Manage your time off (for employees)

Requesting time off can be done both on a computer and through our mobile app. If you need to request time off for a date that's already passed, reach out to your employer for assistance.

On a computer

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Time Off tab on the left-hand side of your screen.
3. If your company has multiple time off policies, click on the policy you wish to request time off from.
   • If you do not see an unpaid time off policy to choose from, and you need to request unpaid time off, reach out to your employer to record this.
4. Click Request Time Off.
5. Select the day(s) for your requested time off.
   • Full Days: 8 hours will be submitted for each business day (does not include weekends).
     • If you select a single date, a default amount of 8 hours will be entered. Update this number as needed.
   • Partial Days: A default amount of 8 hours will be entered, but you can change this number as needed.
6. Optional: Add a note to your employer about the request.
7. Click Send Request.

Your payroll administrator or manager will be notified by email regarding your request. Once the request has been approved or declined, you'll receive an email notification and your time off balance will be updated.

In the mobile app

1. Open the Gusto mobile app.
2. Go to the Time/Work tab.
   • If the Time tab does not appear on your mobile app homepage, reach out to your employer to see if this is a feature your company offers through Gusto. 
3. Select Request Time Off.
4. Choose the policy you wish to request time off from.
5. Select the day(s) for your requested time off.
   • Full Days: This submits 8 hours for each business day (does not include weekends).
     • If you select a single date, a default amount of 8 hours will be entered. Update this number as needed.
   • Partial Days: A default amount of 8 hours is entered for each date. Update this number as needed.
6. Optional: Add a note to your employer about the request.
7. Click Submit Request.

To edit a request, delete the current one and then create a new request. You can cancel your time off request as long as it has not been processed through payroll. 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Time Off tab.
3. If your company has multiple time off policies, click on the policy you wish to cancel a request from.
4. Next to your pending time off request, click View.
5. Click Delete Request.

Note: If any portion of your paid time off has already been processed through payroll, the Delete Request option will no longer appear. Reach out to your company's payroll administrator to make the necessary adjustments.

Once you've requested time off, you can manage and view your time off request history by following the steps below. 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Time Off tab.
3. If your company has multiple time off policies, click into the policy you wish to view your balance and time off requests.

On this page, you can view:

• Available Hours: Remaining time off hours you're available to use
• Requested Hours: Your total Pending Requests + Approved Requests time off hours
• Earning Policy: The rate at which you earn time off
• Maximum Hours: If this is part of your company's time off policy, the maximum number of hours you can earn per year
• Pending Requests: Your requested time off that has not yet been approved or declined
• Approved Requests: Your approved time off that has not yet been paid in payroll (payroll has not yet processed for all requested dates)
• Declined: Your requested time off that has been declined
• Past Vacation/Sick Time: Your approved time off that has been paid in payroll (payroll has already processed for all requested dates)

Tenure: The period or term of holding a position. Sometimes used to determine when an employee will get an increase in time off. For example, an employee receives an additional 24 hours of time off after 2 years of tenure with their company.

Waiting period: The allotted period of time an employee must wait before they can begin accruing time off. For example, an employee must have a 30-day waiting period before they can accrue time at their company.

Maximum balance: The maximum amount of time off hours that an employee can have at any given time. If an employee has reached their max balance but uses some time off during a given pay period, they may still accrue back up to their max balance. For example, an employee earns 10 hours of time off every month, but they have a max balance of 20 hours total. 

Carry-over limit: The amount of accrued (or unused) time off that can be carried over from one calendar year to the next. Some employees earn more time off on the anniversary of their hire date, while others earn it on January 1.

FAQs

Q: When will annual time off accrue?

A: Annual time off will accrue on your actual annual date. For example, if the anniversary is Jan 1, then the amount will accrue on Jan 1.

Q: Do time off balances automatically zero out at year's end?

A: No, some state sick time mandates do not allow for time off balance resets, so balances will not automatically zero out at year's end unless a payroll admin manually zeroes out the balance on an account.

Q: Can an employee go into the negative time off?

A: Yes, a time off balance will go negative automatically if an employee uses more time off than they have available. A payroll admin can also save a negative balance in the employee's details screen under the time off tracking section. 

Review time off balances directly from your Gusto employee account. Follow the steps below to view the Time Off Tracker.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Time Off tab.
3. If you have more than one policy, select which one you'd like to review from the drop-down.
4. Review Activity to find a breakdown of all changes to your time off balance.

Activity types

Activity	Description
Accrual	Hours accrued in accordance with a time off policy
Added to policy	Date an employee was added to a policy
Admin adjustment	Balance adjusted from the employee profile
Admin recorded request	Admin manually added a time off request
Carryover limit reached	Hours capped in accordance with your time off policy
Employee request	Hours requested by employee
Historical Accrual adjustment	A historical time off request adjusts a prior accrual
Payroll cancelled due to termination	Employee termination caused payroll cancellation
Payroll reversed	Payroll reversal causing accrued hours to be removed
Max balance reached	Hours capped in accordance with your time off policy
Removed from policy	Employee is no longer associated with a policy
Payout of unused hours	Paying out unused hours during dismissal payroll

Balances will only reflect for limited time off policies.