Configuring Regular Leave

Keka offers a flexible leave management system that can accommodate a wide range of leave types tailored to the specific needs of an organization. In this article we will discuss , how organizations commonly configure Regular Leave 

• Regular Leave
  • Setting up Regular Leave Type

Regular Leave

Regular Leave is a flexible category designed to cover a variety of leave types that an organization may require. This leave type allows organizations to set up standard leaves such as casual leave, annual leave, or any organization-specific leave types. The configuration options for Regular Leave provide extensive customization to align with the organization's policies and requirements. Whether it's defining accrual rules, setting up approval workflows, or managing leave balances, Regular Leave offers the flexibility needed to manage everyday leave scenarios efficiently.

Key examples of Regular Leave include:

• Casual Leave: Typically used for short-term, personal needs such as attending to urgent matters or taking a break.
• Annual Leave: Planned time off that employees accrue over the year for vacation or extended rest.
• Organization-Specific Leave: Custom leave types that cater to unique organizational policies or cultural practices.

Setting up Regular Leave Type. 

This guide will walk you through the configurations of a regular leave type, divided into several sections:

1. Accrual
   

   1. Yearly Quota

   2. Allocation & Accrual Rate
   3. Accrual Restrictions
   4. Extra Leave
2. Leave Application
   1. Leave Application Rules
   2. Leave Application Restrictions
   3. Leave Usage Limits

   4. Sandwich Policy

3. Approval
4. Year-End Processing

   1. Leave Encashment

   2. Carry Forward

5. Probation

   1. Accrual for Probation

   2. Leave Application for Probation

   3. Year-End Processing for Probation
6. Notice Period
   1. Accrual for Notice Period
   2. Leave Application for Notice Period
   3. Year-End Processing for Notice Period

1. Accrual

In the accrual section you will determine all the settings related to accrual of leave, the first option is determining the yearly quota of the leave. 

a) Yearly Quota

• • The leave calculation can be selected in either Days or Hours.
  • You can set a specific number of days as the yearly quota or choose the option for Unlimited leave.
    
    

 b) Allocation & Accrual Rate

Next section is allocation and accrual rate This section allows you to define how the leave is accrued. 

• Leave accrued periodically (1) : Choose this if leave should accrue over time. If you select Leave accrued periodically, the following settings will appear
  • Accrue leave : Leave accrual options can be set to occur monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.
  • On the X day of the Month : Choose a specific day of the month for accrual by setting it on a designated date.
  • Leave accrual varies each month: Enable this if the accrual rate differs each month. You can specify different accrual values for each month of the year.
    
    

• Leave quota available immediately (2): Choose this if the full leave quota should be available from the start.

c) Accrual Restrictions

In this section you can set various restrictions on how leave accrues.

• Leave expires after X days from the date of credit.

 

• If you select Restrict accrual based on attendance you can set the below restriction.

  • Attendance cycle start date: Set the start date for the attendance cycle.
  • Weekly off considered present if employee is present for more than X days.
  • Holiday considered present if employee is present for more than X days.

• No leave is accrued if an employee is on leave for more than X days in the previous month.

• No leave is accrued when the total leave balance exceeds X days.

d) Extra Leave

In this section, configure any additional leave options.

• Allow reporting managers to grant more leave than accrued balance.

• Employees can take X extra days of leave beyond their balance.

  • Within yearly quota : This restricts employees from applying additional leaves beyond their annual quota
  • Beyond yearly quota: If you select this, you can set what happens to the negative balance at the end of the year (e.g., nullify and reset to zero).

• Accrue leave based on employee tenure : Allocate days yearly, based on the employee's tenure of X years from their joining date.

2. Leave Application

In this section, you will establish guidelines for the leave application process, detailing the rules and procedures for requesting leave.

a) Leave Application Rules

• Allow half-day leave.

• Allow quarter-day leave : This option is only available if you enable half-day leave &  enable this to allow employees to take quarter-day leaves.

• Prior notice needed: Set the required notice period for leave applications.

• Restrict employees from applying for backdated leave : Set a limit on how many days after the leave date employees can apply for leave.

• Round to nearest available decimal leave balances to full day : Enable this option to round off decimal leave balances to the nearest full day or half day.

• Comment is mandatory when requesting leave : Enable this option to require employees to provide a comment or reason when applying for leave.

