Who it’s for: Administrators
Platform: Forms, Sense Automate, and Sense HR
Available on: Early Adopter Beta Programme / Active Sense Forms Licence
Before you begin
Make sure you’ve:
☑️ Been assigned administrator permissions in Sense HR (or permission to trigger custom actions for other users)
☑️ Been assigned access to Sense Automate via Sense Portal
☑️ Obtained an active Sense Forms Licence
☑️ Ensured the employees you want to invite are registered Sense users
☑️ Prepared an existing Holiday Buy and Sell profile screen before deployment, if one already exists in Sense HR. See Prepare the Holiday Buy and Sell screen below. If you don’t already have a profile screen named Holiday Buy and Sell, you can skip Prepare the Holiday Buy and Sell screen and head straight to Overview.
🖊️ Note: Employees do not need access to the dedicated Forms workspace to complete the Buy/Sell Holidays form if they use the invitation link sent by email.
Prepare the Holiday Buy and Sell screen
When the workflow is deployed, it automatically creates a Holiday Buy and Sell profile screen in Sense HR to store Buy/Sell Holidays records..
If a screen with the same name already exists—for example, because you’ve previously used the To Dos Buy/Sell Holidays workflow—the new screen won’t be created.
Before deploying the workflow, choose one of the following options:
Rename the existing screen (recommended) if you want to keep your historical records.
Update the existing screen so it matches the requirements of the Forms workflow.
Delete the existing screen if you no longer need the historical records.
Recommended: Rename the existing screen
If you want to keep your historical Buy/Sell Holidays records, rename the existing screen before deploying the workflow.
For example:
Holiday Buy and Sell → Holiday Buy and Sell (Old)
You may also want to remove access to the old screen through Access Roles so users only see the new screen.
When you deploy the workflow, a new Holiday Buy and Sell screen is created automatically with the correct structure for the Forms workflow.
This approach preserves your historical records while allowing the workflow to function correctly.
Option 2: Update the existing screen
If you want to retain your existing records, update the screen so it matches the structure required by the workflow.
The screen must be named:
Holiday Buy and Sell
It must contain the following fields.
Field name | Type | Requirements |
Holiday Year | Text | Mark as Column Header |
Choice | Dropdown | Mark as Column Header. Include options: Buy holidays, Sell holidays, Opted out, Did not submit by due date |
Holiday Amount | Number | Mark as Column Header |
Days/Hours | Dropdown | Mark as Column Header. Include options: Days, Hours |
🖊️ Note: These field names and dropdown values are used by the workflow. Renaming or removing them may prevent the workflow from functioning correctly.
Option 3: Delete the existing screen
Delete the existing Holiday Buy and Sell screen if you no longer need the historical records stored in it.
The Forms workflow creates a new screen automatically during deployment.
🖊️ Important: If you delete an existing Holiday Buy and Sell screen, all records stored in that screen are permanently deleted. If you need to retain historical data, export the reporting category before deleting the screen.
For more information see:
👉 Screen Designer: Edit Screens
👉 Reports: Create, edit, and manage reports
Overview
The Buy/Sell Holidays workflow allows eligible employees to choose whether they want to buy additional annual leave, sell part of their entitlement, or opt out for the selected holiday year.
The workflow combines three Sense products:
Sense Automate installs, configures, and runs the workflow.
Sense HR is used to invite employees, stores the submitted Buy/Sell Holidays decision, and updates the employee’s holiday entitlement.
Forms provides the interactive experience employees complete.
Once submitted, the workflow automatically updates the employee’s holiday entitlement and records the decision within Sense HR.
How the process works
The Buy/Sell Holidays campaign follows a simple lifecycle.
Install workflow
↓
Configure workflow
↓
Deploy workflow
↓
Invite employees
↓
Employees complete the Buy/Sell Holidays Form
↓
Workflow updates holiday entitlement
↓
Administrator/Manager receives confirmation
Run a Buy/Sell Holiday campaign
Step 1: Install the workflow
Go to Sense Automate > Workflow Hub.
Locate Forms – Buy / Sell Holidays.
Review the workflow description and installation guidance.
Click Install.
Once installed, the workflow appears in:
Sense Automate > Installations
🖊️ Note: Installing the workflow does not activate it.
The workflow remains Undeployed until you deploy it from Installations.
Related article
For full guidance on installing Library workflows, see:
Install the Buy/Sell Holidays workflow from the Workflow Hub.
Step 2: Configure the workflow
Go to Sense Automate > Installations
Locate Forms – Buy / Sell Holidays.
Open the More actions (…) menu.
Click Configuration.
✅ The Configure workflow screen opens.
This article only explains the settings that are specific to the Buy/Sell Holidays workflow.
Related article
For guidance on configurable Library workflows, see:
Event Name
This tells the workflow which holiday entitlement should be updated after an employee submits the form.
By default this is:
Holiday
⚠️ Important: If your organisation has renamed the Holiday entitlement in Sense HR (for example, to Annual Leave), you must update the Event Name configuration so it exactly matches the entitlement name used in Sense HR.
Otherwise, the workflow won’t be able to locate and update the correct entitlement.
Form Due Date
Enter the number of days employees have to complete the Buy/Sell Holidays form.
Once this period expires:
the session closes
employees can no longer submit their decision using that session
Maximum Days
Enter the maximum number of days employees can buy or sell if their holiday entitlement is measured in days.
The workflow automatically applies this limit only to employees whose entitlement is measured in days.
Maximum Hours Mode
For employees whose holiday entitlement is measured in hours, choose how the maximum number of hours they can buy or sell should be calculated.
Two options are available.
Fixed hours
Uses the value entered in Maximum Hours.
Every employee whose entitlement is measured in hours can buy or sell up to the same maximum number of hours.
Contracted Hours
Automatically calculates each employee’s maximum buy/sell entitlement using their contracted weekly hours.
💡 Tip: Use Contracted Hours if you want each employee’s maximum buy/sell entitlement to reflect their contracted hours rather than using the same limit for everyone.
Maximum Hours
This field is only used when Maximum Hours Mode is set to Fixed hours.
Enter the maximum number of hours employees can buy or sell.
🖊️ Note: Employees whose entitlement is measured in days and employees whose entitlement is measured in hours can use the same workflow.
Configure both the day- and hour-based settings, and the workflow automatically presents the correct version of the form and applies the appropriate limits based on each employee’s entitlement type.
Form Access PIN Required
Choose whether employees must enter a PIN before opening the form.
Yes
Employees receive a separate email containing a PIN, which must be entered before they can access the Buy/Sell Holidays form.
No
Employees can access the form directly from the invitation email without entering a PIN.
Once you’ve reviewed the settings, click Done.
Configure the Buy/Sell Holidays workflow before deployment.
Step 3: Deploy the workflow
Return to Sense Automate > Installations
Locate Forms – Buy / Sell Holidays.
Open the More actions (…) menu.
Click Deploy.
The workflow status changes to Deployed.
Once deployed, the workflow is ready for administrators to invite employees to complete the Buy/Sell Holidays process.
Deploy the configured Buy/Sell Holidays workflow.
Step 4: Invite employees
Once the workflow has been deployed, administrators can invite employees to complete the Buy/Sell Holidays process.
You can invite:
a single employee
multiple employees at the same time
🖊️ Note: Employees must be registered Sense users before they can receive a Buy/Sell Holidays invitation.
Invite a single employee
Open Sense HR.
Click People.
Click the employee’s profile.
Click the More actions (…) menu in the upper right.
Click Open Buy/Sell Holiday.
An invitation email is immediately sent to that employee.
Invite an individual employee from their profile.
Invite multiple employees
Open Sense HR > People.
Select the checkbox beside each employee you want to invite.
On the action bar, click Open Buy/Sell Holiday.
An invitation email is sent to every selected employee.
💡 Tip: Bulk invitations are useful when launching the Buy/Sell Holidays campaign across a department or the whole organisation.
