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

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  • Updated

Overview

This article provides an overview of the full and part-time employment types available within Fourth's Workforce Management solution. Each employment type has a different set of rules that affect the holiday allowance for employees.

Use these links to go straight to the holiday allowance and accrual calculations for the following employment types:

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

For information on flexible employment holiday calculations, please see - WFM UK: Holidays : HR: Flexible Holiday Calculations

 

Full-Time

Definition

  • A full-time employee is a salaried or hourly-paid worker who works a standard number of contracted hours per week
  • A full-time employee's holiday can be calculated in either Days or Hours

Holiday Allowance

  • The number of paid holiday days or hours available for the employee to take during a holiday year
  • For full-time employees, this is specified in their job title, which is configured by their employer in the HR module - HR > Company Admin > Job Titles > select Job Title > drop-down arrow > Edit Default Holidays > Holiday Settings For Flexible Staff
  • Holiday allowance for full-time employees is not affected by the actual hours or days they have worked

The total days allowed for each employee are displayed on the Holidays screen in their Employee Summary.

  • From the side menu, go to HR > Employees > Employee List
  • Search for and select the required employee
  • See under 'Holidays and Absences' > 'Holidays Allowed'

This is calculated as follows:

  • For employees with a start date in the previous holiday year:

Basic holiday allowance specified in job title

  • For employees with a start date in the current holiday year:

(number of days between employee start date and end of holiday year ÷ number of days in holiday year 365) x basic holiday allowance specified in job title

Example

  • Number of days between employee start date and end of holiday year

(31/03/2025 - 27/08/2024)+1 = 217

  • Holiday Allowance calculations

(217 / 365) x 28 = 16.65 days (rounded to 17 days)

Holiday Accrual

    • Holiday accrual allows employees to earn paid holiday as they work, up to their annual allowance
    • If an employee leaves their job, they are paid for any accrued holiday that they have not taken

For employees who started before the start of the current holiday year:

(number of days between holiday year start date and current date ÷ number of days in holiday year 365)
x
days allowed

Example

  • Number of days between holiday year start date and current date

(01/09/2024 - 01/04/2024) + 1 = 154

  • Holiday Accrual calculation

(154 ÷ 365) x 28 = 11.81 (rounded to 12 days)

 

For employees who started during the current holiday year:

(number of days between employee start date and current date ÷ number of days between employee start date and end of holiday year)
x
days allowed

Example

  • Number of days between start date and current date

(01/09/2024 - 27/07/2024) + 1 = 36

  • Holiday Accrual calculation

(36 ÷ 365) x 28 = 2.76 (rounded to 3 days)

For employee's whose holidays are calculated in hours, the days allowed or accrued are converted to hours using the FTE hours from the Job Title configuration.  The formula for the conversion to hours is:
Hours worked per week / days worked per week = Hours per day
Hours per day * Days Holiday allowed/accrued = Hours allowed/accrued

Holiday Pay

    • For every holiday day/hour taken, salaried employees will see their holidays remaining reduce.  Holidays do not display separately on a payslip, unless the Salaried Holiday functionality is enabled.
      • If Additional payments need to be included in the calculation of the holiday pay, Additional Holiday Pay functionality can be configured.
    • For hourly-paid employees who take holiday in days, the calculation of their day rate is their hourly rate x FTE hours (specified in job title or employment details)
    • For hourly-paid employees who take holiday in hours, the calculation of their day rate is their hourly rate x holiday hours taken

 

Part-Time

Definition

  • A part-time employee is a salaried or hourly-paid worker who works fewer hours per week than a full-time employee
  • They work regular, fixed contracted hours - not flexible
  • A part -time employee's holiday can be calculated in either Days or Hours

Holiday Allowance

  • The number of paid holiday days or hours available for the employee to take during a holiday year.
  • For part-time employees, the allowance is pro-rated from the basic holiday allowance specified in their job title, based on the number of FTE days recorded in their Employment Details page (go to HR > Employees > Employee List > select Employee > Employee Info > Employee Details > tick Override FTE and enter the Days, Shifts, and Hours that they are contracted to work per week).  More information about the FTE within the employee record can be found here.
  • Holiday allowance for part-time employees is not affected by actual hours or days worked

The total days allowed for each employee are displayed in the Holidays screen in their employee record.

