Creating and Editing Leave Policies

Leave policies define how annual leave works for your team. They set the rules for entitlements, working patterns, and leave calculations.

What Is a Leave Policy?

A leave policy is a set of rules that determines:

• How many days of annual leave employees receive
• Which days of the week they work (working pattern)
• When the leave year starts and ends
• Whether unused days carry over to the next year
• Whether employees earn bonus days for length of service
• Any additional rules specific to your organisation

You can have multiple policies for different employee groups (e.g., different entitlements for part-time vs full-time staff).

Accessing Policy Management

To view and manage leave policies:

1. Click Policies from the Admin section of the navigation menu
2. You'll see a list of existing policies
3. Click on a policy to view or edit it

Creating a New Policy

To create a new leave policy:

1. Go to Policies
2. Click Create Policy or Add New
3. Enter a name for the policy (e.g., "Standard Full-Time", "Part-Time 3 Days")
4. Configure the policy settings (detailed below)
5. Save the policy

Key Policy Settings

Annual Leave Entitlement

The total number of annual leave days per year. Common examples:

• UK statutory minimum: 28 days (including bank holidays)
• Typical UK package: 25 days plus bank holidays
• Part-time: Pro-rated based on hours worked

Enter the number of days team members with this policy will receive each year.

Working Pattern

Define which days of the week employees work:

• Full-time (Mon-Fri) – Standard 5-day working week
• Part-time – Select specific days (e.g., Mon, Wed, Fri)
• Compressed hours – E.g., 4-day week at 10 hours per day

The working pattern affects how leave is calculated – employees can only book leave on days they normally work.

Leave Year

When does the leave year start? Common options:

• Calendar year – 1 January to 31 December
• Financial year – 1 April to 31 March (UK)
• Anniversary date – Based on each employee's start date
• Custom – Any start date that suits your organisation

Leave balances reset at the start of each leave year.

Anniversary Reset

If you tick "Reset leave on each team member's work anniversary instead of a fixed date", the fixed reset date fields are disabled and each employee's leave year will reset on their individual start date instead.

This is useful for organisations that want entitlements tied to employment anniversaries rather than a single company-wide date.

Carry Over

Enable "Allow unused leave to carry over to the next year" to let employees transfer unused days into the next leave year.

When enabled, you can configure:

• Maximum carry-over days — A cap on how many unused days can transfer (e.g., 5 days)
• Expiry date — A month and day by which carried-over days must be used, or they are forfeited. Leave blank for no expiry.

Length of Service Bonus

Enable "Grant additional leave days based on length of service" to automatically reward long-serving employees with extra leave.

When enabled, you can choose between two modes:

Per Year Mode

Award a fixed number of extra days for each completed year of service.

• Extra days per year of service — How many additional days are earned for each completed year
• Maximum bonus days cap — The maximum number of bonus days an employee can earn (set to 0 for unlimited)

Milestone Mode

Award extra days at specific service anniversaries rather than every year. This is ideal for policies where bonus days are earned at key milestones like 5 years, 10 years, etc.

• Click "Award extra days at specific service milestones"
• Add milestones by specifying the number of years and the number of bonus days awarded at that point
• Milestones are cumulative — each one adds to the previous total
• Use the maximum bonus days cap to set an overall limit

In both modes, the bonus is calculated from the employee's start date and added to their base entitlement before any accrual or pro-rata calculation.

Understanding Pro-Rata Calculations

Team Toggle can automatically calculate pro-rated entitlements for:

• Mid-year starters – New employees who join partway through the year
• Part-time workers – Based on their working pattern
• Leavers – Employees leaving before year end

Editing an Existing Policy

To modify a policy:

1. Go to Policies
2. Click on the policy you want to edit
3. Make your changes
4. Save the updated policy

When to Create Multiple Policies

Consider creating separate policies when you have:

• Different entitlements – Senior staff with more days, or tiered by length of service
• Part-time patterns – Staff working different days or hours
• Regional differences – Teams in different countries with different statutory minimums
• Contract types – Permanent vs fixed-term contracts

Assigning Team Members to Policies

Once you've created policies, you need to assign team members:

1. Go to Team
2. Select a team member
3. Find the policy assignment setting
4. Choose the appropriate policy
5. Save

New invitations can also specify which policy the new team member should be assigned to.

Default Policy

Your organisation has a default policy that's automatically assigned to new team members unless you specify otherwise. Make sure your default policy has sensible settings for most employees.

Policy Best Practices

• Use clear names – "Full-Time 25 Days" is better than "Policy A"
• Document your policies – Keep a record of what each policy is for
• Review annually – Check policies at the start of each year
• Communicate changes – Tell affected team members before making changes

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