Leave balances & catalog
Manage the leave types your business offers and each employee's leave balances.
Your leave catalog is the set of leave types employees can request, and each employee carries a balance per type. This guide covers the catalog and per-employee balances.
Who this is for
Owners and managers using the Shiftly web platform.
Before you start
- Open Business settings → Leave types (also reachable from Time → Leave → Manage leave types).
The leave catalog
Leave types are split into Standard leave types — the statutory types set by legislation and awards (Annual, Personal / Carer's, Long Service, Compassionate, Parental, and so on) — and Custom policies you create. Each row summarises whether it's paid, its accrual rate, cycle, loading, and which employment bases it applies to.
Add a custom leave type
Select Add leave type, give it a name, set whether it's paid leave, and choose which employment bases it's available to (Full-time, Part-time, Casual, Labour hire, Non-employee). You also set how it accrues — see Set how leave builds up.
Statutory leave types can't be deleted — if you don't use one, disable it instead. Custom policies you create can be archived.
Per-employee balances
Open People, choose an employee, and select the Leave tab. Leave entitlements lists every leave type grouped into Paid leave, Statutory, and Other. Each type has a toggle to opt the employee in or out (this takes effect immediately), a current balance, and a link to manage their rate.
Adjust a balance
Select an employee's balance figure to edit it directly — this is the sanctioned way to set an opening balance or correct a balance (for example after migrating from another system). Use the per-employee rate override for ongoing changes to how leave accrues — see Give an employee a different leave rate.
When your business manages leave in Xero, balances are shown from Xero and the native balance controls are hidden — the page shows "managed in Xero" with a Sync now action. See What syncs with Xero.
Related
Leave management
Approve leave, manage balances, and control when leave can be taken — set up leave types, tune how balances accrue, action requests, and block time off during busy periods.
Set how leave builds up
Set how a leave type builds up — method, rate, loading, cycle reset, carry-over, and request gating — and understand exactly how the numbers work, with examples and edge cases.