Leave Policies
Configure leave types, entitlement rules, carry-over, policies, and accrual for your group
Leave policies define the rules that govern how much time off employees are entitled to, how balances accrue, how unused days carry over, and who is eligible for each leave type. All leave policy configuration is done at the Group level and applies across all companies in the group.
Leave packages (the entitlement levels, for example Operation Staff, Office Staff, Manager) are created and their rules edited under Leave Management > Settings > Leave packages; each position on Positions carries one package, and clicking it there opens the package. The leave types themselves, and the full entitlement matrix (one row per leave type, one column per package), live under Leave Management > Settings > Leave types and rules.
Entitlement days are set per policy in the matrix, not on the leave type itself. A position inherits the policy assigned to it under Positions.
Leave Types
Leave types are the categories of absence your organization recognizes (Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Maternity Leave, etc.). Each leave type has its own behaviour (how it resets, how days are counted, whether it is paid) and per-policy entitlements.
Thai default leave types
Leave types are created when you first run the Set up leave wizard, or at any time with the Thai defaults button under Leave Management > Settings > Leave types and rules. The Thai defaults are:
| Leave Type | Default Days | Paid | Statutory Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Leave | 6 (plus 1 per year of service, up to a maximum) | Yes | Yes |
| Sick Leave | 30 | Yes | Yes |
| Personal Leave | 3 | Yes | Yes |
| Maternity Leave | 98 | Yes | Yes |
| Paternity Leave | 5 | Yes | Yes |
| Military Leave | 60 | Yes | Yes |
| Unpaid Leave | No limit | No | No |
Thailand's maternity leave entitlement was extended from 90 to 98 days in 2024. Hopshift automatically applies the current statutory minimum when Thai law changes. You do not need to manually update built-in leave types.
Editing a Leave Type
- Go to Leave Management in the group sidebar, click Settings and open Leave types and rules.
- Click the leave type name in the matrix to open its settings.
- Adjust the fields below and click Save.
The dialog is grouped into four sections:
| Section | Fields |
|---|---|
| Identity | Code; Name (English, Thai, Chinese) |
| Behavior | Reset type (Calendar year, Anniversary, One-time, Accumulative); Reset month and day; Counting method (Working days or Calendar days); Pay type (Paid, Half-paid, Unpaid) |
| Restrictions | Requires document after (days); Max consecutive days; Gender restriction; Advance notice days; PH schedule type; Can go negative; Merge carry-over into |
| Admin | Legally mandated; Active |
Entitlement days are not in this dialog. To set them, click a cell in the matrix (the leave type row under a policy column) and fill in Start days, +Days per year, Accrual starts after (yrs), Maximum days, Eligible after (months), Allow carry-over, Max carry-over days and Expires after (days). Use Split by policy when the same leave type should differ between policies.
Adding a Custom Leave Type
Your group may need leave types beyond the defaults (e.g. "Study Leave", "Bereavement Leave"):
- Go to Leave Management > Settings > Leave types and rules.
- Click Add leave type.
- Fill in at least the required fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Code | Yes | Short identifier, e.g. STUDY |
| Name (English) | Yes | |
| Name (Thai) | No | Falls back to English if blank |
| Name (Chinese) | No | Falls back to English if blank |
| Reset type | No | Defaults to Calendar year |
| Counting method | No | Working days or Calendar days |
| Pay type | No | Paid, Half-paid, or Unpaid |
- Click Save, then click the new row's cells to set the entitlement per policy.
Custom leave types are not automatically updated when Thai law changes. Built-in types are managed by Hopshift. You are responsible for keeping custom types compliant with any applicable regulations.
Policies and Entitlements
Thai labor law scales annual leave entitlement with years of service. Hopshift implements this through Policies: you define policy levels that map to groups of positions, and set the starting days, yearly increase and maximum for each leave type under each policy. As employees accumulate service time, their entitlement increases automatically up to the maximum.
Configuring Policies
- Go to Leave Management > Settings > Leave types and rules.
- In the Policies card, click Add Policy and type a label (e.g. "Operation Staff"); a Thai label is optional.
- Click Save Policies.
- In the matrix below, click the Annual Leave cell under the new policy and set Start days, +Days per year and Maximum days. Repeat for the other leave types as needed.
Assigning Policies to Positions
Each position in Positions (group sidebar) carries one Leave package (a policy). Employees in that position inherit the package's rules. The Positions page is organised by package: each section lists the titles on that package, how many people hold them, and a View people button. Every position must carry a package; a new position defaults to the group's lowest one.
If a position has no policy assigned, employees in that position receive the entitlement configured in the leave type's "all policies" cell.
Example Policy Structure
| Policy | Starting AL | Maximum AL |
|---|---|---|
| Operations Staff | 6 days | 10 days |
| Office Staff | 10 days | 14 days |
| Operations Manager | 8 days | 10 days |
| Outlet Manager | 10 days | 10 days |
| Manager | 14 days | 14 days |
Carry-Over Policy
Carry-over controls whether unused annual leave rolls into the following year. Configure it per leave type and policy in the matrix cell:
- No carry-over: leave Allow carry-over off; unused days expire at the end of the leave year
- Unlimited carry-over: turn it on and leave Max carry-over days blank
- Capped carry-over: turn it on and set Max carry-over days (e.g. 5)
- Expires after (days): optionally make carried-over days lapse a set number of days into the new year
Carry-over balances are calculated automatically when the leave year resets. They appear as a separate line in the employee's balance breakdown:
Available = Allocated + Carry-Over + Manual Adjustments - Days TakenAllocation Rules
When Balances Are Set
Leave allocations for the new leave year are applied automatically on the reset date (January 1 for calendar-year types) for existing employees. For employees hired during the year, their allocation is set on their hire date and prorated based on the remaining months in the leave year.
Manual Allocation and Adjustments
Admins can change an employee's balance for the current year in two places:
- Employee profile > Leave (under the Leave & performance group): click Edit Allocation to change the allocated days for a leave type.
- Leave Management > Balances tab (filter by company if needed): click a cell to open the adjust popover, or tick several employees and click Adjust balance in the bar that appears. Enter the adjustment (positive to add, negative to deduct) and a reason.
All manual adjustments are visible in the employee's leave history with the reason and the admin who made the change.
Eligibility Rules
Eligibility is controlled per leave type and policy in the matrix cell:
- Eligible after (months): employees cannot use the leave type until they have completed this many months of service. In the employee app the type shows "Available from" with the date.
- Gender restriction (on the leave type itself): limits the type to one gender, for example Maternity or Paternity leave.
Employees who are not yet eligible do not have the leave type allocated and cannot submit requests for it.
Public Holidays
Public holidays interact with leave in two ways:
- Days that fall on a public holiday are not counted against leave balance when the leave type's counting method is Working days. If an employee requests Annual Leave from Monday to Friday and Tuesday is a public holiday, only 4 days are deducted. Leave types counted in Calendar days deduct every day.
- Public holidays appear on the Leave Calendar, helping managers see combined coverage gaps.
Add holidays in Leave Management > Public Holidays. The tab has Add Holiday for individual dates and Add Thailand 2026 Holidays to load the year's Thai public holidays in one click.
Public holidays are configured once for the whole group. There is no per-company holiday list.
See Time Off for details on approving requests and managing the leave calendar.