> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://beebole.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Time off: absence types, allowances, and balances
> Configure absence types, set quotas, track balances, and manage vacation, sick leave, and other time-off requests for your team in Beebole.
Beebole's time-off management lets you define absence types, assign individual allowances, and track balances in real time. Your team records time off directly on their timesheets — each entry counts against the balance as soon as it's recorded — and the approval workflow lets managers review every absence.
Time off in Beebole is tracked through **absence types** — categories like vacation, sick leave, or parental leave that you define to match your organization's policies.
***
## Understanding absence types
An absence type represents a category of leave your organization recognizes. Common examples include vacation, sick leave, parental leave, and personal days — but you can create as many types as you need.
Each absence type can be configured with:
* **A name** — The label your team sees when logging time off (e.g., "Vacation", "Sick Leave").
* **A unit** — Whether absences are tracked in **Hour** or **Day** units.
* **An allowance** — The amount of time off each person receives per period.
* **An accrual policy** — Rules describing how time off accumulates over the allowance period. See [Accruals](/help/documentation/accruals).
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## Creating absence types
Go to **Settings** > **Time Off**.
Click **Add Time Off Type**, enter a **Name** for the absence type (e.g., "Vacation", "Sick Leave"), and click **Add Time Off Type**.
In the **Units** panel, select whether this absence type is tracked in **Hour** or **Day** units. The change is saved automatically, and the new absence type is available for allowances and timesheet entry.
Create separate absence types for each leave category your company offers. This gives you granular reporting and lets you set different allowance rules per type.
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## Archiving absence types
When a leave category is no longer offered, archive its absence type instead of deleting it — past time-off records stay intact while the type disappears from day-to-day use.
1. Go to **Settings** > **Time Off** and open the absence type.
2. Click the **⋯** action menu next to its name, then **Archive**.
To restore an archived type, click **Show Archived** in the list, open the archived type, and click the **⋯** action menu, then **Unarchive**. The same menu also offers **Duplicate**, **Rename**, and **Delete**.
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## Setting up allowances
An allowance (Beebole's term for a time-off quota) defines how much time off a person receives for a given absence type within a specific period. You can set allowances on the organization for everyone, on a tag for a group, or on an individual person.
For an organization-wide default, go to **Settings** > **Account Settings**. For a group, click **Tags** in the sidebar and open the tag. For one person, click **People** in the sidebar and open their profile. Each shows an **Absence allowances** panel.
Click **+ Add new allowance** and select the absence type.
Set the start and end dates of the allowance period (e.g., January 1 to December 31 for an annual allowance).
Enter the number of hours or days the allowance grants. Every change is saved automatically — there is no save button.
To give specific people a different allowance, add one on their profile under **People** — person-level allowances override tag-level ones, which override the organization default. See [People](/help/documentation/people).
### Carrying unused time off forward
Unused allowance can carry into the next period. Two fields on the allowance control it:
* **Valid until** — How long the carried balance remains usable after the period ends.
* **Carry forward limit** — The maximum amount that carries over. Leave it at 0 for no cap.
The carried balance counts everywhere the allowance does: booking limits respect it, and the [Absence quotas report](/help/documentation/reports#absence-quotas) shows it per person, including the **Valid until** and **Carry forward limit** columns.
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## Tracking balances
Beebole tracks time-off balances based on allowances, accruals, and recorded absences. Each card in the **Absence allowances** panel shows:
| Balance field | What it shows |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Available** | The amount of time off granted for the allowance period |
| **Consumed** | The time off already recorded over the period (shown when you open an allowance on a person) |
| **Accrued** | A manual adjustment field for accrued time |
Balances update as team members log time off on their timesheets and when you adjust the **Accrued** field on the allowance.
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## Negative balance controls
By default, Beebole prevents people from booking more time off than their available balance. You can change this behavior per allowance.
To let a balance go below zero — useful for organizations that handle overdrawn leave manually or at year-end — open the allowance in the **Absence allowances** panel and check **Allow negative balance**. The change is saved automatically. When the box is unchecked, Beebole blocks time-off entries that would push the balance below zero.
If you allow negative balances, monitor them regularly. Beebole can send notifications when a person's balance goes negative — see the notifications section below.
