A clear, well-defined Paid Time Off (PTO) policy helps your school set expectations, support staff wellbeing, and ensure consistent, compliant time-off practices.
Playground’s Paid Time Off feature brings your policy and tracking into one streamlined system. You can create customized time-off policies, assign staff to the appropriate policy, and automatically track employee balances. Staff members can easily request time off and view their remaining balance, while administrators gain the visibility needed to plan coverage and maintain accurate records.
In this article, you’ll learn how to create and configure your PTO policy in Playground, set up accrual rules, assign staff to policies, manage time-off requests, and track employee balances with confidence.
💡 The Paid Time Off feature is only available to Playground Payroll customers. To become a payroll customer, please reach out to your account manager!
Create a PTO Policy
You can create one or multiple Paid Time Off policies to align with your organization’s specific guidelines and staff needs. Whether you offer different accrual rates based on role, tenure, or employment type, Playground allows you to tailor each policy to reflect how your program operates.
Understanding PTO Accrual
Before creating a PTO policy, it’s important to understand the different accrual methods available. Playground offers four accrual options, each designed to support different time-off structures and organizational needs. Refer to the table below for a description of each accrual type and how it works.
Accrual Type | Description | Example |
All at once | Staff accrue all hours at the beginning of the policy year. | Staff accrue 120 hours of PTO on January 1st. |
Throughout the cycle | Staff accrue hours at the start of each month. | Staff accrue 10 hours of PTO on 1st of each month. |
Hourly (based on hours worked) | Staff accrue hours at the start of each month for the hours worked in the previous month. | Staff accrue 1 hour of PTO for every 40 hours worked on the 1st of each month. |
Hourly (based on hours paid) | Staff accrue hours each payday for the hours paid in the pay period. | Staff accrue 1 hour of PTO for every 40 hours paid each payday. |
💡 Hours worked policies accrue based on timesheets on the 1st of each month, for the previous month. Timesheets must be reviewed on the last day of the month to ensure that accruals are accurate. Timesheet adjustments for periods that have already been accrued will not result in a PTO balance adjustment.
Create a PTO Policy
From your Admin Dashboard, click the Payroll tab, and then click the Paid Time Off sub tab. Then click the blue Create Policy button in the top right corner of the screen.
The Create Time Off Policy window will open. Complete all required fields on the window. See below for a description of each field.
Name: Give your policy a descriptive name. This name will be visible to staff.
Type: Policies can be classified as Paid Time Off or Sick.
Renewal Cycle: The renewal cycle controls when balances accrue for all at once policies and when balances reset if there is a carryover cap.
Accrual Method: Choose the accrual method that applies to your policy. See the table above for a description of each method. See below for additional notes.
All at once: Policies that accrue all at once can be prorated if employees begin mid year. For example, if the year begins on 01/01 and an employee starts on 06/01, their prorated grant would be 60 hours. Proration is recommended when using a specific date renewal cycle.
Throughout the cycle: Enter the total number of hours that are granted per year. On the right hand side you can preview the hours that will be granted each month.
Note: throughout the cycle policies are automatically prorated. If an employee is enrolled in a policy with a mid-month effective date, their first grant will be prorated.
Hourly: Enter the number of hours earned per number of hours worked.
Hours worked policies are accrued on the first of each month
Carryover: A carryover cap limits the number of PTO hours that employees can carryover into the next policy year. If employees can carryover all hours, choose unlimited. If employees cannot carryover any hours, set a cap amount of 0.
Once all inputs are complete on the Create a Policy page, click the blue Next: Assign Staff button in the top right corner of the page.
On the Assign Staff page, select all employees that should be enrolled in this policy.
Note: Only W2 employees are eligible to be enrolled in a Paid Time Off policy. Contractors and staff not enrolled in payroll will not be visible in this list.
On the Review Policy page, you will set enrollment dates and enter any existing balances. See below for specific notes on the enrollment dates for each policy accrual type:
All at once: The balance will be accrued on the enrollment date. If you have selected the "prorate grant" option, the grant will be prorated based on their enrollment date.
Throughout the cycle: The first accrual will occur on the 1st of the following month. If the enrollment date is set as anything other than the first of the current month, the first grant will be prorated.
Note: If an enrollment date is backdated, historic accruals will be created.
Hours (worked): The first accrual will occur on the next payday. Employees will accrue PTO for any hours worked on and after the enrollment date.
Hours (paid): The first accrual occur on the 1st of the following month. Employees will accrue PTO for any hours worked on and after the enrollment date.
Once you are satisfied with the enrollment dates and existing balances, click the blue Create Policy button.