Launch the Buy/Sell Holidays campaign for multiple employees.
Step 5: Employee experience
After an employee has been invited, they receive an email inviting them to complete the Buy/Sell Holidays process.
Employees can access the form in one of two ways.
Option 1: Open the invitation email
Click the Open Buy/Sell Holiday link in the email.
The form opens immediately.
🖊️ Note: Employees do not need access to the Forms workspace to use the email link.
Employees receive an email inviting them to complete the Buy/Sell Holidays form.
Option 2: Open the Forms workspace
If the employee has been granted access to Forms through Sense Portal, they can also:
Open the Product Switcher.
Click Forms.
Open Inbox.
Click Open beside the Buy/Sell Holidays session.
🖊️ Note: Access to the Forms workspace is optional. The email invitation provides everything needed to complete the process.
Complete the Buy/Sell Holidays form
The form automatically adapts to the employee.
For example:
employees whose entitlement is measured in days see values in days
employees whose entitlement is measured in hours see values in hours
if Maximum Hours Mode is set to Contracted Hours, the maximum available hours are calculated automatically from the employee’s contracted hours
if Maximum Hours Mode is Fixed hours, the maximum hours are taken from the configured workflow value
Employees can choose to:
buy annual leave
sell annual leave
make no change
After making their selection, click Submit.
The form automatically adapts to each employee’s entitlement type.
Confirm the submission
Before the request is submitted, a confirmation page is displayed.
Employees can:
go back and make changes
confirm the submission
Click Yes, submit to continue.
Employees review their decision before submitting.
Submission complete
After confirmation, a success page is displayed.
The employee’s Buy/Sell Holidays session is now complete.
🖊️ Note: Once submitted, the employee cannot edit that session. If changes are required, an administrator can reopen the Buy/Sell Holidays process by sending a new invitation.
Reopening the invitation
If an employee opens the original invitation link after completing the process, the workflow displays a Session ended message.
This indicates that the original session has already been completed.
If the employee needs to submit another response, an administrator must reopen the Buy/Sell Holidays process by sending a new invitation.
Step 6: What happens after submission
Once an employee submits their Buy/Sell Holidays decision, the workflow completes the remaining processing automatically.
The administrator receives an email confirming whether the employee:
bought annual leave
sold annual leave
chose not to make any changes
The employee’s holiday entitlement is also updated automatically in Sense HR. Depending on your organisation’s configuration, this update is applied to the next holiday year.
The Holiday Buy and Sell profile screen is updated with the new record.
Verify the updated entitlement
You can confirm the updated entitlement by opening the employee’s profile.
Go to:
People > [select employee] > Planner > Settings > Entitlement settings
Check the entitlement for the relevant holiday year.
The entitlement automatically reflects the employee’s Buy/Sell Holidays decision.
🖊️ Note: You can also check All activity for updates to entitlement via Buy and Sell Forms.
⚠️ Warning: Don’t manually adjust an employee’s holiday entitlement here to reflect a Buy/Sell Holidays decision. Updating the entitlement directly doesn’t update the corresponding Holiday Buy and Sell record, which can leave the employee’s historical records out of sync.
If you need to correct a submitted Buy/Sell Holidays decision, follow the steps in Correct a submitted Buy/Sell Holidays decision below.
Correct a submitted Buy/Sell Holidays decision
If an employee submits an incorrect Buy/Sell Holidays decision, an administrator can update the submitted record directly in Sense HR.
Open People.
Select the employee.
Open the Holiday Buy and Sell screen.
Select the submitted record.
Update the required fields.
Click Update.
Submitted Buy/Sell Holidays decisions are stored in the Holiday Buy and Sell screen.
Update the submitted decision if changes are required.
After saving the changes, the employee’s holiday entitlement is recalculated for the configured holiday year.
You can verify the updated entitlement by navigating to:
People > [Employee] > Planner > Settings > Entitlement settings
Review the entitlement for Next Year to confirm the updated balance.
Best practice
✔ Configure the workflow before deploying it.
