Leave Policy For Small It Firm - Doc Download

Hi friends.

I am working with a very small IT firm. The total employees are 15. Currently, they give 21 days of leave in a year that is clubbed leave. No classification is made. We are working for 6 days. But there is a lot of confusion in that also. Like:

1) Out of 21, how many are in probation?
2) Some people think that once they complete 6 months of probation, in the 7th month, they can take all leaves if they want.
3) Some people want a 5-day week.

These are the only 3 points I have shared; there are many such confusions in the minds of employees and even management. So, I want to know what the current trend is in IT companies. But at the same time, I will be happy to know the trend in small IT firms like us.

I will be happy if many HR people from IT firms reply to this; even others are welcome. When replying, kindly tell us the company size you have and the number of employees you have. I have already gone through CITEHR. Now, I want your suggestions. Please help me.

Geet :)

Hi,

In my opinion, unclassified leaves are best as they give good flexibility to employees and are simple to administer.

Here's what we do:

1. 24 leaves a year (2 paid leaves a month).

2. The leaves are applicable only after confirmation, and one gets leave pro rata. For example, an employee joins in January, they get confirmed in July. So the number of leaves available to them would be 12 (for the period between July and December).

3. Leaves taken during probation would result in Loss of Pay (LOP).

4. A confirmed employee can take leaves as and when desired, since these are paid leaves and are subject to the manager's approvals.

5. All leaves taken need to be tracked.

6. In December, the total leaves taken and balance leaves are calculated.

7. 50% of the balance leaves are encashed (on basic salary), and the remaining 50% are carried forward (subject to a maximum of 10 leaves).

8. For the next year, a member will be allotted 24 leaves + 10 carried forward leaves.

9. If there is a negative balance (i.e., an employee used more leaves than available), the same shall get deducted from the December salary.

If an employee is leaving:

Leaves get encashed (all the available leaves).

In case of a negative balance, the same gets deducted in the full and final settlement.

Restricting the abuse of leave policy:

1. The average leaves one can take in any month is 2.

2. Leaves which are more than 3 days need to be pre-sanctioned by the reporting manager at least a month before.

3. In case one has to take leaves in an emergency, it is mandatory that he/she communicates within the first 3 hours of the workday on the first day of leave.

This system has worked well for us and the employees.

Thanks,

Kamaljit

Hi Geet,

I am from Delhi. My company is into software development. We are also a small company with an employee strength of 25. Till date, we have 1 CL every month, the third Saturday of every month off, and compensatory off. The CL, if not availed, is carried forward and thus keeps on adding. In the same way, we add compensatory leave to the employees' leave balance. No benefit of CL is given to the probationers unless they complete 6 months in the company.

Now, we have revised our leave policy, which states that there are 12 PL yearly and 6 sick leaves. Out of the 12 PL, the person cannot avail more than 3 leaves in a month.

Please let me know if the information is useful.

Regards,
Megha

Hi All,

Thanks for the info, Kamaljit. It's very useful for me as our organization is also an IT software company with 12 employees. As of now, there is no leave policy implemented. I don't know why my area director doesn't want to declare a policy. Anyways, thanks for the info!

Regards,
Preeti

Hi friends,

Thanks to all of you for your valuable contribution. I am expecting more replies.

Dear Kamalzz,
Do you mean that an employee cannot take more than 12 leaves after completing the probation period of 6 months? Because in the last 6 months, he has only accumulated 12 leaves, right?
And if he takes all 12 leaves in the 7th month, he will have only 2 leaves left in the 8th month, which are the accumulated leaves from the 7th month, correct?
Kindly let me know if I am mistaken.

Geet

What I mean is that an employee can take any number of leaves within the available limit (in this case, 12 is the limit). So in this case, if the member has taken all the leaves instantly on completion of probation, his balance is 0 leaves. Any leaves taken beyond the permissible number will result in a loss of pay.

Hope this suffices.

Thanks,
Kamaljit

Hi Geet,

Thank you for your query.

In your company:

1) Can a person not take leave during probation? If he does, will it be considered as unpaid leave, right?

2) For a 6-month probation period, can he take 12 days off after completing probation?

