This feature will be available soon to existing customers and will require an additional purchase to be enabled for your ExakTime account. For more information, please contact your sales rep/account manager.
Time Off is a feature for ExakTime Connect that allows you to:
- Set up Time Off Plans for employees to accrue time off.
- Specify your employee's Time Off balance, if they can request partial days off, or have their time off balance go negative.
- Allow employees to request time off.
- Approve time off requests.
The Time Off system does not take into account any previously used method to track time off such as manually created locations, cost codes, etc. If you created your own method to track paid time off, it may be best to cease your method and begin using the Time Off feature of ExakTime as it is integrated into ExakTime.
Table of Contents
- How Accruals are Processed
- Requirements
- Permissions for Time Off
- Setting Up Time Off Plans
- Time Off Requests
- Time Records Generated For Time Off Requests
- Time Off Notifications
- Mapping in Accountlinx and Exporting
How Accruals are Processed
Accrual balance updates and deductions based on approved requests occur when a pay period is closed. Re-opening a closed pay period will revert accrual and time off request updates.
Completed Request
Pending Time Off Request ➡ Approved ➡ Pay Period Closed ➡ Request Completed and Hours from Time Off Requests Are Deducted from Employee's Time Off Balance
Expired Request
Pending Time Off Request ➡ Pay Period Closed Prior to Approval ➡ Request Expired
If a time off request was pending and not approved when the pay period was closed, then that request is expired even if that request was meant to be approved. The pay period will need to be reopened, the request recreated, and approved prior to the re-closing of the pay period.
Please Note
Time Off accruals will not backfill previously closed pay periods prior to setting up Time Off. If adding employees and transferring balances from a third party, the starting balance per employee can be added per plan on the "Manage Employees" tab.
Requirements
Your company must have a defined pay period and have pay period closing enabled so we can process your accruals and time off requests properly.
If you are unsure if you have a defined pay period or pay period closing enabled, you can double-check on ExakTime Connect.
It may be best to consult other decision-makers if you are defining a pay period as you can only have one pay period and the pay period can affect other features such as pay period closing. It is also important to get it set correctly the first time as changing your pay period can
- Go to Manage and click Company Settings.
- Click the Time & Attendance tab.
- Scroll down and make sure that you have a defined pay period.
- If the current pay period schedule type is "No Predefined Pay Periods", then you must select the type of pay period and when the pay period should start.
- If you have set up your pay period and pay period start date, double-check the first day of your work week. The first day of the work week is used for your policies.
- Save your changes.
The pay period closing must be enabled and be in use for your time off requests and accruals to process.
- Go to Manage and click Company Settings.
- Click the Time & Attendance tab.
- Scroll down and enable Pay Period Closing and make sure that it has been enabled. This will not automatically close a pay period. An employee must close the pay period manually.
- You can enable a message to appear on the Time Card Summary screen so supervisors/managers will be aware of when time records should be finalized.
- Save your changes.
If you have not used pay period closing before, refer to the following article on how to do so.
ExakTime Mobile Requirements
For your employees to review, submit, and/or approve time off requests, they must be using ExakTime Mobile version 2.85.
If you or your employees are unsure if they have the appropriate version, please refer to the following article for steps on how to check.
Permissions for to Access/Use Time Off
ExakTime Connect administrators will have full "Time Off" permission enabled by default. Other ExakTime Connect Security Roles will need the appropriate permissions enabled, such as your basic employees to request time off and managers to approve time off requests.
- Go to Manage and click Security Roles.
- Click the ExakTime Connect tab.
- Select an existing security role or create a new security role.
- Enable the appropriate Time Off permissions from the options on the right-hand side.
- Time Off Plans - Allows access to create/edit time off plans. Add and manage employee plan assignment. Allows access to Time Off Plans page
- Approve Time Off Requests - Allows access to the Approvals and All Requests tab under Time Off Requests page
- Access - Allow employee to approve/deny time off requests and the ability for user to create time off request for users within their viewset
- Approve Own Requests - Allows employees to approve/deny their own time off requests.
