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Manage absences tracked in hours

 

Personio allows you to track employee absences either in days or in hours, depending on the local or company standards you need to comply with.

You can choose between one or the other when creating a new absence type through the settings.

What are absences tracked in hours, and how are they different from the ones tracked in days?

Absence tracking in days allows you to track either full-day or half-day absences (optional).

Absence tracking in hours, on the other side, allows you to track:

    • full-day absences (e.g., an absence of 8 hours over the course of a day) such as a vacation day. 
    • multi-day absences (e.g., an absence of 8 hours over the course of two days or, in other words, an absence starting at 13:00 and ending at 12:00 the day after).
    • partial-day absences (e.g., an absence of 2 hours over the course of a day) such as doctor appointments or sudden absences due to urgent matters.

Tip
Note that the net duration of absences tracked in hours is calculated based on employees’ working times according to their working schedules during the absence period. As an example, a full-day absence tracked in hours will account for 4 hours if the employee is scheduled for 4 hours on that day.

 

How to

Create an absence type tracked in hours

  1. Go to Settings > Work Hours and Absences > Absence, click on Add new and enter a name for the new absence type.
  2. Select a calendar color for the absence type and also a category.
  3. Select Hours in the Time unit option. Keep in mind that you will not be able to change the unit of time after the absence type has been successfully created.
  4. Define if employees need to upload a certificate when requesting this absence type.
  5. Define if employees currently substituting for someone can request this absence type.
  6. Define how the effective duration of absences tracked in hours are calculated (including or excluding weekends and public holidays) in the Validity settings option.
  7. Define if time tracked through the Attendance tab during this absence type should be considered as working time and hence, overtime.
  8. Click on Add absence type to save your settings.

Tip
Employees need to be given at least viewing rights to see that absence type in Employee profile > Absence, and at least proposal rights to be able to request it in Employee profile > Absence.

Employees also need to be given separate access rights to see other employee's absences in their company calendar. Find more information in this article.

 

Create an accrual policy for an absence type tracked in hours

  1. Go to Settings > Work Hours and Absences > Absence and select the absence type you created in the previous step.
  2. Scroll down and click on Create accrual policy. 
  3. In General settings, enter a name for the accrual policy, define if the accrual year should start on a custom date, or on the employees' work anniversary each year, and enter the annual entitlement in hours.
  4. In Granting, define the granting mode to allocate the entitlement all at once (on January 1st or the employee's work anniversary, depending on what you have selected in the previous step) or in monthly installments (upfront or at the end of each fully worked month). If you select All at once, you will see the Rounding rules option, and you will be able to define if the yearly absence entitlement should be rounded up or stay as it is. 
  5. In Employment start/end, define if you wish to activate temporary granting mode and if so, define the length of the period (X months) and the number of hours to be granted at the end of each fully-worked month during that period. Define also the applicable proration rule for Start of employment and End of employment. 

    Note
    Temporary granting mode means that the employees to which the accrual policy is assigned will only receive a limited entitlement for a certain amount of time after hire date, and will eventually receive the remaining entitlement.  

  6. In Carryover, define if employees will be able to carry over their entitlement to the next year and if so, how many hours and for how long.
  7. In Tenure-based rules, define if the employee's annual entitlement should automatically increase based on how long they stay in the company. If so, define the frequency (only granted once, or once every X years), the number of granted hours and also the granting moment (on the day of the tenure anniversary or at the start of the accrual period after the work anniversary).
  8. In Summary, check that the configuration is correct and click Confirm and create.

    Note
    You will only be able to edit an accrual policy while it has no employees assigned to it.

 

Assign an accrual policy for an absence type tracked in hours

  1. Go to Employee list either directly from the policy setting or by clicking on the Employees.png icon.
  2. Select all the employees you want to assign the accrual policy to and click on Actions > Change accrual policy.
  3. Choose the absence type tracked in hours and select the accrual policy you want to assign as well as when it should be applied from.
  4. Confirm this by clicking on Update policy. Alternatively, you can also assign an accrual policy directly through the employee's profile.
  5. Search for the specific employee and go to Employee profile > Absence. 
  6. Choose the absence type tracked in hours in the right column and click on Manage policy. 
  7. Select the Accrual policy you want to assign and when it is Applicable from
  8. Confirm this by clicking on Update policy.

