Contents of this article are applicable to the following users
Tier: All
Platform: Web
Access Level: Owner
We are excited to share that we have upgraded our leave engine to a new and improved version!
The new system will improve leave calculations, fulfill the highest standards for both employers and employees, as well as help us build new features more quickly, including long-awaited features such as automated leave proration upon contract end date.
In this article, we will highlight the major changes and their implications. Please reach out to our customer support if you have any questions!
Update 1: Leave usage for future period
Description | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
More leave types can now be applied in the future period | Staff can apply for leaves in the next period only for leave types that award balances upfront. | Staff can apply for leave for the next period regardless of whether the leave balances are awarded upfront or on an earned/accrued basis.
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Rationale for change
With this change, the users on earned/accrued Annual Leave types can apply for leave for the next period in advance.
Update 2: Leave settings changes
Description | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
The logic to handle changes in leave settings has been improved | Leave settings changes will reset the leave type data using the new settings. The reset ignores leave taken, adjustment and carry forward balance from the previous year. | Leave settings changes will recompute the new balances per the newest settings; it preserves the leave taken, adjustment records and carry forward balance from the previous year.
The previous leave reports and balance are untouched. |
Changes carry forward method, limit and expiry. | The changes will take effect at the end of the current period. | The changes will take effect immediately. It recalculates the carry forward balance of the current period per the newest settings. |
Example
Scenario | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
Sally joins a company with the following settings
On 1st March, the following leave settings changes are made:
| On 1st March, after the leave settings changes, the new balance for Sally will be 24 days
The new Annual Leave Entitlement has been adjusted to 24 days, and the leave is awarded upfront.
| On 1st March, after the leave settings changes, the new balance for Sally will be 23 days
The new Annual Leave Entitlement has been adjusted to 24 days, and the leave is awarded upfront.
The user no longer has to perform any manual adjustments. |
Rationale for change
With this change, when companies change their leave policy, less manual work will be needed to ensure the accuracy of leave balances.
Update 3: Join date changes
Description | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
The logic to handle changes in join dates has been improved | When a staff's join date changes, the balances will be reset and recomputed based on the new join date settings, ignoring past usage data (taken, adjustment and carry forward). | When a staff's join date changes, the balances will be reset and recomputed based on the new join date settings, but factoring in past usage data (taken, adjustment and carry forward). |
Example
Scenario | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
Sally joins a company with the following settings
On 1st March, Sally's Join Date is changed to 1st February 2024. | On 1st March, after the join date changes, the new balance for Sally will be 11 days. (11 completed months from 1st Feb to 31st December)
| On 1st March, after the join date changes, the new balance for Sally will be 10 days.
This is because, after the change in join date, new prorated annual entitlement will be 11 days. (11 completed months from 1st Feb to 31st December)
After subtracting the 1 day of leave consumed, new balances should be 10 days.
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Rationale for change
With this change, when the join date of an employee is required (due to any user error in profile creation), there will be less manual adjustments needed to ensure the accuracy of leave balances.
Update 4: Prorated leave entitlement for new joiners
Description | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
The prorated annual entitlement for a mid-year joiner is adjusted | If a new joiner joins before the 14th of a month, they will be awarded prorated entitlements for that month.
You may have made a one-time adjustment if your company does not practice the current system default. | A new joiner will only be awarded entitlements for the first month if they join on the 1st of that month.
If they join halfway in the month, prorated entitlement for that month will no longer be awarded.
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Example
Scenario | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
Sally joins a company with the following settings
| Sally will be awarded 11 months’ worth of leaves (February to December) by default.
Total leave awarded = 11 months/12 months * 12 Annual Leave Entitlement = 11 days | Sally will only be awarded 10 months’ worth of leaves (March to December) by default.
Total leave awarded = 10 months/12 months * 12 Annual Leave Entitlement = 10 days |
Rationale for change
With this change, the default leave settings will align with most users' leave policies and be designed to comply with the latest guidelines from Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Update 5: Leave Balance Rounding
Description | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
Leave balance awarded will always be rounded to the nearest whole number | If leave balances end exactly with 0.5 i.e any number in the form of x.5 will not round up nor down, and x.5 balances will be awarded to the user | The new calculation method correctly rounds balances awarded to the nearest whole number. A number in the form of x.5 will be rounded up to (x+1), and awarded to the user. |
Example
Scenario | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
Sally joins a company with the following settings:
| Sally will be awarded 6 months’ worth of leaves (July to December).
Total leave awarded = 6 months/12 months * 7 Annual Leave Entitlement = 3.5 days
| Sally will be awarded 6 months’ worth of leaves (July to December).
Total leave awarded = 6 months/12 months * 7 Annual Leave Entitlement = 3.5 days -> 4 days (rounded up) |
Rationale for change
With this change, the default rounding rules will be more aligned with statutory recommendations and industry standards.
Update 6: Leave Accrual Date Changes
Note: Not applicable for users who award leave balances upfront, or for users who use anniversary leave types.
Description | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
The leave accrual dates for employees are adjusted forward | Employees who join after the middle of a month will be awarded leaves only after the last day of the next month.
