Pro-rata holiday for part-time staff
The sum is one fraction. What makes it awkward is that there are three ways to do it, they give different answers, and none of them is wrong — they answer slightly different questions. Here are the three, and which one to use.
The fraction
Contracted hours divided by full-time hours, multiplied by the holiday days a full-timer gets. 28 of 37,5 hours is 74,67 %. Against 25 full-time days that is 18,67 days — rounded up to the nearest half, 19. Round up, not down. Rounding down takes time off a part-timer that the arithmetic says they have, and half a day is the smallest unit most places actually book.
Days or hours — two questions, two answers
Count in DAYS and somebody working three long days a week gets fewer days than somebody working five short ones, even on identical weekly hours. That feels unfair and often is. Count in HOURS and holiday becomes a budget drawn down by the length of the shift that would have been there. More precise, more work. For a café where most shifts are a similar length, days are fine. If your shift lengths vary a lot — somebody doing double weekend shifts and somebody doing short afternoons — hours are the only thing that comes out fair. Pick one and keep it; what causes arguments is switching mid-year.
The three cases people get wrong
Hours change mid-year. Somebody who went from half-time to four days in March has two bases in one year. Work out each period separately and add them — do not apply the new percentage to the whole year. On-call with no fixed hours. There is no percentage to work from. Holiday has to build on hours actually worked, which is a different sum from this one. Differing shift lengths. Three ten-hour days and five six-hour days are the same week but not the same number of holiday days if you count days. This is the same problem as the section above, and it hits weekend staff hardest.
Show the sum
Whichever method you pick: write down where the number came from. “19 days” is impossible to check. “28 of 37,5 hours = 74,67 % of 25 days = 18,67, rounded up to 19” can be checked by you and by the person it belongs to in ten seconds. That is why Rota shows the fraction next to the answer instead of only the answer. A number you can check is a number nobody has to take on trust.
What Rota does about it
You set two numbers: what full-time is where you are in hours, and how many holiday days a full-timer gets. Both come from your own agreement, not from the tool. Rota works out each person’s share, rounds up to the nearest half day, and shows the fraction. Booked holiday comes off the balance; sickness does not. Free, no account. Rota does the arithmetic — which rules apply to your workplace is something to check where you are.
Frequently asked questions
How many holiday days does full-time get?
It varies by country, by agreement and over time, and it changes. That is why it is a number you set in Rota rather than something we pretend to know — check what applies where you are and enter that.
Should I round up or down?
Up, to the nearest half day. Rounding down takes time off the person that the arithmetic says they have, and the difference always falls the employer’s way — it is not a place to save.
What about somebody whose hours went up mid-year?
Work out each period separately and add them. Applying the new hours to the whole year gives too much; applying the old gives too little.
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