Business Rules - Time Off Accruals

 

Overview 

Accrued benefits are benefits that the employee has earned based on their service or other criteria, that are payable to the employee at some later date. These types of benefits can include paid vacation, sick pay, personal time off, and other related benefits that employees earn or accumulate the longer they work. 

Accrued vacation pay is the amount of vacation time that an employee has earned as per a company's employee benefit policy, but which has not yet been used or paid. 

Accrual rules can be configured to automatically calculate and populate any of the configured Time Off Types. Time off types represent the categories of time off employees are allowed to take. A unique time off type is created for each type of entitlement you want to track. For example, you can set up a time off type for sick time, vacation, or personal leave. 

WorkSight FLOW’s Accrual Rules table, rules can be configured so that it applies to all employee's, specific employee groups and/or days worked since hire date and/or years of service. 

This article will guide you through setting up basic configuration for the most common types of time off accruals.

 

For help with more advanced time off accrual rule configuration, please see our article on Business Rules – Timecard or reach out to our product support team with your exact accrual specifications.  

 

Time Off Accrual Rules Configuration

Accessing the Time Off Accrual Rules 

1. Click on the User Avatar in the Top Bar to access the User Menu 

   

2. Use the mouse to select Settings – once clicked, the Setting Menu will open in the Left Sidebar 

   

3. In the Settings Menu, locate the Business Rules header and select Time Off Accrual Rules – the Time Off Accruals Rules configuration screen will open in the main pane with a list of the rule tables on the left. Clicking the name of a rule table will open the table in the main view.

 

Time Off Accrual Rules Tables  

WorkSight FLOW allows you to easily set up a rule that will automatically calculate accruals based on years of seniority. 

 

Hours Earned Definitions table 

The Hours Earned table allows a user to group related reason codes into Categories, also referred to as Hours Earned Types. These Categories are used within the Accrual Rules to determine which hours from an employee’s timecard will be considered during rule application. For example, if you create a category Worked Time and included within that category the reason codes Regular, Meeting and Training then all time in total worked for these three reasons will be considered for calculating accruals. 

Note: The Hours Earned Definitions table is shared with the Timecard Rules and Timecard Exporter Rules, so changes made to this table  will simultaneously change the table in the Timecard Rules and vice-versa. Making updates to an hours earned type in the Time off Accrual Hours Earned Definitions Table may unintentionally impact the application of one or more timecard rules. 

 

Accrual Rule table 

To set up a basic Time Off Accrual Rule in FLOW, applying an accrual for employees based on years of service, you will want to add a new row in the Time off Accruals Rules > Accrual Rule table that specifies all the seniority year ranges applicable for increments for the time off type specified.  

1. Click on an empty row to add the rule configuration details to the table in the columns described below, as in any other FLOW Rule table. 
2. Four buttons appear at the top of the table to facilitate your rule configuration.
   
   They are:
   1. +Add UDF Columns:
      UDF Columns allow a user to define rules based on the presence of values found in User Defined Fields in an employee profile; such as skills, tickets or certificates.
      Note: User Defined Fields must be configured before they can be added as a column to a rule table
      see: Creating and Managing a UDF.

   2. Run Rules

   3. Undo 
   4. Save
3. Once the rule is configured, click Save to add the rule to the table. 

 When complete, the rows in the Accrual Rules table should look something like this: 

 

 Accrual Rule Table Fields 

All rule tables have a bold vertical line separating the left-side columns from the right-side columns. 

The columns on the left side of the bold vertical line are referred to as Matching Columns. These columns are where you define the timecard eligibility conditions that determine if the rule should or should not apply to a timecard. 

The columns on the right side of the bold vertical line are referred to as the Result Columns. These columns are where you define the action that occurs as a because of matching the columns on the left. 

Each table row is considered one rule.  Rules will match based on the specificity of the matching conditions. Only one rule per Category will be selected to apply to an accrual. A row with more specific conditions will be selected to apply over a row with more generic conditions. For example, the first row below is more specific because it has the most conditions. That is the row that will be selected for processing first.  If it fails FLOW  will try to match the second. 

