Time off policies regulate how employees request and accumulate time off. They ensure an efficient way to handle different types of time off like paid time off and sick leave. Each time off type can have several policies, providing flexibility to meet various employee needs and organizational demands. 

An employee can only have one policy per time off type at a time. You might need to switch to a new policy due to restructuring, policy updates, or role changes.

Note
For any type of time off an employee should be able to request, a time off policy is needed. Without it, employees won't be able to see or request the time off type. Additionally, they must have at least propose rights for that time off type. 

Before you start

Before reading on, consider these key points:

• If you apply a new time off policy with limited entitlement from the employee’s hire date, the system recalculates their time off balance.
• You can only switch between time off policies if both policies either have entitlement limitations or if neither policy does. For this reason, when you switch policies, you only see policies that match the entitlement limitation status of the current one.
• If you apply new policies retroactively, existing periods and balances may change based on the new policy settings. Plan your changes carefully and ensure all settings are correct beforehand.
• The system notifies you when switching to a policy that causes conflicts with existing time off periods. Ensure that the new policy's requirements align with current policies to avoid this.

Access and permissions

• To switch to a new time off policy or unassign it, you need edit permission to the Time off / Balance history section. 
• To edit, archive, or delete a time off policy, you need edit permission to the Account configuration > Time off section.

Switch to a new time off policy

When you switch to a new policy, the system recalculates the balance and existing time off periods covered by the new policy from the effective date. If the new policy doesn’t exist yet, create it first. You have two options: 

• Create a new policy from scratch.
• Create a duplicate of an existing policy and edit it. The duplicate includes all the same settings of the original time off policy, and won't be assigned to any employee. 

For example: You want to introduce a new time off policy that grants an additional day off when employees reach their fifth year in the company. You can create a duplicate of the existing paid time off policy and edit its tenure-based rules.

To switch to a new time off policy, follow the steps below.

Single employee

1. Go to the employee profile > Time off.
2. Go to Time off balances on the right. In the Assigned tab, you can find all time off types for which the employee currently has a policy assigned. The Unassigned tab lists all time off types the employee has no policy assigned for. If policies have been assigned only for the future, the time off type will only show in the assigned tab once the validity date has passed.
3. Click the relevant time off type > Policies.
4. Click Change policy.
5. Select the new time off policy option. Note: For one time off type, an employee can only have either policies with entitlement limitations or without entitlement limitations. For example, if an employee already has a policy with limited entitlement assigned, then you can't replace it with an unlimited entitlement policy. To switch between policies with and without entitlement limitations, you need to unassign the existing time off policy. Make sure to review the consequences of unassigning a policy.

6. In Effective from, note the following:
   ▶︎ If it’s a policy with unlimited entitlement: You can assign it from a specific date. If you want to assign it from the employee’s hire date, you need to unassign the existing policy.
   ▶︎ If it’s a policy with limited entitlement, you can assign it from one of the options shown in the table below:

   Hire date	The system assigns the new policy retroactively, with effect from the employee's hire date. This may overwrite all previously assigned time off policies.
   Start of the current period	The system assigns the new policy from the current period on, starting on the accrual year start specified in the Granting settings.
   Next entitlement period	The system assigns the new policy from the next period on, starting on the accrual year start specified in the Granting settings.
   Specific date	The system assigns the new policy from a specific date of your choosing. You can select a future date (unlimited). You can select retroactive dates from the beginning of the previous calendar year. For example, if today is 18/08/25, you can select dates as far back as 1/1/24.

7. Assign the policy.

Tip:
To ensure that past time off balances remain accurate, assign the new policy from the current, next period or a specific date.

Multiple employees (via the People list)

1. Go to Organization > People list.
2. Optional: Apply filters to narrow the selection.
3. Check the box to the left of the relevant employees’ names.
4. Click Edit time policies > Change time off policy.
5. Select the relevant time off type and policy.

6. In Effective from, note the following:
   ▶︎ If it’s a policy with unlimited entitlement: You can assign it from the employees’ hire date or select a specific date.
   ▶︎ If it’s a policy with limited entitlement, you can assign it from one of the options shown in the table below:

   Hire date	The system assigns the new policy retroactively, with effect from the employee's hire date. This may overwrite all previously assigned time off policies.
   Start of the current period	The system assigns the new policy from the current period on, starting on the accrual year start specified in the Granting settings.
   Next entitlement period	The system assigns the new policy from the next period on, starting on the accrual year start specified in the Granting settings.
   Specific date	The system assigns the new policy from a specific date of your choosing. You can select a future date (unlimited). You can select retroactive dates from the beginning of the previous calendar year. For example, if today is 18/08/25, you can select dates as far back as 1/1/24.

