Increasing Leave Allowances in Steps Based on Years of Service
Many companies reward loyalty by giving employees more leave the longer they stay. For example, you might offer an extra 2 days of leave after 2 years of service, and another day after 5 years. HR Partner can do this for you automatically with the new Stepped Increment option on your leave policies. Stepped Increments let you grow the allowance in one-off steps, at whatever intervals suit your policy.
What is a Stepped Increment?
A Stepped Increment is a list of "steps" that you add to a leave policy. Each step says when the allowance should grow (a number of months or years after the employee's start date) and by how much.
Each step is applied once only, on the date it falls due. The steps build on each other, so every step adds to the allowance the employee already has.
What does this look like?
Your Leave policy gives employees 20 days per year, with the following steps:
- After 2 years, add 2 days.
- After 5 years, add 1 day.
An employee who started on March 15, 2024 would have the following allowance:
| Date | What Happens | Allowance |
| March 15, 2024 | Employee starts. | 20 days |
| March 15, 2026 | 2 year step is applied (+2 days). | 22 days |
| March 15, 2029 | 5 year step is applied (+1 day). | 23 days |
How do I set this up?
Head to Time Off & Leave > Configure > Leave Policies and click the edit (pencil) icon next to the policy you want to change.
Scroll down to the section named "Leave Usage Settings" and select "yes" next to "Increase allowance based on years worked" and then select "Stepped"
Click the 'Add Step' button to add your first step.
Enter how long after the employee's start date the step applies in the 'After' field, and choose Months or Years in the 'Period' field.
Enter the amount to add in the 'Add' field. This uses the same unit as the policy (Days, Hours or Weeks).
Repeat steps 4 to 6 for each extra step you need. To remove a step, click the red delete icon at the end of its row.
Click the 'Save' button and you're done!
Rules for Steps
- You need at least one step. If you select Stepped Increment without adding any steps, the policy cannot be saved.
- The 'After' value must be a whole number of 1 or more.
- The 'Add' amount must be greater than zero. Stepped Increments can only increase an allowance, not reduce it.
- Two steps cannot fall on the same interval. For example, 24 Months and 2 Years are the same interval, so only one of them will be saved and you will see a warning message explaining which step was skipped.
- Auto accruals MUST be enabled
WARNING: Steps are never applied retrospectively. If an employee has already passed a step's due date when you switch the policy over, that step will not be added to their allowance. For example, if you add a 2 year step and an employee has already been with you for 3 years, they will not receive the 2 extra days automatically. You will need to update their allowance yourself under Time Off & Leave > Bulk Update > Allowances. Changing steps will impact future leave increments only, and will not impact current balances.