Leave Policies
Configure leave types, entitlement rules, carry-over, level tiers, 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 which employees are eligible for each leave type. All leave policy configuration is done at the Group level and applies across all companies in the group.
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 entitlement rules, eligibility settings, and carry-over policy.
Default Leave Types
Hopshift pre-loads the following leave types for Thailand-based groups. These are kept in sync with current Thai labor law:
| Leave Type | Default Days | Paid | Statutory Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Leave | 6 (scales with seniority) | 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 Group Settings → Leave Types.
- Click the leave type name to open its settings.
- Adjust the fields below and click Save.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Default entitlement (days) | Annual allocation applied to all eligible employees |
| Paid / Unpaid | Whether the employee receives pay during this leave |
| Allow carry-over | Whether unused days roll into the next leave year |
| Max carry-over days | Cap on how many days can carry over (blank = unlimited) |
| Require supporting document | Whether employees must attach proof when requesting |
| Eligible employment types | Which employment types (Full-time, Part-time, etc.) can use this leave |
Adding a Custom Leave Type
Your group may need leave types beyond the defaults (e.g. "Study Leave", "Bereavement Leave"):
- Go to Group Settings → Leave Types.
- Click Add Leave Type.
- Fill in the required fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name (English) | Yes | |
| Name (Thai) | No | Falls back to English if blank |
| Name (Chinese) | No | Falls back to English if blank |
| Default entitlement (days) | Yes | Use 0 for types with no default allocation |
| Paid / Unpaid | Yes | |
| Allow carry-over | Yes | |
| Max carry-over days | Only if carry-over is enabled | |
| Require supporting document | Yes | |
| Eligible employment types | Yes | Multi-select |
- Click Save.
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.
Level Tiers and Entitlements
Thai labor law scales annual leave entitlement with years of service. Hopshift implements this through Level Tiers: you define tiers that map to groups of positions, and set the starting and maximum annual leave days for each tier. As employees accumulate service time, their entitlement increases automatically up to the tier maximum.
Configuring Level Tiers
- Go to Group Settings → Level Tiers.
- Click Add Tier (or click an existing tier to edit).
- Set:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Tier name | e.g. "Operations Staff", "Manager" |
| Starting AL days | Entitlement for employees in their first leave year |
| Maximum AL days | The highest entitlement this tier can reach |
| Years to maximum | How many years of service before the employee reaches the maximum |
- Click Save.
Assigning Tiers to Positions
Each position in Settings → Positions can be linked to a level tier. Employees in that position inherit the tier's entitlement rules.
If a position has no tier assigned, employees in that position receive the default annual leave entitlement configured on the Annual Leave type itself.
Example Tier Structure
| Tier | 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:
- No carry-over: unused days expire at the end of the leave year
- Unlimited carry-over: all unused days roll forward
- Capped carry-over: unused days roll forward up to a maximum (e.g. 5 days)
Carry-over balances are calculated automatically when the leave year resets on January 1. 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 January 1 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
Admins can override an employee's allocation for the current year:
- Open the employee profile → Leave tab.
- Click Adjust Balance next to the relevant leave type.
- Enter the adjustment amount (positive to add, negative to deduct).
- Enter a reason for the change.
- Click Save.
All manual adjustments are visible in the employee's leave history with the reason and the admin who made the change.
Eligibility Rules
Leave types can be restricted to specific employment types. For example, you might configure Maternity Leave as eligible only for Full-time employees, or restrict certain leave types to permanent staff.
Eligibility is set per leave type under Group Settings → Leave Types → Eligible Employment Types. Employees whose employment type is not in the eligible list will not have that leave type allocated to them, 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. If an employee requests Annual Leave from Monday to Friday and Tuesday is a public holiday, only 4 days are deducted.
- Public holidays appear on the Leave Calendar, helping managers see combined coverage gaps.
Thai public holidays are pre-loaded and updated automatically by Hopshift. You can add company-specific holidays and configure substitute holidays in Settings → Public Holidays.
See Time Off for details on approving requests and managing the leave calendar.