SOURCE:    Vacation Tracker
TITLE:     Can I Reset the Leave Quota Based on the Employee Start Date?
URL:       https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/can-i-reset-the-leave-quota-based-on-the-employee-start-date/
LANG:      en
PUBLISHED: 2021-01-20
UPDATED:   2026-02-13
READING:   1 min
SUMMARY:   There are two ways to set up your users' leave quota. In this article, we will talk about editing their leave quota based on their start date.

Can I Reset the Leave Quota Based on the Employee Start Date?

Back to The Essentials Back to Performance & Recharge

The Essentials

Step-by-step guides for configuring your space, customizing your rules, connecting your tools, and managing your account.

Performance & Recharge

Leverage Recharge Energy Levels and PTO analytics to keep your team performing at Peak Energy.

Configuring Your Space Customizing Your Rules Your Connections Account Management
Powering Performance Rest-Performance Correlation

Last updated on February 13, 2026

Can I Reset the Leave Quota Based on the Employee Start Date?

Yes. Instead of resetting everyone's leave quota on the same Accounting Year date, Vacation Tracker can reset each user's quota on the anniversary of their start date. Set it once at the Location level and every user in that Location resets on their own clock.

When to Use Each Option

Accounting Year (default)

Everyone in the Location resets on the same date — the Fiscal Year Start you set on the Location (January 1 by default). Easier to administer, simpler accounting. Most companies use this.

User Employment Date

Each user's quota resets on the anniversary of their employment start date. A user who joined on March 15 gets fresh quota every March 15. Common in jurisdictions with strict labor-law-based accrual rules, or when company policy is to grant leave based on tenure from day one.

How to Switch to Employee Start Date Reset

  1. Sign in at app.vacationtracker.io.
  2. In the left-hand menu, expand Leave Setup and click Locations.
  3. On the Location card, click Edit to open the Location's General tab.
  4. Click Edit Location General Settings on the top right.
  5. Scroll to the Leave Quota and Fiscal Year section.
  6. Open the Leave Quota Reset Based On dropdown and pick User Employment Date.
  7. Click Update Location at the bottom to save.
Edit Location form scrolled to Leave Quota and Fiscal Year, with reset leave quota based on the user employment date selected in the dropdown
This affects everyone in the Location
Changing the reset basis applies to all active users in the Location — not just new ones. A user currently on an Accounting Year reset will switch to their start-date anniversary on save. Review the impact before flipping this on an established Location.

Making Sure Start Dates Are Accurate

User Employment Date reset relies on each user having a correct start date on their profile. Before switching a Location over, spot-check that the users' Employee since dates are right:

  1. Under Team & Approval Flows, click Users.
  2. Click into a user's profile.
  3. In the User Profile section, check the Employee since field.
  4. If it's wrong, click Edit on the User Profile section and fix it. See How Do I Edit User's General Information? for the full walkthrough.

What Changes After Switching

  • Reset date — each user's quota now resets on their start-date anniversary instead of the Fiscal Year Start.
  • Brought Forward / rollover — the rollover still happens, but at the user's reset point instead of company-wide.
  • Accruals — accrual periods now align with each user's individual year rather than a shared calendar.
  • Reports — year-over-year reports can look patchy because not everyone's year ends on the same date. Plan around this if you run annual reports.

Common Questions

No — the reset basis is a Location-level setting, so it applies to every user in the Location. If you need different reset rules for different groups, split them into separate Locations.

The Employee since field needs to be populated for User Employment Date reset to work correctly. Make sure start dates are filled in before you switch a Location's reset basis over. The profile Edit flow lets you set it in seconds.

Fiscal Year Start still exists on the Location but it no longer drives quota resets for individual users. It can still influence how the system labels "years" in reports and how certain company-wide features behave.

What's Next?

How Do I Edit a Location? How Do I Create a Location? How Do I Edit User's General Information?
Need help?
Contact our Support team via email or chat, Monday to Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM EST.

Was this article helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

On this page

Still have questions? Let us show you how Vacation Tracker can help.