3) Can a person only take accumulated leaves? For example, in the 7th month, he can take the 12 leaves he earned during probation but could not use. Suppose he takes all 12 days in the 7th month, and then in the 8th month, he wishes to take leave. Can he only take the 2 days accumulated in the 7th month? And he cannot take more than 2 days, correct?

I hope I'm not being irritating by asking this again.

Best regards,
Geet

Hi Geet,

Actually, Kamaljeet has summed up the requirements pretty well, suited to your company too. I would only like to supplement the following points:

1. You could think of half-day leave also, which could facilitate more work hours for the company in case the employees need only a few hours to attend to their personal work.

2. A negative balance of leave is not a good practice. All absences beyond the permitted leave availability should be treated as Loss of Pay (LOP).

3. You could split the clubbed leave into 2 simple categories of Casual Leave and Earned Leave, stipulating prior sanction for earned leave or leave exceeding 3 days as stated by Kamaljeet.

Cheers,
Jyothi

Dear Friend,

Kindly click on the following link, it will give you some required information: https://www.citehr.com/download-list...y=Leave+Policy.

Please let me know if this information was useful. If not, let me try out more and provide additional information.

Regards,
Mohamed Sardhar
91 93831 93832

Hi,

Please find enclosed a sample of the Leave Policy. I hope it will help you prepare the same at your end in a suitable way.

Regards,
Amit Seth.

Hi M. Peer Mohammed Sardhar,

Thanks for your suggestion. I have already gone through this. Now, I am waiting for some individualistic views about their organization.

Thanks once again,
Geet

Thanks for your inputs, Jyothi!

Geet,

To be more specific:

When an employee is under probation, there are no leaves applicable, hence there's no question of accumulation. The leaves become applicable only after the employee is confirmed.

Let me try to give you an example:

Let's consider 24 paid leaves as the allotted leave pool.

Any employee who has been confirmed in the past year will have an available leave pool starting from January through December.

An employee who joins, say, in March, will complete probation in 6 months, i.e., September.

Now, within this period from March to September, he/she cannot avail any leaves. If he/she takes leaves during this period, it would result in loss of pay.

The leave pool for this employee will be applicable as soon as he completes his probation in September. So, his available leave pool will be 8 leaves.

How:

1. We consider the year from January through December (24 paid leaves, with 2 leaves per month).

2. This employee has 8 leaves as available leaves for the year (remaining year i.e., September through December).

3. The maximum he can avail is 8 leaves. If he takes all leaves in the 7th month, i.e., soon after completion of probation, what he has actually done is preused the allocated leaves, thus also using up all the leaves allocated for October, November, and December.

Therefore, if you are calculating leave balances at the end of the year, the employee actually has a zero balance.

Starting from January of the next year, he will be allotted 24 leaves for the year.

If he has overused, i.e., taken 10 leaves instead of 8, you will have to deduct for 2 leaves taken, resulting in a loss of pay (as these are out of the allocated pool).

I hope this has been of help. In case you have any further queries, you can drop me an email at [kamalzz@hotmail.com].

I shall upload two documents that will help you track the process.

Thanks.

Kamaljit

Tracking Documents

These can be used as individual leave tracking records printed on a sheet back to back. The leave record details will have records detailing the leave taken. The leave record calendar is where the days of leave taken will be marked (for ease of reference).

Thanks, Kamaljit

Hi,

Our company comprises of 40 people, and this is what we follow:

- Total of 14 paid leaves in a year (7 casual leave and 7 sick leave).
- An employee cannot take a leave of more than 2 days continuously.
- If an employee is in probation, then they are entitled to take only 1 leave in a month.
- After completion of 1 year, the employee can take the benefits of Privilege leaves.
- The important thing to note is that the leaves are only counted when they are officially approved by the HR department and senior management.

Regards,
Mustafa

Hello,

As far as the leave issue is concerned, everything depends on the policy of the management and management's view on this issue. This is the basic. Secondly, normally, whether you work for 6 days or five days or flexi, during the probation period, normally, no leave is permitted. In some companies, it is allowed during the probation period. Once an employee completes the probation period and is confirmed, the leave will be reckoned on a pro-rata basis. There is no strict rule that leave should be granted during probation. The number of days of work per week is purely at the discretion of the management, and the employee has no right to demand. Besides, the number of days of work is one of the basic terms and conditions of employment. Therefore, though leave could be construed as one of the welfare measures, it should be judiciously formulated and executed.

