Importing Past Leave Balances for your employees by making initial leave adjustments

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Who's this for? 
• Why should I care about it?

  • Benefits for the HR Team

  • Benefits for Employees

• How many kinds of Leave Balances are there?
• How do I import past leave balances in Keka?

  • 1. Downloading the Template

  • 2. Adding the Data

  • 3. Uploading the File

• Viewing your Leave Balance

Who's this for? 

Global Admins, HR Team Employees

Why should I care about it?

Imagine this scenario: You've made the wise decision to transition to Keka as your HRMS tool halfway through the year. A great move indeed, but now you're left with a crucial task - addressing the leaves that your employees had taken prior to this transition. This isn't just a simple data transfer job; it's a key operation that upholds the integrity of your leave management system. 

Benefits for the HR Team

The process of importing past leaves assures that the leave data is precise and comprehensible, thereby minimising possible discrepancies that could surface later on. By taking this vital step, you are mitigating any risk of inaccuracies or misunderstandings with employees when it comes to calculating leave balances. 

Benefits for Employees

Doing this exercise plays a crucial role in enhancing employee trust and confidence in the company. As their previous leaves are accurately accounted for in Keka, employees don't have to deal with unwarranted disputes arising due to leave gaps/errors. 

Now that we understand the necessity and significance of this process, let's see how we achieve this.

How many kinds of Leave Balances are there?

Well, there are 2: 

a. Consumed/Availed Leave Balance - These are balances that your employees have already consumed/availed. Hence, importing data using this file will SUBTRACT the amounts from their leave balances on Keka. 

b. Carryover Balance - These are balances that your employees have earned but are yet to utilize. Importing data using this file will ADD the amounts to their leave balances on Keka.

Note: Both files have the same format except that the Consumed/Availed Leave Balance File requires one additional column (Leave Start Date). This will be explained in detail under the Adding the Data Section. 

How do I import past leave balances in Keka?

There are 3 steps in importing past leave balances

1. Downloading the Template
2. Adding the Data
3. Uploading the File

Let's tackle each of them one by one. 

1. Downloading the Template

You can download the file based on the Leave Balance type that you need to adjust.  As previously explained, there are 2 types of downloads: 

a. Consumed/Availed Leave Balance - These are balances that your employees have already consumed/availed. Hence, importing data using this file will SUBTRACT the amounts from their leave balances on Keka. 

b. Carryover Balance - These are balances that your employees have earned but are yet to utilize. Importing data using this file will ADD the amounts to their leave balances on Keka.

Note: Since the steps involved in importing both the kinds of balances is the same, we'll proceed with using the Consumed/Availed Leave Balance File to explain the process.

2. Adding the Data

Once the file is downloaded, you need to enter the balances against each Leave Type.  

Mandatory Fields for Consumed/Availed Leave Balance:

1. Employee Number: This is the Employee Number on Keka Portal

2. Leave Start Date: This is the date from which the Keka system will  calculate consumed leaves //More clarity needed here

Remaining Fields are optional and only those balances that are required to be updated should be entered.

Mandatory Fields for Carryover Balance:

1. Employee Number: This is the Employee Number on Keka Portal

Remaining Fields are optional and only those balances that are required to be updated should be entered

3. Uploading the File

Once the spreadsheet is uploaded, take a quick look and ensure that the data aligns with the column headers. For example, Casual Leaves should come under the Casual Leaves Column. If you spot a mistake, you can go back and re-upload the file after making the required correction in the Excel Sheet. 

Note: You don't need to perform any action on the Ignore Excel Columns Button. 

That's it - you're done! You can now check the balance in the employee profile.

Viewing your Leave Balance

Here's the employee's leave balance (from his profile page) before the leave balance was imported. Pay attention to the Casual Leave which appears blank.

And here's the employee's leave balance (from his profile page) after the leave balance was imported.

See how the Casual Leave has been updated to reflect a negative balance of 2 Days. All others are unchanged. You can click on the 'View History' icon to see how it was calculated. 

Hope this article helped you import your employees' leave balances. See you in the next one!