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A leave policy is a type of leave – annual leave, sick leave, unpaid leave, study leave. Every request is made against exactly one policy. Manage policies in Settings → Time off → Policies.

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What a policy controls

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The policies table

Each row has a pencil to edit it, and a lifecycle menu to archive, restore or delete. A scope filter above the table switches between active, archived and trashed policies. New policy opens the same dialog in create mode. When the list is empty you see “No leave policies yet – create one to start tracking time off.”

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How to create a policy

1

Open Settings → Time off → Policies

You need the leave.managePolicy capability – Owner and Admin.
2

Click New policy

The New leave policy dialog opens.
3

Name it and pick a colour

The colour button opens a swatch grid from the shared palette. Give the policy a name such as Annual leave.
4

Choose the unit

Days or Hours. You cannot change this sensibly once people have balances, so decide now.
5

Decide who it applies to

Leave Applies to everyone on for a company-wide policy. Switch it off to pick specific people.
6

Set approval and fractions

Requires approval is on by default. Allow fractional days is off by default and is unavailable on an hours policy.
7

Configure accrual, if you want it

Switch Enable accrual on and set the amount and frequency. See /time-off/leave-accrual.
8

Configure negative balance and opening balance

Both are optional and both are off by default.
9

Create

Click Create policy.

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The settings in detail

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Unit

An hours policy is the honest choice when people work uneven days. Ana Ferreira works 8h Monday and 4h Friday – on an hours policy, a Friday off costs her 4 hours, not a whole “day”.

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Applies to everyone

On, and every current and future member can request against it. Off, and a member picker appears – only the people you name can use it.
A member-scoped policy is enforced on the server. Someone not on the list cannot request against it even if they find the id.

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Requires approval

On (the default) – a request lands Pending and waits for a holder of leave.approve. Off – the request is Approved the moment it is submitted, the balance is consumed straight away, and no approver is notified.
Switch approval off for policies where the decision adds nothing, such as unpaid leave you already agreed in a contract. Leave it on for anything that draws down a real balance.

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Allow fractional days

On, and a requester can set the first and last day of a range to Half day or Quarter day. Off, and only whole days are accepted – a fractional request is rejected. The switch is disabled on an hours policy, where it says “Not applicable to hours-based policies.”

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Negative balance

Off by default. The floor is zero – nobody can book more than they have. Switch Allow negative balance on and you get: Landing exactly on the floor is allowed. One unit past it is blocked.

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Opening balance

A one-time starting grant. Switch it on and set a Starting grant greater than zero. The grant is given once ever per person and policy. Editing the amount later only affects people who have not been granted yet – it never re-grants or tops up someone who already received it. To change an existing person’s balance, use an adjustment instead. See /time-off/leave-balances.

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Auto-create time entries

The dialog describes this as “Approved leave posts matching time entries automatically.”
Approved leave does not currently appear as tracked time on a timesheet. Leave shows on the Time Off timeline, on the Planner, and in the balance ledger. Plan your reporting around those, not around time entries.

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Example

Maya Ellis sets up Northwind Studio’s leave. Reading the table:
  • Everyone earns 2 days a month of annual leave, plus 5 days when they first join the policy.
  • Sick leave is not accrued at all. It goes negative up to 5 days, and the negative is cleared at year end.
  • Unpaid leave needs no decision – it is approved on submission.
  • Study days are for two named people and earn 5 days a year.

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Retiring a policy

Use the lifecycle menu on the row. An archived policy cannot be requested against – the requester sees “That time-off policy is archived. Pick an active one.” Existing balances and past requests are kept. See /concepts/archive-trash-and-delete.

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Permissions

Creating, editing, archiving and deleting a policy all need leave.managePolicy – Owner and Admin only. Project Manager approves requests but does not write the rules; that split is deliberate, because policies are HR configuration. The Time Off app must be on. Policies themselves are available on Free.

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Common questions

The field is editable, but do not. Existing balances are stored in the old unit and will not be converted. Create a new policy instead.
They stay exactly as they are. Balances stay readable. Only new requests are blocked.
Yes, but the Timeline legend uses colour to tell policies apart, so give each one its own.
Switch Applies to everyone off and name the people who should have it. Removing someone stops new requests; their existing balance is untouched.
Yes, once. The grant is seeded the first time the system sees them on the policy, and never again.

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Troubleshooting

Leave accrual

Earning balance over time.

Leave balances

Carry-over, negatives and adjustments.

Request time off

What your team sees.

Company holidays

Days that never consume balance.

Time off permissions

Who can write the rules.