Resource - Vacation Time Tracker

In my 10+ years in HR, I've seen a few different ways that companies track vacation. Maybe you've never thought about it, but every employee is entitled to vacation (either paid time off, or vacation payout in lieu).

Here are some ways I've seen small businesses set up their vacation policies:

• Accrued per pay period,

• Given up front in full,

• Paid out on each paycheck.

Each of these methods is valid and fine to do, but some of them can leave your business open to risk if you aren't actively managing it (i.e. you update the spreadsheet!)

Type of vacation payout	Pros	Cons	Notes
Accrued per pay period	Accurate	Takes time to track	See my free Vacation Tracker resource below.
	Is Fair for Employees	Need proper math and tracking sheet
	Reduces risk in case employee leaves
Given up front in full	Easy to track (both employee and employer)	Risk to business if employee leaves.
	No confusion upon hiring * (accruals often create employee confusion, but good onboarding can help with this)	Harder to claw back and manage if someone goes over their allowed days.
Paid out on each paycheck	Your payroll company can easily calculate and pay this out	Doesn't work for salaried employees
	Easy for employees to see what they get paid out
	Easy for the company - vacation requests are unpaid time off.		Any vacation time taken is "unpaid time off"

Here is a link to the vacation tracker I created to help make your life easier, as a small business owner. It's set up as a bi-weekly accrual based on start date.

Let me know what you think!

Take Me To the Vacation Tracker