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 use Starting Balances?
‘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:
Individual instructions are below:
Employee Profile
To set an employee’s starting balance from their profile:
Navigate to Staff.
Select the employee.
Open the Leave Balances tab.
Click + Add Leave Balance.
Select the appropriate Leave Type.
Enter the employee’s Starting Balance.
Click Submit.
Once saved:
A leave balance is created for the selected leave type.
The employee’s current balance is automatically calculated.
Any future accruals, leave taken, or manual adjustments will update the balance automatically.
💡 Tip: This method is best suited for updating individual employees.
Update starting balances from the Leave Balance Report
Starting balances can also be managed directly from the Leave Balance Report.
To update a starting balance:
Navigate to Time & Attendance > Leave > Leave Balance Report
Locate the employee and leave type.
Double-click the Starting Balance cell.
Enter the new balance.
The employee's Current Balance will update automatically using the new starting balance.
📝 Important to note: Every starting balance update is recorded in the employee's balance history.
Import starting leave balances in bulk via CSV
Use CSV import when you need to update starting balances for multiple employees at once.
Before you begin
Before importing starting balances:
Ensure your Leave Year has been configured.
Confirm the required Leave Type has been created.
Prepare the starting balances for each employee.
📝 Important to note: Starting balances are imported separately for each Leave Year and Leave Type.
To import starting leave balances:
Navigate to Time & Attendance > Leave > Leave Balances (US: Time & Schedules > Time Off, then Time Off Tools > Manage time off balances)
Select the Leave Year using the drop-down menu in the top-right corner.
Under Import starting balances, select the Leave Type.
Click Download template.
Open the downloaded CSV file and update the Starting Balance column for each employee.
Save the completed file.
Return to the Import starting balances page.
Upload the completed CSV.
Click Upload Starting Balances.
Once the import is complete, you'll receive a confirmation message showing how many balances were successfully imported.
Understand the import template
The downloaded CSV contains the following columns:
Column | Description |
NAME | The employee’s name. |
User ID | The employee’s Workforce.com ID. Don’t change it. |
Employee ID | The employee’s ID from their profile, if they have one. |
Unit | Indicates whether the leave type uses Hours or Days. |
Starting Balance | Enter the employee’s starting balance. |
📝 Important to note:
Do not edit the Unit column. It tells Workforce whether the leave type uses hours or days. Changing this value will cause the import to fail.
Only update the Starting Balance values before uploading the file.
Import balances for a future leave year
You can prepare balances before a new leave year begins.
To do this:
Navigate to Time & Attendance > Leave > Leave Balances
Select the future Leave Year.
Download the template for the required leave type.
Enter each employee's starting balance.
Upload the completed CSV.
These balances will automatically become available when that leave year begins.
💡 Tip: Importing balances ahead of time allows employees to submit leave requests for the upcoming leave year using their correct entitlement.
Download leave balance history
You can download a complete history of an employee's leave balance for a selected leave year.
To download the history:
Navigate to Time & Attendance > Leave > Leave Balances.
Select the appropriate Leave Year.
Under Download history, select the employee.
(Optional) Select a location.
Click Download CSV.
The exported file includes:
Starting balance
Accruals
Leave requests
Manual adjustments
Balance before and after each transaction
The reason for each balance change
This provides a complete audit trail of how the employee's current balance was calculated.
FAQs & Troubleshooting
Why does it say “Insufficient balance” when my employee has enough leave?
Why does it say “Insufficient balance” when my employee has enough leave?
You’ll see one of these:
Insufficient [leave type] balance: this request is for [X] hours, but only [Y] hours are available. (or days). Leave that’s already approved for later in the leave year has already been taken off the available amount.
Insufficient [leave type] balance: approving this request would cause future approved leave to exceed the available balance. The request fits today, but leave that’s already approved for later in the year would then push the balance below zero.
Pending requests aren’t counted. In the UK, if the leave type books bank holidays automatically, bank holidays not yet booked for the rest of the leave year are also held back.
To fix it:
Check the employee’s Leave Balances tab for approved leave later in the year.
A manager who can approve the request can submit it for the employee. The balance check doesn’t block managers.
An Admin can untick Disallow negative leave balances for this leave type in the leave type’s settings, or set a Negative leave balance threshold. If you use Workforce Payroll, these are in the payroll leave type’s settings.
It says the leave type “hasn’t been set up yet” for next leave year. What do I do?
It says the leave type “hasn’t been set up yet” for next leave year. What do I do?
You’ll see [Leave type] for the [leave year] leave year hasn’t been set up yet. A starting balance needs to be configured before leave can be requested for this period. The employee needs a starting balance for that leave year.
On their Leave Balances tab, use the arrows to go to that leave year, then click Set starting balance. Or import starting balances for that leave year (see Import balances for a future leave year above).
Who can edit starting balances?
Who can edit starting balances?
By default, Admins and Payroll Officers can add and edit leave balances. General Managers and Team Managers can see their staff’s balances but can’t change them. Employees can see their own balances.
