Vacation bidding enables employees within a department to request specific days off. This system can be organized based on individual employees, specific groups, or by department seniority. The setup of your vacation bidding system can align with your organization’s minimum staffing requirements or can limit the number of choices available per day. Additionally, if you wish to incorporate Regular Days Off (RDOs) into the bidding process, our system supports this feature. It also ensures that employees do not exceed their available time in their Time Bank when selecting days off. Below, we provide a step-by-step guide on how to configure vacation bidding using Pace Scheduler.
To set up a vacation bidding period, start by navigating to the Admin tab, then proceed to the Employees section, and select Vacation Bidding.
Important: If you do not see this option, please contact Pace Support for further assistance.
Once you are on the Vacation Bidding page, click on the "Add Vacation Bidding Period" button to initiate the setup process.
On the "Add Vacation Bidding Period" page, you will need to provide details about the vacation bid. Below are explanations for some of the options you'll encounter:
Max Choices Per Day: This option determines if you will limit selections based on Minimum Staffing requirements or set a maximum number of choices per group or for the entire schedule. This helps prevent too many people from selecting the same day.
Min Consecutive Days: This refers to the minimum number of consecutive days a user must select before the selection process moves to the next person.
Include RDO: This option allows you to include Regular Days Off (RDO) in the vacation bidding.
Step two: Adding the individuals
Upon successfully creating a vacation bidding period, your screen should display something similar to the image below. The next step involves adding individuals to the vacation bidding process. Please click on the "Edit User Start Times" option to continue.
Select the groups that will participate in the vacation bidding. You may include the entire department or segment it into specific groups, such as 1st Shift, 2nd Shift, and 3rd Shift (their group names). By default, the order of individuals within each group is arranged by seniority. However, you can modify this order by left-clicking on the "Seniority" area and adjusting as needed. Click the save option to save the changes and continue onto the next step.
Step three: The Vacation Picking Calendar
Now that the period and individuals have been set up for our Vacation Bid, proceed to view the Picking Calendar by clicking on the "View Vacation Picking Calendar" option, as indicated below.
While your calendar may appear different from the example shown below, the functionality remains the same. To restrict days off, right-click on the calendar and select the days that should be blocked from vacation requests. Additionally, you can assign individuals to specific days directly from this page.
When it's the users turn to choose their vacation days, they will receive an automatic notification from the system. Look for a green button in the upper right corner of the interface, which they can click on to make their selections.
To select your vacation days, simply click on the days you wish to take off. Days that are greyed out have been blocked by an administrator, and days marked in red with initials indicate vacation days that have already been chosen by others. Depending on the system settings, you may still be able to select these days unless they are restricted due to the maximum number of people allowed off on the same day. Once you have finished selecting your days, click "I’m Done Selecting" to pass the selection opportunity to the next person. If you encounter any issues making your selections, an administrator can manually input your choices.
After reviewing and confirming the selections, you can click on the "Finalize and Assign These Shifts" option. This action will lock in the chosen dates and automatically add them to the calendar.