As an employee, you can use Gusto to submit time off requests, track your time off balances, and understand how your time off is earned. Your employer sets up your policies — what you see in Gusto depends on how your company has configured them.
Are you an admin? See this article to set up or edit time off policies.
Are you a manager? Go to Approve and edit time off requests to manage your team’s requests.
Before you start: Your employer needs to enable time off requests in Gusto before you can submit them. If you don't see a Time off tab in your account, contact your payroll admin — they may need to grant you access.
Your company sets up time off policies in Gusto. The types of time off available to you depend on what your employer sets up. Common types include:
PTO (paid time off) — time off that can be used for any reason, like vacation or personal days
Sick time — paid time off used for illness or medical appointments. Some states require employers to provide sick time by law.
Holiday time — paid time off for company-recognized holidays. Your company determines which holidays are observed.
Custom policies — paid time off for things like jury duty or bereavement. Your company determines these policies.
Unpaid time off — time off that is not paid. If you do not see an unpaid time off policy and need to request unpaid time off, contact your admin.
If you're not sure which policy to use, ask your payroll admin.
If you need to request time off for a date that has already passed, contact your payroll admin. Salaried employees can request time off for past pay periods, but hourly employees cannot — changing hours after the fact can affect taxes that were already filed.
Note: If you do not see Request time off, check with your employer. They may not have it enabled.
To request time off on a computer, follow these steps.
Sign in to Gusto and click Time off in the left navigation.
Find the policy you want to request time off from and click Request time off in the Action column.
Enter the date range under Date(s) requested.
Select the type of request:
Full days — eight hours will be submitted for each business day (weekends are not included). If you select a single date, eight hours is entered by default. Update this as needed.
Partial days — eight hours is entered by default. Update this as needed.
Review the balance breakdown in the request window:
Current balance — your total accrued hours for this policy
Other requested hours — all approved time off that hasn't happened yet, plus any requests that haven't been reviewed. This does not include the current request and only applies to this policy.
This request — hours that will be deducted for this request
Remaining available balance — what you'll have left after this request
Add a note for your manager (optional).
Click Send request.
After you submit, your manager or payroll admin will get an email. Once they approve or decline, you'll get an email notification and your balance will update.
Note: If your remaining available balance would go negative after this request, see "Understand a negative balance" below.
To request time off from the mobile app, follow these steps.
Open the Gusto mobile app and go to the Time/Work tab.
Select Request time off.
Choose the policy you want to request time off from.
Select the day or days for your request:
Full days — eight hours will be submitted for each business day (weekends are not included)
Partial days — eight hours is entered by default. Update this as needed.
Add a note for your employer (optional).
Tap Submit request.
Once you submit your request, your payroll admin or manager will get an email. After the request is approved or declined, you will get an email notification and your time off balance will be updated.
After you submit a request, your manager or payroll admin will get an email to review it. You'll get an email notification once they approve or decline it.
If you haven't heard back and your requested dates are coming up, reach out to your manager or payroll admin directly to follow up.
You cannot directly edit a request. To edit a request, delete it and submit a new one. You can cancel a request as long as it has not been processed through payroll.
To cancel a time off request, follow these steps.
Sign in to Gusto and click the Time off tab.
If your company has multiple time off policies, select the policy the request is under.
Next to your pending request, click View.
Click Delete request.
Note: If any portion of your paid time off has already been processed through payroll, the Delete request option will not appear. Contact your payroll admin to make adjustments.
If your request is declined, you'll get an email notification. Declined requests cannot be undone on your admin's end — you'll need to resubmit a new request if you still want to take time off.
When you resubmit, you can add a note to your manager with any additional context or questions about the decision.
To view your time off balance and request history, follow these steps.
Sign in to Gusto and click the Time off tab.
If your company has multiple time off policies, select the policy you want to view.
On this page you can see:
Available hours — remaining time off hours you can use
Requested hours — your total pending and approved time off hours
Earning policy — the rate at which you earn time off
Maximum hours — the maximum number of hours you can earn per year (if part of your company's policy)
Pending requests — requests that have not been approved or declined
Approved requests — approved time off that has not yet been paid through payroll
Declined — requests that were declined
Past vacation/sick time — approved time off that has been paid through payroll
Note: If your balance looks incorrect, it may be due to a pending request or a recent payroll run. Contact your payroll admin and let them know which policy and dates you're asking about.
Tenure — how long you have worked at the company. Some companies give more time off the longer you stay. For example, after two years an employee might get 24 extra hours of time off per year.
Waiting period — the number of calendar days or hours worked before you start earning time off. For example, you may need to wait 30 calendar days or 80 hours worked before time off starts accruing.
Maximum balance — the maximum number of time off hours you can have at one time. If you reach your maximum balance but use some time off, you can earn more until you hit the maximum again.
Carryover limit — the number of unused time off hours that carry over to the next calendar year. This depends on your company's policy or your hire date.
The time off tracker shows a detailed history of all changes to your time off balance. You will also see time off used and balances on your paystubs.
To view the tracker, follow these steps.
Sign in to Gusto and click the Time off tab.
If you have more than one policy, select the one you want to review.
Review Activity for a breakdown of all changes to your balance.
Activity
Description
Accrual
Hours earned based on your time off policy
Added to new policy
You were added to a new time off policy
Added to policy
The date you were added to a policy
Admin adjustment
Your payroll admin adjusted your balance from your employee profile
Admin recorded request
Your payroll admin manually added a time off request
Carryover limit reached
Your hours were capped based on your time off policy
Employee request
Hours you requested
Historical accrual adjustment
A past time off request adjusted a prior accrual
Max balance reached
Your hours were capped based on your time off policy
Payout of unused hours
Unused hours were paid out during dismissal payroll
Payroll canceled due to termination
An employee's termination caused payroll cancellation
Payroll reversed
A payroll reversal removed accrued hours
Removed from policy
You are no longer associated with a policy
Note: If you have an unlimited time off policy, you will not see a balance reflected.
Your Policy details section shows how your time off is earned and when it resets. To find this information, follow these steps.
Sign in to Gusto and click Time off in the left navigation.
Select the policy you want to review.
Scroll to Policy details to see:
Type — the kind of time off, like vacation, sick, or a custom policy
Earning policy — how you earn time off, like a set number of hours per year accrued each pay period, or a lump sum given on a specific date
Reset date — the date your balance resets, if your policy includes one
Your accrual rate is set by your employer. Common accrual methods include:
Per pay period — you earn a portion of your annual hours each time payroll runs. For example, 200 hours per year on a biweekly schedule means you earn about 7.69 hours per paycheck.
Per hour worked — you earn time off based on hours worked, often used for hourly team members or to meet state sick time requirements.
Lump sum — your full annual hours are added at once, like on Jan. 1 or on your work anniversary.
To see how your balance changes over time, review the Activity section. Each entry shows the effective date, the type of change (like an accrual or admin adjustment), the hours added or removed, and your running balance.
If your earning policy or reset date does not match what you expected, contact your payroll admin.
Q: When does my annual time off accrue?
A: It depends on your policy. Some policies accrue each pay period, others give a lump sum on Jan 1 or your work anniversary. To see how your time off is earned, review the Earning policy under Policy details.
Q: Does my time off balance reset at the end of the year?
A: It depends. Check the Reset date in your Policy details to see if your policy includes a reset. A payroll admin can manually clear a balance, but most balances carry over unless your company’s policy says otherwise. Some state sick time laws do not allow automatic resets.
Q: Can my balance go negative?
A: Yes. If you use more hours than you have, your balance can go negative. A payroll admin can also manually enter a negative balance.
Q: Why does my balance look different from what my manager sees?
A: Admins and managers see your current balance and requested hours broken out separately. You see your total balance including approved and upcoming time off. Your available hours may be lower than your total balance if you have approved time off that has not yet been paid through payroll.