Changing Policy
This article explains:
How to change an employee's policy
What happens when an employee gets a new policy
When a policy change is not possible
A policy change may be relevant in the following cases:
Hourly paid → fixed paid employee
Fixed paid employee ↔ part time employee
Apprentice → fixed paid employee
Expats switching between countries
A group of employees needs a new time registration
A policy is a set of rules that governs the balances and registration access for employees.
⚠️ Important to note
When changing a policy, you must always consider whether the existing employee profile can be used, or if a new profile needs to be created.
A new employee profile must be created when:
the employee receives a new employment contract with a new date of employment,
orthe policy change results in a new period (new vacation year)
In these cases, the existing employee profile is made inactive, preserving history and statistics. A new profile is created for the new contract or period.
Permissions
You must be a Setup Admin to change an employee's policy, deactivate a profile, and create/edit employee profiles.
How to change policy
Go to Setup Admin
Click Edit to open an employee's profile
Click "Change" policy on the employee's main data card
Click the drop down to select a new policy
Click Select policy
The new policy is now selected. The new accesses and rules are shown on the profile.
When the profile is saved, the new accesses and rules are activated.
The image shows the flow for changing policy:
Important rules when changing policy
It is not possible to move an employee to a new policy if the new policy:
has a different vacation year.
has a different supplementary balance year (e.g. other vacation, OK days, etc.)
If the new policy has a different vacation year or supplementary balance year than the current policy, the employee should not be moved to the new policy on the existing profile. Instead, create a new employee profile.
Vacation balance limitation:
It is not possible to move an employee to a new policy if these vacation rules change from the old policy to the new policy:
Salary deduction → Advance
Salary deduction → Max
End-of-period earning → Start-of-period earning
Start-of-period earning → End-of-period earning
Supplementary balance limitation:
Changing standard hours can affect the other vacation balance if it is settled in hours, and the new policy has new standard hours.
Used days keep the old standard hours. Remaining days are calculated according to the new standard hours. Therefore, a manual adjustment of the balance may be needed.
Example: Supplementary balance in hours when changing standard hours
An employee has 37 hours/week = 5 other vacation days.
Allocated: 5 days = 37 hours
Used: 4 days × 7.4 hours = 29.6 hours
Remaining: 1 day = 7.4 hours
The employee's standard hours change to 30 hours/week = 6 hours per day:
Earning is adjusted to 5 × 6 = 30 hours
Used remains = 29.6 hours (old standard hours)
New remaining = 30 − 29.6 = 0.4 hours
👉 The employee still has 1 other vacation day left, but the system now requires 6 hours to take a full day.
The balance only shows 0.4 hours, so a full other vacation day cannot be taken without a manual adjustment.
Limitations with new date of employment
If an employee gets a new date of employment, a new profile must be created.
Use the table to assess whether an employee should have a new profile:
Situation | New date of employment | Change of period (vacation year) | Keep profile | New profile | Clarification |
Hourly paid → fixed paid employee | ⚠️ Often yes | No | ❌ | ✅ | The change often involves a new contract and new date of employment |
Fixed paid employee ↔ part time employee | No | No | ✅ | ❌ | Same employment relationship |
Apprentice → fixed paid employee | No | No | ✅ | ❌ | Continuation of existing employment |
Re-employment | ✅ Yes | No | ❌ | ✅ | New date of employment |
Change of vacation year / expat change between countries | ⚠️ Often yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ | ✅ | A new vacation year provides a new calculation basis for vacation and other vacation. For expats, a new contract and date of employment often follow |
When does a policy change take effect?
The earning method determines when a policy change takes effect:
Vacation and supplementary balance (e.g. FF days, OK days, other vacation) monthly earning: takes effect from the 1st calendar day of the next month.
Vacation and supplementary balance (e.g. FF days, OK days, other vacation) annual earning: takes effect from the date the policy is changed.
Standard hours: takes effect from the first calendar day after the change. For example, if the change is made on a Wednesday, it takes effect from Thursday.
ℹ️ It is not possible to change the date when a policy change takes effect to a date back in time.
💁 Currently, you cannot schedule a policy change for a specific future date. A feature for future policy changes is under development, but is not yet available.
A policy change can affect an employee's registration access
When an employee changes policy, it can affect which types of registrations the employee has access to in BitaBIZ.
The policy controls access to:
absence
time registration
Access to absence is 100% controlled by the policy and cannot be changed manually directly on the employee's user profile.
Access to time registration is also controlled by the policy by default.
However, a Setup Admin can manually change the employee's time registration method and thereby override the default access from the policy.
The following registrations are controlled manually on the employee's user profile:
custom registration types
day bank
mileage
If an employee suddenly has changed access to time registration or absence, you should first check if the employee's policy has been changed.
FAQ
Why has an employee's access to time registration or absence changed?
Why has an employee's access to time registration or absence changed?
An employee's access to absence and time registration can change if the employee has switched to a different policy.
The policy controls access to absence and time registration. Absence is always controlled by the policy and cannot be changed manually on the employee profile.
Time registration is controlled by the policy by default, but Setup Admin can manually change the employee's time registration method and thereby override the default access from the policy.
Custom registration types, day bank, and mileage are controlled manually on the employee's user profile.
Can I change an employee's policy back in time?
Can I change an employee's policy back in time?
No. A policy change cannot be used to change vacation earning back in time. When an employee is moved to a new policy, the new vacation earning applies going forward. If the employee should have had a different vacation balance from an earlier date, the balance must be corrected manually with a reduction or increase.
