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    WFM UK: Holidays: Managing Your Team's Holiday Requests

    Overview

    This article provides guidance on the following actions:

    At the bottom of this article, you will also find some troubleshooting tips.

     

    Authorising Employee Holiday Requests

    When employees create holiday requests using their Fourth solution, managers can administer the requests from their own HR Homepage. Managers should receive alerts/notifications when holiday requests are created (see our troubleshooting tips below for more info).

    • To see all employee holiday requests, from the side menu, go to HR > HR Homepage

    All unauthorised holiday requests from employees who report to that manager will be listed.


    Fig.1 - Employee holiday requests on a manager's HR Homepage

    • It is possible to quickly authorise a holiday request directly from here - tick the relevant 'Authorise' box(es) and then select the Authorise button at the bottom of the screen

       
    • BestPractice02.png Best practice, though, is to select an individual holiday request to view it in detail before authorising
    • Then select Search

    This will bring up all holiday requests for that employee, authorised and unauthorised.

    • Review and check over the days that have been requested
    • When ready, tick the 'Authorise' box(es) as necessary and select Authorise

    The employee's holiday will then be logged in the system, and the days deducted from their allowance. The holiday will also be updated in the Holidays and Absences Calendar - see further below. 

    Finger01.png Any unticked days will remain unauthorised and still show on the HR Home page. These should be regularly processed (authorised or declined), as too many on the list can prevent new ones from appearing.


    Fig.2 - Searching for and authorising employee holiday days

    Declining Employee Holiday Requests

    • To decline a holiday request, select the required day from the list shown in Fig.2
    • Use the Status drop-down, select Declined and then Save


    Fig.3 - Searching for and authorising employee holiday days

     

    Employee Notifications

    If employees are using ESS to request holidays, it is possible to configure the app to send notifications when their holiday requests are authorised/declined. For guidance, please see WFM UK: ESS Mobile: Holiday Request Notifications.

     

    Creating and Authorising Holiday Requests on Behalf of Employees

    Sometimes employees will request holiday outside of Fourth but still need it to be recorded in the system. In this instance, managers will create and authorise employee holiday requests on their behalf.

    • From the side menu, go to HR > Employees > Employee List


    Fig.4 - HR > Employees > Employee List

    • Search for and select the required employee

    Their Employee Summary page will display, which includes a 'Holidays and Absences' section.

    • At the top of the screen, select Create Holiday Request


    Fig.5 - Employee Summary

    • Select the date range that the employee requires
      • BestPractice02.png Best practice here is to enter the full period that the employee will be away from the business. This will avoid anyone being accidentally scheduled to work whilst on approved annual leave. If days are marked as OFF on the rota, an employee can still be scheduled to work, whereas a Holiday day cannot be overridden.
      • If your organisation uses holiday hours instead of days, enter the No. of hours and then Save
    • Then use the Calculate Number of Days button to confirm how many days are being requested
    • Use the Half Day? and Unpaid? tickboxes to create a holiday request of that type if needed. Unpaid days will not be deducted from the employee's holiday allowance or payment deducted from salaried employees' pay
    • When ready, select Save


    Fig.6 - Calculating number of days and saving

    Each requested day will then display as an individual 'Unauthorised' request. Also, on the right side of the screen, there is a clear record of how many days per year the employee has been allocated, how many of those days they have accrued and how many days have been taken to date.

    For more information on holiday allowance and accrual, please see:

    WFM UK: Holidays: Allowance Calculations for Full and Part-Time Employees
    WFM UK: Holidays: Allowance Calculations for Flexible Employees

     

    Finger01.png The next steps should be taken by the line manager or whoever has permission/access to authorise holiday requests.

    • Each requested day will have its Authorise box ticked by default - untick any as required or Delete if any were created in error
    • There is another opportunity to mark any days as Unpaid - tick the box(es) as required
    • Then, to authorise the selected days, select Save

    The holiday information will then be updated and the booking completed on the system.


