When an employee's working hours change, you may need to update their working days and holiday entitlement.

First, check how you record the employee's working days and how their time off policy calculates leave if you use time off functionality in Sage HR.

You must keep these settings aligned:

If the time off policy uses Working patterns, update the employee's working pattern
If the time off policy uses Calendar settings, update the employee's employment status

Approve or decline the employee's existing time off requests before you make these changes.

You may also need to update their holiday entitlement and Shift Scheduling settings.

Check how the employee's time off policy works

Before you change the employee's working hours, check the settings used by their time off policy.

If the policy uses Working patterns, follow the working pattern steps below.

If the policy uses Calendar settings, follow the employment status steps below.

If the policy uses Working patterns

Change the employee's working pattern to reflect their new working days or hours.

Create a working pattern for their new hours if a suitable pattern doesn't already exist.
Open the relevant working pattern.
Select Eligibility.
Select the employee.
Select Save.

If the employee already has another working pattern, Sage HR removes them from it when you assign their new pattern.

If the policy uses Calendar settings

Change the employee's employment status to reflect their new non-working days.

Create an employment status for the employee's new working arrangement.
Set their new non-working days.
Assign the employee to the new employment status.

Update their holiday entitlement

If the employee's holiday entitlement changes, you also need to update their time off policy.

Sage HR doesn't calculate their new annual entitlement. Work out their new entitlement based on their new working hours.

Step 1: Work out their allowance before the change

Calculate their allowance from the start of the holiday year to the date their working hours change.

Take their existing full-year allowance.
Divide the allowance by 365.
Multiply the result by the number of days before their working hours change.

Use this calculation:

(Full-year allowance ÷ 365) × days before the change

For example, (40 ÷ 365) × 121 gives approximately 13 days.

Step 2: Deduct holiday they've already used

Check how much holiday the employee has already used during this period.

Go to Reports > Time off > Time off report.
Check the employee's booked holiday before their working hours change.
Subtract this amount from their pro-rated allowance.
Make a note of the remaining balance, including any negative balance.

For example, if they had 13 days and used 10 days, they have three days remaining.

Step 3: Create a time off policy

Work out the employee's new annual entitlement based on their new working hours. Sage HR doesn't calculate the new annual entitlement.

Create a time off policy for their new entitlement.
Use the same settings as their previous policy.
Enter their new full-year allowance.
Save the policy.
Assign the employee to the new policy.

Step 4: Pro rate their new allowance

Calculate the employee's entitlement from the date their working hours change to the end of the holiday year.

Use this calculation:

(New full-year entitlement ÷ 365) × days remaining in the holiday year

For example, (25 ÷ 365) × 245 gives approximately 17 days.

Step 5: Adjust their remaining balance

Add or deduct the balance you calculated from their previous entitlement.

Add any unused holiday to their new allowance.
Deduct any holiday they've used above their previous allowance.

For example, if they have three days remaining, add these to their new allowance.

If they have a negative balance of four days, deduct four days from their new allowance.

Step 6: Update future holiday requests

The employee may have holiday booked for dates after their working hours change.

Find any requests booked against their previous time off policy.
Edit each request and change it to their new time off policy.
Alternatively, rebook each request against the new policy.
Remove the employee from their previous time off policy when you've updated their requests.

Update Shift Scheduling

If you use Shift Scheduling, review the employee's schedule group and shift templates.

Create a new schedule group if their new working arrangement needs different schedule limits or work hours.

Create new shift templates if their new arrangement requires different shift lengths.

Change an employee's working hours