Example: If an employee went from full-time to a 4-day week from February 1, but is only moved to a part-time policy later, the employee should be moved to the correct part-time policy going forward, and the incorrect vacation earning for the period from February 1 to the change must be corrected manually.
When can I use the existing employee profile when changing policies, and when must I create a new one?
When can I use the existing employee profile when changing policies, and when must I create a new one?
You can use the existing employee profile when a policy change occurs within the same vacation period, and the employee continues under the same employment contract. In these cases, balances are not changed, and history and records continue as normal.
You need to create a new employee profile when:
the policy change involves switching to a new vacation period
(e.g., from having 9/1-8/31 as the vacation year to having 1/1-12/31),
orthe employee receives a new employment contract with a new date of employment
In these cases, the old profile must be manually set to inactive. History and statistics are preserved, and a new profile is created to match the new period or date of employment.
In short:
Same period and same contract → use existing profile
New period or new contract → create new profile
Situation / change | Change of date of employment | Change of period (vacation year) | Create new employee profile | Explanation |
No changes | No | No | ❌ No | Same employment and same vacation year - use existing profile |
Date of employment changes | Yes | No | ✅ Yes | New employment requires new profile |
Period (vacation year) changes | No | Yes | ✅ Yes | New calculation basis for vacation and other vacation |
Date of employment + period changes | Yes | Yes | ✅ Yes | New employment and new period |
How do I move an employee to a new policy?
How do I move an employee to a new policy?
Before you change an employee's policy, make sure that the policy the employee is to be switched to is already created in the system and whether the policy change potentially requires you to create a new employee profile.
How to open the employee's master data card and change the policy:
Go to Setup admin
Find the relevant employee on the list
Click Edit to open the employee's master data card
Under the Policy field, click the "Change" button to select a new policy for the employee
Save the change
How do I make an employee profile inactive and create a new one for the same employee?
How do I make an employee profile inactive and create a new one for the same employee?
The old employee profile must be manually set to inactive. This is done by:
Go to Setup Admin → Employees
Open the employee's master data card
Click Make user inactive
Important: If you choose Delete employee, all master data and records will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored.
Select termination date for the date the old policy is valid until
Click Save
When the employee is made inactive, history and records are preserved, but the employee can no longer be used actively in the system.
How the new employee profile is created depends on your user administration.
If you have manual user administration
If you have automatic user administration
Read more about automatic user creation here
How can I see if an employee has received a new vacation balance period?
How can I see if an employee has received a new vacation balance period?
If you are unsure whether an employee has received a new vacation balance period, you can check this on the employee's master data card.
Here you can see when the relevant vacation policy is valid from – this is called the policy effective date.
If an employee has received a new vacation balance period, the policy will be valid from the start date of the new vacation balance period, for example 01.09.2024.
Note that a vacation balance is locked for changes (including registrations and adjustments) for periods before the policy effective date.
I have moved an employee from another country to Denmark, and now the balances don't match – what should I do?
I have moved an employee from another country to Denmark, and now the balances don't match – what should I do?
When an employee is moved from one country to another, you must create a new employee profile with a policy that matches the new country (e.g., Denmark).
It is not sufficient to simply change the policy on the existing employee profile. The reason is that vacation year, earning method, and balance setup may differ from country to country, which can result in mismatched balances.
If the policy has already been changed on the existing employee profile and the balances are therefore incorrect, the employee profile must still be made inactive, and a new employee profile must be created with the correct country policy.
It is not recommended to try to fix the problem by manually adjusting balances and totals.
Can I change an employee's public holidays from one country to another?
Can I change an employee's public holidays from one country to another?
The most important question is whether the employee will get new vacation rules and a new vacation period if the policy is changed. If yes, then the employee's active profile must be made inactive and a new profile must be created with the new public holidays and vacation period.
If the employee's vacation rules and vacation period are not changed by the new policy with the new public holidays, then you can change the policy to the new public holidays. However, you should be aware that vacation planned over the old public holidays will not count towards the vacation balance. With a new country's public holidays, it may therefore be necessary to review the employee's calendar to check if a manual adjustment of the vacation balance is needed.
I need to change an employee from fixed paid employee to part time employee – how do I do that?
I need to change an employee from fixed paid employee to part time employee – how do I do that?
In this case, the vacation period and vacation rules typically do not change. Therefore, you can safely change the policy without risking issues with the vacation balance.
When you change the policy, please note the following:
Monthly vacation policy:
Changes in vacation earning take effect from the 1st day of the next month
The changes do not affect vacation already earned under the old contract.
For annual vacation policy:
The changes take effect for the active vacation year.
Hour bank:
If the employee has an hour bank (flex time), changes to standard hours take effect from the next working day. Historical standard hours are not changed back in time. Remember that standard hours can be managed either from the policy or the employee's profile.
A staff group has not previously had a supplementary balance (e.g., other vacation, FF days, OK days). Can we move employees to a policy with a supplementary balance without affecting the vacation balance?
A staff group has not previously had a supplementary balance (e.g., other vacation, FF days, OK days). Can we move employees to a policy with a supplementary balance without affecting the vacation balance?
If the new policy with supplementary balance has the same vacation period/vacation year as the old policy without supplementary balance, you can move the employees to the new policy. For example, you move from the vacation year 9/1-12/31 (the following year) to the same vacation year 9/1-12/31 (the following year).
If the new policy has a different vacation period. For example, if the old policy follows the calendar year 1/1-12/31 and the new policy follows 16 months 9/1-12/31 (the following year), then the employees must have a new profile.