Part-Time Worker Leave Policy
If your team includes part-time workers — and in hospitality, most teams do — you need a clear leave policy that covers how their entitlements are calculated, how public holidays are handled, and what happens when their hours change. Without one, you risk inconsistent treatment and avoidable disputes.
This guide helps you create that video. It covers what to include, how to structure your recording, and the questions your team will ask after watching it.
Key Takeaways
- Explain pro-rata clearly: Open your video by walking through how your business calculates leave for part-time workers — the formula, a worked example, and why expressing entitlements in hours avoids confusion
- Cover bank and public holidays: Explain how your business handles public holidays for part-time staff, including what happens when a holiday falls on a day they do not normally work
- Address equal treatment: Make clear that part-time workers receive the same categories of benefit as full-time workers, adjusted proportionally for their hours
- Explain what happens when hours change: Walk through the process when a part-time worker increases or decreases their hours, so they know their leave entitlement will be recalculated
- Link to official sources: Direct your team to the government guidance for your location so they can check the statutory minimum themselves
Article Content
Why your team needs this policy
The most common error is applying full-time leave entitlements to part-time workers without adjusting for their working pattern. The second most common error is the opposite: giving part-time workers less leave than they are proportionally entitled to. Both mistakes stem from the same root cause \u2014 not having a clearly documented policy that explains how pro-rata calculations work in practice.
Public holidays add another layer of complexity. If full-time workers receive bank holidays on top of their basic leave but part-time workers who do not happen to work on the holiday get nothing, that creates an unfair gap. A clear policy video that explains how your business handles these calculations gives every team member confidence in the system.
The problem is amplified in hospitality, where part-time and variable-hours working patterns are the norm. A restaurant might have staff working anything from 8 to 32 hours per week, across different days and shift lengths. Applying a simple \u201Cdays per week\u201D formula to this workforce will produce incorrect results.
What to cover in your policy video
Calculate entitlements in hours, not days. Explain in your video that your business expresses all leave entitlements in hours rather than days. This ensures accuracy regardless of whether someone works long days, short days, or a mix. A part-time worker doing three eight-hour shifts per week has the same total hours as someone doing four six-hour shifts, but their day-based entitlement would look different. Converting everything to hours eliminates this confusion entirely.
Walk through the pro-rata formula. Your video should show the basic calculation: part-time entitlement equals full-time entitlement multiplied by part-time hours divided by full-time hours. Use a specific example with real numbers so your team can follow along. Apply this to annual leave, sick leave, and any other time-off benefit your business offers.
Cover public holidays fairly. Explain how your business handles bank or public holidays for part-time staff. If full-time workers receive public holidays as additional leave, part-time workers should receive a proportional equivalent of the total package. Walk through how this works in practice so no one feels short-changed based on which days they happen to work.
Confirm equal treatment. Make clear in your video that part-time workers are not excluded from benefits, training, or opportunities because of their working pattern. This sets the right tone and shows your team that the business treats everyone fairly regardless of their contracted hours.
Explain what happens when hours change. Walk through the process when a part-time worker increases or decreases their hours. Their leave entitlement changes too, and the calculation is updated promptly. Explain how this mid-year adjustment works so staff know what to expect.
Show where to check their balance. Point your team to wherever they can see their current leave balance and submit requests. If you use an app, screen-record the process. Visibility builds trust.
Commit to regular audits. Let your team know that you review part-time leave calculations regularly to catch any discrepancies \u2014 especially where employees have changed their working patterns during the year.
How to structure your video
Keep it under five minutes. Part-time leave is a focused topic. Your video needs to cover the formula, a worked example, public holidays, and the request process. Three to five minutes is the right length.
Have the right person present. This should come from whoever handles leave approvals \u2014 usually the general manager or operations manager. Hearing the policy from the person who manages leave requests gives it more weight than a written document.
Lead with a worked example. Do not start with theory. Open with something like: \u201CIf you work 24 hours a week and a full-time worker gets 224 hours of leave, here\u2019s how we calculate yours.\u201D Concrete numbers make the policy immediately understandable.
Cover public holidays separately. Give public holidays their own section within the video. This is the single biggest source of confusion for part-time workers, and it deserves a clear, standalone explanation rather than being buried in a general leave discussion.
Show the system. If your team uses an app to check their leave balance or request time off, screen-record the process. A short walkthrough eliminates most follow-up questions.
Record separate videos if needed. If your part-time workers have meaningfully different arrangements \u2014 for example, different shift patterns across different departments \u2014 consider recording a short video for each group rather than one long video that tries to cover everything.
Common questions your team will ask
After watching your video, these are the questions that will come up. Anticipate them in your recording or be ready to answer them via messaging:
- \u201CHow is my leave calculated if I work fewer hours than full-time?\u201D \u2014 Walk through the pro-rata formula using a specific example. Show the maths so there is no ambiguity.
- \u201CDo I get bank holidays if I don\u2019t work on that day?\u201D \u2014 Explain how your business pro-rates the total leave package including public holidays, regardless of which days staff work.
- \u201CWhat happens to my leave if I change my hours?\u201D \u2014 Explain the recalculation process and when the new entitlement takes effect.
- \u201CWhy is my leave shown in hours instead of days?\u201D \u2014 Explain that hours-based tracking is fairer and more accurate for workers with different shift lengths.
- \u201CDo I get the same benefits as full-time staff?\u201D \u2014 Confirm that part-time workers receive the same categories of benefit, adjusted proportionally.
- \u201CCan I carry over unused leave?\u201D \u2014 State your carry-over rules clearly. If the answer depends on the circumstances, explain what those circumstances are.
- \u201CHow do I request time off?\u201D \u2014 Walk through the process and show where to submit a request.
Official guidance
The rules on part-time worker leave vary by location. Before recording your video, check the official guidance for your jurisdiction:
| Location | Source |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Part-time workers\u2019 rights \u2014 GOV.UK |
| European Union | Part-Time Work Directive 97/81/EC \u2014 EUR-Lex |
| United States | Wages and Hours Worked \u2014 U.S. Department of Labor |
| Canada | Vacation and general holidays \u2014 Canada.ca |
| Australia | Part-time employees \u2014 Fair Work Ombudsman |
How Pilla helps
Pilla turns your part-time worker leave policy into a living part of your employee handbook:
- Record your policy video — Film a short video explaining your part-time worker leave policy, what employees need to know, and how it works in your organisation. Staff watch on their phone, and you track who has seen it.
- Onboarding integration — Include the part-time worker leave policy as part of your onboarding checklist, so every new starter acknowledges it during induction.
- Policy updates — When your policy changes, push the updated video to all staff and track who has watched the new version.
- Audit trail — Every video view, policy acknowledgement, and onboarding completion is recorded with timestamps, ready for any compliance review.
- Messaging — Use in-app messaging to answer questions about part-time worker leave directly, keeping sensitive conversations out of group chats.