7. Confirm the change.

Multiple employees (via an import)

You can also change a time off policy in bulk via an import. This option is particularly useful if you need to:

• Assign time off policies to new employees quickly and reduce the time spent on manual setup.
• Assign policies to multiple employees and time off types at the same time.
• Change a policy assignment for a group of employees who are moving location or department, for example.
• Globally change a policy assignment due to local regulation or company policy. For example, if you’re granting an additional day of vacation to all employees.

You can perform the import via Settings > Organization > Imports. Learn more in our dedicated article.

Conflicts between new policy and existing periods

The system warns before switching to a new policy if it conflicts with existing time off periods. This can happen in case of different:

• Valid on Settings: The duration of the time off period is recalculated based on the validity settings of the new policy.
• Half-day Settings: If the new policy does not allow half-days anymore, any existing half day period will remain untouched unless you modify it. Then it can only be saved when changed to full day according to the new policy. 
• Certificate Requirement: If the new policy requires a certificate while the previous policy did not or the new policy requires a certificate earlier, then the certificate document status of the period is set to pending and an inbox task is created for the employee to upload it. 
• Substitute Requirement: If the new policy requires a substitute while the previous did not, the period will remain untouched. You cannot add a substitute to existing periods either. In this case, remove the existing period and create a new one with a substitute.

For example: Your current policy has no certificate requirement. An employee has a scheduled time off from February 25 to 27. On Feb 1st, you try to switch to a time off policy that requires a certificate from the second day of time off. For the existing time off period the system creates a missing certificate task in your inbox.

Edit an existing time off policy

You can only edit an existing time off policy if it’s not assigned to any employee. For this reason, we recommend copying an existing policy and editing the duplicate instead. The duplicate:

• Includes all the same settings of the original time off policy.
• Will not be assigned to any employee.

Follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Time off & Attendance > Time off.
2. Select the relevant time off type.
3. Scroll down to the relevant time off policy.
4. Click the time off policy.
5. Click the three dots > Create Copy, and confirm.
6. The duplicate is already selected. Click the three dots > Edit.
7. Rename the policy and edit the settings as needed.
8. Confirm the update.

Unassign a time off policy

Unassign a time off policy when you’ve assigned one to an employee accidentally, and you want to switch to the previous policy. When you unassign a policy:

• The system applies the previous policy to the employee. This means that the conflicts described above might apply. 
• For policies with entitlement limit, the system recalculates the employee’s time off balance based on the policy previously assigned. 
• The employee must have at least one time off policy left in their history to be able to request and modify existing periods. By removing all policies from an employee, all periods of this time off type won’t be editable. Assign a new policy to make them fully functional again. Note that the periods are calculated based on the settings of the new policy.

To unassign a time off policy, follow these steps:

Single employee

For a single employee, you can unassign one or multiple specific time off policies for a time off type at the same time. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the employee profile > Time off.
2. Go to Time off balances on the right.
3. Click the relevant time off type > Policies.
4. Click the bin icon next to the policy or policies you want to unassign.
5. Confirm the change.

Multiple employees

If you choose to unassign a time off policy in bulk for multiple employees, keep in mind that you can only unassign all the time off policies for a specific time off type. When you do this:

• Employees can't request the time off type any longer.
• Existing time off periods become uneditable.

Follow these steps:

1. Go to Organization > People list.
2. Optional: Apply filters to narrow the selection.
3. Check the box to the left of the relevant employees’ names.
4. Click Edit time policies > Change time off policy.
5. Select the relevant time off type and select Unassign all time off policies from the dropdown.
6. Confirm the change.

Archive a time off policy

Archive a time off policy when you don’t need to assign it to new employees, but some employees are still using it. Archiving also helps remove clutter in your time off settings. When you archive a time off policy:

• You can no longer assign it to employees.
• Employees currently using the policy will still see it.
• The system will use it to calculate their entitlements and to create time off periods. This means their time off balances and entitlements remain unaffected.
• This action is permanent: once you archive a policy, it cannot be unarchived.

Follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Time off & Attendance > Time off and select the relevant time off type.
2. Scroll down to the relevant time off policy.
3. Click the time off policy, then the three dots > Archive, and confirm.

Delete a time off policy

Delete a time off policy to declutter from policies you created for testing purposes, or that you’ve never assigned to anyone. When you delete a policy:

• It no longer appears anywhere in Personio.
• All the related settings are lost.
• This action is permanent: once you delete a policy, it cannot be restored.

You can only delete a time off policy if it’s not assigned to any employee, either presently or for past periods. Before following the steps below, switch to new a time off policy.

1. Go to Settings > Time off & Attendance > Time off and select the relevant time off type.
2. Scroll down and click the time off policy you want to delete.
3. Click the three dots > Delete, and confirm.