 

Convert overtime into absence balance tracked in hours

convert-overtime_en-us.png

  1. Go to Employee profile > Attendance > Overtime & Deficit Hours.
  2. Click on the three dots icon located within the widget and click on More details.
  3. Click on Convert Overtime to Compensatory Time Off to open a new window.

    ▶︎ The employee's current overtime balance will be displayed on top.
    ▶︎ In Convert overtime to, select the relevant absence type tracked in hours.
    ▶︎ In Effective date, enter the date for the change to take place.
    ▶︎ In Overtime hours to convert, enter the number of overtime hours to be converted.
    ▶︎ In Conversion factor, determine how many overtime hours will equal to a new hour off. 
    ▶︎ In Compensatory time, you will see the number of new hours off that the employee will receive.

  4. Click on Convert to perform the change.
  5. Go to Employee profile > Absence and click on the relevant absence tracked in hours to see the new absence balance under Entitlement.

 

Create custom reports that include absences types tracked in hours 

  1. Go to Reports > Custom Reports > Create a custom report.
  2. Add a name and description for the new custom report.
  3. Choose the type Timeframe and select a date.
  4. Add the attributes you’re interested in as table columns.
  5. Add the COLLECTION: ABSENCE TYPES (6 COLUMNS) attribute section. You can select all or specific absence types. This collection attribute will add the following columns for each absence type to the report: Absence type, Custom ID, Absence start date, Absence end date, Duration of absence (days), Duration of absence (hours).
  6. Add the following attributes from the ABSENCE ATTRIBUTES section: Balance today (hours), Balance at beginning of timeframe chosen in report (hours), Balance at end of timeframe chosen in report.


Import absence periods tracked in hours in bulk

  1. Download the Excel template EN Absence Periods Upload available in this article's Downloads section. Alternatively, you can create your own template (supported formats: .xlsx, .csv, .xls), which will need to include the same eight columns:

    ▶︎ Employee's email address, exactly as stored in Personio
    ▶︎ Absence type, exactly as stored in Personio (incl. case sensitive)
    ▶︎ Start date; in the format DD.MM.YYYY
    ▶︎ End date; in the format DD.MM.YYYY
    ▶︎ Start time; in the format HH:MM
    ▶︎ End time; in the format HH:MM
    ▶︎ Half-day first day; if the first day has been taken as a half-day absence (1 for yes, otherwise leave blank)
    ▶︎ Half-day last day; if the last day has been taken as a half-day absence (1 for yes, otherwise leave blank)

  2. Fill out the Excel template with the information regarding your employee's hourly absences.

    Note
    Start and end times are only needed for partial-day absences tracked in hours (for example, a doctor's appointment from 10:00 am to 11:00 am). These columns can be ignored for both full-day and multi-day absences tracked in hours.

    Note
    If you copy-paste the data into the Excel template, make sure to change the format of both the Start time and End time columns to text afterwards (Right click > Format cells > Category > Text).

  3. Go to Imports > Absence periods upload and upload the Excel file. 
  4. Assign the columns in your Excel file to the corresponding attributes stored in Personio.
  5. Review the preview of the import and click on Import if everything is correct.

 


Import accrual balance tracked in hours in bulk

    1. Download the Excel template EN Accrual Balance Upload available in this article's Downloads section. Alternatively, you can create your own template (supported formats: .xlsx, .csv, .xls), which will need to include the same four columns.

      ▶︎ Employee's email address; exactly as stored in Personio
      ▶︎ Absence type, exactly as stored in Personio (incl. case sensitive)
      ▶︎ Balance; in the format DD or HH depending on the unit of time set for the absence type. If the balance also includes a half day or a half hour, then it must be entered in the format DD.5 or HH.5.
      ▶︎ Balance date (optional); in the format DD.MM.YYYY.

    2. Fill out the Excel template with the information regarding your employee's accrual balance.

    3. Go to Imports > Accrual balance upload and then upload the Excel file. 
    4. Assign the columns in your Excel file to the corresponding attributes stored in Personio.
    5. Review the preview of the import and click on Import if everything is correct.