Setting Up and Managing Leave Types in Keka

Modified on Fri, 19 Apr at 11:39 AM

Handling leave requests at work can get tricky, but it's a breeze with Keka. This article will guide you through the different kinds of leaves you can set up in Keka, making sure you're prepared for any situation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Setting up Different Types of Leaves
Understanding the Different Types of Leaves
Creating a Leave Plan
What next?

Setting up Different Types of Leaves

Go to the Time Attend (1) section, then open the Leave (2) section and find the Leave Types (3) tab. Here, you'll already see a list of standard leave types that are ready to be activated. But if those don't fit your company's needs, Keka has the flexibility to let you add your own.

To create a new leave type, click on the +Add Leave Type button. A new window will appear. First, choose the type of leave you wish to add. Then, you can give it a Name and a Short Code. For instance, you can name it "Sick Leave" and use "SL" as the short code.

Keka also allows you to mark the leave for specific reasons like medical needs, helping you stay in line with regulations. You can also limit this leave type to certain employees based on factors like gender or marital status. Additionally, you can list custom reasons for taking this leave to make it more suitable for your company's needs.

Understanding the Different Types of Leaves

Now let's get to the heart of this guide—the different kinds of leaves you can set up and manage:

Regular Leave

This is the everyday leave that your employees can use based on the policy you set. This includes sick leave, casual leave, and earned leave. It's the basic kind of leave that covers common needs like illness or personal time off.

Incident Leave

This type of leave is for special life events that are important to your employees. This can be Maternity/Paternity leave, celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, or even marriage days. It’s a way to show that your organization values the significant moments in employees’ lives.

Unpaid Leave

There might be instances where an employee has used up all their allocated leaves but still needs time off. That’s when they can opt for unpaid leave. As the name implies, this leave will not include pay but provides the necessary time off.

Comp Off

This is for when an employee has to work during a holiday or their day off. To make up for it, they can earn 'comp off' credits which they can later use to take a day off. It's a way to compensate for the extra time put in and balance out the workload.

Next Step: Creating a Leave Plan

A leave plan sets the rules for taking time off at work. It covers all sorts of leaves like sick days, vacation, and family leaves. It also explains how to ask for leave and who approves it. This plan makes sure everyone knows their rights and follows the same rules.

In Keka, you can make different Leave Plans for each department. Let's see how to create one from scratch.

To do this, go to the Time Attend (1) section of your Keka portal, then open the Leave (2) section. Under Leave Plans (3), click on +Add Leave Plan and select Start from Scratch (4).

In the window that appears next, add the Name of your leave plan and a Description to along with it (optional), then choose the starting month for the leave calendar year—usually, it's January to December.

The leave calendar year is a designated period for employees to accumulate leaves that they can later utilize. When this period concludes, leaves may lapse, carry forward, or be encashed, as per the organization's policy. Leave calendars commonly follow either a January to December or April to March cycle. When you create a leave policy, you establish the leave calendar year, and it cannot be modified once set.

If you grant leaves based on employee joining dates, choose the From Employee Joining Date option. This way, each employee's leave calendar aligns with their work anniversary.

In the Leave Policy Explanation section, you have the option to upload a custom document to explain the leave policy to your employees or let Keka generate one based on your configurations. Then just click Save.

Once you've created the leave plan, it's time to add leave types to this plan. Under "Configuration," you can add the required leave types that were previously created. For each leave type, you have the flexibility to customize settings according to your organization's requirements.

What next?

Once you've added leaves to your leave plan, the next step is to set rules for how these leaves accumulate and how they can be used. Each leave you've added falls under one of the four types we talked about. So, each type has its own ways to customize. Keep reading to find out how to configure: