Monthly Accrual in Hours

The Monthly accrual in hours plugin credits a fixed number of hours per year, spread over the months of the accrual year. It is the hours version of Monthly accrual.

When to use

Use this plugin when:

• The time off is counted in hours, not days — for example 37 hours of senior time or a yearly hours allowance
• The employee should earn the hours month by month rather than as one lump sum
• Part-time employees should earn hours in proportion to their weekly hours

The plugin only works on a policy whose time account counts hours. A policy on a days account cannot be saved with it. For time off counted in days, use Monthly accrual.

Parameters

Rounding methods

The plugin works in minutes, so the yearly hours are converted to minutes and split across the 12 months of the accrual year. The methods are the same as in Monthly accrual, except that Difference on Last (rounded rate) is not offered.

Difference on last

Difference on Last (full-year only) and Difference on Last (all employees) give every month the same amount, and add what is left over to the last month of the accrual year.

• With (full-year only), the left-over minutes are only added for an employee who was employed for the whole accrual year. Someone who started or left part-way through gets the normal monthly amount in the last month too. This only applies when Prorate by Employment Duration is turned on.
• With (all employees), the left-over minutes are always added in the last month.

Example with 37 hours (2,220 minutes):

• Every month: 185 minutes (3 hours 5 minutes)
• Total: 37 hours. 2,220 divides evenly by 12, so nothing is left over

Example with 7.5 hours (450 minutes):

• Months 1–11: 37 minutes each
• Month 12: 43 minutes (37 plus the 6 left over)

Difference to target

Difference to Target keeps the running total as close as possible to the exact share of the year. With 7.5 hours, most months get 37 minutes and some get 38, so that after six months the total is 225 minutes — exactly half.

How it works

1. At the end of each month, the plugin works out that month’s share of the yearly hours
2. Proration is applied, if turned on
3. The hours are credited on the first day of the following month
4. The accrual year starts again in Year Start Month

Nothing is credited for months after the employee’s employment has ended.

Proration calculations

When Prorate by Employment Duration is turned on, a month is scaled by how much of it the employee was employed. An employee starting on the 16th of a 30-day month earns half of that month’s hours. If two employment records follow each other within the same month, the month counts as fully employed.

When Prorate by Working Hours is turned on, the monthly amount is scaled by the employee’s weekly hours divided by Full-Time Weekly Hours :

• With 37 as full-time, an employee working 30 hours a week earns 30/37 of the full amount
• An employee working 37 hours or more earns the full amount — the proration never increases the accrual
• This is applied after the employment duration proration

Each month’s result is rounded to the nearest whole minute.

Examples

One week of extra time off per year

1. Add the Monthly Accrual in Hours plugin to a policy on an hours account
2. Set Hours Per Year to 37
3. Set Year Start Month to January
4. Set Rounding Method to Difference on Last (full-year only)
5. Turn on Prorate by Employment Duration
6. Turn on Prorate by Working Hours and set Full-Time Weekly Hours to 37

A full-time employee earns 3 hours 5 minutes each month. An employee working 30 hours a week earns about 2 hours 30 minutes.

Troubleshooting