TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Configuring a Regular Leave
  • Setup accrual schedule
  • Managing additional settings
• Incident Leave
• Comp off
• Unpaid Leave

Introduction

A leave plan allows you to categorize leaves for the various employee types in an organization. You can then further configure various leave types for that plan which shows how many of each leave type is available for your employees in that leave plan and also what are the criteria based on which they are accrued and can be used. 

Typically, Keka allows you to add various leave types falling under the 4 types of leave- Regular Leave, Incident Leave, Compensatory Off, and Unpaid leave. 

Before we get started, if you want to learn more about leave types and setting up a leave plan, click here.

Configuring a Regular Leave

Let's start with the configurations of a regular leave type. In this window, you'll see three sections: 'Accrual & Accumulation,' 'Apply Leave and Approvals,' and 'Additional Restrictions.'

In the Accrual & Accumulation section, you have to decide the number of leaves an employee will get in a year and where they will all be credited at the start of the year. Alternatively, you can configure the frequency of crediting leaves. 

The first thing to choose is how you would like to account for leaves. You can account for these leaves in days or hours if you want to enable hourly leave. Here in this article, we will focus on the days option. For information on setting up and managing hourly leaves, refer here. 

Select Track this leave in Days from the drop-down. Say you want to give employees 24 sick leave days in a year which are accrued monthly. Enter the number of sick days and then select Accrued Periodically. 

Setup accrual schedule

You can now setup the accrual schedule and how it varies based on some use cases such as for new joiners or if you want to control the allocation based on an employee's tenure in the organization.

In the Schedule of accrual field, you can choose between monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and yearly accruals. Select the schdedule that suits you. 

Additionally, you can set restrictions for those in probation periods. Select Yes or No for the question Do employees accrue leave during probation?. 

If you choose the option that the employees do not accrue leave during their probation, you can further choose if accrual of leave begins immediately after probation or if you want to wait for a certain number of days before it begins. 

The next setting concerns with accruals based on tenure. Say you want to reward employeesthat has been in the organization with additional paid sick leave. In this case, say they are eligible for 28 sick leave for the year instead of 24 after 1 year in the organization. You can specify this here.

Managing additional settings

Now, scroll down and open Additional Settings to find more advanced settings. Here are the options you have here. 

• Leave are not available for employees to use in the same year: If you want to defer the usage of leaves to the following year, enable this option. It ensures that employees cannot use leave in the same year they accrue them. 

• Employees can avail more than the leave balance: Allows employees to go beyond the annual quota of leave accrued to them. If you enable this, you will be asked to specify the number of days of leave they can take beyond this quota and how much of a negative balance they can accumulate. You can further choose if this negative balance gets reset to zero or if it needs to be carried forward to next year. 

You can also set this up in such a way that the total number of leave of this type can go beyond the accrued limit by a set number of days but does not exceed the annual quota set. 

• Managers can award Sick Leave credit to their reports over and above the accrued balance - Allows managers to award extra leave credits to employees above and beyond the accrued balance
  
  
• Leave expires after X days of credit/date of accrual- set the number of days beyond which an accrued leave expires

• Do not accrue leave when the total leave balance (including carry forwarded and other manual credits) exceeds X days - Allows you to set a limit to the total number of leave credits that can be accrued of this leave type including carry forwards and manual credits. 
  
  

Click on Save & Continue to move to the next section, Applying Leave and Accrual. Here, you can allow employees to take partial-day leaves including quarter day leave. 

You can also define if employees can see this leave type when they are looking to apply for leave and select this leave type. If unselected, their manager, HR Manager or global admin has to apply for this leave type on the employee's behalf and the employee cannot do it themselves. 

Next, set restrictions in terms of the number of days of advance notice that is required for utilising this leave type if the total number of leave applied goes beyond a certain limit. 

Finally, also define the approval chain for this leave type including various levels of approvals required and if you want to enable auto approvals in case the approver is not present in your Keka HR Portal. 

In the additional settings that are optional, you have more options available to you. Configure relevant choices

• For new joiners, the employee can apply for Sick Leave X days after their Joining Date
• Employee cannot apply leave for more than X days during their probation period.
• Earliest the employee can apply for this leave is X days before the leave date
• Allow employee to apply leave for past date 
• Employee can apply for future dated leave based on projected accumulation
• Round off decimal leave balance when an employee is applying for leave and balance is in decimal
• Require attachments when applying, if the leave duration is more thanX days
• This leave cannot be taken along with X - Allows you to restrict employees from combining other leave types along with this one
• This leave is not available when there is balance in X - Mandates that employees completely use up their balance in a specified leave type before being eligible to apply for this.
• Require comment when applying
• Manager can override all the restrictions while applying leave on behalf of the employee

Click Save and Continue when done.

Under 'Additional Restrictions,' you'll find additional settings. 

• Employees in notice period: You can set restrictions whether an employee is allowed to apply for this leave type during the notice period. If yes, you can also set the number of days by which the notice period extends.

• Leave Encashment settings: Enforces restrictions on leave encashment that the employee can avail. You can select if employees can request for leave encashment and if they can, what are the conditions that apply, including how many times a year can an employee request for leave encashment, what is the period during which they can raise the request and how many leave can be encashed by the employee.
  
