How an employee can take approved overtime as days of leave instead of pay, what those days are worth, what happens to them at the year end and when someone leaves, and how HR turns the option on.
Some people would rather have a day off than overtime pay. Arche lets your company offer that choice. When it is on, an employee can take the overtime of an approved time entry as compensatory leave (time off in lieu) instead of having it paid. The choice is always theirs, one entry at a time: nobody, HR included, can convert someone else's overtime for them.
The option needs both the Time & Attendance and Leave modules. It is off until HR turns it on.
What the leave is worth
The leave is worth the pay it replaces. Arche values the hours at the same rate payroll would have paid them, using your company's overtime rule:
- overtime on a working day at the weekday rate (1.5x by default);
- overtime on a rest day or a public holiday at that rate (2x by default).
So 4 hours of overtime on a Saturday at 2x becomes 8 hours of leave. With 8-hour working days that is 1.00 day. The days are rounded up to the hundredth, never down, so the leave is never worth less than the pay.
If your overtime rule pays premium only (the salary already covers the straight-time hour and overtime pays just the extra part), only that extra part becomes leave. 4 hours on a Saturday at 2x then gives 4 hours of leave (the extra 1x), which is 0.50 day. The confirmation says this plainly before you agree.
Taking your overtime as leave
- Open Time & Attendance and stay on My Entries.
- On an approved entry with overtime, choose Take as time off. The button shows only when your company offers the option and the entry is approved.
- Read the confirmation. It tells you what you get, for example: "Take 4 hours of Saturday overtime as 1.00 day of leave (Saturday rate 2x). You will not be paid for these hours."
- Tick I agree to take this overtime as leave instead of pay and choose Confirm.
The days go straight onto your compensatory leave balance, and the entry shows Taken as leave. Your manager is told. You can do the same on the Arche mobile app (the Time & Attendance screen), or ask the assistant to "take my Saturday overtime as leave". The assistant shows you the same figures in a proposal, and approving it is your agreement.
You cannot take overtime as leave once payroll has started on that period, that is once a pay run covering the day has left draft (a reversed run counts too, because its pay already went out). If payroll is calculating at that moment, wait a minute and try again.
Using the days
The days are ordinary compensatory leave: request them from Leave Requests like any other leave. Part days add up, so 0.10 day from a short overtime session is never lost, and you can book it once you have enough for a half day.
Leave from overtime never expires. At the start of a new leave year, any unused days move to the new year's balance on their own. They are not part of ordinary carry-over, so a carry-over limit or expiry on the leave type does not touch them.
Changing your mind
While none of the days are used or booked, and payroll has not started on that period, you can undo it. Choose Undo on the entry (or on the list described below). The days come off your balance and the overtime is paid in the next pay run. Once you have booked or used any of the days, or the period is with payroll, it can no longer be undone.
HR can also undo a conversion for someone in their team, under the same conditions. That needs both manage_leave and manage_attendance.
If you leave the company
Overtime you took as leave and never used is paid to you when you leave. On your termination date (not before), Arche cancels any pending leave request that holds those days, takes the unused days off your balance and gives the overtime hours back to payroll. Your final pay run, or a supplementary run if the final run has already been paid, pays them at the overtime rate they were valued at, on your pay at the time, on a line called Overtime returned from leave with the day, the hours and the rate. Days you already took are not paid again.
Only leave from overtime is paid out this way. Other leave, such as annual leave, is not paid out by Arche at termination.
No double pay
The same hour is never both paid and taken as leave. When a pay run reads the hours, it leaves out overtime that was taken as leave, and the payslip shows an information line, "Overtime taken as leave: N hours", with no amount. An entry whose overtime was taken as leave is locked against changes to its hours until the conversion is undone (its notes can still be edited).
The attendance pages and reports still show the hours as worked, because they were.
Where to see it
Leave Balances has a section called Overtime taken as leave. It lists each day worked, the overtime hours, the rate, the days of leave, whether it still stands or was undone, and any hours paid back on leaving. You see your own; a manager or HR with view_attendance sees their team (everyone with view_all_attendance). The balance's History shows each one as an Overtime taken as leave line marked "Never expires".
Turning it on (HR)
- In Leave Settings, make sure there is an active leave type with the category Compensatory. Its Hours in a working day must equal the normal working day on your overtime rule, so a day of leave is worth a day of pay.
- Open Attendance Policies (
/time/settings), edit the active overtime rule and tick Overtime can be taken as leave (employee's choice). - Pick that Compensatory leave type and save.
If the leave type does not fit (inactive, not compensatory, or a different number of hours in a day), the form shows why and does not save. Arche checks this again on every conversion and refuses if the settings have drifted, rather than credit the wrong value. The option is hidden when your company does not have the Leave module.
Check your contracts and any collective agreement before you turn this on.
Without Time & Attendance
If your company does not record hours in Arche, HR can still credit overtime as leave by hand. On Leave Balances, choose Credit compensatory leave, enter the hours worked and pick an Overtime rate: 1x, 1.5x for weekday overtime, or 2x for a rest day or public holiday. Arche credits the hours times the rate (5 hours at 1.5x is 7.5 hours, 1 day at 7.5 hours a day), rounds the days up to the hundredth so the leave is never worth less than the pay, and records the rate in the reason. Do not also pay those hours as overtime in payroll. See Leave Policies & Balances for compensatory leave types and manual credits.
FAQ
Can my manager convert my overtime for me? No. Only you can take your overtime as leave, and only after you agree to it. Your manager or HR can undo one while the days are unused.
Why is there no Take as time off button on my entry? The entry is not approved yet, it has no overtime, its overtime is already taken as leave, or your company pays overtime and does not offer the choice.
Do the days expire? No. They stay until you use them, and anything unused is paid when you leave.
Can I take part of an entry's overtime? No. The whole entry's overtime converts. You can undo it while the days are unused.
I was paid for overtime last month. Can I take it as leave now? No. Once payroll has started on a period, its overtime stays with payroll.