Is your holiday year ending soon? In this guide, we we'll run through the steps you need to take to successfully finish your holiday year in Breathe.
What you need to do depends on whether you allow carryover (unused leave to be carried forward into your new holiday year) or not.
We've created a handy flowchart to help you identify the steps you need to take to finish your holiday year:
Contents
Click the option below that applies to your organisation to be taken directly to that part of the guide.
Section 1. I don't allow carryover
Section 2. I'm setting up carryover for the first time
Section 7: FAQ's
Section 1. Don't allow carryover?
Great news- Breathe will take care of this for you.
The system will automatically refresh your holiday allowances on the first day of your new holiday year based on the holiday allowances your people have been assigned, so no action is required.
If you need to correct any discrepancies, if you're a HR user you can simply make a + or - adjustment on the user's profile once you've entered your new holiday year.
Section 2. Setting up carryover for the first time?
To set up carryover, you'll need to create a new allowance that allows it (you can't edit an existing allowance that's in use). You'll need to do this before your new holiday year has begun.
In your current holiday year:
Step 1: Create a new allowance by clicking on the + icon under holiday allowances.
Step 2: Fill in the allowance information, including your carryover details, then create the allowance.
Step 3: Assign the new allowance to your people. You can do this either by heading to their profile > More > Working pattern & holiday allowance, or by using the bulk assign tool within your People list.
Step 4: Approve all existing leave requests and check your holiday allowance report to make sure your allowances and carryover information is all set up correctly. We also advise running the outstanding leave request report, too.
Once you're in your new holiday year:
Step 5: Finish your holiday year by clicking the 'calculate carryover' button.
Section 3. I'm happy with the carryover set up within my account and only want to finish my holiday year
Already happy with the carryover that's set up in your account? Simply follow steps 4 & 5 in the last section to check your information is correct and to finish your holiday year.
For further advice, here's a useful guide:
If you need to make changes to your carryover, please read on.
Section 4. I use carryover but need to change the amount only
You'll need to do this before your new holiday year has begun.
In your current holiday year:
Step 1: Create a new allowance via Configure > Settings > Holiday allowances
Step 2: Assign the allowance to your people. You can assign the new allowance by either heading to their profile > More > Working pattern & holiday allowance
or by using the bulk assign tool within your People list.
Step 3: Approve all existing leave requests and check your holiday allowance report to make sure your allowances are all set up. We also suggest running the outstanding leave request report, too.
In your new holiday year:
Step 4: Finish your holiday year by clicking the 'calculate carryover' button.
Section 5. I use carryover but only want to increase the duration/ expiration window
Due to this potentially affecting allowances in your current holiday year, this new allowance containing your amended duration will need to be assigned to staff when your new holiday year has begun.
The good news is you can still get your account prepared by creating the allowances in your current holiday year so they are all ready to go.
In your current holiday year:
Step 1: Create an allowance to increase your carryover window. You can create allowances via Configure > Settings > Holiday allowances
In your new holiday year:
Step 2: As you're now in your new year, you'll need to finish your holiday year by clicking the 'calculate carryover' button.
Step 3: Now you can assign the new allowance to your staff either by doing this on their profile under More > Working pattern & holiday allowance
or by using the bulk assign feature on your People list
Section 6. I need to change the duration AND the amount of carryover
Our advice in this situation would be to make a manual adjustment to employees' profiles in your new holiday year and to not finish your holiday year (as this is not a required step).
In your new holiday year, your peoples' available allowance will reset to their default amount.
Step 1: Remaining allowance from previous year:
Any remaining allowance from your previous year can be found within the holiday allowances report.
Step 2: Making a manual adjustment
You can do this by visiting their profile > leave and adjusting as shown below:
Please note:
All manual adjustments made will show on your people's profiles for the remainder of the holiday year. You can't set a duration window on an adjustment.
Making manual adjustments is another way of reflecting carryover on your employees' profiles.
If you are reflecting carryover this way, you won't need to click the 'finish holiday year' button, as this will cause duplication of carryover.
FAQs
Q: How do I set up carryover within a holiday allowance?
A: This is detailed in the guide below:
Q: What does calculating carryover and finishing the holiday year do?
A: The action of finishing the holiday year calculates carryover and assigns it to next years allowance. If you do not allow carryover then there are no actions needed.
Q: There are previous unfinished years, do I need to finish these?
A: Our advice would be to leave it as it is. The previous years have passed and manual adjustments are likely to have been made. There is no need to action these now. Only finish the relevant year.
Q: Can I finish my holiday year early?
A: No. You are only able to finish your holiday year once the end date has passed. We recommend doing this on the closest day that occurs after the holiday year has ended. The action to do this before the holiday year has finished will not exist.
Q: What happens to leave that is already booked in the new holiday year?
A: Any leave that has been booked for the new holiday year will automatically deduct from the new allowance. If leave has already been booked and you want this to deduct from the carryover, you will need to cancel and rebook the leave once the carryover has been generated.
Q: Can I reflect longer than a 12-month carryover duration within my holiday allowances?
A: No. You can only reflect carryover durations of up to 12 months within Breathe.
Can I reflect more than 365 days carryover duration within my holiday allowances?
A: No, you can only assign up to 365 days within Breathe
Q: What happens to previous holiday?
A: All previous taken leave will still be visible, you do not need to remove these from the profiles as they are there for historical use, there is a filter that can be used to show current year only if you wish.
Q: Does calculating carryover and finishing the holiday year also reset the sickness for my people?
A: Finishing the holiday year will not reset sickness as this is based on a 12-month rolling period. This is how the Bradford factor is also calculated.
Q: What if I've made a mistake?
A: You're not able to roll back the system if a mistake has been made. You will need to correct any discrepancies with a manual adjustment.
We're here to help
Any questions? Contact support by using the messaging feature at the bottom right of your screen 💬