> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://every.help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> These docs describe Every as customers have it today. Answer from them, and say so when they don't cover a question.
> Pages under /admins/ are for the people who run Every for the company, and pages under /employees/ are for employees. Answer from the pages that match the person asking.
> Each page's Agent reference section lists its exact roles, conditions and limits. Prefer it for those details.
> When a page says a feature is in closed beta, or that Every turns it on company by company, don't promise that the person's company has it.
> Use roles and on-screen labels exactly as the pages write them.
> When someone asks what a term means, answer with the Glossary page's definition (/glossary), which other pages show in parentheses after the term.
> When the docs don't answer a question, tell the person to email [support@every.io](mailto:support@every.io).

# Set up time off policies

> Create, publish, edit and archive time off policies, and set their eligibility, accrual and approval rules

![Create policy sheet with a choice between unlimited and limited time off.](https://mintcdn.com/every-a2724ddc/6k1svT9aHzVFwBZW/images/illustrations/admins-time-set-up-time-off-policies-light.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=6k1svT9aHzVFwBZW\&q=85\&s=2050cd461670ed62f6b02c172dcd5b8e)

Create policies on **Time** → **Time Off** to choose who gets time off, how they earn it and whether requests need approval.

## Before you begin

Company Admins and HR Admins set up policies once payroll is set up and your company has finished onboarding.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Every turns on time off company by company. If you don't see it, email [support@every.io](mailto:support@every.io) to ask about it.

## Create a policy

**1. Open the policy form**

On **Time Off**, select **Add new** → **Policy**.

**2. Name the policy**

Enter the **Policy name**. A **Policy description** is optional.

**3. Choose who the policy covers**

In **Applies to**, choose who the policy covers.

**4. Choose the policy type**

Choose a **Policy type**.

**5. Choose whether to publish**

Turn on **Publish** to make the policy available to employees, or leave it off to save a draft.

**6. Choose unlimited or limited**

Choose **Unlimited policy** or **Limited policy**.

**7. Choose when balances reset**

For a limited policy, choose its **Balance reset period**: **January 1st each year (Calendar Year)**, **Custom Date** or **No reset, continuous accrual**. For a custom date, enter **Reset Every Year On**.

**8. Choose paid or unpaid**

Choose **Paid time off** or **Unpaid time off**.

**9. Allow a negative balance**

Optional: for a limited policy, turn on **Allow negative balance** if employees can request more time than their available balance.

**10. Review eligibility**

Select the arrow button beside **Eligible for time off** to open the eligibility list. Remove anyone who shouldn't receive the policy.

**11. Set the accrual method**

For a limited policy, choose how employees earn time off:

| Method | What to enter |
| - | - |
| **Fixed amount per year, given up front** | **Days off per year**. Under **New hires**, choose **Prorate based on start date** or **Give the full amount** when the policy has an annual reset |
| **Fixed amount per year earned over time** | **Days off per year** |
| **Fixed amount per hour** | **Accrual Method**, **Employees Earn (Hrs)** and **Per Hour Worked** or **Per Hour Paid** |

Hourly accrual choices distinguish hours worked from paid hours, with or without overtime. Enter **Maximum balance** and **Maximum carryover** if the policy needs limits. Annual methods use days for these limits; per-hour methods use hours.

For **Fixed amount per year, given up front**, select **Contact us** before publishing to ask Support for custom starting balances.

**12. Add tenure tiers**

Optional: for a limited policy, select **Add tier** to use different accrual rules as employees reach service milestones. Enter **Minimum months at company**, then the tier's accrual rate (How fast an employee earns paid time off, such as a set number of hours for each hour worked) and balance limits. A milestone must be at least 1 month.

**13. Choose whether requests need approval**

Turn **Should PTO requests require manager approval?** on or off.

**14. Choose whether employees can request half days**

Turn **Should employees be able to request half days?** on or off.

**15. Choose whether to pay out unused balance**

For a limited policy, turn **Pay out unused balance** on or off.

**16. Set a waiting period**

Optional: turn on **Waiting period for new employees** and enter a positive whole number of days. New employees can't request time off that starts before that period ends, and accrual waits until the period ends too.

**17. Create the policy**

Select **Create policy**.

