Leave and absence administration is divided into four settings pages:
- Leave groups defines the leave calendar and accrual rule for each group.
- Absence types defines how each type of leave or absence is handled.
- Leave balances shows the whole staff’s leave balances in one table, with one person’s corrections and holiday bonus leave on the same page.
- Leave years contains leave years, leave periods and shared leave settings for the organisation.
Kelomo calculates leave days and maintains leave balances. Holiday pay is calculated in the payroll system.
Set up leave groups
A leave group combines the group’s leave calendar, accrual rule and division of leave seasons. A person belongs to one leave group at a time. The default group is used if no other group has been assigned.
For each group, define:
- Accrual rule: 14-day rule or 35-hour rule
- Season model: summer and winter leave or one leave season
- whether Saturdays and public holidays consume a leave day
- the entry types used for annual leave and winter leave
- exception days that do not consume leave.
Start handling leave creates a default leave group and the leave year accruing over the current accrual period, with statutory defaults when needed. Then assign each person to the appropriate leave group.
Define absence types
An absence type determines how a type of leave or absence is handled. The main settings are:
- Process: Request (approval), Notification (no approval) or Employer assignment
- the balance from which the absence is deducted
- the day type and effect on annual leave accrual
- partial-day precision: no partial day, morning or afternoon, or exact times
- medical certificate requirements and the self-certified absence period
- visibility and the effect on shift planning.
The initial settings take effect immediately. Later changes are made from a selected date so that earlier absences retain the rules that applied at the time.
Maintain leave balances
Leave balances shows, for each person, the days carried over from earlier years, the leave year’s accrual, the adjustment, the opening balance, and the days used and available. Leave is requested and approved against the available balance.
Before the spring accrual run, the accrual is a calculation:
- Select Calculate leave days. Kelomo counts the accrual from the days confirmed so far and estimates the rest of the year.
- Enter any corrections in the Adjustment column.
- Select Activate. The calculation becomes part of the balance, and the people in the leave group get a message about the wish period and their leave days.
You can still adjust after activating. Person’s leave balance shows one person’s transactions: opening balances, accruals, usage, adjustments, carryovers and expiry. Make a manual adjustment only when the correct transaction cannot be created through the normal leave process. Holiday bonus leave is a view of its own on the page.
Existing balances can be added during setup using Balance import. Saved leave (§27) transfers the portion of annual leave above 24 days to saved leave in Kelomo. The employee can submit a proposal for a manager to approve or reject.
Manage leave years and planning
Leave years contains:
- the accrual period and leave periods
- the period for submitting leave preferences and any blackout periods
- the warning threshold for simultaneous absences
- the visibility of approved absences
- settings for advance leave and illness during annual leave.
The leave year’s status is Draft, Confirmed or Locked. Reminders about the period for submitting leave preferences can be sent for a confirmed leave year. Locking prevents changes to the leave year.
In spring, once the accrual period has ended, Run accrual records accruals for all employees according to their leave group rules. Leave balances then shows the calculation, the actual accrual and the difference. Run year-end expires the days that should not carry over and transfers the remaining balances to the next leave year. Check the balances before running either action.
If the leave year’s accrual is missing from the balances, an annual-leave request is refused when the balance is not enough – unless advance leave is allowed. The Accrual run step stays open on a confirmed leave year until the accrual has run.
How annual leave accrues
The leave year is the year the leave is taken in: Leave year 2027–2028 is summer leave 2 May – 30 September 2027 and winter leave 1 October 2027 – 30 April 2028. Its days accrue over the preceding accrual period, 1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027, which the Annual Holidays Act calls the holiday credit year. Full accrual months are determined using the 14-day or 35-hour rule selected for the employee’s leave group.
A full accrual month usually earns:
- 2 days if the employment has lasted less than one year at the end of the accrual period
- 2.5 days if the employment has lasted at least one year by then.
The employment start date is therefore important. If it is missing, Kelomo uses the conservative rate of two days per month. The applicable rule may also be affected by a collective agreement or the terms of employment, so check your organisation’s settings before calculating accruals.
Current legislation: Annual Holidays Act (Finlex).
If something goes wrong
| Issue | Check |
|---|---|
| Accrual is too low | Employment start date, leave group and accrual rule |
| A week of leave consumes the wrong number of days | The leave group’s Saturday, public holiday and exception-day settings |
| An employee cannot find an absence type | The absence type’s status, process, visibility and effective date |
| Annual leave cannot be approved | Whether the leave year has been confirmed and accruals have been calculated |
| The balance becomes negative | Whether Allow advance leave (negative balance) is on |
| The leave year cannot be changed | Whether the leave year is locked |
Flexitime, time bank and working-time reduction balances are balance accounts, not leave balances. See Balance accounts.