The Allowances section under Settings lets you manage balances such as vacation days, overtime hours, or other absence-related quotas. These allowances can be linked to specific leave types for automatic tracking and deduction.

​
When to use allowances

Allowances are especially useful if you want to:
  • Control leave usage: Ensure employees cannot take more leave than their allocated allowance.
  • Monitor leave balances: Keep track of how many days or hours employees have used and how much remains.
  • Manage specific quotas: Allocate specific days or hours for certain leave types, such as “Vacation” or “Overtime.”

​
Example: When allowances may not be necessary

Some leave types, like Sick Leave, typically do not require a fixed quota. Instead, it is often sufficient to simply track how many days or hours an employee has used. In such cases, you can:
  • Track leave usage: Use the employee’s Overview page in absentify to see all recorded absences for a specific leave type.
  • Export data: Use the Excel Export feature to generate detailed reports that show how many days employees have taken for a specific leave type within a selected period.
For leave types like Sick Leave, which are generally uncapped, allowances are not required. Simply track the usage via the employee overview or export reports for a clear record.

​
Creating an allowance

  1. Navigate to Settings > Allowances and click + New allowance.
  2. Fill out the following details:
    • Name: Enter the name of the allowance (e.g., “Vacation” or “Overtime”).
    • Allowance in days or hours: Select the unit for tracking (e.g., days or hours).
The selected absence unit cannot be changed later. The leave type will automatically adjust to match the unit of the linked allowance. If requests have already been made with the leave type in a different unit, linking them will not be possible.
  • Maximum carryover: Configure how much unused allowance can be carried over to the next fiscal year and how long it remains valid:

    ​
    Maximum carryover

    • Maximum days to carry over:
      • Specifies the maximum number of unused allowance days (or hours) employees can transfer to the next fiscal year.
      • Example: If an employee has 10 unused days and the carryover is limited to 5 days, only 5 days will transfer to the next year.
    • Months after fiscal year:
      • Determines how many months employees have to use their carried-over allowance after the fiscal year ends.
      • Example: If the fiscal year ends on 31.12. and the carryover is valid for 3 months, employees can use the carried-over allowance until 31.03. of the following year.

    ​
    Examples:

    • No carryover:
      • Maximum days to carry over: 0
      • Months after fiscal year: 0
      • All unused allowances expire on 31.12..
    • Full carryover until a set date:
      • Maximum days to carry over: 0
      • Months after fiscal year: 3
      • Employees can use their full unused balance until 31.03.. Any unused days after this date will expire.
    • Partial carryover with extended validity:
      • Maximum days to carry over: 5
      • Months after fiscal year: 3
      • Employees can use their full unused balance until 31.03.. After 31.03., they retain access to up to 5 days, which do not expire.
    • Specific carryover amount with a defined deadline:
      • Maximum days to carry over: 0.5
      • Months after fiscal year: 4
      • Employees can use their full unused balance until 01.04.. After this date, they retain access to up to 0.5 days, which will remain valid indefinitely unless manually adjusted.
  • Ignore limit: Enable this option to allow employees to take more leave than allocated.
  • Default allowance for current year:
    • Set the annual quota for the current year. This is the standard amount of leave or allowance that will be automatically assigned to all employees upon creation of the allowance.
    • Example: If you set the default value to 20 days, every employee will initially receive 20 days for the current fiscal year.
  • Default allowance for next year:
    • Set the annual quota for the next fiscal year. This value will be automatically assigned to all employees for the following fiscal year.
    • Example: If you set the default value to 20 days, all employees will have 20 days of allowance assigned for the next fiscal year.
    These default values are applied universally to all employees when the allowance is created. They can later be adjusted individually for specific employees under Settings > Users > Edit > Allowances.
The time unit (days or hours) cannot be changed after the allowance is created. Ensure the correct unit is selected.
  1. Click Save to create the allowance.

​
Managing multiple allowances per employee

absentify allows each employee to have multiple allowances assigned. For example, an employee might have separate quotas for vacation, overtime, or other types of leave. To manage individual allowances for a specific employee:
  1. Navigate to Settings > Users.
  2. Select the employee you want to edit and click Edit.
  3. Under the Allowances section, you can:
    • Adjust the individual quota for each allowance.
    • Disable specific allowances: Use the Visibility toggle to hide or disable an allowance for the employee.
When an allowance is disabled for an employee, any leave types linked to that allowance will also be hidden. The employee will not see these leave types or be able to book absences against them.

​
Linking an allowance to a leave type

  1. Navigate to Settings > Leave Types.
  2. Edit an existing leave type or create a new one.
  3. Scroll to Deduct from allowance and activate the toggle.
  4. Select the allowance from the dropdown menu.
  5. Save your changes.
Leave types linked to the same allowance share the same balance. Ensure separate allowances are created if leave types need distinct quotas.

​
Adjusting allowances for new users

When adding new users, absentify automatically calculates allowances for the current fiscal year based on:
  • The user’s start date.
  • The pro-rata share of the fiscal year.
Admins can review and manually adjust these values under Settings > Users > Edit.
If allowances are manually adjusted, further changes must also be made manually if the start date or department is updated.

​
Deleting an allowance

  1. Navigate to Settings > Allowances and click the trash icon next to the allowance.
  2. If the allowance is linked to a leave type, remove the connection by editing the leave type and toggling Deduct from allowance off.
  3. Save the leave type, then delete the allowance.
Allowances linked to active leave types cannot be deleted. Ensure all connections are removed before attempting to delete.

​
Editing allowance order

To update the display order of allowances in absentify:
  1. Go to Settings > Allowances and click the grid icon next to the allowance.
  2. Drag and drop the allowance to the desired position. Changes are saved automatically.

​
Where these changes apply:

  • The Allowance section within user profiles.
  • The order of allowances displayed in each user’s calendar.
  • The order changes will only apply to allowances that are activated and visible for the specific user.
Changes to the allowance order do not affect the list of leave types displayed when users create a new leave request. To update the leave type order, refer to our guide on managing leave type order.

​
Tracking leave usage without allowances

Even if no allowance is linked to a leave type, absentify provides detailed tracking options:
  • Employee Overview: See how much leave an employee has taken, categorized by leave type.
  • Excel Export: Generate reports to review how many days or hours employees have taken in a specific period or fiscal year.
Allowances are not required for tracking purposes. Use the built-in reports to monitor leave usage without limiting employees with quotas.

​
Key considerations

  • Allowances in days or hours: Choose the correct time unit for each allowance as it cannot be changed later.
  • Carryover limits: Configure clear carryover policies to align with company guidelines.
  • Shared allowances: Multiple leave types can share the same allowance. If separate tracking is required, create distinct allowances.
  • Employee-specific allowances: Employees can have multiple allowances, and individual allowances can be adjusted or deactivated using the visibility toggle. Disabled allowances also hide linked leave types for the affected employee.
  • Alternative to allowances: For leave types like Sick Leave, which don’t require quotas, rely on the employee overview or export tools for tracking.