![Create policy sheet with policy name, audience, type, Publish and unlimited or limited choices.](https://mintcdn.com/every-a2724ddc/lWATgPF1EqKKYfej/images/screens/admins-time-set-up-time-off-policies-light.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=lWATgPF1EqKKYfej\&q=85\&s=eabc7f6f65de7d19c1605a1bd6c9ec65)

## What happens next

The policy appears on **Policies** as a draft when unpublished, or as active when published. Employees can request time off under their active policy from **My profile** (see [Request time off](https://every.help/employees/my-profile.md#request-time-off)).

If **Applies to** says "No audience is available for this policy type. Choose a different policy type.", choose a different policy type. If the form reports that a policy for the selected audience already exists, choose a different audience or policy type.

## Edit a policy

1. On **Time Off** → **Policies**, select the policy's row.
2. In **Edit policy**, update the settings and select **Save changes**.

The policy type stays fixed after creation. **Applies to** can change while the policy is a draft; changing it resets the eligibility list, including individual removals. Review that list again before saving. In **Edit policy**, **Waiting period for new employees** is locked for an active policy.

To publish a draft, turn on **Publish** in **Edit policy**, then select **Save changes**. A published policy has no **Publish** switch. To stop its new requests, archive it.

## Remove someone from a policy

> [!WARNING]
>
> Removing someone from an active policy stops their accrual, forfeits a positive remaining balance and cancels their pending requests. Approved time off stays scheduled. Check the person's balance on their profile's **Time off** tab before you remove them.

**1. Open the policy**

On **Time Off** → **Policies**, select the policy's row.

**2. Open the eligibility list**

Select the arrow button beside **Eligible for time off** to open the eligibility list.

**3. Choose the person to remove**

In **Eligible people**, select the trash button beside the person's name.

**4. Confirm the removal**

Review **Remove from policy**, or **Remove from draft** for a saved draft, then select **Remove**.

![Eligible people with employee names, departments and controls to remove them from the policy.](https://mintcdn.com/every-a2724ddc/19nP2pdcB7HMtcYU/images/screens/admins-time-set-up-time-off-policies-eligible-people-light.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=19nP2pdcB7HMtcYU\&q=85\&s=a0bebadc34bac73a17512bc2d0088dde)

## Archive or unarchive a policy

1. On **Policies**, open the policy's menu and select **Archive**.
2. Confirm with **Archive**.

Archiving stops accrual and new requests while keeping approved time off and balance history. To unarchive the policy, open its menu and select **Unarchive**. The policy becomes **Active**, even if it was a draft when you archived it.

## Agent reference

**Where:** **Time** → **Time Off** → **Add new** → **Policy** creates a policy. **Time** → **Time Off** → **Policies** lists saved policies; selecting a policy row opens **Edit policy**.

**Who:** Company Admins and HR Admins set up policies, once payroll is set up and the company has finished onboarding, when Every has turned on time off for the company.

