1. What you need to get started
Hour balance is activated when you create your first policy. The policy defines the balance rules: which difference counts, how it’s compensated, and when it expires.
An hour balance policy: you create it in Settings > HR > Hour balance.
The policy assigned to each person: without a policy, the person doesn’t accrue hours and appears as No policy.
An absence policy: you can only assign the hour balance policy to people who already have one.
Approved clock-ins: the balance only counts clock-ins approved in Time tracking.
📄 Learn how to create and assign it in How to set up an hour balance policy.
2. How the balance is calculated
Every day, Holded compares the hours from approved clock-ins with the person’s planned working day. The difference is added to the balance once the day is closed.
When a day is counted: when it no longer has any clock-ins or absences pending approval.
What adds and what subtracts: if the person works more than planned, it adds; if they work less, it subtracts.
Thresholds: the policy sets one threshold for adding and another for subtracting. If the day’s difference doesn’t exceed it, nothing is recorded; if it does, the full difference is recorded.
Rejected clock-ins: they don’t count. A day with all its clock-ins rejected subtracts the full planned working day.
Starting from when: days before the policy was assigned don’t count.
Order of use: a negative day is deducted first from the oldest accrued hours.
When it updates: a few seconds after the clock-ins are approved.
💡 For example, with a threshold of More than 15 min, an 8h 40m day with 8h planned adds +0h 40m. An 8h 14m day adds nothing, even though Time tracking still shows those 14 minutes.
3. What happens if an already-counted day changes
The history is never rewritten. If something changes on a day that’s already in the balance, Holded adds a new entry dated today.
Day adjustment: recorded when you edit or delete a clock-in, or when an absence on an already-counted day is approved, cancelled or deleted. It only reflects the difference.
Day reversal: recorded when the day has something pending again, such as a new unapproved clock-in. The day is added back to the balance once you resolve it.
4. Hour expiry
If the policy has Balance expiry enabled, each hour expires after the specified number of months, counting from the day it was worked.
Expired hours no longer count toward the available balance.
The history doesn’t add a row when they expire; the available balance already deducts them.
Compensating doesn’t extend the deadline: compensated hours expire on the same date as the hours they come from.
⚠️ For now, Holded doesn’t send a warning before hours expire. Review balances in advance so you can compensate them in time.
5. Where to check the balance
HR has three places to track the team’s balance.
Hour balance table: in HR > Hour balance you’ll see one row per person with Employee, Position, Policy, Compensated, Available and Status.
Person’s history: click a row in the table to see each entry with its Date, Concept, Hours and Balance.
Employee profile: in Summary, the Available hour balance card shows their balance as of today.
In the table you can filter by Balance, Policy and Employee, choose columns with Columns, and download it with Export: Export Excel, Export PDF or Google Sheets.
☝️ For now, your employees can’t see their balance in My area.
6. How hours are compensated
Accrued hours are returned as time off; for now, they can’t be paid through payroll. HR compensates them as hours off or days off, which go into a pool the person uses through an absence.
📄 Find out how in How to compensate and adjust the hour balance.
In summary
Create a policy, assign it, and approve clock-ins: Holded keeps the balance up to date. After that, compensate or adjust whenever you need to.