What's covered in this guide?
What are Starting Balances?
'Starting Balances' refer to the total Leave entitlement an employee receives at the start of their Leave Year. This can either be:
0 Hours or 0 Days for 'Hourly' Employees
Prorated entitlement for 'Part Time' employees
Yearly entitlement for 'Salaried'/'Full Time' Employees
Why is setting Starting Balances useful?
'Starting Balances' were introduced to provide additional insights for the Leave Balance Report as it allows users to visualise a complete understanding of their employees leave balances. The types of balances the Workforce stores are:
The Starting Balance:
This can be at the start of the leave year or start of employment
The Current Balance:
The employees current available balance. This is calculated as ((Starting Balance + Accrued Leave + Manual Adjustments) - Leave Taken)) = Current Balance
How are Starting Balances Calculated?
Workforce will store the Starting Balance for an employee and use this to automatically calculate the 'Current Balance'.
How to set an employees 'Starting Balance'
There are various ways to set a Starting Balance for an employee:
Employee Profile
Via CSV (useful for uploading Starting Balances in bulk)
The Leave Balance Report
Recalculate Leave Button
Individual instructions are below:
Enter via the Employee Profile
Ideal for setting a Starting Balance on an individual level
Add the employees 'Starting Balance' into the 'Starting Balance' column
A 'Leave Balance' will be automatically created from the Starting Balance
Any leave deductions or accrual will be made to the 'Leave Balance'
Upload via CSV
To access the following feature, you will need to go to Time & Attendance, then click on Leave, then Tools, and finally select Leave Balances.
Ideal for setting Starting Balances in Bulk
Download the CSV
Enter/Update Starting Balances for employees in the respective 'Leave Type' Field:
Download the corrected file as .CSV
Choose the file in Step #2 and 'Import Starting Balances':
Imported Starting Balances will immediately reflect on the employee profile:
Any Leave that has been taken within the Leave Year will deduct from the Starting Balance and reflect in the 'Current Balance'
Any accrued Leave (from approved shifts, other leave and TOIL) will add to the Starting Balance and reflect in the 'Current Balance'
Enter or Update on the Leave Balance Report
'Starting Balances' can be added or updated directly onto the Leave Balance Report
Editing the Starting Balance will trigger a recalculation of the employees 'Current Balance'
Example Scenario:
Updating employees' Starting balance from 100 hours:
To 200 hours:
Update via the 'Recalculate Leave' Button
Ideal for recalculating Starting Balances on an individual employee level
Enter the 'Incoming Balance' (the new/updated Starting Balance)
Press the green 'Recalculate Leave' button
Workforce will use the 'Incoming' balance effective of the Organisations Leave Year Start Date
Any Leave that has been taken within the Leave Year will deduct from the Starting Balance and reflect in the 'Current Balance'
Any accrued Leave (from approved shifts, other leave and TOIL) will add to the Starting Balance and reflect in the 'Current Balance'
FAQs
FAQs
Can I manually adjust 'Current Balances'?
No, you cannot manually adjust an employee's 'Current Balances', only 'Starting Balances' can be manually adjusted. If the 'Current Balance' for an employee is incorrect, you will need to adjust the 'Starting Balance' or submit leave/approved shifts to adjust the balance.
I've started using Workforce mid-way through my Leave Year, do I upload the Starting Balance for the entire leave period or just for the months remaining in the Leave Year?
This is a very common occurrence! You have two options in this instance:
Option 1:
Add Starting Balance entitlements that are for the entire Leave Period:
If uploading Starting Balances for the entire leave period, you will also be required to enter in any Leave that has been approved/taken in that period.
For any Leave Types that accrue leave, any accrued leave in the period must also be added to the Starting Balance
Option 2:
Add Starting Balance entitlements that are for a portion of the Leave Period:
If uploading Starting Balances that are for a portion of the Leave Period, Workforce will assume that any approved/taken leave has been deducted from the entitlement
Workforce will also assume that any accrued Leave has been factored into the Starting Balance entitlement