll first need to navigate to the correct section within Flowtly.
- Log in to Flowtly: Use your administrator credentials to access your Flowtly account.
- Navigate to Settings:
- Look for the Settings icon (often represented by a gear or cog) in the main navigation menu, usually located on the left sidebar or top right corner.
- Click on Settings.
- Find Leave & Absence:
- Within the Settings menu, you should find a category related to HR, Time Off, Leave Management, or Holidays.
- Click on the relevant option, which will typically lead you to a sub-menu where you can manage "Holiday Types," "Leave Policies," and "Public Holidays."
Tip: If you can't immediately find the section, try using the search bar within Flowtly's settings, if available, and type "leave," "holiday," or "time off."
2. Defining Your Company's Holiday Types
Holiday types are the different categories of leave that your employees can request (e.g., Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Unpaid Leave, Paternity Leave). Setting these up correctly is fundamental for accurate tracking and reporting.
- Access Holiday Types Section:
- From the Leave & Absence settings, select the option for Holiday Types or Leave Types.
- Create a New Holiday Type:
- Click the + Add New or Create Holiday Type button.
- Configure Holiday Type Details:
- Name: Enter a clear, descriptive name (e.g., "Annual Leave," "Sick Leave," "Paternity Leave," "Bereavement Leave").
- Code (Optional): Some systems allow a short code for internal identification.
- Description (Optional): Provide a brief explanation of this holiday type for clarity.
- Type of Leave:
- Paid vs. Unpaid: Specify whether this leave type is typically paid or unpaid. This often affects payroll calculations. For instance, Annual Leave is usually paid, while Unpaid Leave is self-explanatory.
- Deduct from Allowance: For types like "Annual Leave," you'll want to mark this to deduct days from an employee's total annual leave allowance. For "Sick Leave" or "Bereavement Leave," this might vary based on your company policy.
- Approval Requirements:
- Requires Approval: Most leave types will require approval from a manager or HR. Enable this option.
- Automatic Approval: For certain non-deductible or minor leave types (e.g., "Working from Home" if tracked as a leave type, though not common for holiday types), you might set it to auto-approve.
- Visibility:
- Employee Visibility: Ensure employees can see and request this leave type.
- Manager Visibility: Ensure managers can see and approve/deny requests for this leave type.
- Colour Code (Optional): Many systems allow you to assign a specific colour to each leave type for easier visual identification on calendars.
- Allow Negative Balance (Optional): Decide if employees are permitted to go into a negative balance for this leave type (e.g., borrowing future annual leave). Generally, this is disabled or tightly controlled.
- Maximum Consecutive Days (Optional): Set a limit on how many consecutive days can be requested for this leave type.
- Save Holiday Type:
- Once all details are configured, click Save or Create.
- Repeat for All Relevant Types:
- Add all other holiday types relevant to your company, such as:
- Annual Leave / Vacation
- Sick Leave
- Unpaid Leave
- Maternity/Paternity Leave
- Bereavement Leave
- Jury Duty
- Study Leave
Tip: Consider your company's HR policies and local labour laws when defining holiday types. Ensure you cover all statutory leave types as well as any additional benefits your company offers.
3. Configuring Company-Wide Leave Policies
Leave policies define the rules for how holiday types are applied to employees, including annual allowances, accrual rules, and carry-over limits. A single policy can encompass rules for multiple holiday types.
- Access Leave Policies Section:
- From the Leave & Absence settings, select the option for Leave Policies or Time Off Policies.
- Create a New Leave Policy:
- Click the + Add New Policy or Create Policy button.
- Define Policy Basics:
- Policy Name: Give it a clear name (e.g., "Standard Employee Policy," "Senior Staff Policy," "Part-Time Policy"). You might have different policies for different employee groups.
- Description (Optional): Explain the policy's purpose or which employee groups it applies to.
- Policy Effective Date: Set when this policy becomes active.
- Configure Rules for Each Holiday Type within the Policy:
- For each holiday type you previously defined, you will now set its specific rules within this policy.
- Select Holiday Type: Choose a holiday type from a dropdown (e.g., "Annual Leave").
- Allowance:
- Total Annual Allowance: Enter the number of days or hours granted per year for this holiday type (e.g., 20 days for Annual Leave).
- Allowance Unit: Specify if the allowance is in days or hours.
- Accrual Settings:
- Accrual Frequency: How often does the allowance become available?
- Annually (at start of year/anniversary): The full allowance is granted at the beginning of the leave year or on the employee's hire anniversary.
