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Create time off types

To effectively manage your employees’ time off, you need to set up different types of time off in Personio. You can create two types of time off: 

  • Standard time off, during which employees are not expected to work. For example: paid leave, sick days, or special leave.
  • Productive time off, during which employees must work. For example: work from home, business trip, or training. 

This article offers an overview of the setup process, explaining each of the available settings in detail. For each time off type, you must create at least one time off policy.

Before you start

  • To create new types of time off, you need permissions to Account configuration > Time off.
  • You can't make comments on a time off request mandatory. 
  • This article uses the terms "standard" and "productive"  to describe and group typical use cases. They are not values or categories you can select directly in Personio. Configure the time off type using the available Category options and settings, and use the descriptions below to choose the behavior that fits your use case.

Create a new type of time off

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. In the Time off & attendance section, click Time off.
  3. Add a new time off type.
  4. Fill out the settings, described in detail below.
  5. Create the time off type.
  6. Add at least one time off policy.

Time off settings

Settings Description and notes
Name Use a descriptive and unique name. Your employees see this name when requesting time off.
Custom ID A unique custom ID helps you identify the time off more easily in your reports. Not visible to your employees.
Calendar color Employees with necessary permissions see this color in their Time off tab and in the Team Calendar.
Category Choose the correct category for the time off type, as this impacts different functionalities across Personio.
Time unit Select between daily or hourly time off. Once you create the time off, you can’t change this setting.
Reduce target hours and count any time tracked as overtime during time off?

We recommend enabling this option for all your standard time off types. For example: paid vacation and sick leave. When enabled:

  • Any working time the employee tracks during these time off types counts as overtime.
  • Approved time off displays as time off in the Attendance tab.
  • Employees don't receive automatic deficit hours when they don't track time during these time off types.
  • Employees on an hourly wage get their normal pay for the hours they’re absent.

Disable this option for productive time off, such as work from home or training.

Assign the new type of time off to your employees

After creating the new type of time off, follow these steps to make sure they can see and request it:

  1. Go to Settings. 
  2. In the Organization section, click Roles & permissions.
  3. Click the employee role you want to be able to request the time off and click Permissions. If you want all of your employees to be able to request it, click All employees > Permissions.
  4. Scroll down and click Time off.
  5. Locate the new time off type you just created, and tick Own under Propose.
  6. Review the changes and save.
  7. Assign a time off policy to your employees.

My employees can't see or request time off

If your employees can't see or request a specific time off type, ensure that:

  1. You have given them the relevant permissions, as described in the section above.
  2. You have assigned them a time off policy.

Next steps

  1. Set up an approval process for time off requests.
  2. Decide how the new time off type displays in the Team Calendar.
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