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Vacation policy - monthly earning

Vacation days are earned on a monthly basis and added per month

Written by Mathias Anneberg

Introduction to monthly vacation earning

This article explains how to set up a vacation policy with monthly earning in BitaBIZ.

The article describes:

  • how policies are set up

  • which planning rules can be applied

  • how vacation is handled in the calendar and integrations

This article describes the general functionality in BitaBIZ.
If your company follows specific national vacation regulations, you should also follow the setup in the relevant country-specific article.

Other leave that is managed via other leave (e.g. the 6th week of vacation, additional vacation days, and care days) is set up separately from vacation. Read more about other vacation here.

Monthly earning

With monthly earning, employees earn vacation days continuously throughout the year.

earning is calculated based on:

  • the annual number of vacation days

  • the employee’s start date

  • the selected earning method

If a vacation policy grants 25 vacation days per year, the employee will accrue 2.08 days per month. earning continues automatically as long as the employee remains employed.

Set up monthly vacation earning on a policy

The earning rule is selected in the policy and applies to all employees assigned to it.

  1. Go to Setup Admin

  2. Select Modules

  3. Click Create new policy or Edit an existing one

  4. Open the Vacation tab

  5. Find the Earning section

  6. Then select: Earning methodMonthly earning

Earning settings

When monthly earning is selected, the following settings can be configured.

Vacation year

Choose which vacation year the policy should follow.

The vacation year defines:

  • the earning period

  • the usage period

These rules vary from country to country.

Therefore, the vacation year should be selected in accordance with the company’s local legislation.

See country-specific articles for details.

Annual accrued days

Enter the number of vacation days the employee accrues per year.

The system will then automatically calculate the monthly earning.

Earning for new employees

New employees begin accruing vacation from their start date.

If the employee starts:

  • on the 1st of the month → a full month of earning is earned

  • mid-month → earning is calculated proportionally

Earning timing (start or end of period)

Choose when accrued vacation days become available to employees.

  • Start-of-period earning
    Vacation days become available at the beginning of the month.

  • End-of-period earning
    Vacation days only become available at the end of the month.

Selection of vacation registration rule

The vacation registration rule determines how employees can plan vacation. It is configured as follows:

  1. Go to “Setup Admin

  2. Select “Modules

  3. Click “Edit” for the desired policy, or click “Create new policy

  4. Open the “Vacation” section

  5. Open the “Rules” subsection

BitaBIZ supports three types of vacation registration rules:

  1. Max
    Employees can only plan vacation that has already been accrued. This ensures that employees never have a negative vacation balance.

  2. Unpaid
    Employees can request vacation without pay. This method is typically used if the employee does not have sufficient vacation balance.

  3. Advance
    Employees can plan vacation before the days are accrued.
    This means employees can use vacation days in advance (advance vacation), which are accrued continuously later in the vacation year. This allows for a negative vacation balance, which is balanced over time.
    In the policy, you can specify how many days of advance vacation an employee is allowed to have.

The vacation registration rule is selected individually for each employee group via the policy settings.

Approval requirements can be enabled or disabled.

Choose whether employees should be able to register half vacation days or only full days.

Find user guides for the three vacation registration rules here:

User guide for vacation with Max rule

User guide for vacation with Unpaid rule

User guide for vacation with Advance rule

Click on the image to view the three vacation methods:

Available settings for the vacation policy

Once you have set up the basic vacation policy with monthly earning, you can add a range of optional settings.

These settings help manage planning, calendar rules, and integrations.

Planning rules

Minimum vacation balance

You can require that a minimum number of vacation days must be planned before employees can register days from an other vacation (e.g. additional vacation days).

The setting is found under “Rules” in the policy.

This rule helps ensure that vacation days are used in time and do not expire unused.

Note: This rule is relevant for setups that follow the Danish vacation year, as the Holiday Act allows up to 5 remaining vacation days to be carried over or paid out.

Handling of remaining vacation

If the vacation policy follows the Danish vacation year, unused vacation days expire on 31/12.

During the transition period from September 1st to December 31st, remaining days are automatically used before new vacation days.

Advance vacation

If advance vacation is enabled, employees can take vacation before the days are accrued.

You can choose between:

  1. allowing employees to use vacation days in a vacation period that are only accrued in the next one (i.e. a negative vacation balance can be carried over to the next vacation year)

  2. limiting advance vacation to the current vacation year, so that a negative balance is not carried over to the next period

The setting is found under Vacation → Rules in the policy.

Note: Carrying over a negative vacation balance to a new vacation year is not in accordance with the Danish Holiday Act. If carryover is allowed, this should be coordinated with the setup in your payroll system.