 

Matching Columns 

Category

In the Category column, type in a name for the specific accrual that you are configuring. e.g., Vacation, Vacation Top-up, Floater, Family Leave, etc.

Area 

An area is a collection of groups of jobs and their employees for which schedules, time-off plans, and timecards will be managed. 

Group 

A Group is used to divide an Area into a meaningful division for an Organization. 

Shift Pattern 

A Shift Pattern is the pattern of shifts a job operates on. It includes working days, Rest Days, and Work Free Days. It may be for a full-time, part‑time, or flextime worker. 

Occupation 

The occupation also commonly referred to as a job classification or job code, typically designates the rate of pay and responsibilities of a job. 

Employee Tags 

Tags allow you to categorize, filter, and denote additional information. Multiple tags needed for the Employee to assist in searching etc. can be created in this field. 

Employee Qualifies?

Use a condition when an employee needs to qualify, such as years of service from hire date. It is possible to use a "*" in employee qualifies column; this would imply that there are no conditions to qualify. Example would be a site where they do not track seniority, and everyone is eligible regardless of how long they have worked at the site. 

When defining accruals that are ranges, use the between expression to list the qualifying ranges.  

Expressions using comparison operations (e.g.,  >=, <=, ==, etc.)  will work if there when there is a requirement for the exact year 

For more information on comparison operators, see Business Rules Expressions and Operators 

EXPRESSION	DEFINITION	EXAMPLE OF USE
between(value, lower, upper)	Returns true if the field that is being evaluated falls within the upper and lower value specified.	Between(seniorityYears(),2,6)  Rules containing this expression will only apply if the seniority years is between 2 and 6 years
seniorityDays()	Returns true if the day that is being evaluated is relevant to the number specified	seniorityDays() > 90  Rules containing this seniorityDays expression will only apply if the number of days worked exceeds 90
seniorityYears()	Returns true if the year that is being evaluated is relevant to the number specified	seniorityYears() = = 2  Rules containing this seniorityYears expression will only apply if the number of years equals 2

  

Hours Earned & Minimum Worked Hours 

These two columns can be configured as “*” and “true” if qualifying for an accrual does not require the employee to work a minimum number of hours in a preceding period. 

See Business Rules - Timecard for more information on Hours Earned 

  

Minimum Worked Hours  

If an employee needs to work a number of minimum hours to qualify for the accrual category, the expression with a comparison operator and the value to be met can be entered in this column. 

 

EXPRESSION	DEFINITION	EXAMPLE OF USE
True	True indicates the condition will always be matched	True is typed directly in the field
hoursWorkedBetween(…args)  Note: the arguments for comparison and the three following expressions in this table	Returns true if the value calculated in the range is equal to or greater than the minimum value specified	hoursWorkedBetween(year PrecedingAccrual()) >= 1500  Rules containing this expression will match the number of hours in the range to the minimum value and apply if greater than or equal to the minimum value (1500)
rangePrecedingAccrual(startMonth, startDay,endMonth,endDay)	Returns true when the returned value being evaluated between the anniversary dates specified is equal to or greater than the minimum value field	rangePrecedingAccrual(01,01,  03,31) >= 1500   Rules containing this expression will match the number of hours in the range to the minimum value and apply if greater than or equal to the minimum value (1500)
yearPrecedingAccrual()	Returns true if the value calculated in the year preceding the accrual date is equal to or greater than the minimum value specified	yearPrecedingAccrual() >= 1500  Rules containing this expression will match the number of hours in the range to the minimum value and apply if greater than or equal to the minimum value (1500)
yearPrecedingAccrualEndingOn (month, day)	Returns true if the value calculated in the year preceding the accrual end date is equal to or greater than the minimum value specified	yearPrecedingAccrualEndingOn(03,31) >= 1500  Rules containing this expression will match the number of hours in the range to the minimum value and apply if greater than or equal to the minimum value (1500)

 

Action/Results Columns 

Accrual Start Date  

This field defines the start date of the accrual transaction calculations. It can be a fixed date, such as the start of the fiscal year, or an anniversary of a field like the hire or seniority date. Start dates can only be effective for a future date, not one in the past.