• No leave is awarded to employees if the joining date is after a specified day of the month : Set a rule to prevent awarding leave to employees if they join after a specified day of the month.

b) Leave Application Restrictions

Set restrictions for employees when they apply for leave in this section.

• Prevent employees from viewing and applying for regular leave on their own: Enable this option to restrict employees from viewing and applying for this specific regular leave type on their own and only admins or mangers can apply this leave on employees behalf.

• Attachments are mandatory if the leave request exceeds X days: Set a threshold for the number of days beyond which employees must attach documents when applying for leave.

• Leave applications are not allowed earlier than X days before the leave start date: Set a restriction on how many days in advance leave applications can be submitted.

• Leave cannot be used by employees in the same year they are accrued: Enable this option if employees are not allowed to use leave in the same year it is accrued.

• This leave is unavailable when there is balance in other specified leave types: Set a condition to restrict using this leave if there is a balance in other specified leave types. You can select multiple leave types. 

• Cannot be availed along with specified leave types : Similar to the above setting you can select multiple leave types that this leave cannot be combined with this specific leave type. 

• Employees cannot request leave with future dates based on expected accrual : Enable this option to prevent employees from applying for leave based on future expected accruals.

• If the leave balance is more than X days, a minimum number of days must be requested at a time: Set a minimum number of days that must be requested if the leave balance is above a certain threshold.

c) Leave Usage Limits

In this section you can define limits on how leave can be used.

• Employee cannot avail more than X consecutive days of leave: Set a maximum limit for the number of consecutive days an employee can take leave.

• Employee cannot avail more than X days of leave in a month : Set a maximum limit for the number of leave days an employee can take within a month.

• Employees cannot request leave from the last day to the last date of the month : Set a restriction on requesting leave within a specific date range.

• A minimum gap of X days between two leaves is mandatory : Set a mandatory gap between two leave requests.

• How many times this leave can be taken: Set the limit in terms of month, year, or tenure.

 

d) Sandwich Policy

In this section enable and set sandwich policy rules for the specific leave type. 

• Weekly Off Considered as Part of Leave: Set conditions for when a weekly off should be counted as part of the leave. After selecting this option you have select the condition when it is considered as part of a sandwich policy. You have options to select from Leave between two days, Leave before day, Leave after day, Leave either before or after, day is between 2 leaves. You also have the option to include a weekly off as part of the sandwich policy when the total leave exceeds a certain number of days. You can choose between calendar days or leave days for this consideration
  • Ignore half-day leave - set condition to ignore half day leave when sandwich policy is being applied. 

• Holiday Considered as Part of Leave :  Set conditions for when a holiday should be counted as part of the leave. After selecting this option you have select the condition when it is considered as part of a sandwich policy. You have options to select from Leave between two days, Leave before day, Leave after day, Leave either before or after, day is between 2 leaves.  You also have the option to include holiday as part of the sandwich policy when the total leave exceeds a certain number of days. You can choose between calendar days or leave days for this consideration

  • Ignore half-day leave - set condition to ignore half day leave when sandwich policy is being applied. 
    
    

• Club Sandwich Policy Across Leave Types :  Enable this option to apply the sandwich policy across different leave types. This implies that the sandwich policy will be enforced across various leave types, not just limited to this specific leave type.

3. Leave Approval Chain

In the Leave Approval Chain section, you can establish the approval process for leave requests. Create a chain of approval with multiple levels, assigning roles or specific employees. You also have the option to enable auto-approval if the approver is unavailable, as well as the option to prevent emailing approvers for every request to reduce email clutter. However, approvers can still view these requests as part of their email digest.

4. Year-End Processing

Year-end processing in Keka ensures that your organization's leave balances are managed efficiently at the close of the year. This section includes settings for leave encashment and leave carry forward, allowing you to customize how unused leave is handled.

a) Leave Encashment

• Enable Leave Encashment (1) : Enabling this option allows employees to encash their unused leave balances.

• Encashment Frequency (2) : Define how often employees are allowed to encash their leave balances in a week/month/quarter/year.

• Encashment Period (3) : Specify the months in which leave encashment is permitted. 

• Encashment Deadline (4) : Set the latest date within a month by which encashment requests must be submitted.

• Manager's Role (5) :  Allow managers to submit encashment requests for their team members. 

