Manage time off allotments
On the Time Off Allotments page, you can set the maximum amount of time that agents in a service queue can take off each day of the year.
You can configure time off allotments in FTEs (full time equivalents) or hours, depending on which unit your administrator has selected on the WFM Global Settings page (see Configure system-wide WFM settings).
Using time off allotments with time off requests
When a supervisor approves an agent’s time off request for either a partial or an entire day off, WFM subtracts the amount of time that the agent requests from the time off allotments that have been entered for that day. Seeing how much time off remains on a particular day can help both agents and supervisors make informed decisions about requesting and approving time off.
NOTE If the time off request passes through a workflow, the agent must have a main service queue configured in order for the allotments to be calculated correctly. The workflow looks for the main service queue to deduct allotments from.
Supervisors and agents can see how much of the time off allotments remain when they do the following:
- Supervisors—Look at the Allotment Gap column while reviewing time off requests (see Approve or deny requests).
- Agents—Look at the Available Allotment column while creating time off requests (see Request time off).
NOTE This feature is available only if the administrator has configured WFM to display the Time Off Allotments button (see Configure system-wide WFM settings).
NOTE Agents will never see a negative value in the time off allotments. If the value goes below zero, the agent will see a zero as the remaining allotment. This discourages agents from taking time off on understaffed days.
Supervisors and agents see the remaining time off allotments in FTEs or Hours, depending on which unit the administrator has selected.
Calculating time off allotments with time off requests
The following sections explain how WFM subtracts time off requests from time off allotments.
Time off requests with FTEs or hours
When a supervisor approves a time off request, the amount that WFM subtracts from the time off allotments for the day of the request depends on whether the administrator has configured WFM to display FTEs or hours:
- FTEs—WFM uses the following formula:
Time off allotments for the day - (Number of hours in a partial or an entire day time off request ÷ Default FTE per day)
NOTE The default FTE per day is configured on the Configure system-wide WFM settings page.
-
Hours—WFM uses the following formula:
Time off allotments for the day - Number of hours in a partial or an entire day time off request
Entire day time off requests
In the calculations above, the amount of time subtracted by an entire day time off request depends on whether your agents have schedules for the days that they request time off for:
- Agents have schedules—WFM uses the amount of paid time that the agent is scheduled to work on the day that they request time off for.
-
Agents do not yet have schedules—WFM uses a fraction of the agent’s minimum hours per week (configured and assigned on the Manage full time equivalent profiles page) to calculate how many hours equal an entire day:
Minimum hours per week ÷ 5 = Number of hours in an entire day time off request
NOTE When agents request time off for a day that they do not yet have schedules for, WFM always divides their minimum hours per week by five, not by the number of week days that their service queues are actually open.
The following table shows what happens to time off allotments when three agents submit time off requests for September 10 and the following conditions are all true:
- The agents do not yet have schedules for September 10.
- The agents have different minimum hours per week.
- The default FTE per day is 8 hours.
- The display unit for time off allotments is FTEs.
- The time off allotments for September 10 are 3 FTEs.
| Time Off Requester | Min. Hrs. per Week Calculation | Impact Calculation (FTEs) |
|---|---|---|
| Agent A | 20 min. hrs. ÷ 5 = 4 | 4 ÷ 8 = 0.5 FTEs |
| Agent B | 30 min. hrs. ÷ 5 = 6 | 6 ÷ 8 = 0.75 FTEs |
| Agent C | 40 min. hrs. ÷ 5 = 8 | 8 ÷ 8 = 1.0 FTEs |
| TOTAL | 2.25 FTEs |
After a supervisor approves these time off requests, the time off allotments remaining for September 10 are 0.75 FTEs.
NOTE If an agent belongs to multiple service queues, the supervisor who approves a time off request determines which service queue’s FTE allotment it applies to.
Copying time off allotments
You can copy a service queue’s time off allotments to another year or to another service queue for any year.
The copy action copies an entire year of time off allotments at once, and it replaces any time off allotments that have been previously configured for the service queue that you are copying to. This replacement happens even if you have entered FTEs or hours into fewer months for the service queue you are copying than for the service queue you are copying to.
Example 1: Service queues both have time off allotments for an entire year
The following list shows what happens when you copy time off allotments from a service queue that has an entire year of FTEs or hours to another service queue that also has an entire year of FTEs or hours:
- Situation—Service Queue A and Service Queue B both have time off allotments configured. Service Queue A has FTEs or hours entered for all of 2018, and Service Queue B has FTEs or hours entered for all of 2019.
- Action—You copy the time off allotments that Service Queue A has in 2018 to the time off allotments that Service Queue B will have in 2019.
- Result—Service Queue A’s time off allotments replace all Service Queue B’s time off allotments. Service Queue B’s time off allotments for 2019 are now the same as Service Queue A’s time off allotments are for 2018.
Example 2: Service queues have time off allotments for different numbers of months
The following list shows what happens when you copy time off allotments from a service queue that has only a month of FTEs or hours to another service queue that has an entire year of FTEs or hours:
- Situation—Service Queue A and Service Queue B both have time off allotments configured. Service Queue A only has FTEs or hours entered for March 2018, and Service Queue B has FTEs or hours entered for all 2019.
- Action—You copy the time off allotments that Service Queue A has in 2018 to the time off allotments that Service Queue B will have in 2019.
- Result—Service Queue A’s time off allotments replace all Service Queue B’s time off allotments. Now, Service Queue B does not only have the same FTEs or hours for March 2019 as Service Queue A has for March 2018. Service Queue B also has the same FTEs or hours for the rest of 2019 as Service Queue A has for the rest of 2018, which means that it does not have any. Even though Service Queue A only has time off allotments configured for one specific month, the copy action fills all other months in Service Queue B’s time off allotments with blanks.
Time off allotments and time zones
The time off allotments list that agents see in a Time Off request reflect the default time zone, although the agent’s time off request is displayed and submitted in the agent’s display time zone.
Time off allotments are taken out of a service queue’s bucket based on which day the majority of the time span covers in the default time zone. If the time off is split equally between two days, the allotment is taken out of the bucket for the time span’s start date.
In the table below are examples of what happens when an agent’s time off request (EST) crosses midnight in the default time zone (PST). As is shown, the date on which the majority of the time off falls in the default time zone determines which service queue bucket the allotment is taken out of.
| Time Off Request (EST) | Default Time Zone (PST) | Allotment Bucket Affected |
|---|---|---|
| October 10, 00:00 October 10, 24:00 |
October 10, 21:00 (3 hours) October 11, 21:00 (21 hours) |
October 11 |
| October 10, 00:00 October 10, 05:00 |
October 9, 21:00 (3 hours) October 10, 02:00 (2 hours) |
October 9 |
| October 10, 00:00 October 10, 06:00 |
October 9, 21:00 (3 hours) October 10, 03:00 (3 hours) |
October 9 |
Field descriptions
Use the Time Off Allotments page to enter, edit, copy, and delete time off allotments for service queues.
The fields on the page when you edit time off allotments are described below.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Service Queue | The service queue that you want to configure allotments for. |
| Year | The year that you want to configure allotments for. |
| Month |
The month that you want to configure allotments for. If you select a specific month, you can configure allotments for that month only. If you select All, you can configure allotments for the entire year. |
| Quick Entry |
To quickly enter values in the allotment table, enter the desired allotment for each day of the week. That value is then applied to each corresponding day of the week in the allotment table. When your cursor is in the field for a specific day, the corresponding days in the allotment table are highlighted in blue. You can edit the values in the allotment table after you have filled it using Quick Entry. You can only enter whole numbers into the Quick Entry fields. The values that you enter can either be FTEs or hours, depending on which unit the administrator has selected (see Configure system-wide WFM settings). |
The fields on the page when you copy time off allotments are described below.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Service Queue | The service queue with the allotments that you want to copy. |
| Year | The year with the allotments that you want to copy. |
| Copy to Queue | The service queue that you want to copy the allotments to. |
| Copy to Year | The year that you want to copy the allotments to. |