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## Paid vs. unpaid absences
Beebole lets you mark each absence type as paid or unpaid. Paid absences are automatically included in people cost totals across reports and budgets, so a paid leave day still counts toward project costs even though no project time was tracked. Unpaid absences are excluded — they reduce the person's available capacity but do not add to cost.
Use this distinction to make sure your cost reports stay accurate when people are off. Paid leave like vacation or sick days should typically be **paid**. Unpaid leave like extended career breaks or unpaid sabbaticals should be **unpaid**.
Go to **Settings** > **Time Off** and click the absence type you want to configure.
In the **Units** panel, check the **Is paid (included in people costs)** checkbox to include this absence type in cost calculations. Uncheck it to exclude the absence from cost totals. The change is saved automatically and applies to all future cost calculations — existing reports reflect the new setting the next time they're generated.
Cost inclusion uses each person's [cost rate](/help/documentation/costs) for the day of the absence. Beebole multiplies the absence duration by the rate the same way it would for a regular time entry, so paid leave appears in budgets and profitability reports alongside billable work.
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## Absence approval
Time-off entries follow the same approval workflow as regular time entries. When a person records an absence on their timesheet and submits it, the assigned manager reviews and approves or rejects it.
Approval does not gate the balance: every recorded time-off entry counts against the allowance immediately, even before it is reviewed. Approving locks the timesheet; if an absence is rejected, the person can edit or remove the entry, which restores the balance.
The approval workflow for absences is part of Beebole's general timesheet approval process. See [Approvals](/help/documentation/approval) for details on configuring approval stages and managers.
***
Go to **Settings** > **Time Off** and click the absence type you want to configure.
Tick the **Is paid (included in people costs)** checkbox to include this absence type in cost calculations. Untick it to exclude the absence from cost totals.
The change applies to all future cost calculations. Existing reports automatically reflect the new setting the next time they're generated.
## Absence notifications
Beebole can send automatic notifications related to time off to keep managers and administrators informed. They are configured per absence type, in the **Time off notifications** panel:
* **Going negative** — Triggered when a person's balance drops below zero.
* **Requesting in advance against accruals** — Triggered when someone requests time off they have not yet accrued.
* A frequency alert — Triggered when a person takes this absence type more than a set number of occurrences in a **Month** or **Year**.
To configure them, go to **Settings** > **Time Off**, click the absence type, and check the alerts you want in the **Time off notifications** panel. Changes are saved automatically. See [Notifications](/help/documentation/notifications) for the full setup.
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## Recording time off on the timesheet
Team members record absences directly on their timesheets, just like regular time entries.
Click **Timesheet** in the sidebar and select the relevant week.
Click **Add a row**. Select the absence type (e.g., "Vacation") instead of a project.
Enter the number of hours or days for each day of the week.
Click **Submit** to send the timesheet for approval. The time off counts against the balance as soon as it is recorded.
If your organization tracks absences in days, a full day off equals the number of hours defined in the person's [work schedule](/help/documentation/work-schedule).
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## Related content
Configure how time-off allowances accrue on a recurring schedule.
Define non-working days so they don't consume time-off allowances.
Set working hours so day-based absences calculate correctly.
Understand how absence entries flow through the approval workflow.
***
Navigate to **Timesheets** and select the relevant week.
Click the **\[+]** button to add a new row. Select the absence type (e.g., "Vacation") instead of a project.
Enter the number of hours or days for each day of the week.
Click **Submit** to send the timesheet for approval. The time off counts against the balance once approved.
## Frequently asked questions
Yes. Add an allowance in the **Absence allowances** panel of a person's profile under **People**. Person-level allowances take priority over tag-level ones and the organization default.
It depends on the allowance. If **Allow negative balance** is checked, the person can continue booking time off and their balance shows a negative number. If not, Beebole blocks the entry.
Time-off entries follow the same approval workflow as regular timesheet entries. Absences count against a person's allowance as soon as they are recorded — approval reviews and locks the timesheet but does not change the balance. See [Approvals](/help/documentation/approval).
Each absence type uses a single unit — **Hour** or **Day**. If you need both, create separate absence types (e.g., "Vacation (days)" and "Medical appointments (hours)").
Accrual policies describe how leave accumulates over time rather than being granted all at once. Accrued time is reflected on the allowance through its editable **Accrued** field, a manual adjustment to the accrued balance. See [Accruals](/help/documentation/accruals).