• Encashment Amount (1) : Choose whether the encashment is based on a fixed number of days or a percentage of the leave balance.
• Encashment Thresholds (2) : If you opt for calculation based on fixed number of days, establish minimum days for the leave balance required for encashment and the maximum number of days that can be converted to cash. If you opt for a percentage-based calculation, you will need to input the specific percentage of leave to be encashed, with the option to limit this percentage to a maximum number of days that can be encashed. Additionally, you can set a condition where leave encashment is only allowed if the leave balance exceeds a certain number of days.

• Encashment Approval Chain : Define the approval process for encashment requests with multiple levels of approval. 

 

b) Carry Forward

Set up the necessary configurations for carry forward leave in this section.

• Carry Forward Options : Begin by selecting the option for handling any remaining leave balances at the end of the year. Choose from the dropdown menu based on your organization's policies. 
  • All leave balances are reset
  • All leave balances are paid
  • All leave balances get carried forward
  • Pay first and then carry forward remaining
  • Carry forward first and then pay remaining

• Carry Forward Settings : If you opt to reset all leave balances or convert them to cash, you must specify if the carried forward leave will expire and indicate the number of days before it does. You also have the choice to maintain the expiry date of any leave unchanged, whether from previous carry forwards or current expiry settings. Furthermore, if you opt to carry forward all leave balances, you can designate a specific leave type to which this leave will be transferred.

• If you choose to carry forward leave based on a percentage, you must specify the percentage of leave to be paid out and the percentage to be carried over. You can also specify the exact number of days to carry forward or convert to cash. You have the option to round off the leave balance to the nearest, up to, or down to, and then select whether it should be in full days or half days from the dropdown menu.

If opting to carry forward leave based on a set number of days, specify how many days should be carried forward and how many days should be paid out when the leave balance exceeds a certain threshold.

5. Probation

The probation section allows you to configure how leave is accrued and managed for employees during their probation period. This includes settings for accrual, leave application, and year-end processing during probation.

a) Accrual for Probation

• Prorate Leave in the First Month of Joining : Enable this option to prorate leave for employees in their first month of joining.

• You have the option to prorate leave accrual based on:
  • Date of Joining: Accrual is calculated based on the employee's actual joining date.
  • Range of Date of Joining: Accrual is determined by predefined date ranges within the month. Add additional date ranges if needed.

• During probation accrue leave : Enable this option to accrue leave during the probation period.
• Accrual Start: 
  • Starting Immediately : Leave accrual begins from the date of joining.
  • Starting After : Leave accrual begins after a specified number of days from the joining date. 

• Monthly Accrual : Define the number of leave days accrued each month during the probation period. Specify the number of leave days accrued each month.
• Prorate Leave After Probation Ends : Prorate options for probation end date include basing leave accrual on either the specific end date of the probation period or predefined date ranges. You can define different date ranges and their corresponding leave allocations to tailor the accrual process effectively.

b) Leave Application for Probation

• New Joiners Can Request Leave After: Specify the number of days after joining or probation end date when new joiners can start requesting leave.
• Maximum Leave Allowed During Probation: Define the maximum number of leave days allowed during the probation period. 

c) Year-End Processing for Probation

• Encashment During Probation: Specify whether leave encashment is allowed during the probation period.

6. Notice Period

The Notice Period section allows you to configure how leave is accrued, applied, and processed for employees during their notice period. This includes settings for accrual, leave application, and year-end processing during the notice period.

a) Accrual for Notice Period

• • Prorate Leave Based on Exit Date: Enable this option to prorate leave for employees based on their exit date.

• • Prorate Based on Range of Dates: Accrual is based on predefined date ranges within the month. Define date ranges and corresponding leave allocation. Add additional date ranges if needed.
    • Example: If the exit date falls between 1st to 15th of the month, allocate 1 day. If the exit date falls between 16th to the last day of the month, allocate 0.5 days.
  • Do Not Accrue Leave: Option to not accrue any leave during the notice period.

b) Leave Application for Notice Period : Enable this option to specify how leave taken during the notice period affects the notice period duration. Specify the number of times the notice period will be extended for each leave day availed.

c) Year-End Processing for Notice Period

• Encashment During Notice Period: Specify whether leave encashment is allowed during the notice period.