Setting Up Paid Time Off (PTO)

OnTheClock makes it easy to track paid time off (PTO). In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about setting up PTO for your organization. Please note that you must log into your account from a browser to set up PTO.

PTO Categories

By default, there are four categories for PTO: vacation, holiday, sick, and personal. You don’t have to use each category. You can also rename categories to better fit your company’s policies:

Step 1: Log in to your OnTheClock account via browser.
Step 2: Navigate to “Settings,” then “Timeclock Settings.”
Step 3: Click “Advanced Settings.”
Step 4: Under “Time Card Columns,” locate the type of PTO you wish to rename.
Step 5: Type your preferred category name in the “New Name” column.

PTO Set Up for Individual Employee

Step 1: Log into OnTheClock as an administrator via browser.
Step 2: Navigate to your Employee tab.
Step 3: Locate the employee you’d wish to modify.
Step 4: From the employee’s profile, select “PTO Settings.”
Step 5: Set your PTO rules for this employee and save.

PTO Set Up for Multiple Employees

There are two ways to add PTO to multiple employees at a time: Employee Groups and Bulk PTO.

By Employee Group
Step 1: Set up your employee group.
Step 2: Navigate to your Employee Group page (under Settings).
Step 3: Click on “PTO Settings.”
Step 4: Set your PTO rules for this employee group and save.

Bulk PTO
Step 1: Click on “PTO,” then “Add Bulk PTO.”
Step 2: Under “Select Employees,” check the relevant employees.
Step 3: Under “Select year to add PTO,” set the year.
Step 4: Specify hours to be added. By default, this is set to holiday pay.
Step 5: If desired, click “Show All” to show all types of time categories.
Step 6: Enter the number of hours in the appropriate boxes, then click “Save PTO.”

PTO Rules

Here’s an explanation of the basic rules for PTO settings — we’ll explain more on how to use these rules next. 

• “Allot X hours per year” — A set number of PTO hours are given for the entire year. 
• “Accrue X hours per regular hour worked” — PTO accumulates for each hour worked, excluding overtime. 
• “Accrue X% of regular worked hours” — PTO accumulates for each hour worked, excluding overtime. 
• “Accrue X hours per pay period” — PTO accumulates for each complete pay period.*
• “Accrue X hours per every hour worked” — PTO accumulates for each hour worked, including overtime. 
• “Start Accruing On” may be any date. Typically, this will be either your employee’s hire date, or the start of the fiscal year. 
• “Stop Accruing On” may be any date. Typically, this will be the end of the calendar or fiscal year.
• “Previous Balance” is for hours carrying over from the previous system or year, and can be a positive or negative number. 
• “Max Hours Per Year” limits the amount of PTO hours that can be accumulated between the start and stop dates. 

*Note: If selecting “Accrue X hours per pay period,” and the “Start Accruing On” date is in the middle of the pay period, PTO will not accrue until the next pay period. 

Carrying Over PTO

You can customize carry-over PTO based on your company’s policy. By default, PTO will not carry over.

Step 1: Log in as an administrator on a browser.
Step 2: Click on “PTO,” then select “PTO Renewal.”
Step 3: Toggle on “Renew PTO” for the relevant employees.
Step 3: In the column labeled “Proposed PTO Values for New Year,” set your policy.

If you select “Some Hours” as your policy, you can determine how many hours to carry over for that employee. This amount cannot exceed their end-of-year PTO balance.