---
title: Configuring absence types and their policies
description: Create and configure absence types, build their policies and assign them to employees.
url: "https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/absences-types-and-policies/"
updated: "2026-11-01"
category: Absence Management
---

# Configuring absence types and their policies

Absence types and their policies are the core of the configuration: the type describes the nature of the absence and its submission rules, the policy sets the entitlement (how much, how it accrues, what happens at the end of the period). This article is for administrators and HR staff who configure the module.

## Before you start

- Permissions in the role matrix: "View absence types" (Access) to open the page; "Create / Duplicate an absence type", "Edit an absence type" and "Delete / Archive an absence type" at the **Execute** level; "Configure policies (proration, carryover, rounding)" at the Access level to read policies, Execute to create, edit and assign them. By default, only the Administrator has them.
- A type can only be requested by an employee if a policy of that type is assigned to them.

## The list of types

Open **Settings › Time Management › Absence Types**. The screen shows the number of **Active types**, **Total policies** and **Assigned policies**, then a table (**Name**, **Code**, **Policies**, **Actions**). The **Active**, **Inactive** and **All** tabs filter the list; the search covers name and code. Click a row to open the type.

![The Absence Types page: type and policy counters, Active, Inactive and All tabs, and the table of types with their code and policies](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/absences-types-and-policies-01.en_.png?resize=800%2C500&quality=80&ssl=1)
Settings › Time Management › Absence Types.

## Creating a type

Two routes:

- **Import absence type** opens a gallery of ready-to-use types (paid leave, sickness, maternity, paternity…), each with its audience (Women only, Men only, Everyone). Click **Import**; a type that already exists is marked **Present**.
- **Add absence type** opens a blank form.

An existing type can be copied with **Duplicate**: the copy is created inactive, with its policies as drafts, and opens in edit mode.

## Type settings

In edit mode, the type is set card by card, then **Save**. The **Active / Inactive** switch at the top decides whether the type still accepts requests.

| Card | What it sets |
| --- | --- |
| Type identity | **Name** (the globe opens the FR, EN, DE, IT translations; **Translate all** suggests an AI translation to review), **Code**, **Icon**, **Color**. |
| General settings | **Eligible gender**; **Show in balances (ESS)**; **Half-days allowed**; **Deletion approval** (cancelling an approved absence goes through the approver); **Certificate required**, from N days, with three levels: **Warn only**, **Require before approval**, **Require on submission**; **Replacement required** (Never, Optional, Always) and **Allow request as replacement**. |
| Day count | How the days of an absence are counted (see below). |
| Validity settings | **Exempt from blackout periods**, **Exempt from team quotas** (useful for sickness), **Counts as remote work (Flex Office)** with the **Remote work scheme** (Regular, Occasional; only regular is sent to payroll), **Payroll flat duration (hours per day)**. |
| Outlook calendars | **Write this type to Outlook**, the **Label in Outlook**, the **Availability for others** (Away, Working elsewhere, Busy, Tentative, Free) and **Private**. |
| Submission rules | Minimum notice before start (in business, calendar or working days), maximum planning horizon, maximum length of a request and what happens beyond it (Refused, Submitted then refused, Always reviewed by a person), limits on consecutive days and days per week, same-day submission, retroactive declaration and its limit, auto-approval if notice is respected, auto-rejection if it is not, notice by leave duration. |

### Day count

| Value | Days counted |
| --- | --- |
| Calendar days | Every day, public holidays included (sickness, accident, maternity). |
| Working days (Mon–Sat) | Monday to Saturday, excluding public holidays. |
| Business days (Mon–Fri) | Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. |
| Scheduled days | The days of the contract's schedule, excluding public holidays; Monday to Friday if there is no schedule. Default value. |

The day count can no longer change once a policy with an entitlement is assigned: that would rewrite balances.

### When the type is locked

As soon as a policy of the type is assigned, the **Configuration locked** banner appears. The following remain editable: translations, icon, colour, active or inactive, gender, visibility in balances, exemptions, remote work, Outlook, payroll flat duration, submission rules, certificate, half day and replacement. The code cannot change once saved. To change anything else, duplicate the type.

## A type's policies

At the bottom of the type, the **Policies** section lists the type's policies with their status: **Draft**, **Active** or **Archived**. **Add policy** opens the wizard; **Import country preset** adds a ready-made policy for a country (for example 20 holiday days for Switzerland, 25 for France), whose figures should be validated by your HR or legal team.

### The policy wizard

1. **Basic information**: the policy name.
2. **Entitlement settings**: **Cyclic** mode (entitlement refilled periodically) or **Event-triggered** (entitlement granted for each event: marriage, birth, death, moving house, loyalty bonus, holiday purchase, time savings account…). Cyclic: limited or unlimited entitlement, in days or hours, frequency (annual to monthly), granted all at once or monthly, cycle start (hire date, 1 January, custom date), negative balance allowed and its limit. Event-triggered: days per event, window for taking them, annual caps.
3. **Acquisition**: proration on joining and leaving mid-cycle (no proration, by day, by month), proration to the work rate, rounding rule, waiting period.
4. **Carryover, balance & payout**: carryover (none, with expiry, capped, unlimited), balance payout (who can request it, payable part, caps, payroll item) and conversion to another balance.
5. **Submission constraints**: mandatory block of consecutive days (shown as a reminder to the employee when they request leave).
6. **Automation**: limits on consecutive days and days per week, annual rest-day calendar, paid leave during sick leave, leave rules (contracts under one month, extra days per dependent child, solidarity day).
7. **Seniority & Age**: one-off or recurring seniority bonus, age brackets, cumulative or most favourable.
8. **Advanced settings**: minimum seniority to request, salary continuation, absence counts as working time, employee status during the absence.
9. **Summary**: review, then **Create**.

An assigned policy is read-only: to change it, duplicate it, edit the copy, then assign it.

### Assigning a policy

1. On the policy row, click **Assign**.
2. Choose the **Effective date**: **Since hire date** (the balance is recalculated from the hire date), **Current period**, **Next period** or **From…** (the current policy ends the day before).
3. Tick the **Employees** (**Select all**, search). An employee who already has another policy of the type is marked **Replaces**; a confirmation states the number of replacements.
4. Confirm. A future date schedules the assignment, applied on the night of that date; it can be cancelled until it takes effect (**Cancel the scheduled assignment**).

Employees who have left and draft hires are not offered. A single employee's policy can also be changed from their profile (see [Leave balances and counters](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/absences-balances-and-counters/)).

## Deactivating or deleting

- A type can only be deleted if it has no assigned policy, no balance history and no recorded absence. Otherwise, deactivate it.
- If a policy of the type is assigned, deletion offers **Deactivate & reassign**: the type is deactivated, its assigned policies are archived, and the employees move to an active policy of another type, chosen in **Target policy**.
- A policy that has ever been assigned can no longer be deleted: archive it. Archiving is immediate and final.

## Good to know

- The notice required is the stricter of the type's and the policy's.
- The half day offered to the employee depends on the type's setting (**Half-days allowed**), not the policy's.
- Some settings are saved but do not yet affect requests or balances: the **Vacation entitlement reduction** card, the type's conversion sources, escalation, automatic approval and rejection and cancellation in the **Automation** step, split days, and the waiting period and per-occurrence cap of an event-triggered policy. For automatic approval and rejection, use the type's submission rules.
- The type and country preset galleries are shown in French.

### *Similaire*