The policies and processes for handling time away from work, both planned and unplanned. The goal is balance: people take the time they need while the business keeps enough coverage to run.
In HarmoniHRM: Employee Management handles leave requests, balances and approvals on the same record as the rest of your workforce data.
A pattern of unplanned absence beyond what illness alone would explain. It is usually a symptom of something else, such as disengagement, burnout or a problem at home or at work, so the right response starts with a conversation rather than a sanction.
Paid holiday an employee is entitled to each year, usually on top of public holidays. Entitlements vary hugely by country: UK law guarantees a statutory minimum that includes public holidays, while US federal law guarantees none at all.
In HarmoniHRM: Employee Management calculates leave balances automatically from policy, tenure and entitlement.
The written rules on when and where people are expected to work: start times, lateness, shift swaps and how to report an unplanned absence. A clear policy protects both sides, because attendance issues get handled the same way for everyone instead of manager by manager.
Unused leave moved from one holiday year into the next. Most companies cap it, and some countries regulate how much must or must not carry, so the rule needs writing down before December, not during it.
Time off following a bereavement or serious family crisis, sometimes called bereavement leave. Many countries leave it largely to employer policy, which is exactly why a clear and humane policy matters.
A temporary, employer initiated pause or reduction in work, with the job kept open for the person’s return. The term became widely known during the pandemic, when many governments subsidised the wages of furloughed workers.
Requiring someone who is leaving to serve their notice at home: still employed and paid, but away from work, systems and clients. It protects the business while keeping the person bound by their contractual obligations.
Building up leave entitlement gradually over time worked, such as earning one twelfth of the annual allowance each month. Accrual maths matters most for new joiners, leavers and part timers, where entitlement is rarely a round number.
How much leave someone has left to take: entitlement plus any carry over, minus what is booked or already taken. Most leave disputes trace back to two systems disagreeing about this number.
In HarmoniHRM: Approved leave in Employee Management updates the balance and the person’s presence everywhere it is shown, including on Organo.
Hours worked beyond someone’s contracted or standard hours. Whether it must be paid, and at what premium, is set by law in many countries, such as the premium rate the US FLSA requires for non exempt workers.
The umbrella term, most common in the US, for paid leave of any kind. Some companies pool holiday, sick and personal days into a single PTO balance rather than tracking each type separately.
Time off connected to the birth or adoption of a child, covering maternity, paternity, adoption and shared variants. Entitlement and pay differ more between countries than almost any other kind of leave, so global policies need local footnotes.
Being at work while too unwell, or too disengaged, to actually perform. It is harder to see than absence and often costs more, because it looks like attendance while quietly eroding output and spreading illness.
A day when a country, or sometimes a region within it, closes for a national or religious observance, called a bank holiday in the UK. Which days apply, whether working them earns a premium, and whether they sit inside or on top of annual leave all vary by country, which is exactly where global leave policies go wrong.
In HarmoniHRM: Company Calendar shows public holidays per country on their own overlay, and leave day counts in Employee Management exclude them automatically.
An extended break from work, often unpaid or partly paid, typically offered after several years of service. Companies use sabbaticals to retain experienced people who need a proper pause rather than a new employer.
The recurring schedule of working times for people who do not work standard office hours, such as rotating earlies, lates and nights. Designing patterns that meet demand without burning people out is a discipline of its own, and minimum rest rules apply in many countries.
Time off work because of illness or injury. What gets paid during sickness ranges from full salary to statutory minimums to nothing at all, depending on the country and the contract.
Leave the law requires employers to provide, such as minimum paid holiday, sick leave or parental leave, as distinct from anything more generous a company chooses to offer. The statutory floor differs sharply by country, so a global leave policy is really a set of local ones with a shared spirit.
Tracking when people actually work: clock ins, clock outs, breaks and shifts. It feeds payroll, reveals patterns such as persistent lateness, and in many industries it is a legal record keeping duty.
In HarmoniHRM: Employee Management includes live time and attendance, with a real time board showing who is clocked in, late or absent, and geofenced check in for field teams.
Extra time off granted instead of overtime pay when someone works beyond their hours. It needs tracking like any other balance, or it quietly evaporates and turns into resentment.
A record of hours worked in a period, submitted by the employee or captured automatically. Payroll for hourly staff and billing for client work both depend on timesheets being accurate and on time.
A policy with no fixed annual allowance: people take the leave they need with manager approval. In practice people often take less than under a fixed allowance, so healthy versions set expected minimums and track actual usage.
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