- Monthly: A portion of the allowance is granted each month.
- Bi-weekly/Quarterly: Other periodic accrual options.
- Pro-rata (for new hires/leavers): Enable this if you want the allowance to be adjusted proportionally for employees joining or leaving mid-year.
- Carry-Over Rules:
- Allow Carry-Over: Enable if unused leave can be carried over to the next leave year.
- Maximum Carry-Over: Specify the maximum number of days/hours that can be carried over.
- Carry-Over Expiry: Define when carried-over leave must be used by (e.g., 3 months into the new year).
- Reset Date: Typically the start of your company's leave year (e.g., January 1st, or the employee's anniversary date).
- Request Notice Period (Optional): How many days in advance must an employee request this leave type?
- Minimum Request Duration (Optional): E.g., employees must request at least half a day of leave.
- Attachment Requirement (Optional): For sick leave, you might require a doctor's note for requests over a certain duration.
- Add Rules for Other Holiday Types:
- Repeat step 4 for all other relevant holiday types (e.g., add rules for "Sick Leave" within this same policy, perhaps 5 days per year, no carry-over).
- Save Policy:
- Once all holiday types within this policy have their rules defined, click Save or Create Policy.
- Create Multiple Policies (If Needed):
- If you have different terms for different groups of employees (e.g., full-time vs. part-time, management vs. general staff), repeat the process to create additional leave policies.
Tip: Clearly document your company's internal leave policies so they can be easily translated into Flowtly settings. This ensures consistency and simplifies the setup process.
4. Managing Public Holidays
Public holidays (or national holidays) are critical to input correctly as they affect everyone's leave balance and payroll. Flowtly allows you to define these globally.
- Access Public Holidays Section:
- From the Leave & Absence settings, select the option for Public Holidays, National Holidays, or Company Holidays.
- Select Country/Region:
- Many systems allow you to select a country or region to pre-populate common public holidays. If available, choose your primary operating country.
- Add Public Holidays:
- Import (if available): If Flowtly offers an import feature for standard public holidays for your region, use this first.
- Manually Add:
- Click + Add Public Holiday or New Holiday.
- Name: Enter the name of the public holiday (e.g., "Christmas Day," "New Year's Day").
- Date: Select the specific date for the holiday.
- Year: Ensure the correct year is selected.
- Region/Location (Optional): If you operate in multiple regions with different public holidays, specify which region this holiday applies to.
- Paid/Unpaid: Most public holidays are paid.
- Repeat for all public holidays for the current and upcoming years.
- Review and Update Annually:
- Public holidays can sometimes change, or new ones might be introduced. Make it a routine to review and update your public holiday calendar in Flowtly at the end of each year for the following year.
Tip: Ensure that public holidays are set up before employees start requesting leave for those dates to prevent discrepancies in their leave balances. Flowtly should automatically account for these days so they don't deduct from an employee's personal allowance.
5. Assigning Leave Policies to Employees
Once you've set up your holiday types and leave policies, the final step is to assign these policies to your employees.
- Navigate to Employee Profiles:
- Go to the Employees section from the main navigation menu.
- Select an individual employee to view their profile, or look for a bulk assignment feature.
- Assign Policy:
- Within the employee's profile, locate the Leave & Absence, Time Off, or HR tab.
- You should find an option to Assign Leave Policy or Select Policy.
- Choose the appropriate leave policy from the dropdown menu (e.g., "Standard Employee Policy").
- Set Policy Effective Date (for Employee):
- Specify when this policy assignment should take effect for the individual employee. This is especially important for new hires or when changing an employee's policy.
- Repeat for All Employees:
- Assign the correct policy to each employee. Flowtly may offer bulk assignment options based on department, role, or other criteria, which can save a lot of time for larger organisations.
Tip: Regularly audit employee policy assignments, especially after promotions, role changes, or changes in employment status (e.g., full-time to part-time), to ensure they are on the correct leave policy.
Summary and Next Steps
Congratulations! You have successfully configured your company's leave policy, defined various holiday types, and established your public holiday calendar in Flowtly. This foundational setup is crucial for accurate time-off management and compliance.
Your next steps should include:
- Communicating the new leave policies to your employees.
- Encouraging employees to review their leave balances and request time off using the Flowtly platform.
- Familiarising yourself with the leave request and approval workflows in Flowtly.
- Reviewing the "Emails & Notifications" settings to ensure employees and managers receive timely updates regarding leave requests.