How do I set an employee’s balance to 0?
How do I set an employee’s balance to 0?
On the employee’s Leave Balances tab:
If the leave type has a ⋯ menu, click it, choose Edit starting balance and enter 0.
Otherwise, click Recalculate, enter 0 as the starting balance, and choose the Correct at Date.
Accruals and approved leave after that date still apply.
How is my employee’s leave balance calculated?
How is my employee’s leave balance calculated?
Available balance = Starting balance + Leave accrued − Leave taken.
Leave taken includes approved leave that’s coming up later in the leave year. Depending on your account, the Leave Balances tab shows either Starting Balance, Available Balance, Accrued and Leave Taken, or Payroll Balance, Available Balance, Accrued and Future Leave Applications.
To see every change and why it happened, download their balance history (see Download leave balance history above).
Why can’t I add a leave type for one employee?
Why can’t I add a leave type for one employee?
+ Add Leave Balance only shows leave types that apply to that employee and that they don’t already have. A leave type applies to an employee based on its Leave applies to settings, such as their earnings rules template and tags. Check the leave type’s settings, and check the employee has active pay conditions.
My employee’s leave balance keeps changing on its own. Is it being synced from payroll?
My employee’s leave balance keeps changing on its own. Is it being synced from payroll?
Possibly. If your organisation’s payroll software sends leave balances to Workforce.com, each sync replaces the balance with the payroll figure. Between syncs, Workforce.com still adds accruals and takes off approved leave, so the balance can jump each time the sync runs. There’s no setting to turn the sync off yourself. Contact Workforce.com support if you need it changed.
If you use Workforce Payroll:
Balances shown on the Leave Balances tab by leave year (UK): the balance updates as shifts and leave are approved. You can edit the starting balance on the Leave Balances tab or the Payroll tab.
Otherwise: balances update each time a pay run is posted, and you edit them on the employee’s Payroll tab.
How does leave accrue for hourly or zero-hour staff?
How does leave accrue for hourly or zero-hour staff?
Leave builds up from the ordinary hours on their approved shifts (not overtime), at the Leave accrual rate on the leave type. It’s added to the balance once the timesheet is exported.
In the UK, choose Leave balance accrues, which is recommended for hourly and zero-hour staff. If you also tick Automate Statutory Leave Balance Behaviour for this Leave Type, leave accrues at 12.07% of each hour worked.
US customers on Workforce Payroll: time off accrues through payroll when the pay run is posted, not from the accrual rate.
Why isn’t TOIL being added to the balance?
Why isn’t TOIL being added to the balance?
Check these:
The earnings rule that creates TOIL has Export this time as a TOIL or RDO accrual ticked.
The rule’s export name, or its name if it has no export name, exactly matches the name of the TOIL leave type.
The TOIL leave type applies to the employee, and has Is a ‘time off in lieu’ (TOIL) leave type ticked.
The shift has been approved, and the timesheet has been exported. TOIL is saved to the balance at that point.
The TOIL balance isn’t synced from external payroll software. Synced TOIL balances don’t accrue in Workforce.com.
To see how TOIL was earned and taken, use the TOIL Accrual Report.
(US) I can’t find Time & Attendance in my menu. Where are time off balances?
(US) I can’t find Time & Attendance in my menu. Where are time off balances?
In the US, the menu is called Time & Schedules. Admins and Payroll Officers can go to Time & Schedules > Time Off, then Time Off Tools > Manage time off balances.
You can also see one employee’s balances on their staff profile under Time Off & Unavailability > Time Off Balances.
Why did my import fail?
Why did my import fail?
If the file is missing a column, you’ll see The uploaded file is missing the NAME, User ID/Employee ID, Unit or Starting Balance columns. Download a new template and try again.
Otherwise, only the rows with problems are skipped. All the other rows still import. The message tells you which line failed and why:
Couldn’t find a matching employee. The employee isn’t active, you don’t have permission to edit them, or their User ID or Employee ID was changed in the file.
Unit must be “Days” or “Hours”. The Unit column was edited.
“[Leave type]” is measured in days. Set the Unit column to “Days”. (or hours). The Unit doesn’t match the leave type.
“[value]” isn’t a number. Enter numbers only in Starting Balance, with no text or units.
Fix those rows and upload the file again. Rows with a blank Starting Balance are skipped and don’t change anything.
Can I import balances for next year’s leave?
Can I import balances for next year’s leave?
Yes. Select the future Leave Year before downloading the template and importing your balances.
Do I need to import balances for every leave type?
Do I need to import balances for every leave type?
Only for the leave types you want to set starting balances for. Each import covers one leave type, so repeat the import for each one.
What’s included in the balance history export?
What’s included in the balance history export?
The export includes:
Starting balance
Leave requests
Accruals
Manual adjustments
Other balance changes
The balance before and after each transaction
This provides a complete audit trail of how an employee’s leave balance was calculated.