✔ Check that the Event Name exactly matches the holiday entitlement used in Sense HR.
✔ Configure both the Maximum Days and Maximum Hours settings if your organisation has employees whose entitlement is measured in different units.
✔ Decide whether Fixed hours or Contracted Hours best matches your organisation’s policy before inviting employees.
✔ Test the workflow with a small group of users before launching it across the organisation.
✔ Use bulk invitations when launching a company-wide Buy/Sell Holidays campaign.
✔ Verify that employee entitlements have updated correctly after submissions have been processed.
Summary
The Buy/Sell Holidays workflow provides a simple way to manage annual leave buy and sell requests through an interactive Forms experience.
Administrators:
install the workflow from the Workflow Hub
configure it in Automate
deploy it
invite one or more employees
Employees then complete a short Forms session, after which the workflow automatically updates their holiday entitlement and notifies the administrator of the outcome.
FAQs
Click to see answers to frequently asked questions.
Click to see answers to frequently asked questions.
Q: Do employees need access to the Forms workspace to complete the Buy/Sell Holidays form?
A: No. Employees do not need access to the Forms workspace to complete the Buy/Sell Holidays form if they use the invitation link in the email they receive. Access to the Forms workspace is only required if employees are expected to open the session from Forms > Inbox instead.
👉 Sense Portal: Manage Team Access to Sense Workplace products
Q: Can I invite more than one employee at a time?
A: Yes. You can invite multiple employees to complete the Buy/Sell Holidays form by selecting them in the People list and clicking Open Buy/Sell Holiday from the action bar.
Q: What happens if an employee opens the email again after submitting the form?
A: If an employee opens the Buy/Sell Holidays invitation after submitting the form, they will see a Session ended message because that session has already been completed.
Q: Can an employee change their decision after submitting the form?
A: No. Once a Buy/Sell Holidays session has been submitted, the employee can’t edit that session. If the submitted decision needs to be corrected, an administrator can update the submitted record directly from the employee’s Holiday Buy and Sell screen in Sense HR.
Q: How does the workflow know whether to display days or hours?
A: The Buy/Sell Holidays workflow automatically checks how the employee’s holiday entitlement is measured in Sense HR. Employees whose entitlement is measured in days see a day-based form, while employees whose entitlement is measured in hours see an hour-based form.
Q: Can the same workflow be used for employees measured in both days and hours?
A: Yes. The same Buy/Sell Holidays workflow supports both entitlement types. Configure both the day- and hour-based settings, and the workflow automatically presents the correct version of the form for each employee.
Q: What is the difference between Fixed Hours and Contracted Hours?
A: Fixed Hours allows every employee measured in hours to buy or sell the same maximum number of hours. Contracted Hours automatically calculates each employee’s maximum based on their contracted weekly hours.
Q: How can I confirm that an employee’s holiday entitlement has been updated?
A: You can confirm that the Buy/Sell Holidays workflow has updated an employee’s entitlement by opening People > [select employee] > Planner > Settings > Entitlement settings and reviewing the entitlement for the relevant holiday year.
Q: What happens if the Holiday entitlement in Sense HR has been renamed?
A: If your organisation has renamed the Holiday entitlement (for example, to Annual Leave), you must update the Event Name configuration in the workflow so it exactly matches the entitlement name in Sense HR. Otherwise, the workflow will not be able to update the correct entitlement.
Q: Can I run the Buy/Sell Holidays campaign again?
A: Yes. You can run the Buy/Sell Holidays campaign again by inviting employees to complete a new Buy/Sell Holidays session. Each invitation creates a new session for the employee to complete.
Q: How do I correct an employee’s Buy/Sell Holidays decision?
A: If an employee’s Buy/Sell Holidays decision needs to be corrected after they’ve submitted the form, update the record in the employee’s Holiday Buy and Sell profile screen rather than changing their holiday entitlement directly.
Go to People > [select employee] > Holiday Buy and Sell, open the submitted record, make the required changes, and click Update. The employee’s holiday entitlement is then recalculated automatically for the relevant holiday year.