What is the Difference between Entitlement by Role and Seniority Based Entitlement (SBE)?
Both automations award Users additional days of leave beyond their base quota — but they target different criteria. SBE rewards length of service. Entitlement by Role rewards a User's role or position, identified by a label. Knowing which one fits your policy is the first step.
Where to Find These Automations
Both live on the online dashboard at app.vacationtracker.io/app/dashboard, under the Automation tab. Admins and Approvers can both view this tab — but only Admins can create or configure SBE and Entitlement by Role automations.
Why Both Exist
To reduce manual work and simplify leave management, Vacation Tracker offers Seniority-Based Entitlement and Role-Based Entitlement automations. With these two automations, Vacation Tracker automatically awards Users additional days — no Admin intervention required after the initial setup.
Seniority Based Entitlement (SBE)
SBE is a system where employees earn more paid time off (PTO) based on their length of service with the company.
- Can be applied to all Users or to a specific Location.
- Admins can create multiple automations for different Leave Types.
- Once a User reaches a milestone (anniversary date based on their employee start date), Vacation Tracker automatically adds the configured days to their base quota.
- Available on the Core or Complete plan.Core / Complete
Example: Admin sets a policy for 2 days to be added to a User's base quota on their 2nd anniversary, 2 days on their 4th-year anniversary, and 2 days on their 6th-year anniversary, until they hit a maximum of 6 additional days earned. On each anniversary, the system automatically awards the two additional days on top of their base quota.
For detailed setup steps: How Do I Set Up Seniority Based Entitlement (SBE) Automation?
Entitlement by Role
Entitlement by Role awards Users additional days based on their label/role in a company.
- Requires the Complete plan — Entitlement by Role uses the Labels feature to assign roles, and Labels are Complete-only.Complete
- Labels must exist before setting up the automation. See How Can I Categorize Users (Adding Labels)?
- Admins can create multiple automations for different roles.
- The entitlement applies starting from the current year and the moment the label is applied to the User.
Example: An Admin creates a label called "Manager" and assigns all managers in their company with this label. Then they create the Entitlement by Role with a rule to award 2 additional "Vacation" days to all employees with the "Manager" label. All Users with the label are awarded 2 additional days on top of their base quota (starting from the current year). Any Users that receive the "Manager" label later will also automatically be awarded the 2 additional days once the label is added to their User profile.
For detailed setup steps: How Do I Set Entitlement by Role?
Quick Comparison
- SBE — based on tenure (anniversary date). Available on Core and Complete plans.
- Entitlement by Role — based on labels. Complete plan only.
- Both can run alongside each other and against any Leave Type.
- Both award days on top of the base quota — they don't replace existing entitlements.
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