Administrators

How do I set up a Time Off policy?

Wondering how to set up a Time Off Policy in GoCo's Time Off App? Keep reading to find out how!

If you have not already, be sure to check out our Live Training sessions to learn how to set up Time Off & Time Tracking policies from a GoCo Training Specialist. 

First, you'll need to navigate to the Time Off App in GoCo. You can get there from your navigation tabs on the left side of your screen or from the Time Off card on your company home page. 

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If you have not created previous Time Off policies, GoCo will immediately prompt you to begin creating a new policy. If you have created previous policies, then you will need to switch over to the setting tab & hit "+Add a Policy".

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Now name your new policy & hit "Save".

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Select your Policy Members & hit "Continue".

⭐ You will be able to view all team members & see if they are already in an exisitng policy here. To edit these, simply select the employee & GoCo will update their policy.

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Review your Managers (Time Off Approvers) & hit "Continue".

⭐ You can edit or add Managers at this step! Keep in mind that Time Off approvers will ALWAYS be the employee's manager, but Full Access Admins will also be notified of requests & be able to approve/deny.

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Select the checkbox for each of the holidays that your company observes. If your company observes a holiday that is not on the list, you can add a new one by clicking on the "+Add a Holiday" button at the bottom.

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Specify how many hours/week the employees with this PTO policy work and which days of the week they work.

🚨 This is important because GoCo calculates time off in hours, not days.

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If this PTO policy includes any of the buckets listed in the image below, switch the toggle for that option. Click Edit for more advanced settings of each type of Paid Time Off.

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⭐ Please note: Accruals and advanced PTO settings are part of the time off add-on. To set up an Accrued Based PTO Policy, see here

  • Once upgraded, you will be asked to set up the accrual rates and a few additional settings (tenure rules, maximum balances, carryover rules, etc.) for each type of PTO you have turned on. 
  • If you have Free HR, you must keep the policy as Unlimited (like above). It will still track hours requested YTD for employees, but will not show an employee their balance or the remaining amount to request.

Reasons:

Whether your policy type is Unlimited or Accrued you can now list the Reasons for each time off type, which will be displayed for team members to choose from in the dropdown when requesting time off.Screenshot 2023-08-08 at 5.25.01 PM

 
Custom Time Off Types:
Next, you can customize other types of PTO that your employees can request. An example of this could be Work from Home.Simply click + Add a type
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You can create up to three custom time-off types across all policies. A custom type can live in only one policy at a time. If you want to free up a custom type, delete one of the active ones.

 

Next, you have the option to sync approved time off and holidays to your company calendars. Select which third-party service (Google Calendar, Outlook 365, etc.) your company uses for its team calendar and follow the instructions. Feel free to skip this page and come back to it later too.

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Finally, you'll be able to review all of the settings for your time off policy.

  • At the bottom of the review page, you can select whether you would like GoCo to email all of your employees to let them know they can now request time off. If you would prefer to notify your employees yourself, just select the box that says "I'll send the invite myself."

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Then just click Finish and you're all done!

If you have any other questions, please email help@goco.io or reach out to your GoCo Client Success Team! 

Happy Hiring! 💚