Holiday calculations in SelectHR are based on the working schedule periods in an employee's working pattern. These periods decide whether time off is recorded as a full day or a half day, and they work differently for standard shift workers and variable hours workers.
Understanding how these schedules work helps you record holiday and deduct it accurately.
Standard shift workers
Standard shift workers can book half days because their working day is split into two periods.
For standard shift workers, such as employees working 9:00am to 5:00pm, the working day is usually split into two periods, for example:
09:00–12:00.
13:00–17:00.
Each period counts as 0.5 days. A full day is therefore made up of two periods, totalling one whole day. Because of this, employees on standard shifts can book a half day by selecting one of the two periods to take off.
Variable hours workers
Variable hours workers can't book half days, so their holiday should be recorded in hours instead.
Employees on variable hours contracts are usually assigned the Variable Work Day working schedule. This is a special system schedule that reflects that they may work any number of hours on any given day, or none at all.
The schedule includes a single period, 00:00–23:59. This period always counts as one full day, so employees on this schedule can't book half days, as there is no second period to select.
Instead, variable hours workers should enter the number of hours they intend to take off when booking holiday. Their manager can then approve or decline the request.
When an employee works through the absence request workflow, they're asked to enter the number of hours they want to take off per day.
Why holidays should be recorded in hours
Recording holiday in hours keeps entitlement and usage accurate, because variable hours workers don't follow a fixed pattern.
Because variable hours workers don't follow a fixed pattern, you should record their holiday in hours rather than days. This ensures that:
The correct number of hours is deducted from their entitlement when a holiday is taken.
Their holiday allowance and usage are recorded accurately.
If holiday is tracked in days instead, the system treats any time off as a full day, based on the working schedule, which is always set to one day. This can lead to incorrect deductions if the employee only takes a few hours off.
🤓 Tip: If you do choose to allocate holiday in days for a variable hours worker, you will need to manually edit each absence record to reflect the correct number of days taken based on how many hours were used.