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# Managing an employee's time off

Learn how, as an HR admin, you handle one colleague's time off: linking time off policies, adding an extra entitlement, correcting a balance and booking time off. As a Manager you can book time off here for your direct reports.

#### Where do you find it?
Go to People → \[name] → Time off.

#### What do you see?
**Balances**: for each type of time off, the period and how many days are Approved, Pending and Remaining. A policy without a limit shows Unlimited. Separate entitlements, for example for parental leave, also appear here as their own row.
**Time off**: all of the colleague's requests and bookings, with their status.
Want to know how a balance adds up? Click the three dots next to the time off type and choose View balance details. You'll see, among other things, what came From earlier years, what was Worked out this year, what was Taken, any Adjustments, what Expired and the Current balance. If leave was settled when the colleague left, there's also a Final settlement line.

| Tip: does the colleague's contract start later? Then you'll see "The balance below counts from when the contract starts on [date]".

#### Linking or unlinking time off policies
Which time off policies a colleague has decides which balances you see. Policies with Auto-assign to new employees are linked to new colleagues automatically. For someone with a different arrangement, you do it by hand.
1. Go to People → \[name] → Time off.
2. Click Actions and choose Set policies.
3. Tick the policies that apply to the colleague, and untick any that don't (any more).
4. Click Save.

Good to know:
* A policy you add here counts for the whole current year, from when their contract started.
* If you remove a policy, its remaining days disappear from view. Add it back later and they return.
* To create a policy or change its rules, go to Company Settings → Time off policies. See [Setting up time off policies](https://help.heartsome.co/en/article/setting-up-time-off-policies-1ewoihe/).

#### Adding an entitlement
An entitlement is a one-off number of days off for a fixed period, separate from the yearly policy. Think of parental leave for a child, pregnancy leave, a sabbatical or days for a training course.
1. Go to People → \[name] → Time off.
2. Click Actions and choose Add entitlement.
3. Choose the Type: Unpaid leave, Pregnancy leave, Maternity leave, Paternity/partner leave, Parental leave, Sabbatical, Training or Compensatory time.
4. Enter the Number of days. Half days are fine.
5. Choose the Validity period: a from date and a to date.
6. Add a Reference if you like, for example the child's name for parental leave.
7. Click Add entitlement.

The entitlement appears as its own row under Balances. To change or remove it later, click the three dots next to it and choose Edit entitlement or Remove.

| Tip: does the colleague have two children who each give a right to parental leave? Add two entitlements, each with the child's name as the reference, so you can keep them apart.

#### Correcting a balance
Is a balance wrong, for example because the colleague still had days in your old system, or because you agreed on extra days? Then you set it straight.
1. Go to People → \[name] → Time off.
2. Click the three dots next to the time off type.
3. Under the policy name, choose Update balance.
4. You'll see what Heartsome currently shows, for example "15 days left (3 of them booked)".
5. Under "How many days does \[name] actually have left today?", enter the right number.
6. Add a Reason if you like, for example "2 extra days agreed when they joined".
7. Click Save.

So you don't enter how many days to add or take off, but how many are left in total today. Heartsome works out the difference itself.

|| Note: time off that has been booked but not yet taken still counts as "left" here. If the colleague has 15 days, 3 of which are booked for next month, and that's right, enter 15, not 12.

Good to know:
* Update balance is only available for policies with a fixed number of days. Unlimited time off has no balance to correct.
* Every correction shows up under Adjustments in the Balance details, and in the Change log.
* You can also set existing balances for new colleagues in one go with an import. See [Importing colleagues from a spreadsheet](https://help.heartsome.co/en/article/importing-colleagues-from-a-spreadsheet-17a3d64/).
* Is the colleague leaving? Then don't use Update balance, but settle their leave via the leaving checklist. See [Settling leave when someone leaves](https://help.heartsome.co/en/article/settling-leave-when-someone-leaves-ur3zej/).

#### Booking time off for a colleague
As an HR admin or Manager you can book time off directly. No approval is needed: the booking is Approved straight away.
1. Go to People → \[name] → Time off.
2. Click Book time off.
3. Fill in the form, just like a normal request. See [Requesting time off](https://help.heartsome.co/en/article/requesting-time-off-tp1x3s/).
4. Click Book time off.
The colleague gets a message that time off has been booked for them.

You can also book time off with the Book time off button on your Pulse. You'll first choose who it's for.

While you fill in the form, Heartsome shows how many days are left and how many will be left after this booking. If your company only lets people take holiday they've already built up by then, and this booking goes beyond that, you'll see a warning. You can still go ahead with Book anyway. The booking's History will then record that you chose to do so.

#### Reviewing requests and changing bookings
The colleague's open requests also appear on this tab, with a Review button. To change or cancel an approved booking, use the three dots next to it. How that works is explained in [Reviewing time off requests](https://help.heartsome.co/en/article/reviewing-time-off-requests-vkh6oz/).

Want to see who did what with a request? Choose History from the three dots.

#### Who can do what?
|  | HR admin and account owner | Manager (direct reports only) | The colleague |
| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| View balances and time off | Yes | Yes | Yes, under You → Time off |
| View balance details | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Book time off (approved straight away) | Yes | Yes | No, request only |
| Review requests | Yes | Yes | No |
| Set policies | Yes | No | No |
| Add entitlement | Yes | No | No |
| Update balance | Yes | No | No |