Public holidays can impact how much annual leave employees are entitled to, especially for part-time employees or those with irregular working patterns. In SelectHR, you can automatically adjust entitlements based on how public holidays fall.
To make sure public holiday adjustments are applied correctly, you need to apply the right calculation method to the employee’s holiday rule.
📌Note: To show that the employee doesn't work on public holidays, you also need to select Use Public Holidays in the working pattern.
There are four calculation methods to choose from, depending on how you want public holiday adjustments to work.
Exact calculation
This method adjusts the employee's entitlement based on the number of public holidays that fall on their actual working days, multiplied by their FTE.
How it works
If a public holiday lands on a day the employee normally works, they get a pro-rated portion of that day off, based on their FTE.
Example
An employee works Thursdays and Fridays (FTE 0.4). Two public holidays fall on those days this year.
Entitlement: FTE × public holidays on working days
0.4 × 2 = 0.8 days entitlement
Adjustment: Working day public holidays − entitlement
2 − 0.8 = 1.2 days adjustment
Simple calculation
This method uses the total number of public holidays during the employee’s period of employment, not just the ones on working days. This means it’s based on time worked in the holiday year, rather than specific working days.
Example 1
The employee works Thursdays and Fridays all year (FTE 0.4), and there are eight public holidays in the year. Two of them fall on working days.
Entitlement: Total public holidays × FTE
8 × 0.4 = 3.2 days entitlement
Adjustment: Working day public holidays − entitlement
2 − 3.2 = -1.2 days adjustment (extra leave owed)
Example 2
Same employee, but leaving the business on 10 July. Only five public holidays fall during their time of employment. One of those falls on a working day.
Entitlement: Public holidays in employment period × FTE
5 × 0.4 = 2 days entitlement
Adjustment: Entitlement − working day public holidays
2 − 1 = 1 day adjustment
Statutory calculation
This method uses the total public holidays in the year, regardless of whether they fall on the employee’s working days. This method is useful if you want to treat all employees the same, based on time worked and FTE only.
Formula
FTE × proportion of the year worked × total public holidays
📌Note: If an employee has more than one career record during the year, the proportion is calculated separately for each record.
Example
The employee works Thursdays and Fridays all year (FTE 0.4), and is leaving the business on 10 July. This means they're working 191 days of the year. There are eight public holidays in the year, two of which fall on working days.
Entitlement: FTE x (days worked / 365) x total public holidays
0.4 x (191 / 365) x 8 = 1.68 days entitlementAdjustment: Entitlement - working day public holidays
1.68 - 2 = -0.32 days adjustment
No adjustment
This option turns off public holiday adjustments entirely.
Review an employee's public holiday calulation
To review how an individual's public holiday adjustment has been calculated, follow the steps below.
Under Absence, click Absence, then click Holiday Additions.
Select the relevant employee.
Click the notepad in the view notes column for a breakdown of the calculation.