Managing employee leave can be a complex task, but Flowtly simplifies the entire process, from setting up different leave types to handling requests and approvals. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to configure various holiday types, define their common settings, and establish a smooth, automated workflow for holiday requests and approvals within your organization. By the end, you'll have a robust system in place to manage your team's time off efficiently.
Step 1: Accessing Holiday Type Settings
The first step is to navigate to the section where you can define and manage your company's holiday types.
- Log in to Flowtly: Use your administrator or a user account with appropriate permissions.
- Go to Administration: In the left-hand navigation menu, click on Administration.
- Select Holiday Types: Under the Human Resources section, click on Holiday Types. This page will display a list of any existing holiday types in your system.
Tip: If this is your first time setting up holiday types, you might see a default "Annual Leave" or "Vacation" type, or the list might be empty. You can edit existing types or add new ones as needed.
Step 2: Creating a New Holiday Type
Now, let's create a new holiday type, such as "Annual Leave," and define its core properties.
- Click "Add New": On the Holiday Types page, click the + Add New button, usually located in the top right corner.
- Enter Basic Information:
- Name: Enter a clear, descriptive name for the holiday type (e.g., "Annual Leave", "Sick Leave", "Unpaid Leave", "Parental Leave").
- Description (Optional): Provide a brief explanation of this holiday type. This can be helpful for employees and administrators alike.
- Color: Choose a distinct color that will represent this holiday type on calendars. This helps visually differentiate various types of leave.
- Requires Approval: Toggle this switch On if requests for this holiday type need to be approved by a manager or designated approver. For most standard leave types like Annual Leave, this should be enabled. For self-certified sick leave, you might toggle it off, or require approval only after a certain number of days.
- Is Paid: Toggle this switch On if this holiday type is paid leave. This is crucial for payroll and reporting.
- Is Included in Entitlement Calculation: Toggle this On if the days taken for this holiday type should reduce an employee's overall leave entitlement. For instance, Annual Leave should reduce entitlement, but Unpaid Leave or Parental Leave might not.
- Can Be Requested by Employees: Toggle this On if employees are allowed to submit requests for this holiday type through Flowtly. If it's an administrative type of leave (e.g., "Company Holiday" defined centrally), you might turn this off.
- Click "Save": After filling in the basic information, click Save. You will then be taken to a more detailed configuration page for this holiday type.
Tip: Plan out all the different types of leave your company offers before you start creating them. This ensures consistency and covers all scenarios.
Step 3: Configuring Advanced Settings for Holiday Types
Once a holiday type is created, you can fine-tune its behavior, entitlements, and approval rules.
- Entitlement & Accrual:
- Default Entitlement (Days/Hours): Set the standard number of days or hours an employee is initially entitled to for this holiday type per year.
- Accrual Frequency: Define how often employees accrue leave. Options typically include:
- Annually: Entitlement granted once a year (e.g., on their anniversary date or at the start of the year).
- Monthly: A portion of the entitlement is granted each month.
- Bi-Weekly/Weekly: More frequent accrual for specific setups.
- None: If there's no accrual (e.g., for ad-hoc sick leave with no fixed entitlement).
- Accrual Type: Specify if the accrual is based on calendar days, working days, or hours.
- Pro-rata Entitlement: Enable this if entitlements for new joiners or leavers should be calculated proportionally based on their start/end dates.
- Maximum Carry-over (Days/Hours): Set the maximum number of unused days/hours that can be carried over to the next leave year.
- Carry-over Expiry (Months): If carry-over is allowed, specify how many months into the new leave year the carried-over leave must be taken before it expires.
- Approval Workflow:
- Approval Levels: For holiday types requiring approval, you can often define multiple approval levels (e.g., direct manager, then department head, then HR). Set the order and conditions for each level.
- Automatic Approval/Rejection: In some cases, you might configure automatic approval for certain conditions (e.g., if a request is for less than X days and is submitted Y days in advance). Conversely, automatic rejection if it conflicts with critical project dates.
- Availability & Restrictions:
- Minimum Request Length (Days/Hours): Set the minimum duration for a single leave request (e.g., employees cannot request less than half a day of annual leave).
- Maximum Request Length (Days/Hours): Define the maximum duration for a single leave request.
- Minimum Notice Period (Days): Specify how many days in advance an employee must submit a request for this holiday type.
- Maximum Future Request (Days): Limit how far into the future employees can request this leave type.
- Blocking Overlapping Holidays: Enable this to prevent multiple employees from taking the same holiday type at the same time if capacity is limited (e.g., for specific roles).
- Visibility & Permissions:
- Visible to Employees: Control whether employees can see this holiday type when making requests.
- Visible on Company Calendar: Decide if approved holidays of this type should appear on the main company calendar for everyone to see.
- Save Changes: Always remember to click Save after making any adjustments to these detailed settings.
Note: Carefully consider your company's HR policies when configuring these settings. Misconfigurations can lead to incorrect leave balances or approval issues. Review these settings annually to ensure they align with any policy changes.
