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Table Of Contents

10 Types of Leaves To Offer In Your Leave Policy

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Table Of Contents

Writing a policy for leaves is serious business. 

When you’re writing your leave policy at work, it’s crucial to include the types of leaves that will benefit both your business and employees. There are many different types of leaves that you can include in your leave policy, and each type of leave is equally important. Remember, it’s in your best interest to support your employees, and also the interest of the business as a whole.

As you prepare to write your company’s new employee, yearly or sick leave policy, take a look at these 10 different types of leaves to make sure that you’re providing employees with ample opportunity to rest and take care of their health.

First things first — why you should include multiple types of leaves in your policy?

By creating a leave policy, you can specify how many leaves your employees are entitled to, what types of leaves they can take, and how they can apply for them.

While every company is different, most companies have a few common types of leaves in their policy book that offer employees a bit of a break from the daily grind. These tend to be personal days, sick days, and vacation time. By creating multiple types of leaves, you are reinforcing the importance of having a work/life balance, and that is something that most individuals look for when job-hunting.

The types of leaves you offer can also help you attract more talented candidates, prevent employee burnout and give your company a great reputation. Spruce up your employee benefits package with these different types of leaves to offer your employees.

The foundation of all leaves, paid time off helps to address the needs of those things that come up in everyday life. It allows employees to take time off for vacation, family events, and personal time. Giving employees paid casual leave will allow them to prioritize their private life when required, making them feel appreciated in the company.

Most companies give a maximum of 8 to 15 PTO days off per year. But again, this differs greatly based on which part of the world you are located in.

Sick leave

A healthy and happy employee is a productive employee.

Sick leaves are crucial to allow employees to take time off and rest without losing their pay. Sick leaves are a mandatory requirement in most countries to ensure the well-being of their employees. As a rule of thumb, most companies must provide 15 days of paid sick leave to their employees. This can vary according to each employee’s personal circumstances, or if they suffer from more severe health problems.

National holidays

National holidays are types of leaves mandated by the government. These holidays are observed by every institution in the country. Whether they are government offices, schools, banks, private or public companies. The occasion for a national holiday can be anything that’s nationally recognized. Independence Day. Memorial Day. Labor Day. Bank holidays. Even in death, Richard Nixon still makes our lives better. A day off is all that’s needed to celebrate!

Religious holidays 

A diverse workplace means a diverse range of festivals and cultures that you need to be prepared for.

Diwali, Eid, Yom Kippur, Christmas, you name it and someone probably celebrates it in your company. Most employees are sure to take the day off to celebrate a religious festival with their friends and family. So, it’s super important to make accommodations for these types of leaves in your policy and provide an option to them if they decide to take a holiday. Take note of all upcoming festivals, and ask your employees if they would prefer to work or take a day off beforehand. 

Maternity leave

Being a new mom is hard. Being a new mom that works full time is even harder.

Ease the transition into motherhood for your female employees by creating a maternity leave policy they can rely on. Given that giving birth to a child is one of the world’s most miraculous events, it seems appropriate to view time off in the same light. Stay prepared by offering maternity leave following your country’s local laws. Ideally, most leaves are around 14 weeks long (just enough time to take care of their newborn for 3 months.)

Paternity leave

Paternity leave is a great way for dads to spend some time with their newborns. Unlike maternity leaves, new dads usually get 2 weeks of leave to take care of their newborn kids.

​​Many companies do not offer paid paternity leave for the birth of their child because it’s not mandated by law. However, it is important that HRs recognize the stresses of adjusting to the newborn and taking care of the child in their first few days and grant them this time off.

Bereavement leave

Any employee working in the organization is prone to losing a loved one. The death of a close family member or a spouse, for instance, can be very painful. That is why some people are forced to take unpaid leave immediately after the demise of their dear ones. Bereavement leave is given to employees who are experiencing grief due to the loss of a loved one.

A bereavement leave policy can be of any length, but depending on the country, region, or company culture this period might vary from person to person. Some countries may allow only one or two days off and other countries may offer employees up to a month off. 

Compensatory leave

If you find yourself working extra hard and long hours, a compensatory leave may just be for you!

A compensatory leave means an employee that has worked over 8 hours during the day can be compensated by being offered a day off with pay at a later date. Compensatory time off is defined as additional hours of paid leave given to employees in return for extra duty hours worked. This is an additional benefit to your employees, especially in the event of extra duties and extra shifts.

Sabbatical leave

Offering a sabbatical leave is one way of showing employees that their value to the company is beyond just monetary purposes. A sabbatical refers to a leave of absence from work, in which an employee can leave work for a while and return afterward.

Each company’s sabbatical leave depends on its original work culture and employees. It is essential to clearly state the criteria, application, benefits, limitations, and eligibility for each variety of sabbatical leave.

Unpaid leave

If your employee has exhausted all other types of leaves on this list and still wants to take some time off, they can still do so by taking unpaid leave. This leave is pretty self-explanatory — any leave taken outside of the paid leaves will ultimately result in a pay cut. Tell your employees how much they’ll lose per leave day they take outside their eligible leave days, and explain the number of leaves they have.

Snigdha Gupta
Snigdha Gupta

An avid writer and aspiring marketer, Snigdha is a student at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business.

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