Time-Off Request User Guide

Introduction to the Time-Off Feature

The Time-Off feature helps companies manage contractors absences in a structured and transparent way. It allows you to define time-off policies, track balances, and review, approve, or deny time-off requests – all within goLance.

Policy Management

In goLance, a Time-Off Policy defines the rules under which Contractors can request and use time off. These policies ensure consistency, transparency, and automation in handling contractor absences.

Each contract must be enrolled in a policy for Time-Off requests to be available. You can create different policies tailored to your organizational or team needs.

What is a Time-Off Policy?

• The type of time off (Vacation, Sick Leave, etc.)
• How much time off is granted
• How it is accrued or reset
• Whether time off is paid or unpaid

Policy Settings

Time-Off policy settings are split into the following sections:

Common Settings

• Category - Select the applicable time-off category (e.g. Vacation, Sick Leave).
• Policy Name - This name will be visible to Contractors.
• Description - A brief internal note or explanation visible to the client only.

Rules

• Entitlement Cycle:
  • Calendar Year – Balances reset or renew every January 1st.
  • Contract Anniversary – Balances reset or renew annually based on the contractor’s contract start date.
• Compensation:
  • Choose whether the time off is Paid or Unpaid.
• Time-Off Allowance (Only fixed allowances are supported at this time):
  • Annual Allowance – Set a number of days or hours for the policy (e.g. 20 days/year).
  • Allowance Unit – Choose Days or Hours.
  • Is Negative Time-Off Allowed? – Enable if you want to allow requests that exceed the current balance.
  • Carryover:
    • Limited – Allow unused time off to be carried over to the next cycle, up to a specified limit.
    • Unlimited – All unused time off carries over without restriction.

Request Rules

• Instruction – Add guidance or a custom note visible during request submission.
• Providing a Written Explanation is Required - Enforce explanation field completion.
• Uploading an Attachment is Required - Require file upload for submission (e.g. medical certificate).

Approver Settings

• Approver Notification – Choose who gets notified when a new request is submitted

Enrolling a Policy to a Contract

Once you've created a Time-Off policy, the next step is to assign it to a contractor's contract. This allows the contractor to start requesting time off under the rules defined in the policy.

You can assign only one policy per time-off category (e.g., one for Vacation, one for Sick Leave) per contract.

Assigning a Policy

• Set the initial balance

Removing a Policy from a Contract

If you need to remove a policy from a contract:

1. All active or pending time-off requests must be closed or resolved.
2. The contractor’s time-off balance for this policy will be reset (not saved for future reactivation).

3. The contractor will no longer be able to submit requests under this category unless another policy is assigned.

   

Editing a Policy

Once a Time-Off policy has been created and assigned to one or more contracts, you can still update certain settings. However, some changes have important implications or are restricted altogether to ensure balance consistency and avoid confusion for Contractors.

Editable Settings (Safe to Update)

• Policy Name (visible to Contractors)
• Description
• Request Rules (e.g., explanation or attachment requirements)
• Approver Notification Settings

Settings That Require Caution

• Annual Allowance:
  • The new allowance will be applied at the start of the next entitlement period.
  • For new contracts, you will be able to define a new initial balance using the updated allowance.
• Carryover Rules:
  • Changes to carryover limits or rules will also take effect from the next cycle (Calendar or Contract Anniversary), not retroactively.

Locked Settings (Not Editable After Activation)

• Category - Each policy is bound to a specific type (e.g., Vacation, Sick Leave).
• Unit (Days/Hours)– The unit is locked to ensure calculation consistency and avoid conversion issues.

Best Practice for Major Changes

If you need to adjust locked settings or introduce major change in how to time-off is granted or tracked, we recommend:

• Create a new policy with the updated configuration and enroll contracts into it moving forward.

Time-Off Contract Balance

The Time-Off Balance represents how many days or hours a contractor has available to request within a specific policy. goLance automatically tracks and updates these balances based on the policy rules, while also giving clients the flexibility to make manual adjustments when needed.

How the Balance is Calculated

• Annual Allowance defined in the policy (e.g. 20 days per year)
• Entitlement Cycle:
  • Calendar Year – allowance is granted yearly on January 1st
  • Contract Anniversary – allowance is granted annually on the contract start date
• Carryover rules from the previous period (if applicable)
• Manual Adjustments made by the client

Negative Balances

If a time-off policy allows negative balances, contractors can request more time off than they currently have available. In such cases:

• The balance will go below zero.
• The negative amount will be carried forward and taken into account during the next cycle’s recalculation.
• You may manually adjust the balance if needed before or after the new cycle begins.

Manual Adjustments

• Granting extra time off as a reward (e.g., for overtime work)
• Correcting a previous mistake
• Removing unused time off due to policy or performance

Where to View Balances

• Universal Time–Off Balance List – View balances across all contracts and policies in one table for easy management.
• Contract View – Open any contractor’s contract to see the balance under the Time–Off section, including policy details, allowance, used days, and adjustments.

Managing Time-Off Requests

Once a policy is assigned to a contract, contractors can start submitting time-off requests. Clients can review, approve, or deny these requests directly from goLance.

Viewing Time-Off Requests

All users who have access to the contract can view submitted time-off requests for that contractor. This includes:

• Request details - dates, reason, attachment if required
• Current status - Pending, Approved, Denied, Paid
• Policy applied and remaining balance
• In the Time-Off tab of a contractor's contract
• From a universal requests dashboard (if available)

Approving a Request

1. Open the request details
2. Review the information (dates, policy, balance impact)
3. For paid time-off requests, enter the amount to be paid before confirming approval
4. Click Approve

Paid Time-Off Requests

If the request falls under a Paid policy (e.g. Vacation, Paid Day Off), the client must specify the payment amount during approval.

Once Approved

• The request status changes to Approved
• The amount becomes available for payment (manually or in batch)

Denying a Request

1. Open the request details
2. Optionally provide a reason
3. Click Deny

By default, when a request is denied:

• The requested days/hours are returned to the contractor's balance

Denying a Request

If the time-off request was for a previous period and the policy’s cycle has already reset (e.g. Calendar Year), then denying the request won’t restore the balance automatically.

Paying Time-Off Requests

Once a time-off request is approved and marked as Paid, the corresponding amount will be processed and transferred to the contractor. There are two ways to pay approved requests in goLance:

Manual Payment (Single Request)

1. Opening the approved request
2. Reviewing the approved payment amount
3. Clicking Pay Request

Batch Payment (Multiple Requests)

• goLance will charge your payment method once for the total amount
• The system will then automatically distribute payments to each contractor based on the approved amounts

FAQ & Troubleshooting