Leave Management
Kazisafi provides a comprehensive leave management system designed around the Kenya Employment Act while remaining flexible enough to support custom leave policies.
How leave works
Section titled “How leave works”The leave system is built on four core concepts:
- Leave types define what kinds of leave are available and their rules.
- Leave policies bundle entitlements across leave types into a single, date-bound set of rules.
- Leave balances track each employee’s allocation, usage, and availability per leave type per year.
- Leave requests are how employees apply for time off, triggering approval and balance updates.
Default leave types
Section titled “Default leave types”Six standard leave types aligned to the Kenya Employment Act, 2007 are set up for every new company.
| Leave type | Short name | Default days | Paid | Carryover | Requires reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual | AL | 21 | Yes | Yes (maximum 5 days) | No |
| Sick | SL | 14 | Yes | No | Yes |
| Maternity | ML | 90 | Yes | No | No |
| Paternity | PL | 14 | Yes | No | No |
| Compassionate | CL | 5 | Yes | No | Yes |
| Unpaid | UL | Unlimited | No | No | Yes |
Each leave type can be toggled active or inactive without removing historical data.
Custom leave types
Section titled “Custom leave types”Beyond the defaults, you can create custom leave types tailored to your organisation.
Go to Settings > Leave Types and click New Leave Type. Give it a name and short code, choose whether it’s paid or unpaid, and set any limits on days per year. You can also decide whether requests need manager approval, whether employees must give a reason, and whether unused days carry over to the next year.
Pay rate levels
Section titled “Pay rate levels”Some leave types support different pay rates depending on how many days are taken. This is useful for types like sick leave where the Employment Act provides different pay rates as more days are used.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Full Pay Days | Number of days at full salary before switching to half pay |
| Half Pay Days | Number of days at half salary after full pay days are used up |
Any days beyond both levels are recorded as unpaid. The pay rate is determined automatically based on how many days the employee has already taken in the current year.
Leave policies
Section titled “Leave policies”A leave policy bundles entitlements for multiple leave types into a single set of rules. Only one active policy can be in effect at a time.
Policy settings
Section titled “Policy settings”| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Policy name (e.g., “Standard Policy 2026”) | Required |
| Effective From / To | Date range the policy is in effect | Required / Optional |
| Probation Period | Days before new employees are eligible for leave | 90 days |
| Allow During Probation | Whether employees on probation can take leave | No |
| Maximum Consecutive Days | Maximum consecutive working days per request | Optional |
Entitlements
Section titled “Entitlements”Each policy defines entitlements per leave type, including days per year, when days become available, and whether the type is available during probation.
When days become available
Section titled “When days become available”| Option | How it works |
|---|---|
| Annual | Full allocation available from the start of the year |
| Monthly | Days become available proportionally each month (days per year / 12) |
| Probation End | Full allocation becomes available only after probation completes |
Requesting leave
Section titled “Requesting leave”Submitting a request
Section titled “Submitting a request”Employees submit leave requests from the Employee Portal:
- Click Request Leave.
- Select the leave type, start date, and end date.
- Optionally enable Half Day for a partial day absence (counts as 0.5 days, single day only, must specify morning or afternoon).
- Enter a reason if required by the leave type.
- Review working days and available balance, then submit.
Kazisafi automatically calculates working days, excluding weekends and public holidays.
Requesting on behalf of an employee
Section titled “Requesting on behalf of an employee”Managers and HR administrators can submit requests on behalf of employees from the employee’s profile. The employee is notified, and the request follows the standard approval workflow.
Validation rules
Section titled “Validation rules”Before a request can be submitted, Kazisafi checks:
- Sufficient balance: The employee must have enough available days.
- No overlapping requests: No other pending or approved request can overlap the same dates.
- Past date limit: The start date cannot be more than 2 days in the past.
- Probation compliance: The leave type must be allowed during probation if applicable.
- Consecutive days limit: The request cannot exceed the policy’s maximum consecutive days.
- Half-day constraints: Half-day requests must be for a single day with a specified period.
Request statuses and actions
Section titled “Request statuses and actions”| Status | Description | Available actions |
|---|---|---|
| Pending | Awaiting approval. Days reserved from balance. | Approve, Reject, Withdraw, Cancel, Edit |
| Approved | Approved by an approver. | Cancel (before start date only) |
| Rejected | Declined. Rejection reason required. Days restored. | None |
| Cancelled | Cancelled after submission. Days restored. | None |
| Withdrawn | Withdrawn by the employee while pending. Days restored. | None |
| Taken | Leave period has passed. | None |
Approval workflow
Section titled “Approval workflow”- Department manager first. Requests are routed to the approvers assigned to the employee’s department.
- Escalation to HR. If the department has no designated approvers, or all approvers are unavailable, the request escalates to HR managers and company administrators.
To approve, review the request details and click Approve. To reject, click Reject and provide a reason (required). The employee is notified by email in both cases.
Approval delegation
Section titled “Approval delegation”Managers who will be away can temporarily delegate approval authority (maximum 90 days) to another active employee from Leave > Delegations.
- The delegate receives leave request notifications that would normally go to the delegating manager.
- All approvals by the delegate are recorded as “approved by [delegate] on behalf of [manager]” for audit purposes.
- The delegation can be revoked at any time.
Leave balances
Section titled “Leave balances”Kazisafi maintains a real-time balance for each employee, per leave type, per year.
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Allocated | Days granted for the year from the policy entitlement |
| Carryover | Days carried forward from the previous year |
| Taken | Days already used |
| Pending | Days in pending requests |
| Approved Future | Days in approved requests not yet occurred |
| Available | (Allocated + Carryover) minus (Taken + Pending + Approved Future) |
Balances update automatically as requests move through the process:
| Event | Effect |
|---|---|
| Request submitted | Available decreases, Pending increases |
| Request approved | Pending moves to Taken or Approved Future |
| Request rejected or cancelled | Days restored to Available |
When leave days are used, carryover days are used first before the current year’s allocation.
Carryover
Section titled “Carryover”Unused leave days can carry forward to the following year, subject to rules you set per leave type: whether carryover is allowed, a maximum days cap, and an expiry period (number of months into the new year).
At the start of each year, Kazisafi automatically calculates unused days, applies the cap, and creates the carryover allocation with an expiry date. Employees receive an email notification 30 days before their carryover days expire. On the expiry date, unused carryover days are automatically removed from the balance.
Example: Annual leave allows up to 5 days carryover with a 3-month expiry. An employee has 7 unused days at year-end. 5 days (the maximum) carry over to the new year and expire on 1 April. Any unused carryover days are removed on that date.
Working days and public holidays
Section titled “Working days and public holidays”Leave duration is calculated in working days, excluding weekends and public holidays. The calculated count is shown on the request form before submission.
Example: A request from Monday 3 February to Friday 14 February spans 12 calendar days, but only 8 working days (after excluding 4 weekend days). If a public holiday falls in that range, the count drops to 7.
Manage public holidays from Settings > Public Holidays. Holidays can be marked as recurring for automatic yearly inclusion. Each company manages its own holiday calendar.
Department team calendar
Section titled “Department team calendar”Managers can view a consolidated calendar showing approved and pending leave within their department. This helps with workforce planning, conflict prevention, and identifying coverage gaps.
Notifications
Section titled “Notifications”Kazisafi sends email notifications at every step — when a request is submitted, approved, rejected, or cancelled. Approvers receive reminders for outstanding requests, and employees are notified 30 days before any carryover days expire.