How Do I Use The Leave Calculator To Set An Employee's Leave Balance?

The Leave Calculator works out an employee's leave balance from their recorded periods of work with the company. It is useful when setting an opening balance for a new employee or correcting a balance where you know the employment history but not the final hours figure.

In the desktop app

1. Open the employee and go to Employees >> Leave >> Leave Entitlement/Adjustments.
2. Click Holiday Leave Balance Calculator, Sick Leave Balance Calculator, or LSL Balance Calculator depending on which leave type you need to set.
3. A wizard opens showing a Work Periods table. Each row represents a period of employment. The first row is pre-filled from the employee's start date and current award hours. Edit these values or add additional rows if the employee's hours changed at some point (for example, a change from part-time to full-time).
4. Each row has Start Date, End Date, Award Hours/Week, and Weeks/Year (or LSL-specific fields for long service leave). The Weeks Calculated column updates automatically as you enter dates.
5. If the employee has already taken some leave during the periods entered, enter the total in the Total Leave Taken field and tick Deduct leave taken? to subtract it from the calculated balance.
6. The calculated balance is shown as the New Leave Balance. If you want this amount added on top of the employee's existing balance rather than replacing it, tick Add to current balance?.
7. Click Finish to apply the balance. A confirmation prompt will appear before the balance is saved.

In the online (web/mobile) app

1. Select the employee, then go to Employees >> Leave >> Leave Entitlement Adjustments.
2. Click Holiday Leave Calculator, Sick Leave Calculator, or Long Service Leave Calculator.
3. The calculator screen opens with a Work Periods table pre-filled from the employee's start date and current settings. Add rows if the employee's working hours changed over time, and set the Start Date, End Date, Award Hours/Week, and Weeks/Year for each period.
4. If leave has already been taken during these periods, enter the total in the Total Leave Taken field and tick Deduct Leave Taken?.
5. The New Leave Balance updates in real time as you change values. To add the result to the existing balance rather than replace it, tick Add to current balance?.
6. Click Set Balance. Confirm the adjustment in the prompt that appears.

Note: The work periods entered in the calculator are raw employment spans and do not automatically account for pays already recorded in Lightning Payroll. If pays are already present and leave has been accruing on those pays, use Deduct leave taken? to avoid double-counting leave already recorded, or consider using the Recalculate Accruals On Pays tool instead (described in How Do I Correct or Adjust Leave Totals?).

If you already know the correct balance figure and do not need the calculator to derive it, you can enter it directly as described in How Do I Enter Existing Leave Balances?.