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Using and customising leave calendar colours

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 Leave Calendar uses colour to help you quickly identify different types of leave at a glance. Each leave category is assigned a colour that remains consistent across all calendar views, so you can instantly recognise Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Childcare, and other leave types without having to check the legend every time. As an administrator, you can customise these colours to match organisational preferences or group leave types together.

Helpful Hint

Colours on the leave 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 leave calendar

View leave on the calendar
  1. Navigate to Time > Leave Management > Leave Calendar
  2. The calendar displays each employee's leave as coloured blocks.
  3. Each colour represents a specific leave category (for example, dark blue for Annual Leave, light pink for Childcare).
  4. The colour legend at the bottom shows which colour represents which leave type.
    Leave calendar.jpg
  5. Use the search and filter options to find specific employees or leave types.

Note: Only approved and pending leave is displayed on the calendar. The reason for leave is not shown for privacy reasons.

Understand the colour legend

The colour legend appears at the bottom of the leave calendar. It shows every leave 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
    Leave calendar.jpg
Identify leave types quickly

Colours help you scan the calendar and instantly spot patterns in leave 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 leave schedules without reading every entry

Setting up leave colours for your organisation

Customise a leave category colour
  1. Click Settings from the left sidebar.
  2. Navigate to Leave > Leave Categories.
  3. Find the leave category you want to change.
  4. In the Leave Category Colour section, click the colour picker dropdown.
    Colour picker.jpg
  5. Select a new colour from the available options.
  6. Click Save.
  7. The colour updates immediately across the entire leave calendar.
Assign a colour when creating a new leave category
  1. Click Settings from the left sidebar.
  2. Navigate to Leave > Leave Types.
  3. Click Add Leave Type.
  4. Enter the leave category name and complete other required fields.
  5. In the Leave Category Colour section, click the colour picker dropdown and select a colour.
  6. Click Save.
  7. The new leave category 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 leave categories. You can accept this suggestion or choose a different colour.

Group leave types using the same colour

You can assign the same colour to multiple leave categories to group them together on the calendar. This is useful if you want to visually organise leave types by status or category.

For example, you might:

  • Assign the same colour to all paid leave types (Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Compassionate Leave)
  • Assign the same colour to all unpaid leave 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 leave category in the leave type settings.

Understanding colour options

What colours are available

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 leave category.

If your organisation has more than 18 leave categories, colours will repeat. You can still customise any category's colour to ensure all leave types are visually distinct if needed.

How colours are assigned automatically

For new organisations and when leave categories are synced from payroll systems in ANZ, the system automatically suggests the next colour in the palette. This helps ensure variety across your leave categories.

For example:

  • Your 1st leave category automatically gets colour 1
  • Your 2nd leave category automatically gets colour 2
  • Your 19th leave category automatically gets colour 1 again

You can always override this suggestion and choose a different colour.

Managing colours

What happens when I change a colour

When you change a leave category's colour:

  • The colour updates immediately on the leave calendar
  • All leave entries for that category display with the new colour, including past and future leave
  • The colour legend updates to reflect the change
  • All calendar views show the new colour consistently
Why colours stay consistent across all views

Colours remain the same regardless of:

  • Which month you are viewing
  • Which filters you apply (location, status, leave type, team)
  • Which user role you have (manager, administrator)
  • Whether the leave is in the past, present, or future

This consistency helps you rely on colour as a quick visual aid to understand the calendar.

Who can customise colours

Only administrators can customise leave category colours. Changes are made in Settings and apply immediately across the entire organisation. Managers can view and use the colours on the leave calendar but cannot edit them.

Where to find colour customisation settings

The location of colour customisation settings varies depending on your organisation's setup:

  • Most organisations: Settings > Leave > Leave Types
  • HR+Payroll organisations: Settings > Time Off > Leave Categories (colour customisation only)
  • MYOB connected organisations: Settings > Pay Categories

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