Regards,
Michael Nicholas

Hi Geet,

I am working in a IT company having a team size of 12.

Following is the Leave policy which i have maintained :

Leave Policy

Leave Policy Statement & Objective:

· This Policy encourages its employees to take a break from work as this provides for a healthy and efficient staff. The leave policy sets out the various types of leaves that an employee is eligible for and outlines the procedure for taking leave.

· An employee proceeding on leave shall properly hand over the charge of work to his/her reporting authority or to the employee who has been identified by the reporting authority to take over his/her duties during his/her absence.

Leave applicability & Rules:

· Leave year is from 1st April – 31st March

· The different types of leaves covered under this policy are:

o Privilege Leave - 12 Days

o Casual Leave – 5 Days

o Sick Leave – 5 Days

· The policy is applicable for all – Permanent employees.

· Employees who are on Probation are not covered under this policy.

· In the event of an employee leaving the service of the organization by the way of resignation or attaining the age of retirement or otherwise, except as a result of disciplinary proceedings, he/she shall

o “Not” earn Privilege leave during the notice period that the employee needs to serve, in case of a resignation

§ All leaves should be applied through the “Leave Management System” available with the company.

§ An employee who avails Sick Leave for more than 2 days will be required to produce a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner. The sanctioning authority reserves right to refer an employee to any doctor to ascertain genuineness of the sickness.

§ Misuse of Sick Leave will be treated as a breach of discipline and suitable action may be taken against the employee. Such days of leave shall be treated as leave without pay.

1) Privilege Leave/ Earned Leave:

a) Eligibility

§ All permanent employees are eligible to avail privilege leave

§ Privilege leave is calculated for a period of one calendar year (April- March)



b) Entitlement

§ 12 days privilege leave is allowed to each employee. No leaves will be carried forward to next year.

§ All the employees are required to submit a leave plan to their respective head of the department stating when he/she intends to take paid leave.

§ An employee who joins the company other than 1st day of April shall be entitled to earn the leave in that respective year on a pro-rata basis.

§ Employees should submit application for leave in the prescribed format, 15 days in advance to his/her departmental head. Even leave of casual nature needs prior approval

§ All leave will be sanctioned by the departmental head and sent to the HR department for records. Paid leave cannot be en-cashed.

2) Casual Leave:

a) Eligibility:

§ All permanent employees are eligible to avail Casual leave

§ Casual leave is calculated for a period of one calendar year (April- March)

b) Entitlement:

§ All permanent employees are eligible for 5 days casual leave in a calendar year.

§ Half Day Casual Leave can be taken as needed.

§ If an employee avails more than 5 casual leave’s during the calendar year. Excess leave will be deducted as PL or if PL is not available they will be unpaid leave.

§ All leaves should be applied for in advance unless circumstances are such that it is not possible to do so. In such cases a telephone call or an email to the concerned reporting authority or his/her absence to the concerned department, as intimation should serve the purpose.

c) Accumulation:

§ Casual leave cannot be accumulated or encashed or carried forward to the next calendar year.

3) Sick Leave:

a) Eligibility:

§ All permanent employees are eligible to avail Sick leave

§ Sick leave is calculated for a period of one calendar year (April- March)

b) Entitlement:

§ All permanent employees are eligible for 5 days sick leave in a calendar year.

§ Half Day SL can be taken as needed.

§ If an employee avails more than 5 sick leave during the calendar year. Excess leave will be deducted as PL or if PL is not available they will be unpaid leave.

§ All sick leaves should be informed via telephone call or an email to the concerned reporting authority or his/her absence to the concerned department, as intimation should serve the purpose.

c) Accumulation:

§ Sick leave cannot be accumulated or en-cashed or carried forward to the next calendar year.

Off Days and Paid Holidays:

1. The working week will be of six days for all employees normally Monday to Saturday, having 2nd and 4th Saturday Off.

2. All employees are eligible for paid holidays in a calendar year.(Jan to Dec).

3. Paid holidays are selected on the basis of national holidays / local festivals celebrated. The total number of holidays will be decided by the Company every year.

Please let me know if you have any more queries......

Sapana

Hi dear,
I am working in IT Company with the strength of 17 people. We follow very simple which dont have jagrons CL, ML, FL etc. Hope you can find some similarities and take some good points from this.
1) We have five days work which includes 45 hours a week. Which I think it’s pretty nice to balance personal and professional life.
2) Paid leaves changes simultaneously each month i.e. Oct; 1.5 and Nov; 2.5. This means an employee can take an advantage of paid leaves every month. There is no negative opening balance but leaves can accumulates end of the month.
3) An employee cant take any leave without the permission of his/her Team Leader.
4) If employee leaves the company after an year, he can take cash of all the left leave in his account.
Well, my advice to you is that do not make many rules and regulation in the policy as if the policy is not employee friendly then you have to suffer a problem.
Regards,
Hetal

Megha,

The leave policy your company is following is not new in the companies in Delhi. The same policy is just implemented in most of the IT firms. Our company has the leave policy as follows:

1. Maximum 2 leaves permitted per month, and the total number of CL is 12.
2. 6 sick leaves (6 paid).
3. If the employee takes leave on Friday and Monday, then Saturday and Sunday will be deducted from the leave sheet.
4. Employees will get 10 paid leaves for bereavement and a maximum of 10 calendar days of paid leave for marriage and attending other social responsibilities.

Regards,
Dev P. Ray

Dear friends,

I have gone through some of the suggestions regarding the leave policy; it was quite interesting.

From my part, I would like to inform you all that whenever any leave policy is being implemented, please take into consideration a few legal facts:

1) All employees who have completed 240 days (physically present days) in a year are eligible for 1 leave for every 20 days (as per Shop & Establishment Act, Factory Act). For example, suppose an employee XYZ was present for 200 days in a year, then he will be eligible for 200/20 = 10 days of paid leave.

2) For calculating Leave encashment, you can use the below-mentioned formula:

Number of days present * number of leaves declared in a year / 300 days.

Note: Number of days present = as mentioned above means physically present days. Number of leaves declared = number of leaves declared by the company for the year. 300 days = this is the normal working days in a year, i.e., out of 365 days in a year, exclude the 53 Sundays, remove 12 declared holidays by the company. (Please note that if you have more than one weekly off in a week, then calculate as per that, for consideration purposes, we have taken Sundays as the weekly off)

3) As per the law, all employees are eligible for leave as per the above format who have completed at least 30 days of service in an organization.

Bye and regards,

Kuldeep Kalra

Hi Kamaljeet,

As per the Shops Act, one leave is credited for every working day, resulting in two leaves being credited monthly (as you mentioned). My query now is, should we exclude Sundays and holidays when calculating the 12 working days? If so, wouldn't it be too cumbersome to keep records for each employee?

Kindly reply soon.

Archana

Hi all,

I am working in a small IT firm with an employee strength of 43 employees. Currently, we have 15 paid leaves in a calendar year with no bifurcation. Can anyone please suggest a good leave policy?

Thanks

Hi,

Normally, employees who are under probation are not entitled to take leaves without valid reasons. However, if they provide a legitimate reason for leave and obtain permission from their mentors, they may be allowed to take time off for a reasonable period.

Regarding senior employees, company policies may vary. Typically, companies offer 15 casual leaves, 5 sick leaves, and leave on 10 holidays, Sundays, and Saturdays to their employees. Ultimately, the allocation of leaves is at the discretion of the company management.

Working five days a week has become a common practice for IT companies. It is advisable to communicate this to your senior management.

Regards,
Afsal
9995559004

Hi Geet,

I would suggest that leaves must be classified. The classification should be as follows:
1) PL - PREVILIGED LEAVE
2) CL - CASUAL LEAVE
3) SL - SICK LEAVE.

You should then bifurcate your 21 leaves into the above-mentioned classifications. When the employee is on probation, no leave can be given to him. After completing 6 months of probation, you are supposed to give CL & SL for the completed 6 months. For PL eligibility, he has to complete a year.

Usually, IT firms work 5 days a week.

Regards,
Nimish Joshi
09969526325