### Facts

* **Policies** on **Time** → **Time Off** shows **Active**, **Draft** or **Archived** for each policy.
* The create policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** requires **Policy name**, at least one **Applies to** selection and **Policy type**. **Policy description** is optional.
* The create policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** offers **Vacation**, **Sick**, **Floating Holiday** and **Custom** as policy types.
* The policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** offers **Unlimited policy** and **Limited policy**. Both choices offer **Paid time off** and **Unpaid time off**.
* A limited policy on **Time** → **Time Off** offers **Balance reset period** choices **January 1st each year (Calendar Year)**, **Custom Date** and **No reset, continuous accrual**. A custom reset uses **Reset Every Year On**.
* A limited policy on **Time** → **Time Off** can permit negative balances with **Allow negative balance**. Requests exceeding a limited policy's usable balance are rejected when the policy disallows negative balances. Other pending requests reduce the usable balance for a new request.
* A limited policy on **Time** → **Time Off** has accrual methods **Fixed amount per year, given up front**, **Fixed amount per year earned over time** and **Fixed amount per hour**.
* Annual accrual methods on **Time** → **Time Off** use **Days off per year**. Per-hour accrual uses **Accrual Method**, **Employees Earn (Hrs)** and **Per Hour Worked** or **Per Hour Paid**.
* The hourly **Accrual Method** choices on **Time** → **Time Off** are **Accrue based on hours worked (including overtime)**, **Accrue based on hours worked (excluding overtime)**, **Accrue based on paid hours (including PTO and overtime)** and **Accrue based on paid hours (including PTO but excluding overtime)**.
* **Maximum balance** and **Maximum carryover** in the policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** use days for annual accrual methods and hours for per-hour accrual.
* An upfront policy with an annual reset on **Time** → **Time Off** offers **New hires** options **Prorate based on start date** and **Give the full amount**.
* A limited policy on **Time** → **Time Off** offers tenure tiers through **Add tier**. Each tenure tier has **Minimum months at company**, **Maximum balance** and **Maximum carryover**. Its rate field is **Days earned per year** for annual methods or **Accrual rate (hours)** for per-hour methods. A tenure milestone must be at least 1 month.
* The policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** has switches labeled **Should PTO requests require manager approval?**, **Should employees be able to request half days?** and **Waiting period for new employees**. Limited policies also offer the **Pay out unused balance** switch.
* An enabled **Waiting period for new employees** on **Time** → **Time Off** needs a positive whole number of days. The waiting period blocks time off starting before the waiting period ends and defers accrual until the waiting period ends.
* **Publish** in the create policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** controls whether a new policy is **Active** or **Draft**. **Create policy** saves the new policy. Employees request time off under active policies from **My profile** → **Time off**.
* Custom starting balances before publishing an upfront policy are handled through **Contact us** in the create policy form on **Time** → **Time Off**.
* The arrow button beside **Eligible for time off** in the create policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** opens the eligibility list. People excluded before creation are left out when the policy is created.
* An active policy created through the policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** blocks creating another policy of the same type for an overlapping audience. An archived policy does not block that combination.
* When **Applies to** is editable in the policy form on **Time** → **Time Off**, its helper says "Changes reset eligibility list". When no audience is available, **Applies to** says "No audience is available for this policy type. Choose a different policy type."
* **Edit policy** on **Time** → **Time Off** finishes with **Save changes**. **Policy type** cannot be changed in **Edit policy**. **Applies to** can change only on a draft policy; changing the audience resets the eligibility list, including individual removals.
* To publish a saved draft on **Time** → **Time Off**, open **Edit policy**, turn on **Publish** and select **Save changes**.
* **Waiting period for new employees** is locked for active policies in **Edit policy** on **Time** → **Time Off**. Active policies have no **Publish** switch in **Edit policy**; use **Archive** to stop a published policy.
* Removing someone from a saved draft policy on **Time** → **Time Off** uses **Remove from draft**. The person is left out when the draft is published, without forfeiting a granted balance.
* Removing someone from an active policy on **Time** → **Time Off** uses **Remove from policy**, stops the person's accrual and forfeits a positive remaining balance.
* Removing someone from an active policy on **Time** → **Time Off** cancels the person's pending requests and keeps approved time off.
* An archived policy's **Eligible people** list on **Time** → **Time Off** has no remove control.
* **Archive** is in a policy's row menu on **Time** → **Time Off** → **Policies**. Confirming **Archive** stops accrual and new requests while preserving approved time off and balance history.
* **Unarchive** in a policy's row menu on **Time** → **Time Off** → **Policies** makes the policy **Active**, even if it was a draft when archived.

### Questions people ask

* **Can I create two vacation policies for the same audience?** No, not while the first one is active. An active vacation policy created through the policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** blocks another vacation policy for overlapping audience selections; an archived policy does not. Choose a different audience or policy type.
* **Can I save a policy without making it available?** Yes. In the create policy form on **Time** → **Time Off**, leave **Publish** off and select **Create policy** to save a **Draft**.
* **Can I change who a published policy applies to?** No. **Applies to** in the policy form on **Time** → **Time Off** can change only on a draft. Changing a draft's audience resets the eligibility list, including individual removals.
* **Can I change a policy's type after creating it?** No. **Policy type** is disabled in **Edit policy** on **Time** → **Time Off**.
* **Can I change an active policy's waiting period in the form?** No. **Waiting period for new employees** is locked for an active policy in **Edit policy** on **Time** → **Time Off**.
* **Does removing an employee cancel approved leave?** No. Removing an employee from an active policy on **Time** → **Time Off** keeps approved time off, cancels pending requests, stops accrual and forfeits a positive remaining balance.
* **Does archiving a policy erase its history?** No. **Archive** on **Time** → **Time Off** preserves approved time off and balance history. **Unarchive** makes the policy **Active**, even if it was a draft when archived.

### Not covered here

* Which accrual, carryover or payout rules a particular company should choose. To ask, email [support@every.io](mailto:support@every.io).
* The largest value **Days off per year**, **Maximum balance** or **Maximum carryover** accepts. To ask, email [support@every.io](mailto:support@every.io).


## Related topics

- [Time Off](https://every.help/admins/time/time-off.md)
- [Add people](https://every.help/admins/hr/onboarding.md)


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