Vacation Accrual Processing Overview

Leave accrual processing is a method that HR teams use to track employee leave awards and balances. This method processes your employees' leave accruals  based  on how your business defines its time-off plans. Employees typically accrue vacation time based on their length of service or the number of hours they've worked.

Why should employers keep vacation accruals up to date?

Since employees can request leave at any time, it's important to stay up to date on their leave accrual. This way, when a leave request comes in, your team can immediately determine how much leave time/hours an employee has available and whether this time can meet their request.

Manually keeping track of each employee’s accrued sick days, paid leave (PTO), and vacation requests becomes time-consuming. Not to mention that it leaves a high chance of human error. Incorporating a leave accrual processing system into your  human resources information system  (HRIS) can help reduce these challenges for your team.

How does procurement take place in the HRIS process?

HRIS automates the leave accrual calculation process. This saves your HR team time and provides peace of mind, ensuring your employees' leave calculations are accurate.

Even better, with an HRIS, your employees can access their leave accruals. This can help reduce conflicts between HR and employees. Plus, your employees can be more mindful of their leave accruals by understanding how much leave they have at any given time.

What are the types of leave?

There are several types of employee leave. Each can be automatically tracked in your HRIS:

• Sick leave  :  Sick leave allows employees to take time off for short-term or long-term health needs. Employers can offer paid or unpaid sick leave.
• Bereavement Leave  :  Bereavement leave is time an employee takes off work due to the death of a family member or loved one. Although there is no requirement for employers to pay employees during their bereavement leave, many employers typically do.
• Disability Leave  :  According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), disability leave gives employees the right to leave or reasonable accommodation from work who are limited due to a physical or mental disability. This law applies to businesses with 15 or more employees.
• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)  :  The FMLA requires businesses to give employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for health and family reasons. This can include the birth of a new child or caring for a family member or a family member involved in military service.
• Medical Leave  :  Employees who suffer medical conditions that interfere with their ability to perform their job duties are entitled to medical leave. The FMLA explains what the qualifications are for medical leave.
• Military Leave  :  This gives the right to leave to employees who participate in active or inactive duty in the US military. These employees are legally entitled to be reinstated to their former position when they return from duty.
• Leave of absence  :  A leave of absence is a period of time when employees can take time off from work without jeopardizing their job status. It includes many types of leaves such as some of the ones listed above.
• Paid Time Off (PTO)  :  PTO is time given by the employer to employees to be away from work. This can include any type of paid leave such as paid personal time off, vacation, federal holidays, and sick leave.

Is PTO the same as vacation?

As mentioned above, PTO is a  type  of leave, as not all types of leave are paid. Companies that offer PTO typically lump all paid leave requests (this can include paid vacation days, paid bereavement leave, paid sick days, etc.) into a single category for bookkeeping purposes.

Businesses that offer traditional PTO typically offer a certain number of PTO days at the beginning of a year or allow employees to earn PTO hours with each paycheck. Either plan requires a leave accrual processing method.