How to Add a Fixed Holiday Entitlement

This video will go through how to set up and manage your fixed holiday entitlement. 

What is Fixed Holiday Entitlement?

Fixed holiday entitlement is used when staff are given a fixed amount of holiday, such as 28 days or  224 hours for the annual year. 
This entitlement is given annually. However, there are two different approaches to this type of entitlement.

These are - 

• Fixed Yearly Entitlement (using contract start and end dates)

• Fixed Entitlement (Based on Weeks Worked)

Fixed Yearly Entitlement (Pro Rata)

Fixed yearly entitlement is used when there is a fixed yearly holiday allowance, meaning that staff members can request holiday immediately from their contract start date. If someone joins part-way through a holiday year, the amount will be pro rata down to this, reducing their allowance automatically.

We will now go through how to set this up. Go to Pay > Contracts > Manage Contracts to find your holiday options. 

Then, go to the holiday tab of the contract to which you want to apply these holiday rules to see the Fixed Holiday options. Then select the ‘Yearly Entitlement (Pro-rated based on contract start/end dates)'.

With this entitlement, there are three ways in which a holiday can be calculated. 

Simple Mode

The first is 'Simple mode', which we recommend. This mode is used for anyone with a working pattern set up who isn’t reliant on shifts. It allows staff to book a full day or a half day off work when booking a holiday.

Complex Mode

The second is 'Complex' mode.

The complex option will use shifts to calculate holiday usage carefully down to the minute. You can use this option if you're tracking shifts and time entries. It’s a more detailed calculation based on shifts worked, allowing holidays to be taken in as little as one-hour blocks.

It will use the shifts already scheduled in the system to determine what days or hours should be considered when deducting holiday entitlement.

Fixed Pay Mode

'Fixed pay mode' is used when staff are not paid by the hour but receive a set amount of pay for each shift they work. This approach is often used in companies where shifts might be longer or overnight, and the pay is set based on specific elements tied to the type of shifts.

When using this option, holidays are also calculated by shifts. Staff can request holidays as either full or half shifts. For example, if an employee normally works three shifts a week, they can take one shift off as a holiday and be paid the fixed amount for that shift, which would equate to the same as if they were working that shift.

Fixed Entitlement based on Previous Weeks Worked

The second type of fixed entitlement is Yearly Entitlement, which is based on previous weeks of work. For this option, choose the number of days of entitlement that the staff is entitled to. Then, select the period in which the holiday pay average is calculated. The period used to review hours worked can be between 4, 12 or 52 weeks, with the most commonly used being 52 weeks.

The system will measure the hours worked within that period to calculate holiday pay.

This means that holidays are averaged over a longer period of time to smooth out busy periods. They are calculated based on time entries approved in the system. The system will total all the hours worked over the review period, including busy and quiet periods. Then, calculate an average. 

These are your main options when it comes to calculating fixed holiday entitlement. If you would like to learn more about other types of entitlement, go to our video on Earn and Claim Holiday.