EXPRESSION	DEFINITION	EXAMPLE OF USE
triggeredDate()	Rule is only run when the Employee Qualifies? condition is met	triggeredDate()   The accrual starts the day that matches the Employee Qualifies? condition. (e.g., seniorityDays("companySeniority") >= 90)
anniversaryOf()	Returns true if the field that is being evaluated falls on the anniversary date specified	anniversaryOf()   Defines the Start Date of the accrual (e.g. Hire date)
fixedMonthDayStart(month, day)	Returns true if the day that is being evaluated is the one (mm,dd) specified	fixedMonthDayStart(5,1)  The start date of this accrual is May 1

 

Accrual End Date 

This field defines the end date of the accrual transaction calculations. It can be a fixed date, such as the end of the fiscal year, or an anniversary of a field like the start date defined above. End dates can only be effective for a future date, after the start date defined above.

EXPRESSION	DEFINITION	EXAMPLE OF USE
anniversaryFromStartDate()	Returns true if the field that is being evaluated falls on the anniversary date specified	anniversaryFromStartDate()   The end date of this accrual will only apply one year after the start date specified in Accrual Start Date
fixedMonthDayEnd(month, day)	Returns true if the field that is being evaluated falls on the date specified	fixedMonthDayEnd(12,31)   The end date of this accrual is on December 31

 

Allocation  

Enter the number of hours to be allocated for the accrual if conditions are met. 

  

Time Off Type 

Time off types represent the categories of time off employees are allowed to take. For example, you can set up time off type for sick time, vacation time, personal leave, or jury duty. When employees want to take time off, they book it against a time-off type. Available balances are tracked in dollars and/or hours. See: Creating and Managing Time Off Types  

  

Trigger  

Indicate the day that a rule should automatically run. For example, a trigger could be set to run the rule on the anniversary of the employee's seniority date, after a probation period has been passed, or on a specific date. Triggers can only be effective for a future date.

EXPRESSION	DEFINITION	EXAMPLE OF USE
every6Months(month, day)	Returns true if the field that is being evaluated falls at 6-month intervals from the month and day specified	every6Months(4,1)  Rules containing this expression will only apply at 6 month intervals, i.e., April 1 and October 1
everyDay()	Returns true every day the rule is run	everyDay()  Rules containing this expression will run every day at midnight, unless rules are triggered manually
everyYear(month, day)	Returns true if the year that is being evaluated on the month and day specified	everyYear(7,1)  Rules containing this expression will only run every year on July 1
onAnniversaryOf()	Returns true on the employee anniversary date specified e.g., hire date	onAnniversaryOf()  Rules containing this expression will run every year on the employee anniversary date

 

Comment 

A comment can be added to indicate that the rule is run automatically based on the configured rules. 
(Future Feature) 

 

  

Example of rules-generated Accruals in Employee Time Off Balances  

Transaction Details table

• Accruals added by accrual rules display the “Rule Category” in the source column. 
  In the example below, Vacation Top-up was generated by the rules. 
• Accruals added by users display the source as blank. 

  

Examples of Error messages generated when running Accrual Rules 

• If an accrual fails to generate an accrual for an employee: 
  
   
• If the seniority date is missing: 
  
   
• When there is no corresponding accrual value for a withdrawal, a message appears in the Time off balances pane and on the Timecard for the employee: 
  
   

 
Related Articles 

• Time Off Accrual Rule Examples 
• Creating and managing Time-off Balance Details and Accruals  
• Creating and Managing Time Off Types  
• Business Rules Timecard  
• Business Rules Expressions and Operators