    Fig.7 - Authorising holiday days

    Deleting Holidays

    Holiday days can be deleted any time before the holiday is taken. To do this,

    • Go to HR > Holidays and Absences > Employee Holidays
    • Search for the required employee
    • Tick the 'Delete' box(es) as needed and then use the Delete button

    To remove an already taken holiday,

    • Go to HR > Holidays and Absences > Employee Holidays
    • Search for the required employee
    • Where the 'Delete' tickbox shows as 'N/A', select the holiday request and then change the Status to Removed
      • If you do not see the Removed option, please contact your system administrator as this is controlled by a permission
    • Select Save

    The holiday day will then be removed from the employee's record and added back into their holiday allowance.

     

    Using the Holidays and Absences Calendar

    The Holidays and Absences Calendar colour-codes and displays all employee holidays and absences for easy reference.

    Finger01.png The calendar is for information purposes only - no actions (authorising, deleting, etc) can be carried out from it.

    • Go to HR > Holidays and Absences > View Calendar


    Fig.8 - HR > Holidays and Absences > View Calendar

    • Use the filters and select Search

    The calendar view is colour-coded - there is a key at the bottom, indicating icons for 'Holiday', 'Lieu Day', 'Absence', and 'Unauthorised Holiday'.

    • As shown in Fig.9 there are options to Print Calendar and Export to Excel


    Fig.9 Calendar View in Colour

    • To view a year summary of the months in which holidays/absences etc have occurred for an individual employee, select the Graph icon next to their name

    Fig.10 - Graph Icon against employee's name

    Within this screen (see Fig.7), a complete breakdown of the employee’s Holidays and Absences for the year can be viewed and/or printed.


    Fig.11 - Breakdown of an employee's holidays

     

    Holiday Request History

    It is possible to see the history of an individual holiday request from an employee's HR Info in the system.

    • Go to HR > Employees > Employee List > search and select Employee > Employee HR Info > Holidays > select the Holiday > go to History

    A new window will appear, showing the history of the holiday request - who created it, who authorised/declined it, and the date and time.

    There are several reports available that show holiday request data in greater detail. Please see WFM UK : Holidays: Reporting for more information.

     

     

    Troubleshooting

    Question/Problem: Manager not Receiving Alerts when Employee Holiday Requests are Created

    It is possible to configure email alerts and notifications for managers to receive when their employees create holiday requests.

    For hierarchy-based notifications, where the 'reports to' manager receives notification, please use 'notifications. 
    See here for guidance:  Setting up Line Manager Holiday Notifications

    To have holiday request alerts go to specific employees (not necessarily the 'reports to' manager), please use 'alerts'.
    See here for guidance: Setting Email Alerts
     

    Question/Problem: Unable to Book Holidays on Certain Days

    If an employee is set to not work on certain days (the weekend, for example) then those days will not be available as holiday days.

    • To check this, go to HR > Employees > search for and select the employee
    • Go to Employee Info > Employment Details > scroll down to 'Days Available to Work'
    • Check the tickboxes, as shown below

    Fig.12 - 'Days Available To Work' tickboxes

     

    Question/Problem: Booked Holidays Not Showing on System

    If booked Holidays are not displaying on the system, check to see if they have been deleted.
     

    To do so: 

    • Go to HR > View Employee > select Employee > Employee HR Info > Holidays > Deleted Holidays

    When a Holiday is selected to be removed, it appears under ‘View Deleted Holidays’.

     

    Question/Problem: This Job Title Does not Allow for this Paid Holiday Request

    Check the employee's holiday allowance. If zero, it could be that they have recently started working at the organisation and have not yet worked any hours. 'Hours worked' is required for the flexible employee holiday allowance calculation, so the employee will need to have some recorded hours worked in the system via a submitted schedule.

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    Comments

    Lynne Nike

    Can the second notification manager also receive the notifications that a holiday has been requested as well as the first notification manager?

    Fourth Customer Success Portal

    Hi Lynne Nike,

    Thank you for your comment. To ensure this can reach our product teams and be considered for development, please kindly raise this idea in our Ideas area and we will open it for voting. 

    Thank you,
    Fourth Communities Team

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