Managing and approving time off is a key part of running your business. Connecteam's Time Off feature digitizes the process with no calculations needed: create policies, assign them to your employees, and let Connecteam do the rest.
If your employees accrue time off based on how long they have worked at your company, you can set this up in a single policy. Connecteam checks each employee's Employment Start Date and applies the right amount automatically, so there is no need to create separate policies or move employees at each anniversary.
What Is Tenure Accrual?
Tenure accrual means your employees earn a different amount of time off based on how long they have worked at your company. For example, employees in their first year may earn 10 days of PTO, while employees with two years or more earn 15, and so on.
Before You Start
Make sure every employee who will be assigned to the policy has an Employment Start Date in their profile. Tenure is calculated from this date, and employees without one cannot be assigned to a policy that uses tenure.
Part 1: Creating a Time Off Policy Type
The first step is to create a policy type, just like you would for any other time off. Go to the Time Off tab, decide whether you are creating paid or unpaid time off, and click Add Type. Choose one of the existing policy types or create a custom one.
In the example below, we created a Paid Time Off (PTO) type.
Part 2: Creating a Tenure Accrual Policy
Next, create one policy that grants time off by tenure.
Go to the Time Off tab.
Under the relevant policy type, click Add Policy.
Enter a policy name, for example "PTO by Tenure".
Under Do you want to limit the amount of time off employees can take?, select Yes, there is a limit. This means employees receive a set amount of time off.
Under Accrual Settings, select Fixed or Earned per hour.
Fixed: employees receive a set amount of time off at each accrual cycle.
Earned per hour: employees receive a set amount of time off for every set number of hours worked.
To learn more about the differences, check out Time Off: What are Policy Accrual Settings?
For Fixed, select the Accrual Cycle. To learn more, check out Time Off: What is an Accrual Cycle?
In the Amount earned section, select Based on tenure.
Enter the base amount that applies from the employee's first day.
Click Add another to create a tenure rule.
Enter the number of months after which the rule starts.
Enter the amount employees earn from that point on.
Repeat steps 9-11 for each tenure level.
Complete the remaining policy settings:
The work days the policy applies to and the work hours per day.
Whether time off requests require admin approval.
The minimum notice employees must give when requesting time off.
The carry over limit, meaning how many hours can transfer to the next year (Advanced plan and above).
Click Save.
Tip: The amount you enter on a Fixed policy is per accrual cycle. For example, with a monthly cycle, 8 hours per cycle equals 96 hours per year. If you change the accrual cycle later, Connecteam keeps the per-cycle amounts the same.
Note: The Accrual Preview table shows the base amount only. It does not reflect tenure levels, so employees may accrue more than the preview shows.
Tenure Rule Requirements
Each rule needs a different number of months. Duplicates are not accepted.
Each rule must change the amount. A rule that adds 0 is not accepted.
The total can never drop below 0.
Rules are listed from the shortest to the longest tenure.
Tenure With Hourly Accrual
On Hourly policies, each tenure level sets how much time off employees earn for every set number of hours worked. You can enter the rate per hour worked or as a ratio, for example 1 hour earned per 20 hours worked.
If the policy is earned per hour, you can also set a Yearly accrual limit to stop employees from accruing time off once they reach the yearly limit. The yearly accrual limit is available on the Advanced plan and above.
Other Settings That Support Tenure
On the Advanced plan and above, tenure levels can also be set for the yearly accrual limit, the carry over limit, and the maximum balance.
Using the Employee Anniversary as the Start of the Year
Under Beginning of the Year, select Employee Anniversary to start each employee's accrual year on their work anniversary instead of a calendar date. Carry over and yearly limits then reset on each employee's own anniversary.
Tip: Tenure rules and the anniversary year start are separate settings. Use the anniversary start when you want the year to reset per employee, and tenure rules when you want the amount to grow.
Part 3: Assigning the Policy and Setting Balances
Open the policy and click Edit Assignments.
Select the employees who should follow this policy. Every employee you add needs an Employment Start Date.
Set each employee's starting balance. Each employee has a unique balance based on the time off they have already accrued.
Once assigned, nothing needs to be done when an employee reaches an anniversary. Connecteam applies the right amount automatically.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a separate policy for each year of service?
No. A single policy with Based on tenure selected grants the right amount automatically based on each employee's Employment Start Date.
What happens when an employee reaches their work anniversary?
Nothing is needed on your side. Connecteam picks the right amount for their tenure at every accrual, and the employee stays in the same policy with their balance intact.
What happens if an employee has no Employment Start Date?
Tenure accrual cannot be calculated without it. Add the Employment Start Date to the employee's profile before assigning the policy.
Can I use smart groups to assign tenure policies?
No. Time off policies are assigned to individual users, not smart groups, because an employee can be in more than one smart group but can only have one policy per type.
Which plan includes tenure accrual?
Advanced and above.
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