  • From the side menu, go to HR > Employees > Employee List
  • Search for and select the required employee
  • See under 'Holidays and Absences' > 'Holidays Allowed'

 

Holiday Allowance is calculated, as follows:

  • For employees who started before the start of the current holiday year:

(number of employee FTE days / Basic Days per Week)  X basic holiday allowance

Example

(3 Days / 5 Days = 0.6) x 28 Days = 16.8 Days Holiday Allowance (Rounded up to 17 Days)

 

  • For employees who started during the current holiday year:

(number of employee FTE days ÷ Basic Days Per Week)
x
basic holiday allowance

This gives you the allowance for the full holiday year, which then needs to be pro-rated.

(number of days between employee start date and end of holiday year ÷ number of days in holiday year 365)
x
allowance for the full holiday year (as above)

 

Example

  • Full Holiday Year Allowance

(3 Days / 5 Days = 0.6) x 28 Days = 16.8 Days Holiday Allowance (Rounded up to 17 Days)

  • Pro Rata Allowance

(241 / 365) = 0.66 x 16.8 days = 11.09 Days (rounded to 12 Days)

 

 

Holiday Accrual

  • Holiday accrual allows employees to earn paid holiday as they work, up to their annual allowance
  • If an employee leaves their job, they are paid for any accrued holiday that they have not taken

For employees who started before the start of the current holiday year:

(number of days between holiday year start date and current date ÷ number of days in holiday year 365)
x
days allowed

Example

  • Number of days between holiday year start date and current date

(01/09/2024 - 01/04/2024) + 1 = 154

  • Holiday Accrual calculation

(154 ÷ 365) x 17 = 7.17 (rounded to 8 days)

For employees who started during the current holiday year:

(number of days between employee start date and current date ÷ number of days between employee start date and end of holiday year)
x
days allowed
Example
  • Number of days between start date and current date

(01/09/2024 - 03/08/2024) + 1 = 30

  • Holiday Accrual calculation

(30 ÷ 365) x 12 = 0.96 (rounded to 1 day)

 

For employee's whose holidays are calculated in hours, the days allowed or accrued are converted to hours using the FTE hours from the  Employee Record.  The formula for the conversion to hours is:
FTE hours worked per week / FTE days worked per week = Hours per day
Hours per day * Days Holiday allowed/accrued = Hours allowed/accrued

Holiday Pay

    • For every holiday day/hour taken, salaried employees will be paid at their normal day rate
    • For hourly-paid employees who take holiday in days, the calculation of their day rate is their hourly rate x FTE hours (specified in their employment details)
    • For hourly-paid employees who take holiday in hours, the calculation of their day rate is their hourly rate x holiday hours taken

Troubleshooting Tips

Is a Full/Part-Time Employee's Holiday Allowance Not as Expected?

Employment Type Change

Has the employee changed from part-time to full-time (or vice versa) during the holiday year? The pro-rated allowance for each employment type will be combined.

Or have their FTE hours changed? If so, this can affect the holiday allowance calculation because the hours are pro-rated.

Job Title

Check the Basic Holiday Allowance against the job title. This is the starting point for any part-time and/or pro-rata calculations.

Increments

Do flexible employees receive additional holiday for length of service? If so, check that holiday increments have been set up correctly in the Job Title. Please see this article for guidance: WFM UK : Holidays: Incremental Holiday

Holiday Override

Is the holiday overridden? An override will replace the calculation based on the Basic Holiday Allowance (set up in the job title).

  • To check, go to HR > Employees > Employee Batch Update and Search for employee(s)
  • In the Employee Attribute drop-down, select Holiday Allowance Calculated

Any employee that has 'No' under 'Holiday Allowance Calculated' will have had their allowance manually set.

  • To amend an employee's holiday allowance manually, select No and enter the required number of holiday days
  • Or, to have the system automatically calculate holiday for an employee, select Yes
  • Save  the changes


Fig.2 – Flexible Holiday Override details

 

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