Step 4: Assigning Holiday Entitlements to Employees
Once your holiday types are configured, you need to assign them and their respective entitlements to your employees.
- Navigate to People: From the left-hand navigation menu, click on People.
- Select an Employee: Click on the name of the employee you wish to assign holiday entitlements to.
- Go to the "Holidays" Tab: Within the employee's profile, locate and click on the Holidays tab.
- Add/Edit Entitlement:
- You'll see a list of holiday types configured for this employee.
- Click + Add New Entitlement or click on an existing entry to edit it.
- Holiday Type: Select the appropriate holiday type from the dropdown list.
- Annual Entitlement: Enter the specific number of days or hours this employee is entitled to for this holiday type for the current leave year. This might differ from the "Default Entitlement" set in the holiday type, especially for part-time employees or those with special agreements.
- Carried Over: Manually enter any leave days/hours carried over from the previous year, if applicable and not automatically handled by system settings.
- Accrued/Taken: These fields usually update automatically as the employee accrues or takes leave.
- Start/End Date: Define the period for which this entitlement is valid.
- Save Changes: Click Save to apply the entitlement to the employee's profile.
Tip: For organizations with many employees, Flowtly often provides bulk action features to assign or update entitlements for groups of employees simultaneously. Check the "People" or "Administration" sections for such options to save time. Ensure your
Work Schedulesare accurately set up for each employee, as this can impact how holiday days are calculated, especially for part-time staff.
Step 5: The Employee Holiday Request Process
Now that the system is set up, let's see how employees request holidays.
- Employee Login: An employee logs into their Flowtly account.
- Access Holidays: Employees can typically access the holiday request function through their Home dashboard, a dedicated Holidays section in the main menu, or a calendar view.
- Initiate a Request:
- Click on a "Request Holiday" button or select dates on the calendar.
- Holiday Type: Choose the relevant holiday type (e.g., Annual Leave) from the dropdown.
- Start Date & End Date: Select the desired dates for the leave. Flowtly will automatically calculate the number of days/hours based on the employee's work schedule.
- Notes (Optional): Add any relevant notes for the approver.
- Attachments (Optional): Upload any required documents (e.g., doctor's note for sick leave).
- Submit Request: Click Submit to send the request for approval.
Note: Flowtly's interface is designed to be intuitive. Employees will usually see their remaining entitlement, a calendar showing team holidays, and any potential conflicts before submitting. This helps reduce unnecessary requests.
Step 6: The Approval Workflow for Managers/Approvers
Once an employee submits a request, it enters the defined approval workflow.
- Notifications: Approvers will receive notifications in several ways:
- Email: An automated email notification informing them of a pending request.
- Action Center: The request will appear in their Action Center within Flowtly, serving as a centralized task list.
- Dashboard: Pending approvals might also be visible on their personal dashboard.
- Reviewing a Request:
- From the Action Center or the notification, click on the pending holiday request to view its details.
- Review Details: Examine the employee's name, holiday type, dates, duration, and any notes.
- Check Conflicts: Flowtly often provides tools to see if the requested leave conflicts with:
- Other team members' approved leave.
- Critical project deadlines (if integrated with Project Tracking).
- The employee's remaining entitlement.
- Employee Work Schedule: Ensure the requested dates align with the employee's defined work schedule.
- Take Action:
- Approve: If everything is in order, click Approve. The employee will be notified, and their leave balance will be updated. The leave will also be added to the company calendar.
- Reject: If the request cannot be granted, click Reject. Provide a clear reason for rejection in the notes field. The employee will be notified.
- Request More Info: If you need further clarification, you might have an option to send it back to the employee with a request for more information.
Tip: Utilize the team calendar view in Flowtly's Holidays section. This allows managers to quickly see who is off at a glance, helping them make informed decisions and prevent understaffing during peak periods.
Step 7: Monitoring and Reporting Holidays
Flowtly provides tools to monitor leave and generate reports.
- Holiday Calendar: Access the Holidays section from the main menu to view a comprehensive calendar displaying all approved leave for the entire company or specific teams. This provides a clear overview of availability.
- Employee Holiday Balances: In the People section, under each employee's "Holidays" tab, you can see their current entitlement, leave taken, and remaining balance for each holiday type.
- Reports: Flowtly usually offers reporting features to generate summaries of leave taken by department, individual, or holiday type over specific periods. This is invaluable for HR planning and compliance.
Summary and Next Steps
By following these steps, you've successfully set up holiday types, configured entitlements, and established an efficient workflow for holiday requests and approvals in Flowtly. This not only streamlines administrative tasks but also provides transparency for employees and empowers managers with the tools they need to manage their teams effectively.
Your next steps should involve:
- Communicating the new holiday request process to your employees.
- Training managers on their role in the approval workflow.
- Regularly reviewing your holiday policies and updating Flowtly's settings as needed.
- Exploring other HR features in Flowtly to further optimize your people management.
