Time off policies
For a quick overview, check the Time off settings video guide.
The Account Owner and the Admins can manage the time off settings in the Time off tab of the Team settings.
Time off approvals
With time off approval enabled, team members must request time off instead of creating it.
Learn about the time off approval process in the Time off approvals article.
Time off types
The Account Owner and users with Admin access rights can add, edit, and remove time off types in the Time off tab within Team settings.
📝Note: The time off policies apply to the whole team. Setting an allowance for time off per person is currently not supported. If some of your team members have a different allowance than the rest, you’d need to create a separate time off type for each of them.
For each time off type, you can choose a name, set the color, the balance, the number of days, and the date you want the policy to begin (effective date).
Time off balance
There are five time-off balance options to choose from.
Unlimited - No restrictions on the number of days your team can schedule.
Accrued per calendar year - A person's remaining balance is calculated based on the total number of work days in the year, minus any public or team holidays. For example, if there are 261 work days, each passing day adds 1/261 to the person’s accrued balance.
Accrued per work anniversary - A person's remaining balance is calculated based on the total number of workdays from their start date to one year from that date. By default, the start date is considered January 1, unless a specific date is set in the Availability tab within their profile.
Granted upfront per calendar year - A person's remaining balance is calculated as the total number of granted days minus the days already scheduled between January 1 and December 31.
Granted upfront per work anniversary - A person’s remaining balance is calculated as the total number of granted days minus the days already scheduled from their start date through one year from that date. By default, the start date is considered January 1, unless a specific date is set in the Availability tab within their profile.
Carry over unused days
If you want to move all or part of the remaining balance to the next year, check the Carry over unused days box and enter the number of days.
Effective date
The effective date determines when a time-off policy takes effect. It is useful when introducing a new policy.
Example: A team member joined on January 1, 2022. If you introduce a new "granted upfront per calendar year" policy in 2025, you should set the effective date to January 1, 2025. Otherwise, the balance calculation will include past years.
Remaining balance calculation
To calculate the balance at any given point in time, Float considers the time off's balance and carryover settings, the person's start date, and the effective date of the time off policy.
A person’s balance is always zero before their start date or before the policy's effective date.
Time off is tracked on a yearly basis, either by calendar year or work anniversary:
If granted upfront, the configured number of days is used.
If accrued over time, Float calculates:
The number of working days that have already passed
The total number of working days in the current one-year period
While the start date determines when an individual begins accruing time off, the carryover policy and accrual method (anniversary vs. calendar year) influence the final balance.
Time off balance calculation examples
Example scenario 1
The time off’s balance is set at 20 days accrued per calendar year. The effective date is set to 1 January 2025. Jon joined the company on 1 June 2025 (this has been set as his start date). He has already taken 10 days and wants to check his balance on 1 November. How many times has he left?
Summary
Time off type: Accrued per calendar year (so the start date doesn’t affect accrual)
Accrual type: 20 days accrued per calendar year
Effective date: 1 January 2025
Jon’s start date: 1 June 2025
Check date: 1 November 2025
Time off taken: 10 days
Calculation steps
1) Policy timing validation
Policy effective on 1 January 2025
Since accrual is per calendar year, accrual starts on 1 January 2025 regardless of Jon’s start date.
2) Determine the time period of accrual
Accrual window: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025
Accrual rate: 20 days over 12 months → 1.67 days/month
3) Working time until the check date
From 1 January to 1 November = 10 full months
Accrued time off = 1.67×10=16.67
4) Subtract time off used
Accrued: 16.67 days
Used: 10 days
Jon’s balance on 1 November 2025 is: 16.67 - 10 = 6.67 days.
Example scenario 2
The time off’s balance is set at 25 days accrued per work anniversary. The effective date is set to 1 January 2025. Alice joined the company on 1 August 2025 (this has been set as her start date). How many time off days does she have in 2025?
Summary
Time off type: Accrued per work anniversary
Time off policy: 25 days, accrued per work anniversary
Effective Date: 1 January 2025
Alice’s start date: 1 August 2025
Check Date: end of 2025
Calculation steps
1) Effective date check:
Policy is active from 1 January 2025
Alice joins on 1 August 2025, which is after the effective date
2) Work anniversary period: 1 August 2025 – 31 July 2026
3) Accrual calculation until the end of 2025:
Eligible months: Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec = 5 months (out of 12)
Pro-rated accrual: 5/12×25=10.42
4) No time off used yet.
Alice’s balance at the end of 2025 is 10.42 days.
Example scenario 3
The time off’s balance is set at 10 days granted upfront per calendar year. The effective date is set to 1 July 2025. Tom joined the company on 1 September 2025 (this has been set as his start date). What is his time off balance on 1 September?
Summary
Time off type: Granted upfront per calendar year
Time off policy: 10 days, granted upfront per calendar year
Effective Date: 1 July 2025
Tom’s start date: 1 September 2025
Check date: 1 September 2025
Calculation steps
Granted upfront policy means that all days are available at the start, thus Tom’s balance on 1 September is 10 days.
Example scenario 4
The time off’s balance is set at 10 days granted upfront per work anniversary. The effective date is set to 1 March 2025. Julie joined the company on 1 October 2025 (this has been set as her start date). She has already taken 5 days in November and wants to check her time off balance on 1 December. What is her time off balance?
Summary
Time off type: Granted upfront per work anniversary
Time off policy: 10 days, granted upfront per work anniversary
Effective Date: 1 March 2025
Julie’s start date: 1 October 2025
Check date: 1 December 2025
Time off taken: 5 days in November
Calculation steps
1) Effective date: 1 March 2025
2) Work anniversary period: 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2026
3) Granted upfront policy: 10 days granted on 1 October 2025
4) Time off used: 5 days in November
Julie’s balance on 1 December is 5 days.
Archive and restore time off type
Archiving a time off type removes it from active use on your team. Any time off scheduled for that time off type will remain on the Schedule as read-only. Team members will no longer see this time off type as an option when requesting or scheduling new time off.
This is useful when you update time off policies and want to prevent time off from being scheduled for time off types you are no longer using. The Account Owner and users with Admin access rights can archive or restore time off types within the Time off tab in Team Settings.
Click the pencil icon to edit the time off type and select Archive to archive it. To restore it, click on the pencil icon again and select Actions > Move to active.