For users in their 2nd calendar year onwards, they will receive monthly prorated leave entitlements on the 1st day of the following month | Employees who join in the middle of a month will be awarded leaves immediately after 1 completed month from their join date.
For users in their 2nd calendar year onwards, they will receive prorated monthly leave entitlements on the last day of each month. |
Examples
Scenario | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
Sally joins a company with the following settings:
| Sally will receive her monthly prorated leave entitlements as follows:
On 1st September: 1 Balance Accrued
On 1st October: 1 Balance Accrued
Total leaves accrued as of 25th October 2023: 2 (balance for October will only be accrued on 1st November)
| Sally will receive her monthly prorated leave entitlements as follows:
On 19th August: 1 Balance Accrued
On 19th September: 1 Balance Accrued
On 19th October: 1 Balance Accrued
Total leaves accrued as of 25th October 2023: 3
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Tommy joins a company with the following settings:
| For the year of 2023, Tommy will receive his monthly prorated leave entitlements as follows:
On 1st February 2023: 1 Balance Accrued
On 1st March 2023: 1 Balance Accrued
On 1st April 2023: 1 Balance Accrued
(continues throughout the year…)
On 1st October 2023: 1 Balance Accrued
Total leaves accrued in 2023 (until 25th October): 9 | For the year of 2023, Tommy will receive his monthly prorated leave entitlements as follows:
On 31st January 2023: 1 Balance Accrued
On 28th February 2023: 1 Balance Accrued
On 31st March 2023: 1 Balance Accrued
(continues throughout the year…)
On 30th September 2023: 1 Balance Accrued
Total leaves accrued in 2023 (until 25th October): 9 |
Rationale for change
After this change, employees will immediately gain access to leaves upon each completed month. In addition, the change in accrual dates earlier will make it more intuitive for HR managers when tracking leave balance accruals.
Update 7: Negative Leave Balance Carry Forward
Note: This is only applicable for users who have negative leave balances allowed. If you wish to disallow negative balances, contact our customer support team to adjust the settings for you.
Description | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
The way we carry forward negative leave balances has been improved. | Negative leave balances will be carried forward as carry-forward balances for the next period.
Only negative leave balances incurred in the current period will be carried forward. | Negative leave balances will be deducted from the next period’s base entitlement balance.
Negative leave balances will be carried forward into the next period regardless of when it was incurred. |
Example
Scenario | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
Sally joins a company with the following settings
Current Date: 31st December 2023
Leave settings
| On 1st Jan 2024, only negative balances for 2023 will be carried forward, and hence the new balance will be as such:
| On 1st Jan 2024, both negative carry-forward balances in 2023 and negative balances for 2023 will be carried forward, and hence the new balances will be as such:
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Rationale for change
Previously, negative leaves balances in a period are only carried forward for the next period, beyond which it will expire. With this new change, we now allow negative balances to be carried forward into future periods, correctly accounting for overtaken leaves across periods.
Update 8: Changing Leave in the Previous Period
Description | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
The way we handle previous period leave record changes has been improved. | When modifications are made to leave records from a previous period—such as assigning, unassigning, accepting, or declining—the current period's leave balance is adjusted.
| When modifications are made to leave records from a previous period—such as assigning, unassigning, accepting, or declining—the previous period's leave balance is adjusted. Then it recalculates the carry-forward balance to the current period. |
Examples
Scenario | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
The leave settings:
Sally's leave balance at the end of 2023:
Sally's leave balance on 1 January 2024
| On 1st January 2024, Sally's leave application for 23-24 December 2023 (2 days) is approved.
Sally's leave balance at the end of 2023 doesn't change = 4 days.
Sally's leave balance for 2024 is reduced by 2 days. The total balance now is:
| On 1st January 2024, Sally's leave application for 23-24 December 2023 (2 days) is approved.
Sally's leave balance at the end of 2023 has changed.
Sally's carry-forward balance for 2024 is recalculated. The total balance now is:
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Rationale for change
These changes ensure alignment with industry standards, where leave balances are strictly applied to leave taken within the same period.
Update 9: New Leave Setting - Disabling Proration upon Join Date
Description | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
We have added the ability for users to choose whether a leave type's balance will be prorated if staff joins in the middle of the year.
This is only applicable for leave types with an entitlement period based on the calendar year (1st Jan - 31st Dec) | When a new joiner joins in the middle of the period, entitlement will be prorated for all calendar year leave types.
| When a new joiner joins in the middle of the period, their entitlement will be prorated only for leave types with the setting "automatically prorate balances when join date is present". |
Examples
Scenario | Old System Behaviour | New System Behaviour |
The leave settings:
Sally's join date is 1st July 2024. On 1st July she is tagged to the leave type. | On 1st July, her balances will be:
| On 1st July, her balances will be:
This is because proration upon join date is not enabled for this leave type. |
Rationale for change
These changes allow HR to set up leave types to cater to various leave use cases and comply with the policy where some are not pro-rateable, such as compassionate leave and birthday leave.