How leave works
Leave in HCM Cafe is built from a few pieces. Each employee belongs to one leave group. The group lists the leave types its employees can take. For each type in the group, three sets of rules decide how the leave behaves:
| Rules | Decides |
|---|---|
| Credit | How much leave is added to the balance, and when. |
| Avail | When and how leave can be taken: limits, notice, documents, sandwich rules, negative balance. |
| Year-End | What happens to the unused balance at the end of the leave year: carry forward, encashment, conversion, lapse. |
Because rules are set per group and type, the same leave type can behave differently in different groups. For example, Casual Leave can be credited monthly for staff and yearly for managers.
The pieces
| Piece | What it is | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Leave type | A kind of leave, such as Casual Leave (CL) or Earned Leave (EL). | Leave type |
| Leave group | A set of employees who share the same leave rules. | Leave group |
| Leave group mapping | Which leave types a group offers, for which genders, and whether each is paid. | Leave group mapping |
| Leave configuration | The Credit, Avail and Year-End rules for one type in one group. | Leave group mapping → Proceed to parameter |
| Leave year | The period a balance belongs to, from Module configuration year. | Configuration |
An employee's leave group is set in their employee record, under additional details, along with their week off and holiday calendar. Leave can't be applied until all three are assigned.
A leave balance
Each employee has one balance per leave type per leave year. It's made up of:
| Part | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Carried | Brought forward from the previous year. |
| Credited | Added this year by automatic credit or adjustments. |
| Availed | Taken this year through approved requests. |
| Approval pending | Requested and waiting for approval. Counted against the balance when checking new requests. |
| Encashment | Converted to pay. |
| Lapsed | Removed because it couldn't be carried forward or used. |
The available balance is what's carried and credited, less what's availed, encashed and lapsed.
How leave is credited
Leave is credited automatically each day by a background job. For each employee, it adds the period's credit once per period: at the start of the period if the period is set to credit at the Beginning, otherwise at the end. Credit can also be calculated from days worked or days paid. Admins can correct a balance at any time with a leave adjust request. See Leave credit rules.
How leave is requested
- The employee (or their manager or an admin on their behalf) applies for leave.
- HCM Cafe checks the request against the balance and the Avail rules, and tells the employee exactly what's wrong if it can't be submitted. See Leave request messages.
- The request goes to the approvers in the leave approval workflow.
- Once approved, the days are availed from the balance and show as leave in attendance.
Leave and payroll
When a leave type is mapped as Paid leave, approved days are paid. Days of unpaid leave count as loss of pay (LOP) in the payroll run. While a payroll run for the period is being processed, leave in the attendance window is locked and can't be applied, approved or cancelled until the run is published.
Next steps
- Admins: Set up leave
- Employees: Apply for leave
- Managers: Approve leave requests