☝ Did you know that there's a new and improved version of Staff Absence Management available on Famly? This article only refers to the previous version. If you're interested in using the new version, feel free to check it out here: Staff Absence Management
Types of Staff Leave
There are four primary staff leave types available in Famly:
Sick
Child sick
Holiday
Absent
These four leave types can be registered on the side and total instances are accumulated on each staff member's profile page
You can log staff leave from a staff member's profile, the room overview page, or using the Staff Scheduler module (on Staff Rotas). Registered staff leave will be indicated on all planning and attendance pages, including Famly Home, room overview pages, and the staffing overview and staff schedule pages.
💡 Staff members can always request leave from their own profiles, even if they do not have permission to access Famly away from the setting. So staff members can still request holidays when not signed in to the nursery
Permissions Required to View or Edit Staff Leave
There are a number of permissions linked to viewing and editing staff leave. You can give employees full access to manage staff leave by checking the Manage staff attendance and leave records permission. You can, however, configure more customised access for different roles by checking the individual permissions in this section.
These permissions are detailed below:
View staff leave types: If a user does not have this permission, they will still be able to see that a fellow staff member is away (shown as Absent), but they are not able to see what type of leave it is. This is to protect the privacy of information between colleagues, unless is it required for a role (e.g. room manager, or site manager) to know and see more detailed leave information (View staff leave records required for this). Staff will always be able to see the details of their own leave on their profile page under Leave Details.
Edit staff leave records: This permission is needed to access the Staffing tab (overview and staff schedule).
View staff leave records: Checking this permission means that staff members will be able to see leave on their Famly overview and Profile pages, but won't be able to add or edit this. They will not have access to the Staffing tab.
If both View and Edit are checked, staff can view and add leave and access Staffing. If leave approval is turned off (or not available in your package) then the leave added immediately shows up on the app.
Approve/reject staff leave: If staff are able to view staff leave records, but do not have this permission checked, they won't be able to approve or reject staff leave. This way some staff are able to add leave for any staff, but only certain staff can approve it.
Append sub-types to leave records: As above, you can configure this permission to that only some roles can do this.
Registering Staff Leave
When you select a leave type, a modal opens to enter the dates of the leave and a note to explain:
The leave will be immediately registered and indicated across the app unless the leave approval feature has been enabled (see here)
If a staff member has the Approve/reject staff absence requests or Add/edit/delete absences for all staff permission, they will be able to see an additional Management note:
The note can be edited at any time, but updates will show a timestamp and the name of the employee that edited the note.
Leave Approval - for Managers
You can choose to enable a feature that makes approval for leave required. This is an available option for all 4 leave types on Famly.
To do so:
Click on Settings in the bottom left corner
Go to Staff
Navigate to Staff Leave
Then find the Approval for leave required section
Check the relevant box for leave types that require approval
This setting means you (the manager) will get a notification if a staff member requests leave. You can authorise these by going to the Attendance icon and clicking on Staffing. Next go to the Staff Leave tab. Here you can view the details of the request, and decide to Approve or Reject.
For Sick or Child Sick these are logged as the latest activity on your staff profile without the need for approval.
If the request for leave is approved, the member of staff will get a notification, and the leave is added into their profile. If the request for leave is rejected, the member of staff will get a notification with a note on the reasoning.
Details of leave can be seen on the Leave Overview section of your profile:
Setting up Leave Ranges
Some nurseries have different months for the "start of the year" when it comes to staff leave (e.g. Sept 1, Jan 1, Apr 1, Aug 1). You can set up leave ranges to reflect the start of the month for each type of leave. This will help you gauge how many days of holiday or sickness or absence are taken and allowed in a 12-month range.
To set up leave ranges:
Head to your Settings
Navigate to Staff
Select Staff leave
Find the Leave settings section, where can open the drop-down date picker for each type of leave
💡 If you're using the new Staff Absence Management feature, you can edit leave entitlement directly in your settings and on individual staff members' profiles. You can learn more about this here.
The timeline graph on staff profiles that shows leave taken and planned is set based on what is selected for Holiday. The date range is shown under each of the 4 types of leave based on the selection on staff profiles too
💡 If you can't see the option to add Leave ranges in your Settings, get in touch with support@famly.co to have the feature enabled on your platform
Setting up Leave Subtypes
You can set sub-types of staff leave to indicate specific reasons for absence such as maternity leave, annual leave, or training.
Note: This is available for settings with a Premium subscription or if you are on Essentials with a Staff Rotas add-on. Learn more about pricing here.
Setting up Subtypes - for Managers
Managers can set up Leave subtypes by heading to Settings → Staff → Staff leave and scroll down to Leave subtypes. Here you'll see the option to toggle on Leave subtypes.
Once toggled on, a button for New subtype will appear, as shown below. Click here to set one up by selecting the relevant leave type and then naming your subtype. You can also add an optional code if you use those in your payroll system.
These can be used for things such as Maternity leave, Unpaid leave, or Annual leave that fall within an existing leave type.
You can also mark whether a leave subtype is paid or unpaid using the checkboxes in the Paid column.
Leave subtypes will also be marked with a currency icon in leave requests to indicate whether that specific subtype is paid or unpaid:
This is also shown when clicking on the request to open it in the Subtype dropdown:
Once added, the subtypes appear on the overview of attendance on staff profiles, as well as the CSV download available from the Staffing Overview page.
Adding a Leave Subtype
Managers have the option to add an available subtype when registering leave on behalf of staff members. Staff do not have this option visible in order to ensure that the correct subtypes are used.
To add a leave subtype, go to Attendance → Staffing → Staff leave, click the '...' and click on the leave entry or select Add leave subtype
Downloading a CSV file of Staff Leave
If you're looking to download a CSV file of all staff sign in and out times, scheduled time, break time, and staff leave, go to Attendance → Staffing → Overview. Select the date range that you would like to include in the download.
If you would only like to download a CSV file of Staff Leave, you can do so by clicking on the Export CSV button on Attendance → Staffing → Staff Leave. Select the date range that you would like to include in the download.
Entering Leave on Closure Days and Weekends
Leave registered on configured closure days, are counted towards the staff leave totals that are accumulated on staff profiles.
Weekends will not be included in leave entries, unless your nursery has been set up to include Weekend Support as a configuration (please reach out to support@famly.co if this is something you'd be interested in enabling).
If you do not want staff leave registered on a closure day to be included in their leave total, then do not include these days when registering leave, delete an existing leave entry from the staff leave page and register it again correctly, or remove the specific leave date from the nursery or staff's calendar.
How to Delete Leave
Leave can be edited by any staff member with the necessary permissions:
View absence info for all staff and
Add/edit/delete absences for all staff
You can delete Leave from the Staff Leave page:
Go to Staffing → Staff leave
Use the order functionality ( the arrow next to Staff) and date filter to find the leave
Click the “…” and press Delete
The leave will no longer be included in the leave balance or on the attendance/schedule areas
If the leave dates needed to be amended, you can now go to the staff member's profile page and add a new leave with the correct information.
💡 The new Staff Absence Management makes it easy to edit absences directly in the overview. Find out more here.
The Bradford Factor
The Bradford factor is a formula that applies weighting to unplanned employee absence. It is calculated using the Bradford Formula
S is the total number of separate absences by an individual
D is the total number of days of absence of that individual
B is the Bradford Factor score
The Bradford Factor is calculated on a rolling basis, and uses the past 12 months of data.
Note that sickness is included in the Bradford Factor. Holiday leave, child sickness and absences are not included.