Who this guide is for: System administrators configuring multi-year carry-over policies for annual leave entitlements.
Overview
This guide explains how to set up a multi-year "waterfall" carry-over, where unused leave moves sequentially from one year to the next before expiring.
In this guide, we will be covering how to do a 5-year waterfall carry-over, as that appears to be the most popular 'waterfall' carry-over system, however if you require fewer years or even more years, you will still be able to use the same guide, just repeat or skip a few steps.
How Waterfall Carry-Over Works
Unused leave from the main entitlement (usually "Annual Entitlement") automatically transfers to Year 1, then Year 2, and so on until the final year, when any remaining days expire. This ensures employees have multiple years to use accrued leave.
Example:
Annual entitlement: 10 unused days → move to Year 1.
Year 1: user uses 2 of the 10 unused days leaving 8 unused days → move to Year 2.
...
Year 5: Unused days expire.
How to Set Up Waterfall Carry-Over
- You will need to set up multiple elements in the entitlement pot you would like to conduct this on. All elements must be created on a global level, but they can be created as "Disabled" for them to be enabled on a template or user level as required.
- Sort indexes in this configuration are very important - this alters in what sequence entitlement is taken - the lower the number, the further up it is in the list - for example elements with sort index of 0 will always be taken first, then it's elements with sort index of 1, then 2, etc.
- It is vital that none of the "Carry Over" elements are configured to "Accrue on rollover" - this must be set to "No", to ensure that users wouldn't get any automatic balance where it is not intended.
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Step 1: Create Carry-Over Elements
- Navigate to Global > Entitlements and click "Edit" on the relevant entitlement pot.
- Under "Entitlement pot elements", click "+ Add new" for each year:
- Year 1:
- Name - for example, "Carry Over - Year 1"
- Sort index: 5
- Advanced settings: Set "Accrue on rollover" to "No".
- Leave "Carry-over and expiry" blank for now.
- Click "Save".
- Year 2–5:
- Repeat for each year, reducing the sort index by 1 (e.g., Year 2 = 4, Year 3 = 3).
- Year 5: Do not configure carry-over (this is the expiry year).
Note: Set "Enabled" to "No" if applying only to specific users/templates.
Step 2: Link Elements for Automatic Carry-Over
- Edit each element and configure "Automatically carry over to":
- Annual Entitlement → "Carry Over - Year 1".
- "Carry Over - Year 1 → "Carry Over - Year 2".
- "Carry Over - Year 2 → "Carry Over - Year 3".
- "Carry Over - Year 3 → "Carry Over - Year 4".
- "Carry Over - Year 4 → "Carry Over - Year 5".
- Year 5: Leave blank.
Example configuration of names, sort indexes, and carry-over settings:
- Annual Entitlement (sort index 6) - configured to automatically carry over to "Carry Over - Year 1"
- Carry Over - Year 1 (sort index 5) - configured to automatically carry over to "Carry Over - Year 2"
- Carry Over - Year 2 (sort index 4) - configured to automatically carry over to "Carry Over - Year 3"
- Carry Over - Year 3 (sort index 3) - configured to automatically carry over to "Carry Over - Year 4"
- Carry Over - Year 4 (sort index 2) - configured to automatically carry over to "Carry Over - Year 5
- Carry Over - Year 5 (sort index 1) - not configured to automatically carry over - unused days will be lost
Additional Information
- Key Terminology:
- Sort index: Determines priority (lower numbers = used first).
- Accrue on rollover: Must be "No" to prevent unintended balances.
- Permissions Required:
- System Admin access to Global > Entitlements.
- Best Practices:
- Test with a small user group before rolling out globally.
- Clearly communicate expiry rules to employees.
- Reminder: Changes at the Template level override Global settings.
- Search Tip: Use the search function within the platform to quickly find features or settings.