This article explains how to schedule an unpaid, long-term time off period for an employee in Personio, like a parental leave or a sabbatical. If you want to schedule a maternity protection period instead, follow this process.

When an employee is on a long-term leave:

• Their status changes from Active to Leave. At the end of the leave period, the status changes back.
• They don’t receive any Personio notifications.
• Their salary and recurring compensation payments are paused. If the start or end date of the leave occurs mid-month, the payment is prorated for that month.
• If you’re scheduling a time off type with German country-specific rules, they don’t accrue any time off entitlement for each full month of leave.

Add the leave period to the employee's profile

1. If you don’t have one yet, create a new time off type. For correct salary and time off calculations, we recommend to choose the Unpaid leave category.
2. Go to the relevant profile and click the three dots in the top right corner > Schedule leave.
3. Add the start and end dates, and choose the relevant time off type.
4. Save the changes.

After you save the leave period:

• The employee's status automatically changes from Active to Leave during the defined leave period. When the leave ends, the status changes back.
• Details about the leave period appear in the employee profile, under HR Information.
• The leave period appears as a time off in both the employee's Time off tab and the Time off Calendar.

Add the leave period to the payroll export

1. Go to Settings > Payroll > Salary & Payroll.
2. In Attributes & compensation types in personal info tab, add these fields:
   • Leave starts
   • Leave ends
   • Leave comment
3. Confirm the changes.

Edit a leave period

You can update a leave period at any time. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the relevant employee profile, and click Personal info > Edit.
2. Locate the Status attribute. By default, this is in the HR information section.
   • To edit the leave period dates, click the pen icon.
   • To remove the leave altogether, click the X.
   • To end the leave early, change the status back to Active. This adjusts the end date automatically.
3. Confirm the changes.

Set up part-time work during parental leave

You can use Personio to keep track of any employees who want to work part-time during their parental leave. Follow these steps:

1. If you don’t have a part-time work schedule for the employee, create one. Ensure the part-time time off calculation setting is enabled.
2. Edit the leave period and set its end date to the day the employee starts working part-time.
3. In the employee’s profile, go to the Attendance tab.
4. Click the three dots in the tab > Work schedule details > Change schedule.
5. Select the correct schedule and effective date, then save the changes.
6. Schedule a change for the employee’s Weekly hours attribute. This affects the employee’s salary and their FTE value.