- Request Time Off - Allows employees to create and submit their own time off requests.
- Save your changes.
Refer to related resources for any questions about Connect Security Role permissions and how to assign them.
ExakTime Mobile Administrators will have all "Time Off" permissions enabled by default. Other ExakTime Mobile Security Roles will need the appropriate permissions enabled, such as your basic employees to request time off and managers to approve time off requests.
- Go to Manage and click Security Roles.
- Select an existing security role or create a new security role.
- Enable the appropriate Time Off permissions from the options on the right-hand side.
- Approve Time Off Requests - Allows employees to approve/deny time off requests and the ability for the employee to create time off requests on behalf of other employees within their viewset
- Approve Own Requests - Allows employees to approve/deny their own time off requests.
- Request Time Off - Allows employees to create and submit their own time off requests.
- Approve Time Off Requests - Allows employees to approve/deny time off requests and the ability for the employee to create time off requests on behalf of other employees within their viewset
- Save your changes.
Refer to related resources for any questions about Mobile Security Role permissions and how to assign them.
Setting Up Time Off Plans
Time Off Requests
Time off requests can be submitted and managed from the Time Off Requests page of ExakTime Connect or ExakTime Mobile.
For more information, refer to the appropriate resource listed below:
Time Records Generated For Time Off Requests
When a time off request is approved, time records will be automatically created on the employee's time cards.
- Time Off time records will appear with a
green calendar icon.
- Time Off time records cannot be edited or deleted from time card details.
- Approved Time Off requests that are canceled will also delete the time off time records from time cards.
- To remove any Time Off time records, the pay period must be open and the Time Off request must be cancelled. If the pay period is closed, the pay period must be reopened.
- The Location assigned is based on the Plan Type per plan. The default ID is Time Off. IDs can be changed using the Accountlinx program with Mapping.
- The Cost Code assigned is based on the Plan Name per plan. The default ID is Time Off. IDs can be changed using the Accountlinx program with Mapping.
- The Start time per time record is based on the Time Off request start time per day. The Stop time is based on the Start time plus the requested hours per day.
Time Off Record and Policies
Time records created by Time Off requests are exempt from policies apart from the midnight split policy. If employee policy groups include the midnight split policy, time off requests that span midnight will be split across the calendar days.
Time Off Notifications
Time Off has added some Notifications that are enabled by default. You can enabled/disable specific notifications as desired.
You can access these notifications by clicking your profile icon towards the top-right and clicking My Settings.
Employees can be notified by one of three channels. One notification will be sent based on the priority of email first, SMS second, and push last.
- Email - If employees have an email address on their Exaktime profile.
- SMS - If an employee does not have an email address on their Exaktime profile but does have a mobile phone number.
- Push - If an employee does not have an email address or mobile phone number on their Exaktime Profile. To receive push notifications the user must be logged in to the Exaktime app when the notification is sent.
ExakTime Web and/or Mobile users who have permission to approve time off requests will also see the submitted for approval notification option. This notification will alert the manager that a request has been submitted and is pending review. The system defines an approver as one who has approval permission and has users within their viewset. For Time Off, users with all employees as their viewset are still eligible for request submitted for approval notifications. Individual users who are designated as approvers can disable the approver notification under My Settings on web or Notification Settings on the mobile app.
Mapping in Accountlinx and Exporting
Time Off system created location and cost codes have the default ID of “Time Off”. When exporting to your third-party accounting system. You can use Accountlinx to map Time Off created locations and cost codes to your accounting system IDs. After creating Time Off Plans, within Accountlinx open Map Cost Codes and/or Map Locations and enter the payroll IDs for any relevant time off location and cost code.
Please Note
if using the Accountlinx Integration feature, the updated ID you entered will be shown on users' Time Card Details and Reports on ExakTime Connect.