Leave management for NGOs and trusts

Leave types and quotas

A common NGO policy offers casual leave, sick leave, earned leave, maternity and paternity leave, and sometimes wellness days for staff in emotionally heavy work such as shelters or helplines. Credit leave monthly, so it is pro rata for staff on fixed-term contracts that start mid-year. Maternity leave follows the maternity benefit rules: up to 26 weeks paid, or 12 weeks for a woman with two or more surviving children, after 80 days of work in the preceding 12 months. Where the OSH Code's annual leave rule covers your staff, anyone who completes 180 days of work in a calendar year earns one paid day for every 20 days worked.

• Casual and sick leave for all staff
• Earned leave, credited monthly and pro rata
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Wellness days for staff in shelters and helplines
• Comp-off for weekend field work

Blackout weeks in the project cycle

Every project has weeks when the field team cannot be short: the baseline or endline survey, a campaign such as an enrolment drive or an immunisation week, a donor monitoring visit, and the ten days before a quarterly or annual report is due. Mark these in the project calendar at the start of the year and ask staff to plan leave around them. Leave during these weeks should need a reason and the programme manager's agreement, with cover arranged inside the team.

Comp-off for weekend and evening field work

Village meetings in the evening and camps on Sundays are part of field work, not exceptions. Decide how comp-off is earned: for example, a Sunday morning camp earns half a day and a camp that runs all Sunday earns a full day, credited after the supervisor confirms the activity. Give comp-off an expiry, such as 60 days, and make sure field staff actually take it, because burnout is a real risk in small teams covering large areas on two-wheelers.

Unused leave when a project ends

When a fixed-term contract ends with the grant, unused earned leave has to be settled. Decide in advance whether it will be encashed in the final settlement or must be used before the end date, and check whether the grant budget allows leave encashment as a cost. Tell staff six months before the end date so they can plan. Where someone moves from one project to another without a break, carry the balance across instead of settling it.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. In the Leave Ledger, set casual, sick and earned leave with monthly accrual, so balances are pro rata for staff who join mid-year on fixed-term contracts.
2. Add maternity and any paternity or wellness leave as leave types, using the gender, employment type and minimum service rules where needed.
3. Let programme managers approve leave from My Team as reporting managers, with HR second, after checking the team's Leave Calendar against the project calendar.
4. Post each project's blackout weeks on the Company Wall for that project's department, with acknowledgement required.
5. Grant comp-off for weekend camps and evening meetings once the supervisor confirms, with an expiry date so unused credits lapse.
6. Preview the year-end carry forward before running it, and use leave encashment in payroll where your policy settles leave at contract end.

Read more about leave management in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions