Who is this guide for: Administrators
Platform: Sense HR
Available on: All plans
Before you begin
Make sure you:
☑️ Have administrator permissions
☑️ Understand the employee’s entitlement rules
☑️ Know whether public holidays should be included in entitlement
☑️ Know whether public holidays should be automatically booked
☑️ Know whether public holiday changes should apply from a specific effective date
Navigation path
HR Dashboard > People > [Select profile] > Planner > Setting > Entitlement
Overview
The Entitlement section allows you to review and update an employee’s leave balances and settings from their profile.
From here, you can:
review entitlement balances
update entitlement values, such as total entitlement, carryover, length of service, or lost duration
update public holiday settings
check how bookings affect remaining balances
Entitlement balances are affected by several areas of Sense HR, including:
the employee’s working hours configuration
holiday year
public holiday settings
bookings made in the planner or calendar
manual entitlement adjustments
⚠️ Important: This screen has two save processes
The Entitlement page contains two different types of settings, and they are saved in different ways.
If you are changing… | Save it by… |
An entitlement event, such as Holiday or TOIL | Clicking Save changes inside the entitlement edit dialog |
Public holiday settings | Clicking Next on the main Entitlement page, then confirming the change |
If you are updating both, save the entitlement event first, then update public holiday settings and click Next.
Manage an employee's entitlement and public holiday settings
Open entitlement settings
Go to HR Dashboard > People
Select the employee’s profile
Click Planner in the left-hand navigation menu
Click Settings in the upper right
Select Entitlement settings
✅ Entitlement settings opens
Understand what you can update
The Entitlement settings page has two main areas:
Public holiday settings at the top of the page.
Entitlement event rows in the entitlement table.
These areas affect the same entitlement balances, but they are saved differently.
Public holiday settings
At the top of the page, you can update:
Public holiday group
whether public holidays are included in entitlement
whether public holidays are automatically booked when they fall on working days
If public holidays are included in entitlement, an additional option appears allowing you to automatically book public holidays that fall on the employee’s working days.
Public holidays included in entitlement? | Automatically book public holidays that land on a working day? | What this means |
Yes | Yes | Eligible public holidays are automatically booked into the employee’s planner for the remainder of the holiday year, when they fall on working days. |
Yes | No | Public holidays are included in the entitlement setup, but they are not automatically booked. Any related time off must be managed manually, if required. |
No | Option not available | Public holidays are not included in the entitlement setup, and the auto-book option is not shown. |
🖊️ Note: Changing whether public holidays are included does not directly change the employee’s Total entitlement value. It controls whether public holidays can be managed as part of the employee’s entitlement setup. If auto-booking is enabled, eligible public holidays are booked into the planner for the remainder of the holiday year and reflected in booked entitlement values.
View public holidays
Click View public holidays to see the holidays included in the selected public holiday group.
Entitlement table
The entitlement table shows the entitlement event types assigned to the employee, such as Holiday or TOIL.
Each row includes:
event type
measured in
total entitlement
total booked
remaining balance
notes
How entitlement balances are calculated
An employee’s entitlement balance is calculated from entitlement values, bookings, and settings.
The basic calculation is:
Remaining balance = entitlement available - total booked
The values that feed into this include:
• Total entitlement
• Carryover
• Length of service award
• Actual booked leave
• Auto-booked public holidays
• Lost entitlement
When leave is booked or approved in the planner or calendar, the balance updates automatically.
💡 Tip: If an entitlement balance looks wrong, check recent bookings, public holiday settings, and working hours before making manual adjustments.
Understand and review entitlement values
Click any event in the entitlement table, for example Holiday, to open its entitlement details.
The Edit entitlement dialog shows the values that contribute to the employee’s calculated balance. Some values can be edited, while others are calculated automatically by Sense HR.
Measured in
Shows whether the entitlement is measured in Days or Hours.
This is set during configuration and cannot be changed here.
Total entitlement
The total entitlement available for the period.
This can be adjusted manually.
Carryover
The amount carried forward from a previous entitlement period.
This can be adjusted manually.
Length of service entitlement
Additional entitlement awarded for length of service.
This can be adjusted manually.
Total booked
The total amount used or deducted for this entitlement type.
This includes:
actual booked leave
auto-booked public holidays, if enabled
lost entilement
This value is calculated automatically.
Auto-booked public holiday
Public holidays automatically booked for this entitlement period when enabled.
This is calculated by the system and cannot be edited in the entitlement dialog.
Actual booked
The total amount booked through the planner or calendar for this entitlement type.
This is calculated automatically and cannot be edited in the entitlement dialog.
Lost entitlement
Entitlement that is no longer available because it has expired or been removed by a configured process.
Lost entitlement is added to Total booked, which reduces the employee’s Remaining balance.
Enter the amount lost, for example 1.
Remaining balance
The entitlement still available after bookings and adjustments are applied.
This is calculated automatically and cannot be edited directly.
Update entitlement only
Use this process when you need to update an entitlement event only, such as Holiday or TOIL.
Click the entitlement event, for example Holiday.
This opens the Edit entitlement dialog.
Review or update the entitlement values.
Click Save changes in the entitlement dialog.
Click Back (upper left) when finished.
🖊️ Note: You do not need to click Next for entitlement-only changes. Next only appears when you interact with Public holiday settings, because those changes require an effective date confirmation.
Update public holiday settings only
Use this path if you only need to change public holiday settings only.
Update the public holiday settings at the top of the page.
Click Next.
Review the confirmation dialog.
Choose the Effective from date.
Optionally add a Reason for change.
Click Save.
Public holiday settings are not applied until you click Next and complete the confirmation step.
Update both entitlement and public holiday settings
Use this path if you need to update both an entitlement event and public holiday settings.
Click the entitlement event, for example Holiday.
Make the required entitlement changes.
Click Save changes in the entitlement dialog.
Update the public holiday settings at the top of the page.
Click Next.
Review the confirmation dialog.
Choose the Effective date.
Optionally add a Reason for change.
Click Save.
⚠️ Caution: Save entitlement changes first
Public holiday settings are not applied until you click Next.
If you change public holiday settings first, then open an entitlement event and click Save changes, the public holiday settings may revert to the last saved values.
To avoid this, save entitlement event changes first, then update public holiday settings and click Next.
Add a new entitlement event type
You can add additional entitlement event types, such as TOIL.
Click + Add new entitlement.
In the Add entitlement dialog:
• Select an Event from the dropdown
• Select whether the entitlement is Measured in Days or Hours
• Enter Total entitlement duration
• Optionally add any Notes
Click Save changes in the entitlement dialog.
🖊️ Note: You can fully configure the entitlement event for the current and following year later by clicking the event in the entitlement table once its added.
New entitlement event types behave in the same way as existing ones. Bookings made in the planner or calendar automatically update their balances.
🖊️ Note:
The Auto book public holidays setting is still visible, but it only applies to public holiday booking behaviour and will not apply to non-holiday entitlement types.
🖊️ Note:
Added entitlement events cannot be deleted. If an event should no longer affect the employee’s entitlement, set Total entitlement to 0.
How entitlement updates automatically
Entitlement balances update automatically when:
leave is booked or approved in the planner
events are added to the calendar
public holidays are auto-booked
working hours schedules change
After changes are applied
After changes are saved:
• entitlement balances are updated
• remaining balance is recalculated
• future bookings continue to update entitlement automatically
Where to see updated entitlement
Updated entitlement is visible in:
HR Dashboard > People > [Select profile] > Planner
This view shows:
total entitlement
amount taken
remaining balance
💡 Tip: This view updates automatically as bookings are made or entitlement changes are applied, helping employees and managers stay informed.
Basic Troubleshooting
I updated an entitlement, but the Next button did not appear
This is expected. Entitlement event changes are saved in the entitlement edit dialog using Save changes.
If you are only updating entitlement values, click Save changes in the dialog, then click Back when finished.
I changed public holiday settings, but they did not apply
Public holiday settings are not applied until you click Next and confirm the change.
I changed public holiday settings, then saved an entitlement, and the public holiday settings reverted
Public holiday settings are not saved until you click Next.
If you change public holiday settings and then save an entitlement event before clicking Next, the public holiday settings may revert to the last saved values.
Update and save entitlement changes first, then update public holiday settings and click Next.
The balance looks incorrect
Check:
recent planner or calendar bookings
whether public holidays are included in entitlement
whether public holidays have been auto-booked
working hours configuration
Carryover, Length of service award, and Lost entitlement values
Summary
Use the correct save path for the change you are making:
What you are changing | What to do |
Entitlement values only | Edit the entitlement event and click Save changes in the dialog. Click Back when finished. |
Public holiday settings only | Update public holiday settings, click Next, then confirm effective date and Save. |
Both entitlement and public holiday settings | Save entitlement event changes first, then update public holiday settings and click Next. Then confirm effective date for Public holiday changes and Save. |
👉 To change working hours and automatically recalculate entitlement, see:
Add or change an employee’s working hours schedule (Admin)