Available for the following plans: Employment Lite, Employment Plus, Employment Unlimited
Available for the following HR plans: Standard, Premium, Platinum
Available for the following User Access levels: Manager, Admin
The Time Off Calendar uses colour to help you quickly identify different types of time off at a glance. Each time off type is assigned a colour that remains consistent across all calendar views, so you can instantly recognise Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Childcare, and other time off types without having to check the legend every time. As an administrator, you can customise these colours to match organisational preferences or group time off types together.
Helpful Hint
Colours on the time off calendar are consistent across all months and views. This means Annual Leave will always appear in the same colour, whether you are viewing February, November, or applying filters.
Using the time off calendar
- Navigate to Time > Time Off Management > Time Off Calendar
- The calendar displays each employee's time off as coloured blocks.
- Each colour represents a specific time off type (for example, dark blue for Annual Leave, light pink for Childcare).
- The colour legend at the bottom shows which colour represents which time off type.
- Use the search and filter options to find specific employees or time off types.
Note: Only approved and pending time off is displayed on the calendar. The reason for time off is not shown for privacy reasons.
The colour legend appears at the bottom of the time off calendar. It shows every time off type and its assigned colour.
Because colours are now consistent throughout the calendar, you can rely on the legend to understand what each colour means. The legend does not change when you switch months or apply filters.
- If Annual Leave is shown as dark blue in January, it will be dark blue in every other month
- If you filter by location or status, the colours remain the same
- You do not need to check the legend again when you navigate to a different month
Colours help you scan the calendar and instantly spot patterns in time off across your team or organisation.
For example:
- You can see at a glance how many employees are taking Annual Leave in a given week
- You can identify potential gaps in staffing by seeing clusters of the same colour
- You can quickly check your team's time off schedules without reading every entry
Setting up time off colours for your organisation
- Click Settings from the left sidebar.
- Navigate to Time Off > Time Off Types.
- Find the time off type you want to change.
- In the Time Off Type Colour section, click the colour picker dropdown.
- Select a new colour from the available options.
- Click Save.
- The colour updates immediately across the entire time off calendar.
- Click Settings from the left sidebar.
- Navigate to Time Off > Time Off Types.
- Click Add Time Off Type.
- Enter the time off type name and complete other required fields.
- In the Time Off Type Colour section, click the colour picker dropdown and select a colour.
- Click Save.
- The new time off type appears on the calendar with its assigned colour.
Note: For new organisations, the system will automatically suggest the next colour in the palette to help ensure variety across your time off types. You can accept this suggestion or choose a different colour.
You can assign the same colour to multiple time off types to group them together on the calendar. This is useful if you want to visually organise time off types by status or category.
For example, you might:
- Assign the same colour to all paid time off types (Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Compassionate Leave)
- Assign the same colour to all unpaid time off types (Study Leave, Unpaid Leave)
- Use colours to reflect your organisation's branding or preferences
To do this, simply assign the same colour to each time off type in the time off type settings.
Understanding colour options
The system provides 18 colours designed to be easy to distinguish from one another. Colours range from light to dark shades and include both warm and cool tones.
When you open the colour picker, all 18 colours are displayed in order. You can choose any colour for any time off type.
If your organisation has more than 18 time off types, colours will repeat. You can still customise any type's colour to ensure all time off types are visually distinct if needed.
For new organisations and when time off types are synced from payroll systems in ANZ, the system automatically suggests the next colour in the palette. This helps ensure variety across your time off types.
For example:
- Your 1st time off type automatically gets colour 1
- Your 2nd time off type automatically gets colour 2
- Your 19th time off type automatically gets colour 1 again
You can always override this suggestion and choose a different colour.
Managing colours
When you change a time off type's colour:
- The colour updates immediately on the time off calendar
- All time off entries for that time off type display with the new colour, including past and future time off
- The colour legend updates to reflect the change
- All calendar views show the new colour consistently
Colours remain the same regardless of:
- Which month you are viewing
- Which filters you apply (location, status, time off type, team)
- Which user role you have (manager, administrator)
- Whether the time off is in the past, present, or future
This consistency helps you rely on colour as a quick visual aid to understand the calendar.
Only administrators can customise time off type colours. Changes are made in Settings and apply immediately across the entire organisation. Managers can view and use the colours on the time off calendar but cannot edit them.
The location of colour customisation settings varies depending on your organisation's setup:
- Most organisations: Settings > Time Off > Time Off Types
- MYOB connected organisations: Settings > Pay Categories
Explore related content
- Managing time off requests Learn how to submit, view, and manage time off requests in the system.
- Configuring time off types and policies Set up time off types, eligibility rules, and accrual policies for your organisation.