  You can further decide if employees in notice period or probation can apply for encashment and if managers can apply for encashment on behalf of an employee. You can also setup the leave encashment approval chain.
  
  

• Carry forwarding leave: Another important aspect to configure for a leave type is what happens to the remaining balance at the end of the year. You can reset the leave balances, carry forward the whole balance or carry forward upto a limit. 
  
  To learn how to configure leave carry forward settings, check out this article: Where to check and configure the settings for leave carry forwards?
  
  You can also determine what happens to leaves that have a set expiry date and if the date of expiry gets reset once it is carried over or if it remains unchanged. 
  
  

Additional settings determine other important parameters with respect to this leave type. Select the relevant options for these settings based on how you want the leave type to be configured.

• Employee is restricted to avail only maximum of X consecutive days of leave.
• Employee is restricted to avail maximum X days of leave balance in a month.
• How many times/incidents this leave can be taken?
• Restrict employees from applying leave from X of every month
• Enforce a minimum gap of days between 2 leave instances.
• Enforce minimum days of leave to be taken per instance, if balance is greater than or equal to X days
• If leave applied is adjoining a holiday, the holiday is considered as leave
• If leave applied is adjoining weekly off, weekly off is considered as leave
• Club sandwich policy across leave types.

Click Save and Close to finalize the configuration of this leave type and to apply the settings.

Incident Leave

When configuring a statutory or incidental leave type, you will encounter two sections: Basic Details and Advanced options.

In the Basic Details section, you can set rules such as the number of leaves credited per year, the frequency of leave taken within a specific time period, and the maximum number of leaves allowed at a time. This section also enables you to establish restrictions for new joiners and employees in probation periods.

To ensure that employees inform the administration before taking leave, you can establish a prior notice period for leaves beyond a certain amount. Additionally, you have the option to set up an approval chain for more streamlined leave management, as well as allow employees to request half-day leave.

Moving on to the Advanced section, you can define the number of days before the incident date when employees can apply for this leave type. Furthermore, you can decide whether employees can apply for leave even for past dates and whether providing comments with reasons for time-off requests is mandatory.

You can allow employees who are in their notice period to take time off. You also have the option to set a minimum gap between two instances of this leave type, which can help prevent employees from taking back-to-back leaves.

Additionally, you can choose to require employees to attach relevant documents when they apply for this type of leave. You can also determine whether managers can request leave on behalf of team members.

Finally, you have the ability to decide if employees can combine this type of leave with other types of leave based on your company's policy. Enabling this option will automatically include all weekly offs and holidays that fall within the leave duration, ensuring that employees have comprehensive-time off coverage.

Comp off

So now let's see the setup for Comp-offs. First, you have the rules for the employee to request comp off.

To ensure a fair balance between work performed and granted time-off, you can restrict employees from requesting comp-off credits within a certain number of days from the dates they worked, known as compensatory dates. 

Then, to prevent misuse, you can set a limit on the number of comp-off instances employees can request within a specified period. Also, employees may be prevented from requesting comp-off for dates without recorded attendance to maintain accurate records. 

Reporting managers can also award comp-off credits to recognize exceptional efforts or additional work hours put in by their team members. You can restrict employees from requesting comp-off credits within a certain number of days from the dates they worked, known as compensatory dates. This ensures a fair balance between work performed and granted time off.

Then, you can set rules to configure rules for an employee to use a comp-off credit. You can set a prior notice period for leaves beyond a certain amount and set up an approval chain for better management. You can also choose to make a comment or a note mandatory while applying. You also have the option to allow employees to request half-day leave.

Now, if you scroll down, you can decide what should happen with the unused comp-offs at the end of the leave calendar year. To learn more about leave year-end processing, click here.

Then, under Advance options, you can set rules for Allowing employees to apply for leave for past dates, which provides flexibility but requires reasonable limitations to avoid misuse. To manage comp-off utilization, restricting employees from applying for more than a specific number of days of comp-off leave per month aligns with organizational policies. Setting an expiration period for leave credits encourages timely utilization, promoting employees' well-being. 

Managers can apply for comp-off on behalf of their team members, streamlining the approval process. Restricting the combination of comp-off leaves with other types prevents overlapping leaves and ensures efficient workforce management. The system considers holidays and weekly offs as part of the leave duration when employees apply for leave, preventing manipulation of leave requests to extend time off strategically.

Unpaid Leave

Setting up unpaid leaves is a straightforward process. First, decide the number of unpaid leaves an employee can take in a year, typically with no limit. You can also establish a prior notice period for leaves beyond a certain amount and set up an approval chain for better management. Additionally, you have the option to allow employees to request half-day leave.

In the 'more options' section, you can restrict employees from applying for unpaid leave if there is a balance in another leave type. Furthermore, you can decide if the sandwich policy will apply when the leave is taken before or after a holiday or a weekly off. This allows for more flexibility and control in managing unpaid leaves.

And with that, we have covered the configuration for all leave types. Now you are fully equipped to set up leave plans for your org precisely.