This article explains how leave balances are calculated and displayed in Humanforce WFM, and why the values you see may differ depending on the screen or context.
Understanding these calculations helps clarify how accruals, approved leave, and future requests affect an employee’s available leave balance.
Core leave balance formula
In Humanforce WFM, leave balances are calculated using the following core formula:
Balance = Accrued – Taken – To be taken
Where:
- Accrued is the total leave earned to date (either internally accrued or imported from payroll).
- Taken is leave that has already occurred.
- To be taken is approved leave scheduled for future dates.
How leave balances are displayed
Leave balances are shown differently depending on where you view them.
Management views and leave summaries
In management screens and leave summary views, the balance is calculated as:
Balance = Accrued – Taken – To be taken
This shows the employee’s current available balance, factoring in approved future leave.
When an employee requests leave
When an employee applies for leave, the system may also include projected accruals, depending on configuration:
Balance = Accrued – Taken – To be taken – Requested (not yet processed) + Projection
This allows employees to request leave that they are expected to accrue before the leave occurs.
Projected accruals are optional and depend on how leave accrual settings are configured.
What “to be taken” means
To be taken includes any approved leave dated in the future.
This means:
- Future approved leave reduces the available balance immediately
- The balance shown today may already account for leave that has not yet occurred
Imported vs internally accrued leave balances
How the Taken value is calculated depends on how leave balances are managed.
When leave balances are imported from an external payroll system
- Taken includes all authorised leave that is not yet processed in the current pay period
- Leave balances do not update until the pay run is finalised and balances are re-imported
- Humanforce WFM treats the payroll system as the source of truth
When leave balances are accrued internally in Humanforce WFM
- Taken includes all leave that has already occurred
- Balances update automatically as leave is taken
Why balances may appear to change over time
It is expected for leave balances to change as:
- Leave is approved for future dates
- A pay period is finalised
- Leave balances are imported or recalculated
- Projections are applied or removed
Seeing different values on different days does not necessarily indicate an issue.
How to confirm leave balances are correct
Your leave balance is behaving as expected when:
- Approved future leave reduces the available balance immediately
- Imported balances update after the pay period is finalised
- Employees can only request leave within the limits defined by accruals, projections, and access level permissions