WFM UK: HR: Changing a Holiday Year-End

Overview

This article explains the steps to take when changing a holiday year-end in the HR module of Workforce Management (WFM). The recommended way to do this is to create an extended holiday year. The system can only manage 12 months of holiday accruals; therefore, a shortened holiday year is not an option.

Before extending the holiday year, it is necessary to capture employees' days accrued but not yet taken, and add these into the new holiday year. This is sometimes referred to as 'carrying over' holidays.

Important: Changes to the system should not be made until after the date that the new holiday year will begin.

Preparing to Change the Holiday Year

Making changes to the holiday year will impact employee holiday records, possibly causing questions to be raised. The best practice is to inform employees and liaise with your HR department before making any changes.

To complete this change, access to the following areas is required:

• HR > Global Settings
• HR > Company Admin > Location
• HR > Reports > Holiday Year to Date

Ensure the following global setting is enabled to allow for the carryover of holidays:

• Go to HR > Administration > Global Settings > Edit default Holiday Settings > Holiday Calculations (top-right corner)
• Tick the box against Enable carry forward holidays and then Save

Timing of the Holiday Year-End Change - Checklist

The timing of when to make changes in the system is dependent on the dates being moved from and to.

The 'Holiday Year – Timings and Checklist' can be used to help understand the new holiday year and when the optimal time is to make the change.

Fig.2 below shows an example of changing from a Jan-Dec to an Apr-Mar holiday year.

• Download the checklist from the bottom of this article and open it
• Go to the Holiday Year Timing Guide sheet
• Set the current Year
• Enter Start and End Dates for the Current Holiday Year and New Holiday Year

The coloured bars beneath will update automatically based on the dates entered:

 - Current Holiday Year (Orange) - as per the dates entered.
 - New Holiday Year  (Green) - as per the dates entered.
 - Extended Holiday Year (Grey) – shows the total holiday period from the beginning of the current holiday year to the end of the new holiday year.
 - Make Changes (Blue)– this shows the recommended time to make the change.

Fig.2 - Holiday Year Timing Guide

Holiday Year Change Examples

Below are examples of some overlapping holiday years and when the best time is to make the change.

• Changing from April–March to January-December? Make the change between January-March
• Changing from January-December to July-June? Make the change between July-December
• Changing from January-December to October-September? Make the change between October-December

Calculating the Number of Holiday Days to be Carried Over

The Holiday Year to Date Report can be used to calculate the number of days each employee needs to have carried over into the new holiday year. The report captures the days accrued and the days taken between the start of the existing holiday year and the start of the new one.

To run the Holiday Year to Date Report:

• Go to HR > Reports > View Reports and select Holidays > Holiday – Year To Date

• Use the Report Output Format drop-down and select Text File
• Choose a Location and Division if necessary, or just leave as All for both
• Select Holiday Date – this will be the day before the start date of the new holiday year
• Then select Run Report

Fig.3 - Running the Holiday Year to Date Report

Opening the report in Microsoft Excel will show the following:

• Column I: Time Taken (in days)
• Column Y: Time Accrued (in days)

To calculate the days accrued by not taken between the start of the old holiday year and the start of the new holiday year, deduct the days taken from the days accrued to determine how many days need to be added to each employee's entitlement.

To "extend" the holiday year, these days need to be added to the employee's holiday entitlement using carry-over days.

Holiday Calculation Examples

Example 1

Current Holiday Year: 1^st January 2020 – 31^st December 2020
Proposed Holiday Year: 1^st February 2020 – 31^st January 2021

The difference is 1 month.

Holiday accrued and taken needs to be calculated for 1st – 31st January 2020.

To do so, the Holiday Year to Date Report would be run from 31st January 2020.

Fig.4 - Example 1

Example 2

Current Holiday Year: 1^st January 2020 – 31^st December 2020
Proposed Holiday Year: 1^st December 2020 – 30^th November 2021

The difference is 1 full year + 11 months.

Holiday accrued and taken need to be calculated for 1st Jan – 30th Nov 2020.

To do so, the Holiday Year to Date Report would be run from 30th Nov 2020.

Fig.5 - Example 2

Changing the Holiday Year End Date

Before carrying over holiday, the next step is to update the setting that changes the holiday year-end date.

Changing the date takes effect immediately, meaning that all employees’ holiday allowances will be based on the new holiday year.

 Ensure that the necessary reports have been run and holiday data captured before changing the holiday year-end date.

Global Setting

The Global Setting will change the holiday year-end for all Locations.

• Go to HR > Administration > Global Settings > Edit Default Holiday Settings
• Select Holiday Year End > Edit Holiday Year End
• Enter the new Holiday Year End Date and select Save

Location Setting

If a Location’s holiday year has been manually changed in the past, changing the Global Setting will not affect it.

If in any doubt, check the Holiday Year End of all Locations.

• Go to Company Admin > Locations> select Location > Edit Holiday Settings
• Update any Location-specific holiday year-end dates as required

Loading Holiday Adjustments

Carrying Over Holiday

• Follow the guidance in this article - WFM HR: Carrying Over Holidays - and then continue following the steps below

For casual employees, holiday uploads are not required as the casual employment type does not have a holiday year applied.

If an employee already has carry over holiday applied at the time of the holiday year change, this will be removed and will not be carried over into the updated holiday year.

Deducting Overtaken Holiday

Some employees may have taken more days than they had accrued during the now-previous holiday year. Therefore, the relevant hours or days will need to be deducted from their allowance. This can be achieved by loading negative carry over days.

Employee allowance in ESS will reflect the annual allowance for the new 12 month holiday year and the carry over will adjust the holiday remaining balance. For example, +2 days carried over will add 2 days to the remaining balance and -2 days carried over will deduct 2 days from the remaining balance.