Public holidays

Fixed public holidays

BitaBIZ supports official public holidays for more than 40 countries.

Vacation days that fall on public holidays are not deducted from the vacation balance.

Add public holidays under “Public holidays” in the policy – they are automatically created in employees’ calendars.

Floating public holidays

Floating public holidays can be scheduled freely by the employee.

They are created via an other vacation or a day bank, which can be renamed to “Floating public holidays” and supports earning.

This gives employees flexibility to choose their own days off, for example for religious reasons.

Weekends

Work week

Specify whether weekends should be included in the vacation calculation or treated as days off.

This is configured in the policy under Work week → Weekend days off.

Approval message

Reminder to approver

You can send an automatic reminder to approvers if vacation or absence registrations have not been approved by a selected date.

This is activated under Modules → Messages & rules → Payroll administration.

Integrations

Payroll export

Vacation can be transferred to the company’s payroll system.

Once the vacation has been processed in payroll, the registration is locked and cannot be changed by the employee.

Outlook Exchange

Vacation is automatically synchronized to employees’ Outlook calendars when the integration is enabled.

Policies with or without paid vacation

Absence codes for the payroll system

You can assign different absence codes for vacation to the policies.

Absence codes can be customized per employee group (e.g. with or without paid vacation) so they match the setup in the payroll system.

Special employee groups

If your company has employees with special conditions, a customized vacation setup may be required.

This typically applies to:

  • part-time employees, where earning depends on the number of working days

  • apprentices and trainees, who may have special rules, for example regarding advance vacation

In these cases, it is recommended to follow the relevant articles for correct setup:

Note: Rules for these employee groups may be country-specific.


FAQ

When does a new employee start accruing vacation?

An employee accrues vacation from their start date.

  • If the employee starts on the 1st of the month, a full month of earning is earned

  • If the employee starts mid-month, vacation is accrued proportionally (per employment day)

Earning is calculated automatically based on the vacation policy (e.g. 2.08 days per month with 25 days annually).

What is the difference between vacation and additional vacation days in the system?

Vacation and additional vacation days (other vacation) are two separate balances with their own rules:

  • Vacation: Statutory vacation days, accrued according to applicable legislation.

  • Additional vacation days (other vacation): Extra days off (e.g. the 6th week of vacation or care days) defined by the company. These are not governed by vacation law

How do public holidays work in the system?

Public holidays are assigned to the policy under the Public holidays tab.

If vacation overlaps with a public holiday:

  • the public holiday is not counted as a vacation day

  • the vacation balance is therefore not reduced for that day

Example:
A week of vacation with one public holiday → only 4 vacation days are deducted.

When is monthly earning used for a vacation policy?

Monthly earning is used in countries where vacation is earned continuously.

The choice of earning method depends on the country’s regulations and the company’s setup.

Find country-specific setups here.

How do I activate public holidays for a country in the calendar?

To activate country-specific public holidays:

  1. Go to Setup Admin → Modules

  2. Open or create a policy

  3. Go to the Public holidays section

  4. Select the country and mark the relevant public holidays to be activated in the policy

What should I do if a public holiday is missing from the list?

BitaBIZ retrieves public holidays from timeanddate.com, and therefore only supports public holidays available there by default.

If an official public holiday is missing from the list, it must be handled manually.
Contact our support team for assistance.

If the missing day is not an official public holiday, it can be added by creating your own registration types. Read more about how to create these here.

When do accrued vacation days become available?

The availability of accrued vacation days depends on the policy setting:

  • Start of period (Primo) → at the beginning of the month
    For example, September’s accrued days are granted on 1/9 and can be used from that date.

  • End of period (Ultimo) → at the end of the month
    For example, September’s accrued days are granted on 1/10 and can be used from that date.

Can employees take vacation before it is accrued?

It depends on the vacation rule in the policy whether employees can use vacation in advance:

  • Max → only accrued vacation can be used

  • Advance vacation → vacation can be taken before it is accrued

  • The number of days that can be taken in advance is defined in the policy.

  • Unpaid → unpaid vacation is possible

What does “Used vacation days in the vacation year are not limited to the days accrued in the same year” mean?

When this setting is enabled, it is possible to use more vacation days in a vacation year than are accrued within that same year.

This means that the vacation year can end with a negative vacation balance, which is then carried over to the next vacation year.

The negative balance is subsequently offset against earning in the new vacation year.

Please note: Carrying over a negative vacation balance to a new vacation year is not in accordance with the Danish Holiday Act.

If the advance vacation rule is enabled, but the setting “Used vacation days in the vacation year are not limited to the days accrued in the same year” is not enabled, employees can only use the vacation days accrued within the same vacation year. In this case, it is not possible to end the vacation year with a negative balance.

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