Leave Management Software for Indian Companies

ZeniaHR runs leave the way an Indian HR team actually handles it. Each leave type carries its own rules for notice, back-dating, sandwiched weekends, half days, probation and documents. Employees see exactly which days a request will cost before they send it. Requests go to the reporting manager and then to HR, and approved days come off a ledger balance that accrues every month, carries forward at year end and can be encashed through payroll.

Who uses it

HR teamSets the rules for each leave type, keeps the leave ledger, grants comp-off, encashes leave into payroll and gives the final approval on every request in Leave Applications.

ManagersApprove or reject their team's leave in My Team on the web or the app, and check the team leave calendar before agreeing to a long spell in a busy month.

EmployeesCheck balances, apply for full days or a first-half or second-half session with a live preview of the days charged, cancel requests and track comp-off credits and their expiry.

FinanceReceive leave encashment as a payroll earning and paid days from the finalized attendance month, so salary and the leave register never need a separate reconciliation sheet.

From leave request to payslip

An employee opens My Self-Service or the mobile app, picks the leave type and the dates, and sees the result before sending anything. The preview lists every date that will be charged, tags any weekly off or holiday caught by the sandwich rule, shows the balance after this leave with pending requests counted, and names any rule the request breaks. A blocker stops the request on the spot. A warning, such as a missing medical certificate, travels with the request to the approver.

The request then goes to the reporting manager in My Team and after that to HR in Leave Applications. On final approval ZeniaHR debits the paid days from the leave ledger, records any leave without pay, marks the dates on the leave calendars and flags the month for payroll. Leave reaches Direct Payroll through the attendance month, so the payslip and the leave register show the same days.

One ledger behind every balance

Balances are never typed into a column. Every change is a dated ledger entry, either opening, accrual, debit, credit, adjustment, encashment or lapse, and the balance is the sum of those entries. When a store supervisor in Indore asks why his earned leave reads 6.5 days, HR can open his history and show each credit and debit with its note. The default types are Casual Leave at 1 day a month, Earned Leave at 1.5, Sick Leave at 0.5 and Leave Without Pay as unpaid leave.

Accrual posts on the 1st of each month for the month just ended, pro rata for anyone who joined or left, rounded to half a day. From 1 January the year end carries each paid type forward up to its limit and lapses the rest, and HR can preview that result for any year before it posts. Opening balances come in from Excel through Data Import.

How leave connects to the rest of ZeniaHR

Leave is not a standalone register. The days an employee is charged depend on the roster, the holiday calendar and probation status, and the days an employee is paid depend on what leave was approved. These links run automatically once each module is set up.

Holiday calendars decide which dates are holidays for each branch and department, so the sandwich rule reads the right calendar for each person.
The roster in Shifts and rosters sets each person's weekly off. Without a roster, Sunday is treated as the weekly off.
Probation status decides whether a leave type can be taken, and confirmation lifts that restriction the same day.
Overtime approved as comp-off lands on the CO balance with its own expiry date.
Leave applied, approved, rejected and cancelled can trigger in-app, email, WhatsApp or push alerts set in Notifications.

Leave management features

Sandwich leave ruleDecide when weekends and holidays inside or next to a leave are charged: every day, never, only between leave days, or when they touch the leave.Leave policy rulesSet notice, back-dating, spell limits, advance leave, probation, documents and who may apply for each leave type. Every rule runs before a request is sent.Leave approval workflowLeave requests go to the reporting manager, then HR, with the charged days, balance after and rule warnings on screen. Final approval updates the balance.Half-day leaveLet staff take half a day of leave as a first-half or second-half session on a working date. The balance drops by 0.5 and the calendar marks the half day.Comp-off managementCredit compensatory off for work on weekly offs and holidays, from punches or by HR, with half-day and full-day hours, an expiry date and leave-style use.Leave accrual and carry forwardMonthly leave accrual with pro rata for joiners and leavers, half-day rounding, and a year-end carry forward and lapse you can preview before it posts.Leave encashmentConvert unused leave into pay: ZeniaHR debits the days from the ledger and adds the amount to payroll at Basic plus DA over 30 or gross over 30.Leave calendarSee who is on leave in a month grid of people and days, with approved and pending leave in different tints, half days marked and a department filter.

See leave management on your own data

A 30-minute demo on a video call. We set it up for your departments and rules and show it running. Free for your first 50 employees.

Book a free demo See pricing

Frequently asked questions

Can employees apply for leave from their phone?

Yes. The ZeniaHR employee app lets staff check balances, apply for full days or half days, cancel requests, see the holiday list, pick optional holidays and track comp-off credits. The same live rule check runs on the phone, so a request that breaks policy is caught before it is sent. Managers approve or reject team leave from the app as well.

Which leave types does ZeniaHR create by default?

Seeding the Leave Ledger creates Casual Leave at 1 day a month, Earned Leave at 1.5 days a month, Sick Leave at 0.5 day a month and Leave Without Pay as unpaid leave. Applying the recommended leave rules also creates a Compensatory Off type for comp-off. HR then adjusts the rules of each type in Settings, Policies, Leave rules.

Can casual leave and sick leave follow different rules?

Yes. Every leave type has its own rule set. In the recommended setup, casual leave needs 2 days' notice, cannot be back-dated and counts a sandwiched weekend, while sick leave can be back-dated up to 3 days, never counts weekends and asks for a document when it runs longer than 2 days.

How does approved leave affect an employee's salary?

Paid leave is paid like a working day, and leave without pay reduces the payable days. Approved leave feeds the attendance month, and Direct Payroll reads the finalized attendance month to work out paid days and loss of pay days, which appear on the payslip. Leave encashment reaches payroll as a separate earning.