Worked Example: Setting Up a Leave Policy
This page walks through modelling a realistic policy end to end, so you can see how the pieces fit together. Every screen mentioned here is covered in detail on the Creating leave types page — this is the "why" and the order.
Our example policy:
- Annual leave: 20 days a year, unused days carry forward, pro-rated for new hires.
- Casual leave: 12 days a year, accrues monthly, no carry-forward.
- New hires wait 3 months before annual leave becomes available.
Step 1 — Create the leave period
Open Leave > Leave and, on the Leave Period tab, make sure the current year exists (for example, 1 January to 31 December). See Leave periods.
Step 2 — Set the work week and holidays
On the Work Week and Holidays tabs, mark your non-working days and import your public holidays, so leave only counts working days. See Work week and holidays.
Step 3 — Create Annual Leave
On the Leave Types tab, click Add New and work through the wizard:
- Basics: name it "Annual Leave", 20 days.
- Access: let employees request it themselves.
- Rules: set a waiting period of 3 months for new joiners, and turn on Pro-rate for mid-period joiners.
- Carry forward: turn on Carry unused days to the next period.
Step 4 — Create Casual Leave
Add another leave type:
- Basics: "Casual Leave", 12 days.
- Access: employees can request it themselves.
- Rules: turn on Accrue the balance gradually so it builds up through the year.
- Carry forward: leave carry-forward off.
Step 5 — Check an employee's entitlement
Log in as an employee (or use Switch to Employee from the Employees module) and open Leave > Leave > Leave Entitlement. Each card shows the balance, and the How is this calculated? link shows the full working — see How leave is calculated.
Step 6 — Import last year's balances
If you're moving from another system, add a leave adjustment for each employee to bring their carried- over days into their first IceHrm leave period.