Managing Staff Vacation Balances

Timely utilization of vacation by employees is an integral component of maintaining work life balance. It also reduces the impact of overly long vacations, large payouts and it reduces the University’s overall vacation liability. To meet these goals the University of Alberta is committed to the principle that vacation time should be utilized by its employees on an annual basis. Human Resource Services supports this principle by providing guidance and support to Faculties and Departments on vacation management and advises them on how to eliminate all substantial vacation balances in excess of one year’s accrual.

Each faculty and department is responsible for managing employee vacation balances for their area. To achieve effective vacation management HRS advises managers to take the following steps:

Support Staff Employees (see UAPPOL Managing Staff Vacation Procedure - Support Staff)

• Track and report vacation using HCM PeopleSoft as soon as the employee returns from their scheduled vacation.
• If you supervise an employee with a balance of over one year's vacation accrual take immediate action to develop a vacation plan to address the liability.
• Request that your employee(s) submit an annual vacation plan for review and discussion.
• No more than one year’s vacation entitlement should be carried at any time. If rare circumstances support a carry-forward, these should be clearly documented and agreed to by both the manager and employee. 
• Documentation should include a plan to use the entire accrual during the next year.

Note: HCM Operational Reports such as the Leave Balance Report can be used to review vacation balances. The Leave Balance Manual can be found in the PeopleS​oft User Training Program (PSUTP) website​.​

APOs and Librarians

• Develop an internal mechanism to track and review balances twice each year (June and January are the recommended times). 
• Request that your employee(s) submit an annual vacation plan to be reviewed during their annual review.
• Unused vacation time may not be carried forward from year to year without the advanced written consent of the Vice-President or Chief Librarian.

If you need further support, please contact your HR Partner to develop a vacation usage and accrual reduction plan with your employee(s).