This is step 5 of 5 of the implementation module Attendances and Absences.

This article explains how to set up the company absence calendar and assign the appropriate access rights.

Note
It is important to set up the company absence calendar before creating employee roles. This is because you will later grant individual access to the calendar for every role defined under Settings > People > Employee Roles > Calendars.

What are the benefits?

Setting up the company absence calendar allows you to:

• Decide which absences are displayed in the Out today widget on the Dashboard. This will ensure employees can see at a glance who is absent and when they will return.
• Display employee absences in the Absence Timeline (see image below).
• Ensure all or a subset of employees can see when their colleagues are absent without showing the specific type of absence. Optionally, you can configure roles to allow certain employees, such as supervisors or managers, to see the specific type of absence. 

Step 1: Set up the company absence calendar

To set up the company absence calendar, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > Work Hours and Absences > Company Calendar.
2. Under Choose absence types, select the absence types you want the calendar to display by checking the relevant boxes.
   
   
3. Click Apply changes.

Tip
Every time you create a new absence type, you will need to check the relevant box in the settings to ensure the absence type appears in the company absence calendar.

Step 2: Set up access rights

Notes
▶︎ Calendar access rights relate to the Company Calendar and not the absence tabs of individual employees. The access rights set here may override "View" permissions stored in the general access rights.
▶︎ It is important to review the Calendar access rights for each role to determine whether employees with that role can see others' absences, and if so, which types of absence. 

After you have configured the absence calendar, you can assign access rights. This will determine which employees can see certain absence periods and types. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > People > Employee Roles.
2. Under Roles, select the relevant role, and then click the Calendars tab on the right.
   
   

   Tip
   We recommend that you set up calendar access for the role All employees first. This is the most sensitive role in terms of privacy, as it incorporates all of your employees. 

3. Under Company Calendar > Absences, you can define the level of visibility that employees with the role have over their colleagues' absence periods in the absence calendar. For example, if you select Global, then employees with the role can see the absence periods for everyone in the company (they will not see the type of absence unless you explicitly define this under Absence Types).
   
   
   
   The levels of visibility are as follows:
   

   Level of visibility	Details
   No access	Prevents access to the respective calendar
   Global	Shows the events of all employees
   My reports	Shows the events of one's direct and indirect reports
   Own team	Shows events within one's own team
   Own department	Shows events within one's own department
   Own office	Shows events within one's own office
   Own subcompany	Shows events within one's own subcompany
   Custom	allows a special employee filter to be created

4. Under Absence Types, you will see the available absence types that are visible for the role, for example, Paid vacation, Sick days, Parental leave, Home office, and so on. Define the level of visibility that employees with the role have over the different absence types.
5. Click Apply changes.

For more information about configuring and managing access to calendars, see our Help Center article Configure and Manage Access to the Calendar.

Note
Check if everything is set up correctly in Quality check: Absences before moving on to the next step.