Once the policy is created, you will be navigated to the policy overview page. Here you can see the details of the policy, all employees enrolled, their accrued hours, used hours, and total balance. Click on an employees name to view their accrual history.
After creating a policy, we recommend reviewing all scheduled and requested PTO to ensure it is correctly recorded against the appropriate policy. Click here for instructions.
Manage Staff Assignments
Staff can be added to or removed from PTO policies as needed. When a new eligible employee is hired, be sure to enroll them in the appropriate PTO policy so their time off can accrue and be tracked correctly. You may also need to remove a staff member from a policy if they are no longer eligible for PTO or they become eligible for a different policy.
Assign Staff to a Policy
From your Admin Dashboard, click the Payroll tab, and then click the Paid Time Off sub tab. Then click Policies at the top of the page.
Click the three dots next to the policy and then click Assign Staff.
Select the employees that you would like to assign and then click Next: Review Policy.
On the Review Policy page, add the enrollment date and existing balance. Once done, click Update policy.
The employee will appear in the enrolled staff table and will be able to request time off against their balance.
Remove Staff from a Policy
From your Admin Dashboard, click the Payroll tab, and then click the Paid Time Off sub tab. Then click Policies at the top of the page and click the policy that you'd like to remove a staff from
On the Enrolled Staff table, click the three dots next to the employee you want to remove, then click Remove.
The Remove Staff from Policy modal will open. Click Remove to remove the staff from the policy.
🚨 Once a staff is removed from a policy, they may have future time off that is no longer tracked against a policy. View all scheduled time off on the scheduled tab to reassign it to a new policy or mark it as unpaid.
Manage Employee Balances
Employee balances can be viewed from both the policy overview and individual staff profiles, making it easy to monitor available time across your organization. Within each staff profile, you can review balance history and make adjustments as needed. Employees can also see their available PTO balance when requesting time off in the Playground mobile app.
View Employee Balance History
From you Admin Dashboard, click My School, and then Staff. From the Staff tab, click on a staff's name to view their profile.
From the Staff's profile, click the Hours tab at the top of the page. Under the History section, click Time Off.
The cards at the top of the screen show the employees total PTO balance for each policy they are assigned to.
The table shows all time off accruals, time off taken, and balance adjustments. Click the three dots and then view to see the details of any item on the table.
Adjust Employee Balance History
From you Admin Dashboard, click My School, and then Staff. From the Staff tab, click on a staff's name to view their profile.
From the Staff's profile, click the Hours tab at the top of the page. Under the History section, click Time Off.
Click the white Record button and then click Balance Adjustment.
The Adjust Time Off balance modal will open. Select the policy you want to adjust and then select whether you will be adding or deducting hours. It is highly recommended to include a note for every balance adjustment.
Once done, click Save Adjustment. The adjustment will appear in the table. The date for the adjustment will be saved as the date the adjustment was saved.
Record Paid Time Off
Paid time off can be recorded on the staff calendar or from the staff profile. In each area, the modal to record Paid Time Off is the same.
Record Time Off on the Staff Profile
From you Admin Dashboard, click My School, and then Staff. From the Staff tab, click on a staff's name to view their profile.
From the Staff's profile, click the Hours tab at the top of the page.
Below the staff's schedule, click the white Record button, and then click Time Off.
The Record Time Off modal will open. Fill in all required fields. See below for a description of each field.
Date: Select the hours (partial day), days (full day), or days (multiple days) that the employee will be absent for.
Time off policy: Select the policy that the absence should deduct from. If the absence should not be deducted from a policy, click other.
Hours paid for: Enter the number of hours that the employee will be paid for.
Reason [option]: Add a reason for the absence.
Click Record Absence and the absence will be added to the staff's time off table.
Adjust Scheduled Time Off
All requested and scheduled time off is visible on the Paid Time Off tab. If PTO was already scheduled or requested before you created your PTO policy, review those entries to ensure they are tracked against the appropriate balance.
From your Admin Dashboard, navigate to the Paid Time Off tab and select Scheduled at the top of the screen.
Click the three dots next to a scheduled absence and then click Edit.
The Record Time Off modal will open. Under Time Off Policy, select the policy that you will like this absence to track against.
Then click Save Changes. The employees PTO balance will be updated to reflect this absence.
Archive a PTO Policy
PTO policies cannot be deleted once they are created. If a policy is no longer in use or was created in error, you can archive it to remove it from staff and admin views.
From your Admin Dashboard, click the Payroll tab, and then click the Paid Time Off sub tab. Then click Policies at the top of the page and click the policy that you want to archive.
From the Policy Details page, click the three dots in the top right corner and then click Archive Policy.
The Archive Policy modal will open, type the confirmation text, and then click Archive.
