Accrual policies offer many configuration options for the needs of different companies. Having so many options can easily make this policy type appear dense and overwhelming. To make it a little easier, we offer predefined accrual policies for many states and municipalities.
What is an accrual policy?
Accrual policies are a way to automatically track the amount of time employees have available to use towards specific kinds of absences from the workplace. Most commonly, this is applied to concepts such as Paid Time Off (PTO), Unpaid Time Off, Sick Leave, Vacation Leave, and FMLA/PFML.
Accrual policies allow you to decide on how many hours towards a specific bank (or balance) an employee has access to at any given time. These hours can be accrued as a certain amount per hour worked (for example, 1 hour for every 30 hours worked) or front-loaded all at once at a specific date. It also offers tools such as year-end rollovers and payouts and filtering of specific employee groups.
In short, an accrual policy is a set of rules that determines how many hours of "absence credit" an employee accrues and how often they accrue it. Note that it does not automatically come with a way to "use" those hours. For that, Create an Absence Policy after you create your Accrual Policy.
Set up an accrual policy
Select the SETUP tab > Policies > Accrual Policies.
The page lists any existing accrual policies for your company.
Click Add from template.
A list of pre-defined accrual policies slides out.
To add a pre-defined policy:
Click Add next to the policy you want.
Review the information in the pop-up window that appears.
(Optional) Select Apply to all new hires.
This applies only to future new hires and not to existing employees.
Click Continue.
Review the information and click OK.
Add a custom accrual policy
Didn't find your state listed in the templates? Then you may have to create a custom accrual policy. You can define your own policy beyond the templates; you can set up a custom accrual policy. Learn How to Create and Assign a Custom Accrual Policy here.
Apply an accrual policy to an employee
Go to the EMPLOYEES tab, and open the profile of the employee.
Under Personal, click Accrual Policies.
Complete the fields as defined below, and click Save.
Understanding the accrual field options
Field | Description |
Allowed as of | Date when the hours listed are effective (usually the current date). |
Allowed Hours | The number of hours the employee has accrued at this time. The system automatically increases the number depending on the accrual policy. |
Last Accrual | The last time the employee gained hours |
Last Rollover | The last time the accrual hours were reset (for example, when the calendar year rolls over). |
Last Pending Moved | The last time pending hours were moved to active/allowed hours (This field is not usually used). |
Override Rate (checkbox) | Overrides the rate with a rate in the Override Rate field below. |
InActive | Disables the policy for the employee (stops the employee from gaining hours). |
Override Rate | The rate that is used overrides the original rate. |
Pending Balance | If the employee is in a pending period (for example, new employees might have a 90-day probation period), this is the balance being accrued. |
Last Amount Carried Over | If enabled, this amount increases the maximum allowed for a new year based on how much the employee carried over. |
Set up a scheduled task to process accruals
To process accruals, you need to set up a scheduled task. For complete details about creating a scheduled task, see How to Create Scheduled Tasks.
Go to the SETUP tab > System > Scheduled Tasks.
Click Add.
In the Schedule Task Information section, enter a Code and Description for the task.
The Code is an abbreviated name for the task. The Description is a short, descriptive name. Together, these fields make up the full name as displayed in other areas of Fingercheck.Tip: To have the system automatically trigger accruals when you process payroll, enter AutoSendToPayrollService as the Code.
You can leave the other fields as they are.
Add a task action for automatic PTO processing:
In the Task Actions section, click Add.
In the pop-up window that appears, select AUPTO - Automatic PTO Processing from the Job Action drop-down list.
Click Apply.
If you did not enter AutoSendToPayrollService as the code, add a task trigger so that the task is sent at a regular interval:
In the Task Triggers section, click Add.
Enter a Start Date and End Date.
If you want the task to be "permanent," select an end date far into the future.
Select the Time of day when you want the email to be sent.
Select a Trigger Type: Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
The Days field changes depending on the option you select.
Select the Days you want the task to be triggered.
If you selected Daily as the Trigger Type, enter 1 to have the task triggered every day.
Click Apply.
Click Save.
How to view an employee's accruals
Go to the EMPLOYEES tab and open the profile of the employee.
Under Personal, click Accrual Policies.
Click the active links under Allowed Hours or Used to view more details.
