Overview: When negative time off balances are disabled for an employee, they can't request more time off than they have currently available. The Allow time off requests against projected balance setting under each time off code allows an employee to submit a time off request against the hours that are expected to accrue ahead of the request date, instead of their balance as of today. This lets employees book time off now using hours they will have earned by the date of the request.
Instructions:
Enable Projected Balance Requests
Eligible Accruals for Projected Balances
How to View Projected Balances
When Projected Balances Won't Cover a Request
Enable Projected Balance Requests
Before you begin, make sure time off and accruals are enabled and the time off type has at least one accrual rule set up.
1. Start by clicking Settings --> Time Off:
2. From the Time Off Earning Codes section, select Edit next to the time off earning code you'd like to update:
3. Check the box next to Allow time off requests against projected balance. Hover over the info icon to see a short description of the setting:
Note: This setting is enabled per code, so you can turn it on for one time off type (like Vacation) and leave it off for another (like Sick). This setting is off by default on every time off earning code.
4. Save your changes when done.
Eligible Accruals for Projected Balances
In order to calculate projected balances, only accrual frequencies that apply a set number of hours at regular intervals are eligible for consideration:
Per Pay Period
Monthly
Yearly
Hours Worked accrual rules do not qualify for projected balances because the hours that would determine the projected balance haven't been worked yet. If a time off type's only accrual rule is Hours Worked, no projection is shown for it, even with the setting turned on.
With projected balances enabled, the same limits to how time is accrued under that code will still apply:
Maximum time off balance - the projected balance will be capped at this amount. If an employee is already at (or close to) their maximum, the projection won't display hours beyond that limit.
Annual accrual cap - the projected balance will be capped at this amount. If an employee has already earned their max accruals for a code, the projected balance will not increase.
Yearly carryover settings - if balances are reset or only partially carried over at from year to year, any requests that are submitted for the next year while in the current year will consider the carryover limit.
Waiting periods - if an employee is only eligible to receive accruals for a code after a waiting period, the projected balance will reflect that.
Negative balances - if negative balances are disabled for an employee, their Projected Balance after the request must still remain at or above 0 in order to save the request.
How to View Projected Balances
For time off types with this setting on, administrators, managers, and employees will see projected balance information in a few places on the web:
Adding time off: When adding a request under a time off code with projected balances enabled, a Projected balance table will display to provide the projected balance before and after the request, as well as a badge to indicate whether the balance will be enough to cover the requested hours.
Editing time off: When editing an existing time off request, it shows a line to provide the projected balance as of the request date.
Time Off History: When reviewing an employee's time off history for a code with Projected Balances enabled, upcoming accruals appear greyed-out in chronological order with a note stating "Projected accrual (not posted yet)." Employees will be able to see the same information when accessing their Time Off Summary.
PTO Summary Report: The Projected accrual column will provide the projected total of accruals for the code as of the end date you're pulling the report for (up to 2 years in advance) and the Projected Balance on [date] column will provide what the projected balance is by the date displayed when considering all existing time off requests and projected future accruals.
When Projected Balances Won't Cover a Request
If the projected balance isn't enough to cover the request, it won't save, and an error message will display at the top:
This means that even after counting every scheduled accrual up to the date of the request, the employee wouldn't have enough hours to cover this request in addition to any other time off requests that may be on file. To move forward, you can shorten the request, choose a later date, add hours with an accrual entry, delete a request under this code that's farther in the future, or allow a negative balance for the employee.
FAQs
Q: Why doesn't my time off type show a projected balance?
A: Check that the setting is turned on for that earning code, and that it has at least one Per Pay Period, Monthly, or Yearly accrual rule. Types that only use an Hours Worked rule don't show a projection.
Q: The employee has accruals coming up, so why was their request refused?
A: The most common reason is a maximum time off balance, which caps the projection. The annual accrual cap, yearly carryover reset, waiting periods, and time off already booked for later dates can also reduce the hours available.
Q: Does this setting do anything if negative balances are allowed?
A: No, you'll be able to see the projected balances, but even if the request would bring the balance under 0, it will still be possible to save it.
Q: Do projected balances show in the mobile app?
A: Not yet. Projected balances currently appear on the Buddy Punch website only.