FAQs: Time Off
Policy management
Q: How does Time Off accrual work, and can it be tied to payroll?
Rise offers two ways to set up how a Time Off policy's balance is calculated:
- Standard accrual. The policy accrues time on a schedule you define, monthly or yearly, and Time Off owns and calculates the balance directly.
- Payroll-Synced accrual. Payroll owns the balance instead of Time Off. The balance comes from a payroll accrual benefit, so what you see in Time Off is what payroll calculated as of your most recently approved and posted pay run, based on your percentage of vacationable earnings (4%, 6%, 8%, etc.).
If you'd like a Payroll-Synced policy turned on, submit a ticket and our team will guide you through it.
Learn more: Understanding the Time Off Balance | Payroll-Synced time off policies overview
Q: Why is there no dollar value shown next to my Time Off balance?
- Standard policy: balances are shown in hours or days only, with no dollar value attached, since vacation pay is typically calculated and paid out through Payroll.
- Payroll-Synced policy: you can show a dollar value alongside the hours, since the balance comes directly from payroll.
Q: Can I track overtime using Time Off?
You can, but we recommend using Scheduling & Time Tracking instead. Time Off works best for policies that aren't tied directly to accrued dollars, like time in lieu or banked time.
Q: Does time off keep accruing during a leave?
Yes. A leave status doesn't stop accruals.
App management
Q: How do I add new team members to Time Off?
Time Off syncs with People Directory, so all you need to do is add the employee there. Learn more about adding a new employee.
After you add the employee, enrol them in the time off policies that apply to them. You can do this before their start date.
Q: What Time Off-related email notifications will I receive?
General emails
- Request status updates when a time off request is approved or rejected.
Admin/reviewer emails
- A summary when a new request needs review.
Emails go to the account's login email. Admins only get review emails if they're in the policy's reviewer group.
There's currently no opt-out. These emails are always sent.
Q: Can we set up a global view where anyone can see all time off approved across the organization?
Yes. This is controlled through Roles & Permissions rather than through departments or teams. Go to Settings > Roles & Permissions> select the role, then find the Time Off Requests section and turn on View all employees in Away Today and the Time Off Requests calendar. Anyone with that permission in their role will see time-off requests and Away Today data for the whole organization, not just their department, team, or direct reports.
Learn more: How to manage employee roles and permissions
Q: What happens to a terminated employee's balance?
They're unenrolled from their policies automatically. Their balances stay in the balance report if your filters include inactive employees.
Requesting time off
Q: I made a mistake when entering time off. Can I cancel it and make a new one?
Requests can't be edited once they're sent. To fix one:
- Pending: your reviewer rejects it with a comment, and you book it again with the right details.
- Approved, future dates: you or an admin cancels it, and you book it again.
- Approved, past dates: an admin can cancel it, and the time goes back into the policy balance.
Learn more about cancelling requests.
Q: If my policy allows carry over, does the product use carried-over vacation first?
Yes. Carried-over time is always used first, so you don't lose any of your yearly accrual. Some policies set an expiry date on carried-over time, so check whether yours does.
Only a positive balance carries over. A negative balance isn't cleared at reset.
Payroll-Synced policies don't have carry-over.
Q: Can I use multiple policies in one request?
No. Each request uses one policy. If you need time from more than one policy, submit a separate request for each one.
Q: Can I, as an administrator, record time off taken for an employee?
Yes. From the employee's Time Off dashboard, use Record Time Taken to create an auto-approved time off request. Learn more about managing time off as an admin.
Q: Who gets my request if my reviewer changes or I have two managers?
Pending requests move to the new reviewer. If a policy has more than one reviewer, they all get the request, and any one of them can approve it.
Q: Can an employee's Time Off balance go negative?
- Standard policy: an employee can submit a request that takes their balance below zero. There's no setting to block this on a standard policy.
- Payroll-Synced policy: if a request would take the balance below zero, you'll see a warning, and on most policies you can still submit. If your organization has asked Rise to switch off negative balances, the request is blocked instead. These policies also don't support unlimited balances or carry-over.
General questions
Q: How does the Away Today calendar view work?
The Away Today calendar shows anyone on approved time off for the selected day. What you see depends on your role:
- Owners, Admins, HR Managers, and HR Coordinators see everyone in the organization by default.
- Members, Managers, and Team Leads see their own department, team, or direct reports by default, and need the View all employees in Away Today and the time off requests calendar permission turned on to see beyond that.
Q: Can I hide policy names on Away Today?
Yes. Set Allow employees to see the policy name to No on the policy. Admins, Owners and anyone with access to time off reports still see the names.
Q: Why doesn't my balance match the balance report?
Future-dated requests can cause a difference. Pending requests aren't counted.
Q: Will the app know not to count weekends or holidays when I make a request?
Yes. The request calendar includes the statutory holidays for the employee's region of employment, and holidays are excluded from balance deductions.
Weekends are excluded when your policy has Automatically adjust request balances for weekends turned on. This covers Saturday and Sunday only. If you work weekends, change the amount for those days before you submit. On the web, click the pencil icon next to Total, click OK, then enter the amount for each day. In the mobile app, tap the edit button on the review screen and open Daily impact.
Want to see this in action? Sign up for one of our Admin training sessions.